Help Dominic Recoup Lost Wages & Rebuild His Life

Hello, my name is Dominic Cichocki, and I started working in the escape room industry in January 2020. During the pandemic, the company I worked for got acquired, and through hard work, I began moving up the ranks. As the company grew larger and we acquired more locations, I went from being promoted to store manager by the end of 2020, to a salaried district manager by 2022. I loved my job, and felt my work reflected in many different ways. My pay increased significantly each year and I was told by several employees that I, and the culture I set in the company, were the main reasons they wanted to stay with the job. I have also been told countless times by the owner of the company that things wouldn't run properly without me; I'd be hard to replace.

By early 2023, I successfully negotiated a salary that allowed me to get a new car (replacing one with thousands of dollars in needed repairs) and to move out of my parents’ house into a Chicago apartment with some good roommates. That April, only a few weeks after I moved, the company's fortunes changed. Paychecks started coming late, then short, and at first I made a deal with the owner, the person with sole control over company finances, to prioritize paying my employees before myself. This one time gesture quickly became my new reality: from April 2023 onward, I no longer received a regular paycheck with pay stubs. I was mostly paid random amounts on Cashapp - sometimes a full paycheck, sometimes a few hundred dollars here and there. As this continued, the company started falling further and further behind on all their finances, payroll, rent to landlords, everything. Though several of our locations were profitable, the black hole of debt became too big for it to matter.

Employees began looking for other jobs, myself included. Several jumped ship when they could. Between April 2023 and April 2024, what was a team of about fifty people over nine to ten different locations dwindled to just three locations with about twelve or so employees. Despite all of this, those that remained did everything we could to keep the company going. I suggested several cost-cutting measures, ad campaigns, and even employee reductions we could utilize to rebalance ourselves - suggestions that went ignored. I even took a pay cut of several thousand dollars to help. After six months of this situation, in October 2023, I led a walkout of most of the remaining staff. We lasted about a month - in the end, we still believed in the business, missed each other, and were made several promises and assurances by the owner of the company that the holiday season would get us over this hump. We would get our backpay soon - we just needed to be patient. I was one of the last people to be convinced to return.

Though things did improve for a few months, it did not last. On April 30th 2024, we were notified that the landlord of one of our surviving locations was coming to change the locks at noon due to lack of payment. It was the end of a five day notice placed on the business, and promises by my boss to pay the back rent he owed were not being upheld. This was a surprise to us - we were told this location was "safe" because there was a payment plan in place, but this was a lie. That day, my boss, the owner, suddenly became unreachable by phone for several days, leaving me, a district manager, to pull the trigger. With a couple senior employees, I salvaged what I could from that location before leaving it in the hands of the landlord. After that, our small team went to another location that we knew were being kicked out of, where the back rent owed was astronomically higher, and salvaged what we could there too. As paychecks also hadn't gone out the previous week, and I had just effectively closed two of our three locations, I was put into a position where I had no money, no job, and suddenly had to call everyone else on my team and say they were out of a job too.

Over the course of the past year, what was once a stable financial situation nosedived. I ate through my savings, maxed out my credit cards, sold my personal property, and borrowed money from family and friends when I could to stay afloat. Through diligent budgeting, and the occasional partial or full paycheck, I managed to keep on top of my bills. However, of the last three paychecks I was supposed to get, I only received $800, and I technically still have one paycheck on the way too. With no current job and seemingly no way to get the back pay I desperately need, I have no choice but to ask for help. I am ashamed it got to this point, but at this point I probably have a little over $50 to my name. I don't know how I'm going to pay my bills anymore.

Over the past week, I have been in touch with the Illinois Department of Labor and other government agencies to help determine my next steps forward. I am also still applying to jobs. There is also an increasingly good chance that a few other ex-employees and I can work with some of the landlords of these closed locations to open a new employee-run escape room company that runs a lot better with new ownership and actual financial accounting. That said, nothing is set in stone yet and these things can take weeks or months depending on how things shake out.

I unfortunately do not have weeks or months in the budget. The $15,000 I am asking for is both for the basics - to pay my bills, my rent, my credit cards, my car payment, etc. - but also to help rebuild my savings and recoup some of the money I am owed much, much faster than expected. Of the four recent paychecks I previously mentioned, minus the $800 I received, I am still owed $6,584.60 before taxes. This is in addition to the roughly $5194.37 in back pay I am still owed from 2023. That's about $11,778.97 in back pay alone. Getting this money is especially important to me because my current lease is up at the end of July and I need money to afford a new apartment. Sadly, moving back in with my parents is no longer a viable option.

It's worth mentioning that this situation has not only affected myself, but a number of other employees and their families as well. As we continue to explore our legal options, there's a chance other will come to Gofundme to try to get back some of what they're owed as well. If I see their information, I will be sure to share it here. Also, if you donate $1, or $10, please know you have my thanks. I don't know what to do without you. If you can't donate, then please share to get the word out.

Thank you for your time.