Month: February 2024

#SmallTalkSavesLives?? DANGEROUS Samaritans Ads

I Survived Pret A Manger (unsafe company)Leave a comment

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Upfront, the Samaritans social media team on Facebook blocked me after I pointed out the below in a much shorter text. So far to how much they really care. And no, I wasn’t rude or used any swear words.

Also at the bottom of this page about the poor scoring on Trustpilot. Here’s just one of many reviews, and then it makes sense why Samaritans “recruit” members of the public:

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Important UPDATE April 2024 at the bottom of this post HOW the Smaritans started.

UPDATE 14. August 2024:

“Sexual harassment against women and girls up 50% on British railways”

UPDATE 2025: Trustpilot reviews at the very bottom of this page. 80% (1 & 2 star reviews combined) disapprove of Samaritans. When I saw the percentage, I thought I accidentally went on the Pret A Manger Trustpilot reviews as they also have 73% disapproval rate.

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Poor quality Audio Version via “AI” conversion. Apologies for the lack of crisp quality. This is for people with visual impairment where “AI” programs can’t read screenshots. I briefly explain via audio what the videos and photos show. Please note, the audio is NOT updated with any of the text updates here.

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The Samaritans together with Network Rail and Transport Police have brought out an ad campaign to prevent suicide. The way they’re doing this had me shocked and many women and some men outraged on Twitter/X.

Four such ads appeared in a row within days. The slogan is “Small-talk saves lives” under the hashtag .

There are SO MANY issues with this ad.

  • They want the PUBLIC who are NOT trained in mental health and even in such serious mental health condition of suicidal ideation to take it amongst themselves to “save a life”.
  • They ONLY use women to initiate “small talk” with complete strangers on railway or underground platforms.
  • They want people to ASSUME that someone is suicidal who might look sad or just look however.
  • They are guilt-tripping, in this case especially women, into feeling bad if someone might be suicidal and the woman didn’t initiate “small talk”.

All my red flags went up when I first saw the ad on X. And as someone on the other side of this, struggling with suicidal thoughts at times, I am appalled!

In the UK, especially in London, attacks and sexual assaults have increased, EVEN in broad daylight on trains and stations etc. And yet, Samaritans, Police and Rail company want WOMEN to approach complete strangers to start a conversation.

One, you can tell that MEN must have been behind that ad. EVERY woman has at one point or another been sexually assaulted, often since childhood and repeatedly. And they know that! Although the CEO is female and the lead psychologist coming up with this ad is also female. It’s the way women are raised.

Two, these men who run the ad campaign, and especially money-saving railway and police want women again to do the heavy lifting and emotional labour.

Three, and even worse, they want UNTRAINED people to deal with extreme mental health crisis of strangers.

And four, to do this with “small talk”!

I struggle with suicidal thoughts. It has become much less, but it is always at the back of my mind! Small-talk is THE LAST thing I want. I never liked small-talk to begin with! And I certainly won’t want a stranger, especially a man to approach me doing small-talk during a mental health crisis! Let alone a woman approach a man!

Also, many people just look tired or sad, after all we live in a busy city. But for the Samaritans to want people to assume someone is suicidal and strike up a conversation is horrendous. I often look sad, even before my brother died I had a serious look on my face because I’m a thinker! People often commented on my serious looking face. I’d be so offended if I was NOT suicidal and someone assumes this and then starts a chitter-chatter!

This ad campaign feels like a lazy cop-out by mental health services as the NHS is overstretched, to “employ” free mental health workers who are NOT qualified, and then to approach strangers. And they appeal mainly to women to do the work!

I am absolutely appalled. And since the comments on X went through the roof, Samaritans have added a post 4 days later adding that people should call 999 if they’re not comfortable. Well, dah!

I and many others have appealed to Samaritans to drop the ad, or at least use MEN to talk to MEN!!!

“Small talk can take lives”!

Here are the examples, with the last video being THE WORST ad I’ve ever seen on any subject!

The first one is, again, women pampering men in the name of free treatment to “save a life”! My stomach’s turning! And please know this is not an anti-men blog post! I’m neither gay nor anti-men, and I know there are more good men in the world than the creeps who fill the news! I love men, I appreciate men, I feel good around great men! This is about the coercion of females and their empathy again.

Link

Next:

“Something didn’t feel right. … Just that one little bit of positive small talk and it can go so far.” Yep, it can go so far! It can get you raped or killed! Women are told to FEEL something and make assumptions to approach men to chat!

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Really? People sit in a nail salon telling the staff they feel/felt suicidal? And then some small-talk does the trick?

How much did those ad campaigns, especially the videos with actors cost??

And the absolute worst and DANGEROUS ad, telling women to “trust your instincts” while in reality gaslighting them to OVER-RIDE / IGNORE / QUESTION their instincts! Link to the video below as well.

Screenshot:

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Video, press play:
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Link

In case Samaritans delete the video, here’s another LINK.

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REMINDER

Sexual and other assaults on women and girls on railway and tube has increased by 50% in the last 2-3 years. It has DOUBLED!

And this is only on public transport!!! We don’t know what the numbers are on the street and behind closed doors.

The stastistic is NOT that male suicides on railway and tube is up by 50%, but assault on females. WHERE are the campaigns for men to step up and look out for women’s safety instead of being SPECTATORS while women get raped and assaulted?! Because we live in a porn sick society, where porn and prostitution has been normalised.

Shame on Samaritans, Network Rail, and unsurprisingly Police for the lazy and money-saving aim to coerce women to approach men and play saviour again!

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I say it again, women are being told to “trust their instincts” while in reality being coerced to IGNORE / OVER-RIDE their instincts and approach complete strangers on a train platform for small talk!

