When I die there will be people coming out of the woodwork, former friends who knew me 20+ years, claiming to “know” me.
No they don’t. They’ve left me 6+ years ago after my brother died.
And those who claim to know me, will try to get with those who knew me years ago, but left me hanging.
There will be people who claim to be my friend or know me or have met me. Again, no. Yes they met me, but no, they don’t know me.
You may claim to live close to me, but you don’t. And you know what I mean by that. A neighbour next to me is further away than an alien from the moon.
The people who know me, are the people in the street, in the cafes, in the pubs, in their homes, in my home; people who walk like ants, organizing themselves in love and respect for one another; and who are not embarrassed to be associated with me. That’s a friend. A friend who doesn’t want anything from me but just be.
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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived 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.
“Sometimes when you’re running against the darkness, you find someone who seems to know the best path out, someone who has run that road across a terrible landscape and come out alive and better. There aren’t a lot of ways to express the depth of gratitude for the work they put in.
Even if you never come to actually know them, the fact they helped you beat the darkness makes them feel like someone on your team, like the anchor of humanity’s worst and most fucked up relay.
And when you begin to flag a little bit because it doesn’t seem like the race is ever going to end, you can look up to someone like that, someone who showed you that it’s never too late to try to outrun the lies and bullshit the darkness will tell you to get you to slow down.
And then one day you realize, it isn’t a race at all, because a race has a finish line, and this thing fucking doesn’t.
It’s just a run. A long run. Along the way, you pick up running buddies, people you admire for their toughness, people who keep you running, people you never would have expected to turn something that can be so hard into something you can enjoy.
And so when you have run so hard ahead of the darkness that every horizon looks like a sunrise, it’s almost impossible to believe that one of those people who led you out got tired.
“Wait,” you think. “They had it figured out. They showed me how to run. They showed me the sun.”
Even leaders get tired.
Over time, it might be hard to tell difference between the fatigue of running & the darkness they are running against. It might be hard to lead the way for so many people. It might, it might, it might. That’s the thing. You never know what it might.
And then they are gone.
So, what the hell are you supposed to do then? When you have finally learned how to run, how do you keep going when you lose one of the people who showed you the way? What do you do when you start to doubt “the way” is actually the way?
I guess I don’t know.
But today I guess I’d say this:
If you feel like you’re running alone, look around and you will find others running, too. They may be running differently, maybe backward, blindfolded, or in some janky way that makes them stand out against the field. Find those people and run with them for a while.
Eventually, if you just keep running, you’ll find people who are running a lot like you. Even if they don’t know you, they will understand you. And they will lead you—not to a finish line—but toward that sunlight where being tired isn’t so tiring.
And here’s something you might not expect: you might look up one day and realize someone is following you while you run. They are matching your stride and keeping your pace. They are grateful to have found YOU.
Be proud of that and use it to keep running.
It’s crushing to see one of your running buddies fall off stride and slip away. It can make you want to double back and find them. Don’t do that. It’s not how it works, or at least, it’s not how you want it to work.
Keep your stride. Steady your breath. Allow yourself to confuse the tears on your face with the sweat of your struggle.
And don’t stop or double back. Look for the other runners. They are everywhere.
We are everywhere.
(I don’t always feel great about Twitter, but the degree to which this thread resonated among friends & people I’ve never met has been very comforting and reminds me how important it can be to just admit how guy-punched something can make you feel…and how alone we *aren’t*)
And since I woke up to all kinds of inspiring messages today, I will pass this on. It’s what I remind myself when I feel like I’ve felt since hearing about Anthony Bourdain.”
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived 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.
So, in 2018 Pret pledged to eliminate all single use plastic by 2025, although they put a loophole into that pledge by saying “unnecessary” single use plastic 😉
And as usual I can’t help thinking that Pret came up with some bogus slogans to BREAK their pledge (as single use packaging is cheaper – katchink!). I’m intrigued with what tricks and slogans he tried to fool the audience. And just like with Pret’s “natural” food claim which they had to stop, teir “ethical” facade, the exploitation and bullying of staff, their foodwaste etc. etc. etc. 9 out of 10 times the slogans on Pret walls, website, marketing is the complete opposite!
When I worked at Pret, even though we had 2 different bins for “recycling”, it all went into the same waste pick-up truck.
Pret must have done a trial for recycling, but it must have not been successful as I’ve never seen this type of bin in any of the 30+ shops I worked at in 10 years.
»The civic society described the mess that had been left on the street on the last Bank Holiday Monday as a “horrendous example of fly-tipping”.«
Further:
»“We’ve checked the rules and even one such bag of rubbish left on the street counts as fly-tipping, so that puts it into Cheltenham Borough Council’s domain as an enforcement issue.”«
»A Pret a Manger spokesman said: “At Pret, we are proud to be part of the communities where we have shops, and are disappointed to have fallen short of our own standards on this occasion. We are working with our waste management provider and team members to make sure this won’t happen again«
Well, what have we got here … (in chronological order)
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UPDATE July 2022
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And while on the subject of waste, I have written extensively on Pret’s food waste issues. Pret claim to have a “fleet” of cars picking up food each night. Pret do have a car like this or several, but a “fleet” of cars is leaning out the window. I’ve seen a car once on my day off during the day driving by in Trafalgar Square. But in my 10 years in Pret, having worked in over 30+ shops, I’ve never even ONCE seen a car like this pick up food. Not once!
Pret rely on unpaid volunteers to pick up food. If no-one picks it up, it gets wasted in its packaging to landfill. The Pret Foundation car is window dressing more than anything. Of course they drive food to places, but there is no nightly pick-up, and it cannot be coincidence that in 10 years I’ve never seen this car pick up food from any of the 30+ shops I worked in.
Pret also SELL out-of-shelf life cooled down hot food via food app, again, supposedly for the Pret Foundation. Yet, before the pandemic hit Pret’s profits, they were STRICT for us to NOT give out hot food even for free to charity due to safety issues. I got told off by a manager once for handing out hot food when the charity volunteers arrives to pick up food. Now they sell it for cheap under the “charity” umbrella. When it comes to money, health and safety out the window! I write about this extensively in Pret’s Health & Safety Hypocrisy.
Pret always pretends to be so safety concerned, yet, don’t forget they ignored TWO customer deaths and over a dozen further allergen injuries before this became public. I speak about this on my podcast expretcast from the bottom up, Part 01 Ongoing Labelling Issues, Part 02 Ongoing … and Allergy Trial 2021. I draw especially attention to a Barbican seminar which is very important to mention.
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A former staff member also laughs about this:
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Another former staff:
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Another former staff member who got fired for starting a union:
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When customers or members of the public observe food-waste as it happens, and the below screenshots are only a fraction of what I pasted into my other post on food waste in Pret.
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Repeated food waste ignored by Pret:
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Bleach poured over food:
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Paris, France:
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Amy Sharpe from the Mirror went Undercover in Pret after I asked her to see for herself on issues:
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived 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.
So, here are some pictures of mine … more to come in time.
This blog post will be updated with new pics as the graffiti changes every day.
07.05.2022
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08.05.2022
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more to come one day …
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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived 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.
Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 
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