Hi Jemina. For how long have you been working at clueQuest?
Three and a half years. It’s almost four years - I think on August 24th it’ll be four years.
There doesn’t seem to be much of a guidebook for those wanting to work in escape rooms. How did you know it was right for you, and that you’d be able to do it?
Well I’d actually heard about it from a friend, and she told me that it wasn’t a serious workplace. I know that sounds really funny, but that’s how she sold it to me. She was like, “Everyday you come in, it’s a good time and your day goes faster because of [it].” At the time I was at uni and I wanted something like that because I didn’t want any extra stress, so that’s how I ended up going to the interview and I haven’t looked back since.
What’s been your proudest moment at clueQuest?
I’ve recently moved into a Marketing Assistant role, and am in the process of organizing a games night at clueQuest. It’s great because I feel that I’ve been trusted with a big responsibility, and as someone who’s always been seen as ‘silly’ at work it’s good to know my sensible side is acknowledged.
Teams seem to have a great time with you, but you must have some difficulty with teams sometimes, no?
Once I had a family on Operation Blacksheep and that was one of my first teams because I was just trained on it. It was a Saturday around Halloween - really busy - and they weren’t communicating at all. They were just arguing about every single thing, and when I eventually had to go in the room one of the girls just started crying. She asked for a hug so I comforted her but the thing was that it was such a busy day and she didn’t want to leave the room. I had my next game really soon so was trying to get her out without being too mean. So that was a difficult day… But I remember it like it was yesterday.
If Professor Blacksheep blew up the place tomorrow, what would you miss the most about it?
Probably those busy Saturdays. Because those busy Saturdays are the days that you see people that really want to be here, and really enjoy themselves. So there’s a lot more joy, and you can sense that from the minute you walk in.
Finally is there anything you feel you’ve learnt from this job, that you’ll remember for years to come?
On my first day, I was really nervous reading my script so always wanted to do something that required less talking. But Richard told me, “Nobody knows what you’re going to say, so just wing it”, and that stayed with me from that moment on. If I ever feel nervous about anything, I just wing it. And it’s worked for me.