One guy on X tried to guilt-trip me, and make me responsible if a man dies by suicide. I responded that I’d rather hurt his (the X poster’s) feelings than endanger my life. I made it very clear that if I think he or someone is about to end their life, I WILL call for help!

I will NOT, as a lone woman on a platform close to the edge start “small talk” with a man who looks sad or tired or whatever! I will look for staff, call mental health service or even police depending on the situation! ! ! !

But I will NOT approach a stranger to start a conversation! It is NOT my job to be the saviour of strangers and make assumptions about someone’s mental health state! ! ! !

What’s also so appalling in the ad is that behind the “assumed” suicidal man is a MALE staff member with orange vest! But it’s the woman who is implored to talk to the man!

I raised this with Network Rail saying that this is clever to manipulate people to think you’re not alone and there’s staff close by! I NEVER see ANY staff on platforms anymore!!! And then, why is the trained staff member not implored to speak to the man?!

It’s clear why! Women are being lured into danger at worst, or to do the heavy lifting in emotional labour at best.

I say it loud and unashamed, do NOT approach a stranger on a platform, but call for help! End of!

I speak openly about my struggles to take the sting out and release the “mystery” of such horrible thoughts to lighten the pain.

I wrote a blog post years ago briefly linking to helplines that have helped me personally:

Suicide Sanctuaries

But the Samaritans have lost me here.

One tweet gave the CORRECT approach and it’s appalling that Samaritans want women to approach strangers assuming severe mental health issues. Help someone as a group.

And Samaritans are hiding comments from people, as well as having blocked me on Facebook.

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Three things:

  1. This is a man dealing with a young lad. Although women can do of course, BUT
  2. He worked in a team.
  3. With a signaller, everyone looking out for each other including for the young lad.

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THAT’S how you do it!!!
No “small-talk”, no woman approaching a guy ALONE! Shame on Samaritans and Network Rail, and I’m not even surprised that British Transport Police endorse this.
I don’t expect anything from police with their record of corruption, misogyny, violence against women etc. etc.!

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Also someone on social media pointing out that suicide is not only due psychosocial reasons.

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And someone else quoted CEO pay. How can a CEO of a MENTAL HEALTH CHARITY get almost the same pay than the Prime Minister of the UK or the President of the USA??

And funds go into media and ads and executives, while the frontline hard work is done by UNPAID volunteers!!! Also, voluteers have NO labour rights under the law like paid workers have. This is all backwards!

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I question the motives of the Samaritans leadership, and I lived long enough to know that for Network Rail (companies) etc. it’s all about money. We live in a world where FREE labour (volunteer work) and low wages are normalised. So, let the public, and especially women, do all the work for free. Appalling!

Now, we mature women see this bullsh!t ad for what it is, aiming to appeal at female empathy, but imagine a teenage girl or even a woman in her 20s seeing such an ad, and them knowing how women’s empathy is being tapped into! She takes this on and assumes she can or “HAS TO” save a man who stands there staring into air! FFS! Women are drilled from childhood on to submit, to shush, to serve, to save! And they know that very well. And many women, like the CEO and the lead psychologist cater to this as well.

If you don’t read anything else, please read the following review by an ex-Samaritan volunteer!!!

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Female volunteers are STILL coached to go along with sex calls! (Please see infobelow n the “Brenda” line).

Where is the MeToo movement when we need them?!

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LINK to the detailed review.

Reading these reviews by callers and volunteers alike, it’s very clear that Samaritans TARGET women to save orplease men! Shame on them. These “services” need massive investigation and change!

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To give UNPAID volunteers SUCH serious, difficult, degrading line of work is not only unfair, but cruel and unethical!

And to any volunteer of any charity, please KNOW that no charity can demand you to commit to work!!! They can only demand PAID employees with a contract, but not unpaid volunteers. Volunteer have NO rights and also cannot be forced to commit.

Here just a few of the many horror news on women being pushed unto traintracks or women being raped, sexually assaulted on trains, platforms in broad daylight. I only link to the news without showing pictures. Yes, this is done to men as well, but we all know the statistics of more violence against women by men than vice versa.

It’s the same with vans, I stay away from vans with open door. If I’m called over and asked to help someone get something in or out of a van or car, I decline and respond to ask a shop or men or whatever. Again, I’d rather hurt someone’s feelings than endanger myself.

Not to mention that a predator can pretend to be mentally distressed to lure women in. We already fight against men suddenly identifying as women to get into women’s prisons, women’s sports, women’s toilets, locker rooms, hospital wards etc. etc. And Samaritans want to lure women and girls to save a man via small-talk! Absolute irresponsible sh!t show!

It just seems that the war on women is in full swing. Women have become too independent, strong, self-sufficient, have opinions, leadership etc. they want to rein women in again! We need to fight over and over not just for new rights, but to not lose the hard-fought rights women and men achieved years ago.

And we women know that when we just even smile at a stranger, some men take this as a hint. Let alone strike up a conversation!

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UPDATE 2025 – The above comment is shown in black and white on a Pret A Manger Twitter comment by a pastor who assumed he was “hit on” by a female staff member because she smiled at him. For one, I educated him that Pret staff HAVE TO smile, or no-one gets bonus, and 2. the fact that some men take a smile, let alone initiation of small-talk as a hint …nothing more to say.

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The following is only in the UK, I can’t be bothered to include other countries:

December 2023 during the MORNING commute: “A woman was raped on the London Underground in front of other passengers. Why did no one intervene?”
(Maybe because too many men are addicted to porn and see assaults like this as normal? Every onlooker’s hard-drive should be checked as well as judges who give lenient sentences to rapists and paedophiles!)

