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Today I had a “lovely” Tweet exchange with an award winning suicide prevention Samaritan worker.
The Tweets started like this:
So, I hung my Tweet at @sharkyrae, not directly at @GaryLiverpool.
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He tweets back the following:
Thinking it’s just a usually annoyed person which happens, and is completely understandable and acceptable. I get that occasionally. I start replying with my usual response to just block me, and then my eye caught his profile to the right … and I started losing it!
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I know why I don’t trust awards! And that HR departments are toxic is more or less common knowledge, but this just turned my stomach. I’m not proud of my language here and the row of Tweets that follow, which you can easily follow by clicking “show more”. My Tweets are hidden in general, all the time behind the censorship wall, even when I write positive things, as my account is blacklisted for exposing Pret. But his profile just did it for me.
I used to call the Samaritans. I will certainly never call them again. I’d rather jump off the bridge.
If this guy answers a phone call or email of a suicidal person who happens to work at Pret and shares that they want to end their life because they are bullied during bereavement, the exact thing why I called the Samaritans 5-6 years ago, of course he would NOT say to not “call him again with my sad story and that he loves Pret”, but he would also NOT take a suicidal person with exactly that experience serious! Just the thought makes me want to get the fuck drunk and end my fucking life!
He would sweet-talk the caller and volunteers as well as professional counsellors are (supposed to be) trained to be non-judgmental and neutral. And just thinking that he would sweet-talk on the phone to a suicidal person and in private be so vile … The Samaritans have certainly lost my “custom” should I ever stand at the bridge again.
Of course I’m now partially shadow banned for the next 12 hours (until approx. midnight tonight) as he must have reported me.
I wrote further once I noticed that my account is shadow banned. And by the way, Twitter allows multiple accounts, so I’m not doing anything illegal here by having more than 1 account, Twitter even allows to connect one account to another.
I explained to him that as a mental health worker especially in suicide prevention, that he is held to a higher standard. And what he tweeted would have pushed me to the edge 2 years ago if not even recently, and I’m still struggling to survive, let alone live. I expect these kinds of words from ANY regular Joe, and I have received much worse comments from a regular person, but NOT from a suicide prevention volunteer (or staff).
I am grateful I wasn’t drunk when I read his words, I would have right jumped out of my window. And I need not go down the alcohol path.
What is also such a cowardly thing he did, he deleted @sharkyrae handle to reply only to me and Pret so she won’t see it. People sometimes do that to suck up to Pret while hiding their true face from others. I later copied @sharkyrae back in again amongst others like the Samaritan handle etc. Fucking hypocritical coward!
If you as mental health worker, no matter if volunteer or paid staff, write in such a way, and THEN hide yourself from others in the conversation, I will CALL YOU OUT EVEN LOUDER!!!
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I filed a complaint with the Samaritans that this guy should not be near a mental health service, let alone suicide prevention. People tell me at times on Twitter to fuck off, or that they don’t care, and much worse things. That’s “normal”. And I can understand people’s annoyance being tagged in. But I also know that this is a public platform. I don’t knock at people’s door like a Jehovah Witness or call people on the phone, even though I have some high profile numbers.
When I get an angry reply, I then just respond that they should just block me so they won’t get tagged in again in the future, which happened before by accident as I don’t pay attention to social media handles. But a suicide prevention charity worker saying what he did would have tipped me over 2 years ago. And I still am not over the hill when it comes to suicidal thoughts. I used to go to bed with suicide on my mind and wake up with suicide on my mind and have passed by countless bridges on my way home from work. It’s not a daily tortures thought anymore. But this guy turned my stomach.
The Tweets towards the end is him threatening me with a lawsuit. And I say it here loud and clear, I rather die then take back my Tweets! I have nothing to lose and a piece of sh!t like this hypocrite would just make my fucking day!
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No it’s not irrelevant! So much lack of emotional intelligence. I don’t expect a lot from human beings, but if you work in certain fields, you’d better think twice before calling someone who has NOT offended you initially a “sad account” for calling out Pret’s terrible treatment of staff who test positive for Covid19. Because that is the link I’ve tagged him in about, before he proclaimed his love for Pret again and calling my account sad.
It’s like a police officer who goes over the speed limit while driving in private without being in an emergency. Or all the politicians who broke Covid restrictions after making them law. Or if I wear a T-Shirt saying “Jesus loves you unconditionally”, and then I say to a person “I’m really not interested in your sad account/story/experience” etc. If this guy would be the average Joe, I would have laughed it off as usual and just asked to block me. But when I saw his profile, I lost it.
I was one of the first clients at The Listening Place (TLP) when they first started in 2016. They do face-to-face meetings with suicidal people. Never ONCE where ANY of them in any way unprofessional or told of their personal feelings, either positive nor negative towards Pret. They even wrote a letter on my behalf to Pret. I later applied for my file from TLP to hand it in to my NHS file and I was gobsmacked in how professional they are. I couldn’t even find ONE mistake, whereas in my NHS file are multiple mistakes that I had to get corrected.
And then a “Smaritan” like this says something that he did, I am still in shock. And I’m not proud of the language I use, but I don’t give a flying fuck about his meaningless threats. Make my day you fucking piece of shit! And get the fuck away from people with mental health problems, especially those who want to end their life. YOU piece of shit makes me want to end my life!
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UPDATE:
I received a TYPICAL sweet-talking email back from the usual “jo” @Samaritans …
Upfront, I can only say that The Listening Place started by 2 Samaritans, started off caring beyond believe, but I lost hope.
If you are suicidal, please reach out to a snail, they’ll help you.
The generic, sweet-talking email I received from the anonymous “Jo” @ “Samaritans”, and please keep in mind that this is a McDonald’s answer to beef.
Quote:
»Hi,
I appreciate you getting in touch with us. The details of your complaint have been passed on to the relevant department for review.
I am very sorry to hear about your mum passing away. I imagine not being able to go to her funeral would have been very hard to deal with. It sounds like you have been going through a lot recently with work and your personal situation. How are you coping at the moment?
You mentioned before that you would be happy to die. Can I ask, do you still feel this way? Could you tell me a bit more about your thoughts and feelings around this?
If you still feel comfortable talking to us, please know that we are here to support you.
Jo«
Here is a vomit emoticon:
🤮
SHAME on you “Samaritans”.
You are the McDonald’s of mental health. Fucking stay away from me!
I gladly die without the “help” you offer you clowns! And congratulate the Tories for privatizing mental health help. Fuck you!
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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived … no, I’m still surviving … systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
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Thank you for reading/listening.
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Interview:
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Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 