Ready Callers talk about catching chicken pox

It is known as one of the biggest call centers that employs hundreds of persons but its purpose for being in the news tonight is for a health reason.  One bold employee came to our studio today to complain of an alleged outbreak of chicken pox at the business establishment, something he claims is plaguing many employees at Ready Call.  Marion Ali visited Ready Call to get their reaction.

Marion Ali, Reporting

Alfredo Reyes is recovering from chicken pox and showed us the scars that it has left him with since he caught the disease almost three weeks ago.  Reyes is upset because he says he had only been working at Ready Call for a week when he had to be sent home with the disease.  He is certain that he caught the disease at work and did not know there was a problem on the jobsite.

Alfredo Reyes, Customer Representative, Ready Call

alfredo reyes

“They should have told us because every two weeks they have an intake of thirty or forty people and dehn just push we in fi di training and the thing yoh ketch off dah contact.  Yoh put on the headphones them and yoh get it from off the headphones and deh noh even tell yoh that there’s a little outbreak or there’s something here. The stack of papers they have on the desk with the people who have chicken pox.  I have sanitizer sprays that I could use bout nobody tell me anything.  So I went there and caught it.”

But Employee Advocacy Manager, Lloyd Godoy, says while there have been a minimal amount of cases of chicken pox at Ready Call, there is certainly not an outbreak.

Lloyd Godoy, Employee Advocacy Mgr., Ready Call Centre

“No there’s not an outbreak of chicken pox here.  Over the last two months we’ve had maybe about five persons who had chicken pox and it wasn’t that they caught it here.”

Marion Ali

“And you’re saying only five cases over the past two months?  Cause he’s saying there are quite possibly over a hundred.”

lloyd godoy

Lloyd Godoy

“He can claim a lot of things.”

Marion Ali

“Is there any truth to that?”

Lloyd Godoy

“There’s no truth to that. I wanna point out that in fact if there’s anyone with chicken pox or suspect that they have chicken pox they will be sent home right away because we cannot have anyone here getting anyone else sick.”

But why would a man who needs his job make a public complaint about a health issue at his jobsite?  Reyes says he is only trying to protect his fellow employees.

Alfredo Reyes

“I think I’m talking for the people that is coming in, deh noh tell yoh nothing.”

Lloyd Godoy allowed our camera to take shots of two of the operations rooms where employees were on the job.  The vacant cubicles, as he explained, were those of employees who were soon to come on shift.  One of those employees admitted to us that there have been some cases of chicken pox at Ready Call, but he doesn’t feel the problem is out of control at this point.

Emmanuel Granados, Employee, Ready Call

emmanuel granados

“Some guys are saying that they’re having chicken pox but not all of them.”

Marion Ali

“Yeah.  Is it a lot of just a few?”

Emmanuel Granados

“To my point of view I’d say some of them have chicken pox, like few. Five or ten people, not too much.”

Marion Ali

“And this was over a period of how much time?  A week, a month, two months?”

Emmanuel Granados

“I’d say like one month.  Not very much.”

Marion Ali

“Are you scared of working around here?”

Emmanuel Granados

“No, not scared.”

Meanwhile, Reyes says catching the disease has affected not only his purse, but his family.

Alfredo Reyes

“I have a young baby that I had to send away to Orange Walk because if my baby ketch it, eighteen months. Because I’m working there four weeks there’s no compensation because I just started there.”

Marion Ali

“So you’ve been out of a job for four weeks?”

Alfredo Reyes

“Well according to them I still have my work because I went to Ready Call this morning and I still have the job.  I noh know if I still have it now because nobody noh like yoh blow di whistle.”

Godoy has assured News Five that Reyes will not lose his job for coming forth and for expressing his views to us.  Ready Call currently has a workforce of around seven hundred people.  They are also conducting training for a new intake.  Marion Ali fro News Five.

Two other employees told News Five confirmed off camera that there have been a number of cases, but they did not consider it an outbreak.