And yes, crimes happen to men too, and women too commit crimes, but we all know that violent and sexual crimes are predominantly committed by men against women and children. And the appalling way judges, the media etc. cater to violent rapists who quickly identify as women to get lenient sentencing and go to women’s prisons, these rapist are called “she/her” in court to put crimes on women! Absolutely fed up with this!

And before anyone says I’m transphobic, fnck right off! I love and support transman Buck Angel, transwoman Blaire White and many others, both who get a lot of backlash, even death threats for speaking sense into this madness! So, try your BS somewhere else!

November 2023: “Woman pushed towards tracks at busy London Tube station after being grabbed by man“

27.02.2024 (yesterday): “Hunt for man who ‘masturbated in front of woman on Elizabeth line train”

August 2023: “Disabled woman describes ‘horrifying moment’ she was sexually assaulted on a train“

2017: “Wheelchair-bound woman pushed on to train tracks and bashed in head”

2019 Scotland: “Street beggar raped woman after she tried to help him“

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And many, many, many more horror stories. So, let’s just send women to strangers for small-talk, hey?!

November 2023 Survey: “One in three women sexually harassed while commuting by train or Tube, survey reveals”

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REMINDER!

Sexual and other assaults on women and girls on railway and tube has increased by 50% in the last 2-3 years. It has DOUBLED!

And this is only on public transport!!! We don’t know what the numbers are on the street and behind closed doors.

The stastistic is NOT that male suicides on railway and tube is up by 50%, but assault on females. WHERE are the campaigns for men to step up and look out for women’s safety instead of being SPECTATORS while women get raped and assaulted?! Because we live in a porn sick society, where porn and prostitution has been normalised.

Shame on Samaritans, Network Rail, and unsurprisingly Police for the lazy and money-saving aim to coerce women to approach men and play saviour again!

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Some of the many comments, these are just some of my favourites, hitting the nail on the head. Emotional blackmail in full swing!

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THIS is my favourite comment, SPOT ON observation!

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And many, many, many more. You can look those up on Twitter/X. I cannot keep doing such long blog posts. I think people get the message. Speak to your friends, colleagues, especially female, to truly trust their instincts and NOT over-ride them!

The outcry by mainly women but also several men has led Samaritans to update with the following:

Link

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!!! REMINDER !!!

Sexual and other assaults on women and girls on railway and tube has increased by 50% in the last 2-3 years. It has DOUBLED!

And this is only on public transport!!! We don’t know what the numbers are on the street and behind closed doors.

The stastistic is NOT that male suicides on railway and tube is up by 50%, but assault on females. WHERE are the campaigns for men to step up and look out for women’s safety instead of being SPECTATORS while women get raped and assaulted?! Because we live in a porn sick society, where porn and prostitution has been normalised.

Shame on Samaritans, Network Rail, and unsurprisingly Police for the lazy and money-saving aim to coerce women to approach men and play saviour again!

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But the outcry remains, and people continue to raise their voice for Samaritans to drop the ad or use men to talk to men, in groups!

Do NOT approach a stranger to strike up a conversation / small talk, especially not as women towards men! ALWAYS call for help if you think something’s wrong! And leave the mental health heavy lifting to the professionals.

If you have suicidal friends/family member, and I have burdened many friends, especially in a drunken state, you did the right thing to continue giving mental health links. Don’t abandon the friendship if you can, but you did and do the right thing to call for or point to professionals.

Thank you.

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UPDATE April 2024

As I still inform people, especially women on social media on the horrible “Smalltalk” ads, I was linked to an excellent exposé by a blogger who did amazing research into the founder of the Samaritans. PLEASE READ!

Link to Tweet.

Link to blogger’s article: The Brenda Line – Samartitans 2

UPDATE April 2025 – I just found this interview. I had a hunge that a psychologist is behind this ad campaign. And unfortunately a female psychologist who, as many women do, throw other women under the bus. No thought about the dangers, maybe she was protected all her life.

Quote: “We spoke to Dr Lisa Marzano, lead psychologist behind the campaign, who works with the Samaritans Media Advisory Team, and previously British Transport Police, on training staff in helping suicidal people.”

On training STAFF!!!!! But she’s behind the ad campaign guilt-tripping members of the public, especially women to do this work! Appalling!

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Link to interview.

UPDATE 2025 – I just took a look at Samaritans Trustpilot reviews and they speak for itself.

Link to Samaritans reviews.

Hoping for an undercover journalist to go undercover as a volunteer. And for anyone saying reviews are fake, many people on Trustpilot leave reviews under their name and have a mix of positive and negative reviews on organisations. If people are happy, why should they leave a fake negative review?

But I am very weary of “charities”. It’s always about funding once these organisations grow.

Samaritans score April 2025:

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And the mental health charity Mind, of whom I read someone doing what I do with Pret, calling out systemic workplace bullying within the charity have 95% bad scores on Trustpilot (1 & 2 star reviews combined). If a journalist can go undercover into these “charities”. There’s something really really wrong here.

Link to Mind Trustpilot reviews.

This recent review also talks about Samaritans:

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Pret score April 2025:

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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. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago.
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 and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
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 as well as mentioned by the BBC.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.

NEW LinkTree

PayPal.Me

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 but just press play)

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

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! ! ! R E M I N D E R ! ! !

Sexual and other assaults on women and girls on railway and tube has increased by 50% in the last 2-3 years. It has DOUBLED!

And this is only on public transport!!! We don’t know what the numbers are on the street and behind closed doors.

The stastistic is NOT that male suicides on railway and tube is up by 50%, but assault on females. WHERE are the campaigns for men to step up and look out for women’s safety instead of being SPECTATORS while women get raped and assaulted?! Because we live in a porn sick society, where porn and prostitution has been normalised.

Shame on Samaritans, Network Rail, and unsurprisingly Police for the lazy and money-saving aim to coerce women to approach men and play saviour again!

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Bad Press for Bad Pret

I Survived Pret A Manger (unsafe company)Leave a comment

UPDATE 18. July 2024 The Pret subscription saga continues with Pret now scrapping the “free” drinks and trying to convince customers that it’s a good deal.

Oh well, Pret A Anger yet again! 😀

The Guardian: “Pret customers left fuming over end of free drinks”

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Also see my post on why I believe that scrapping the 5 drinks and changing the subscription might actually save Pret:
Is Sinclair Beecham Saving Pret?

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UPDATE end of April 2024, increased bad press towards the middle – bottom section.

Audio version via my podcast.

Audio version is NOT updated.

Some bad press on Pret recently which has increased since 2018, partly due to my blog and communicating with journalists, and also the customer deaths and injuries which has shook the public as everyone fell for Pret’s “ethical” facade.

Upfront, someone from WordPress is checking every post I put out as Pret must have complained about me. So, someone is always checking what I put out. As WordPress claim they honour free speech and free press, they found a compromise for Pret, and moved my blog into the “adult” section where they host porn sites. This means that every WordPress user who is logged in and does a search within the “reader” section on anything regarding Pret, can NOT find my blog.

Of course I raised this with WP but they only come with bogus reasons. I am still looking into moving my blog completely to a new host as I pay for my blog and have my free speech restricted within WordPress.

I want to post one article here from 2013 that I wish I read when I worked in Pret then. It remains my absolute favourite press article about Pret for several reason. One, it’s so bloody well researched and written. But mainly because it was written in 2013 when NO journalist dared to look deeper into, let alone write critically about Pret. It was a time of Pret’s high life and extreme favour with the public AND the press. Them days are over now! 6 years ago when I started to write publicly about Pret, hardly anyone believed me. Now it’s much more common knowledge and it’s time that the Pret facade is cracked substantially.

Timothy Noah remains hands-down my favourite journalist in regards to Pret.

“The Enforced Happiness of Pret A Manger”

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I list a few more great articles about the psychological “abuse” as I call it with other journalists articles in The Dangers of Emotional Labour and how it affects not only the mental health of workers, but morale, addiction, how it hurts even physically and financially.

Some bad press that are worth mentioning. There is more, but I keep it with the recent ones and try to keep it as short as possible (yeah, right!). Not sure if I’ll update, depending on the severity of a scandal Pret manage to create.

A recent article in the iPaper which I really recommend about the “master cup”. I’ve seen this during very busy coffee rushes even before the coffee subscription. The journalist is throwing a little word-play in there which you normally see with Daily Mail, Metro etc.:

“It’s bean nice but here’s why I finally quit my Pret subscription”

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UPDATE 12. April 2024

Pret are forced to refund “some genuine” customers after the new app keeps failing customers their drinks. BUT I explain how Pret WILL trick customers.

“Pret refunds subscribers after crackdown on free coffee backfires”

Link (Sidenote: Some news outlets STILL use the old image with “natural” food despite Pret being banned in 2018 from using this on their marketing).

If you’re affected you need to demand a FULL refund and AFTER the refund demand for your data to be deleted if you do not wish to have the subscription and/or app.

Pret will try EVERYTHING to NOT refund and keep customers bound to the subscription. Do NOT trust Pret!!!

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LINK

And, it’s funny how journalists feel “vindicated” to have known all along how Pret’s subscription is a rip off, ignoring that I’ve been writing this since Pret started the subin September 2020 😉

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»Oh, how delicious it is to be proven right.
A little under a year ago, I cancelled my Pret subscription after I was struck with the lightning bolt realisation that the chain was using my own caffeine addiction to rip me off. I haven’t had a coffee from Pret ever since.«

Link via Yahoo.

How delicious it is to be proven right? Tell me that since May 2018 😉

My “Pret’s Continued Coffee Subscription Rip-Off” post from January 2021 is still one of THE MOST read articles on my blog, especially by journalists. It emboldened journalists to more freely criticise Pret now compared to years ago where they were kissing up to Pret non-stop (except Timothy Noah).

And as usual, journalists MAINLY write a critical article about Pret when THEY themselves are affected as customers. Hardly independent journalism there. No care whatsoever what current and former staff say. Who cares about low-wage workers who are VITAL in customer servoce and the food and drnk these journalists put in their stomachs which these burnt-out, often depressed, some alcoholic workers TOUCH.

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Further regarding the coffee subscription, which is now Pret’s MAIN product and staff are penalised if they don’t push/mention it to customers:

“How the coffee subscription ruined Pret”

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I wrote a brief post about HOW Pret make profit via the subscription and the countless complaints from the early days of the subscription launch in September 2020:

“How Pret make profit via the subscription”

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One journalist is giving tips on how to make the most of a “bad” Pret subscription: 😀

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Link

A pretty sharp article on the quality of Pret:

“There’s one Pret A Manger sandwich that is still a masterpiece.
But while the high street favourite used to offer value and quality… now it does neither”

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In the next article, it’s always interesting when journalists say Pret is “becoming” a scandal when it comes to prices and their pockets. More and more customers stopped going to Pret due to the prices, yet, these same customers don’t give a toss that Pret IGNORED two customer deaths and multiple injuries UNTIL this became public. It’s always when it comes to money that people, even journalists are outraged.

“It’s about time Pret dropped its prices: they’re becoming a national scandal”… yeah, but only on 6 items to lure customers back in.

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An EXCELLENT article in the Financial Times which kickstarted the press writing more about Pret’s prices and quality. But this FT article really takes a good look at Pret’s claim on inflation etc.

“The Price problem with Pret”

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UPDATE 27. April 2024

The Spectator: “How Pret ate itself”, which is only one part in the article of a series of businesses in trouble, but Pret as usual serve as clickbait.

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Some snippets of the Spectator article:

»But the success story has gradually soured, one bad piece of PR following another.«

And mid to end of April 2024 The Telegraph whipped out a series of anti-Pret articles, leading Pret to send them thousands of pounds worth of food to appease the Telegraph’s “wrath”. JAB Holdings who own Pret also reshuffled and brought back RE-co-founder Sinclair Beecham, who already pumped money into Pret during the pandemic, to keep them afloat. Beecham is brought back supposedly to help expand Pret, although I have the suspicion that the REAL reason is because CEO Pano Christou simply doesn’t cope as he is already busy flying around the world expanding while UK shops are in shambles.

Detail on “Telegraph vs Pret”

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And Beecham’s return to Pret is like Rishi Sunak bringing back former PM David Cameron. And in typical Pret fashion, they say they bring Beecham back to expand Pret, while in reality Pret are in £700 million debt and Beecham has to save the day.

CONFLICTING MESSAGES

(Expansion)

Link

VERSUS (Values)

Link to The Caterer article.

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VERSUS (Debt)

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Link to MSN via Daily Mail.

Which one is it now?! But the mis-management by Pano Christou is obvious. Pret A Mis-Manager more like!

And while Sinclair Beecham returns, his buddy RE-co-founder Julian Metcalfe throws Pret and its CEO under the bus. 😀

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Julian Metcalfe is close buddy with former Pret CEO Clive Schlee whom he gave the CEO spot years ago. Schlee also owns half of itsu. My hunge is that Schlee and Metcalfe are is p!ssed off with how current CEO Pano Christou is sinking Pret. Yet, Schlee run Pret into an iceberg in the first place. NEVER forget how Schlee and his then right-hand man Pano Christou as UK Managing Director ignored TWO customer deaths and ober 20 injuries (that we know of) BEFORE this became public. We staff didn’t even know! And Pret went business as usual while selling themselves to the public as ethical, caring and trail blazers. Never forget that!

Do some research on their bullsh!t slogan “Be Kind – Be Generous – Be Honest” or “Pret, doing the right thing naturally” and many other bullcrap slogans.

And Julian Metcalfe being Julian Metcalfe, he runs his mouth in the press while ALSO having complaints on his itsu app on social media. 😀

There’s a saying in Germany that goes like, “Schadenfreude ist die beste Freude”.

And Karma’s a bitch!

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A few older reports:

There is more, but I keep it as short as possible.

Pret being naughty again and mess with staff data:

“Pret a Manger ordered to pay $677K to settle biometric lawsuit”

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Please note that the legal system in the USA is different to that in the UK. More staff sue Pret in the USA than the UK as the court system is more balanced and looks after the small guy more than the UK. And the payouts when staff win is bigger in the USA than the UK, therefore the lawyers take on cases more in the USA than UK. I speak form own experience when I went to Tribunal against Pret, but I withdrew when my dad died. I had no legal help as no-one was interested to take it on, due to the small payouts if I’d won.

One example on why a former staff member LOST in court in the UK is in my opinion unfair, but unfortunately the judge had a point:
99.9% Accepted Exploitation, so 0.01% Lost in Court.

For more lawsuits, especially regarding staff and wage theft, please see Pret A Manger Lawsuits and Settlements.

No wonder that hardly anyone sues in the UK.

And the recent scandal of a staff trapped in a walk-in freezer, leading to a £800,000 fine down from £1.6 million as Pret pled guilty early on. There’s a separate civil claim, but knowing Pret, they probably already settled out of court and had the staff sign a NDA as we don’t hear anything anymore.

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I was contacted as I often am by Pret staff who leak issues to me that I leak to the press. One such contact was after Pret for the 2. time in 2022 delayed paying staff under dodgy reasons. I completely forgot at the time that Pret did that before, in around 2012 when I worked at Pret. I even went around to my colleagues offering to lend them money as some became panicked to not be able to pay bills. I was a team leader on a bit higher pay and had saving. LITTLE did I know that this was NOT a payroll mistake, but can see now that this is a pattern.

And this was under former CEO Clive Schlee, the “Ronald McDonald” clown of Pret who’s job it was to fool everyone with a big friendly smiley facade. Almost ALL journalists were in Pret’s pocket believing Pret to be such an ethical company, including the Guardian’s Sarah Butler, who has now woken up since I tag her in or email her with Pret issues.

But Clive Schlee used to follow her on Twitter and she was fooled by him like everybody. I guess he thought that if he as the big cheese of Pret follows certain journalists, he’d flatter them with his following.

And then, little me came along and told a different story of the real Pret.

I WISH I kept the email from 2012 that the payroll staff sent to all shops apologizing and even saying something like “I never felt so sick to my stomach” close to vomiting to have forgotten or made a mistake to pay THOUSANDS of already low-wage workers!

And this reflects on shop managers who always cheat towards the end of a quarter to get more bonus. They cheat especially with staff hours. EVERY week I had to check my pay if I was paid the correct hours worked. I had to constantly go to my managers shop after shop that they forgot an hour here or two hours there. This is NOT a mistake! Do this every week to several staff and you see how it adds up. It’s another form of wage theft hard to prove as they claim to have “forgotte” to pay the hour here and there.

I had a spreadsheet at home and noted down how long I worked to the 15 minutes! Many don’t do that and don’t realise how they are cheated out of days, even weeks of the amount hours over years. Pret also like to keep the first week wages worked when people leave. When you start at Pret, your first pay comes after week two. They did that to me keeping a week’s pay, but I noticed only a year later.

Pret keep staff so busy and burnt-out that staff have no nerve or strength to 1. check their hours and 2. chase after it. Again, scumbags of a company!

To my knowledge from own experience in 2012-ish and then via the contact of TWO pay delays within a few months, this is now the THIRD time Pret “borrow” money from staff! This happens close to the end of the quarter where the higher up execs get their brownie points which later translates into millions in bonus. The more money they save towards the quarter, the more bonus they get. These scumbags!

I vividly remember the panic of some team members who lived from pay ceck to pay check hving bills tp pay and/or kids to feed, and me going around to offer money. I was so naive thinking it was a one-off genuine mistake! Absolute scumbags Pret are! And I say it bluntly, Pano Christou is mis-managing Pret big time. He has NO excuse to mishandle so many issues as he’s been with Pret over 20 years. But to me it’s just evidence how bad they really are and it now shows what I’ve been writing since 2018. Pressure, scandals (customer deaths & injuries) and crisis (pandemic, cost of living) always reveals how incapable, even careless and arrogant Pret are.

They got away with customer deaths, they feel invincible now. But price hikes are never forgiven by people. When it comes to money, everybody screams!

Part of the DM I received and emailed CEO Pano Christou with angry words, openly copying journalists in including Sarah Butler from the Guardian who then reported on it:

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Sarah Butler then investigated further and wrote the following article:

“Pret CEO handed near-£4m bonus in year staff pay was cut
Pano Christou also given 27% salary rise in 2021 as chain took more than £50m in government support”

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I write about Sarah Butler in my post: Sarah Butler from the Guardian and my Blog.

I’m not kidding, but i literally teared up when I saw Loose Women presenter Nadia Sawalha give Pret a stern rebuke on her Instagram account. And she has half-a-million followers on Instagram, and more followers on Twitter/X than Pret UK and Pret USA combined have. She has a voice!

She ranted about how it is unacceptable for Pret to cut wages during the pandemic of already low wage staff during “war” time (pandemic). She made a mistake though saying that staff who get £8.91 an hour (in 2021) and Pret wanting to cut more. What happened was that as Pret always pay about 50p above the minimum wage to appear generous in the public, staff earned more than minimum wage but the pay was then cut down TO £8.91 national minimum wage (2021). She just mis-spoke there. But the point stands. And her question if the big guns of Pret also take a cut, I knew they wouldn’t take a cut, but it has been answered a year later by above Sarah Butler’s article.

I gave it its own YouTube slide and watch it sometimes when I despair at “famous” or influential people being silent on how Pret behave, especially when it comes to staff.

She was the only celebrity who spoke out! I watched this again today and still keep tearing up *sniff sniff*! I’m not a hugger by nature but could give her a big hug through the screen! Such mic-drop rebuke! To have such a prominent voice on the side of low-wage staff is nothing short of powerful and kind! 💪 💚

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And of course now in 2024 CEO bonus is £5 million and upwards, plus year on year pay-rise. CEO Pano Christou who’s with Pret over 20 years and was Clive Schlee’s right-hand man, has as his MAIN priority to double Pret in size by 2026 as instructed by the owners, the second richest family in Germany, the Reimanns under JAB Holdings in tax-haven Luxembourg.

But get ready, in April 2024 the government will raise minimum wage again and Pret will again make a big PR move to claim to be so generous to raise wages again. They never mention that they have no choice but ti raise the pay as they’d be breaking the law paying under minimum wage. Give it until March before you see a massive PR stint again.

Christou wants to build his name and legacy as having expanded Pret worldwide while having his head in the sand that Pret’s gone downhill so much so more negative press reports. Also 74% of customers on Trustpilot (1&2 star reviews combined) disapprove of Pret on a variety of issues, many having sworn to never set foot inside Pret again.

74% unhappy customers as of February 2024.

The following review I screenshot is from mid 2023 and is just one of many. For people with visual impairment, quote, it starts of in all caps:

“PLEASE DO NOT USE THE APP, it logs you out and locks your banking information for the subscription”.

End of quote.

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Or data breach, quote:

“Mishandling Customer Data

I had a subscription for 3 months over the summer. The products are poor quality & not as described. The customer service also rude.
Due to the poor service I asked Pret to delete my data in accordance with GDPR right to be forgotten.
An organisation has 30 days to comply.
After 6 weeks Pret still not deleted my data even after a warning from the ICO.
Avoid this company like the plague!”

End of quote.

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And many more along those lines.

And knowing Pret, they might recruit people to start writing positive reviews to get the numbers up.

It’s also alleged that Pret had someone change the Wikipedia entry to delete the original founder Jeffrey Hyman’s name from Wikipedia.

I write about this in my Julian Metcalfe post:

Julian Metcalfe’s Family Line and how I chased him off Twitter

Last but not least, and even though it’s an older article, but I’m proud to have worked with Mike Powell on two of his BBC reports. He is the only journalist for a major news putlet who mentioned my blog.

The first article:

“Pret customers complain about the drink subscription deal“

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And how Pret further take from staff and customers, especially under the “charity” umbrella:

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How Pret take from staff to do PR to fool customers. <—

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Also, see my recent Open Letter to Tristan Tate, former Pret Barista and Brother of Andrew Tate after he private messaged me.

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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 and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
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 as well as mentioned by the BBC.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more.

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Thank you for reading/listening

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 as WordPress sometimes “messes” with my blog. Just press play or go straight to the interview on Adam’s page).

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Open Letter to a Mental Health Facility

I Survived Pret A Manger (unsafe company)Leave a comment

An AI audio conversion of the text for people with visual impairment or who don’t want to read long text. Please ignore the pronounciation of “manger”. Also, the last few seconds are cut off for some reason. Apologies for the quality.

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Dear mental health team,

my drunken email was my typical way to self-sabotage.

I want for the last explain some things again, even though over explaining doesn’t help.

What I wrote regarding the death cafe last year, I went to 15 – 20 death cafes over the years. Every DC is very different, some small, some big, all incredibly valuable. My first DC back in 2016 when I was in the deepest darkness after my brother died, and in my full ordeal in Pret with the bullying. The DC was with only 2 of us, held by the theatre actress Bella Heesom, who did a one-woman show “My World has Exploded a Little Bit” about the death of her parents, specifically her dad.

After the play she announced the death cafe which sounded weird at first, but at the time I was watching films, theatre plays, listened to music all to do with death, dying and loss. She told me that about 5 people signed up, but only I turned up. Other death cafes were run in a park, in a cafe, in an elderly nursing home, and the biggest one was run in your organisation.

My frustration was when I sat opposite a lady who kept talking and talking and talking, and even telling me that what I was sharing about funerals (from my culture) is “irrelevant” (from the perspective of her culture. I didn’t say anything because people in the group cut in to say that nothing anyone says is “irrelevant”.

But I remember looking over to the blonde staff member L. who sat with the mental health staff R. eating salad and I must have looked visibly annoyed because L. grinned at me as if she realised I was annoyed.

I then asked myself why 2 of the staff who put on the death cafe didn’t partake in the conversation and let a new staff member P. partake, because he’s new?

In all the 15-20 death cafes I visited, every person(s) who put on the death cafe partook in the conversation. I felt it was hypocritical to organise an event to talk about the taboo subject “death” but then not partake in it. Yes, you could say you were gate-keeping for new people who might join, but isn’t there a reception that was manned outside to give instruction in how to join?

Also, for the Christmas lunch there was no-one sitting at the entrance to gate keep, and the lunch was PACKED to its beams.

And speaking of the Christmas lunch, I was informed about it and asked R. twice what time it would be and twice never received a response. I then just turned up before noon. I’m sure it has to do with my email then.

I had an initial membership chat with R. and the intern where I filled in a form with R. I then had 2 – 3 or more brief interactions via email with R. as well as brief talks about organising the tables for the Christmas lunch with R. Roughly about 5 interactions where in emails I was addressed by my name.

In January after the Christmas break I started to go to the mental health service and the first thing R. says to me is “I can’t remember your name”. I remember clearly that I said “bullsh!t” in my head. After several interactions addressing me by my name, sorry, I don’t buy it. Not sure if this was insecurity on her part or wanting to belittle me. The next time when I visited, she said “hi (my name), this time I remember your name” … Again, not sure what all this is about.

And then the incident I explained to A., P., and R. regarding the “controlling” thing just because I was concerned about a member’s heating issues after she told me twice she either doesn’t have heating or she couldn’t sleep because it was so cold.

R. said she couldn’t remember if she said this to P. where I heard it as I left the kitchen, but didn’t deny it either! I accept the apology and the offer for P. to meet me once a week. But for P. who heard what R. said, not making any comments, makes me hesitant to trust anyone.

If a mental health facility doesn’t have a strong policy and zero tolerance on speaking behind people, especially when it comes from staff towards people with mental health problems, and then even knowing what I’ve been through, there is no hope.

I would never be able to feel safe if R. won’t say any subtle things because I raised the issue with the “controlling” situation. I know from experience, especially with Pret, but also a psychiatrist who abused his position and I raised a formal complaint, that when one raises issues, from then on one isn’t safe anymore. Even if that’s just my traumatised “imprisoned” brain thinking. I survived too much to trust again.

I understand I’m full on. The Pret situation might shock, even confuse you. But I put my cards on the table, am transparent so people know why I am so all over the place mentally. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d ever PUBLICLY call out a multi-billion dollar company, let alone so substantially. I do this to distract myself from the losses and trauma, and to raise awareness of unsafe practices AND because I lmost took my life in Pret.

Recently when we spoke about the cost of living and going on the computer to look up support, R. joined me, even though it’s very clear that I know how to use the computer and do searches.

But R. mentioned her mum who is in high age living with R. at home. Again, I felt that’s a good way to rub it in that my mum died and I couldn’t bury her during 2. lockdown. I also told R. together with A. and P. that my mum had a carer and I had to fly home when her neighbours informed me that the carer wasn’t helping.

Maybe R. tried to make me feel bad that I couldn’t care for my mum at home? If that was the case, I don’t feel bad, because I cared for my mum since I’m 8 years old, and was even in the process to move back to Germany to live with my mum, but we got a carer for the interim time where I sort things out in the UK.

It triggered the whole Lila Warren situation, the development manager who was tasked by Pret to gaslight me so they could fire me after I declined Pret’s money for signing an NDA. Lila was tasked to give me a disciplinary for emailing. But she then entered into emailing and text messaging for which she gave me a disciplinary in the first place.

She lied to me that she also had a brother who died alone in his apartment and wasn’t found for days, just like my brother. All me stupid for believing her, but I was severely traumatized. You could have told me that an elephant barks like a dog, and I would have believed you. I was on autopilot working, but severely traumatized and under shock.

Needless to say, I got fired. Lila Warren still has her job because she and the Pret executive are thick as thieves. She is an NLP practitioner, a Hypnotherapist and at the time she interacted with me studied to become a psychotherapist.

As she was studying one day she sent me a Whatsapp message with a photo of a page she was reading for her psychology studies. On that page (see below) she highlighted in yellow a few things she was reading regarding people with trauma etc.

Part of it in a lesson called “script” what patients predict from past experiences, it says, quote: “The ending of my story will be to die sad and alone”. She sent me this photo of the page via Whatsapp with the words, “I’m just reading this and it made me think of you”.

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It was a big, massive swing at my trauma with how my brother died alone in his apartment. In hindsight I know she sent this to throw me off course so that I drink and write horrible emails again, and therefore get fired, like it was the plan of Pret. And she succeeded. But, after I raised a complaint with the National Hypnotherapy Society for her abusive way to misuse her psychology studies, since then I can’t find her entry anymore at the site anymore. I have a screenshot of Lila’s National Hypnotherapy Society profile on my blog post “Questions to Lila Tighilt Warren”after I researched her name. I don’t know if they kicked her out after interacted with their “Public Protection Officer” as she’s not on there anymore. And maybe also due to all the complaints staff and customers raise about Pret. And the fact Pret neither sue me nor respond to my writings as it would open a can of worms for Pret with the press and the public, might hint to the society that I didn’t make it all up. Apart from that, I still have all the Whatsapp texts and emails from her which I passed on to the society.

But when R. mentioned her mum, that she is in high age living with her, I can’t help but think it was a swing at my situation having lost my mum and maybe trying to make me feel bad that I couldn’t live with my mum.

I don’t feel bad at all. I have done everything in my power to let my mum have the best latter time in life, and the pandemic and lockdowns crossed that out! My mum deteriorated very fast, partly my brother’s death still heavy on her and past issues as a child coming back strong in memories. Every 3 months when I flew over, she seemed a different person. The carer later mentioned how quickly she deteriorated within a year.

I sent to you all the ITV series “Sticks and Stones” to explain how systematic workplace bullying works in all its subtle forms. I never felt in any way weird with A. or P. or any of the members. But I read gaslighting very well now.

And I cannot be in a mental health facility that does not understand trauma or where a staff member feels too insecure to deal with strong personalities. I don’t know. Sure, you are no psychologists, you could give that excuse, but you work with people with mental health issues.

I explained what happened to me so you can understand why I am so whacked and how I am recovering. And surely I over-explained. But I will always over-explain. This helps to show people who really care or who are annoyed EARLY on.

But I lost all my trust in health facilities, hospitals, nursing homes, mental health clubs etc. Anything in an organisation that is supposed to help any type of health aspect. I have no confidence in anymore.

If the aim was to make me insecure, that didn’t work. But it DID work for me to stop coming as I won’t be able to trust. For P. to see me every week would also trigger the Lila Warren issue as she spied on me for Pret to find the right time to get me fired. I wouldn’t be able to trust anyone to not backstab me again, or to say subtle things to hurt me.

I’m unable to work and even volunteer because any issue to do with backbiting, talking bad or even lies about others triggers a tsunami of Pret issues. Where I used to have things roll off my back like a ducks back or was long suffering, I don’t even have thin skin anymore, I lost my skin completely and am bare bone.

The “Sticks and Stones” series shows so realistically how gaslighting works, how the person being targeted cannot put his finger on the issue until he got the evidence,and similar with my issue with Pret. Or after I was contacted by Tristan Tate, the brother of Andrew Tate who both have to defend the claims now of sex human trafficking. When I researched that issue further, I saw an interview where Tristan Tate was asked by Piers Morgan if it’s true that their father told them when they were boys that men need to hit women in such a way that no bruises show.

Open violence, or subtle workplace bullying where “bruises” don’t show, or where the victim doesn’t have evidence to point to a specific action/word until they’re so broken down and confused, they give up. I outed Tristan’s DM to me (NOT showing his text, but just paraphrasing his arrogant words) in an “open letter” to him as he and his brother have their millions of minions to do their dirty work on social media. And I outed him in solidarity with women who fell victim to them, especially Andrew. I use sharp words for a reason for these scum-bags!

Be glad that you have your mum at home R. And I always say to people to do everything you can to have your elderly or even disabled loved one at home, unless there is absolutely no other way. But to “rub it in” shows a bitter side of you. And I lost a lot of trust in people. I guess I’m doomed to die sad and alone, and I don’t mind. I even seek it now to be in a remote place to live the rest of my life and die alone. There are only very few people I trust or have an ounce of hope in. I used be different, but I have no trust in organisations, systems, police, medical services etc. anymore. But I am ok with that.

On the positive note, I meant it when I said that you as a mental health facility do a lot right. You should be proud of that and I saw so many precious members there, each with their own unique personality. One guy remembered my name even though he just spoke with me a few minutes ONCE! Never underestimate people with mental health issues. And never judge a book by its cover, I might look ok, but I have to make daily decisions how my life will “continue”.

Apologies for all the long texts. But I am how I am now. But the only thing I aim to change is to stop drinking altogether. For anything else, I have nothing to feel bad about. And I rather take myself out from a place then to be a nuisance or to feel unsafe.

Please never forget or get into a routine that you work with people with mental health issues. We come in all forms and severity. I am coming to the conclusion that mental health facilities,medical places are NOT the places to recover. I can’t. And I take responsibility.

Thank you for reading. I’m sorry. All the best.

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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 and what Shop Managers and HQ Staff say about Pret and their leadership.
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 and was mentioned by the BBC.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org

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Interview:

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved.

Disclaimer.

Veggie Pret Shops Converted Back to Regular Shops via REVERSED Psychology

I Survived Pret A Manger (unsafe company)Leave a comment

UPDATE 16.02.2024

Ok, I should have waited before posting the below long post!!! I could have just linked to that ONE Facebook post by Pret and pointed to the comment section!

The comment secition is GOLD! Exposing Pret’s ongoing lies again.

Via Facebook: –> https://www.facebook.com/expretDOTorg/posts/pfbid02A62XCAqXA2QrWBDkp2NUW4Q8zssiFCmNnrAy9kjaDsvAE7Un9kwZVXsao2MifqKFl

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Please be aware that Pret haven’t posted any news on Twitter/X since November 2023 because there are too many journalists on X versus Facebook. Pret’s @veggiepret Twitter handle has been silent with any news since 2021.

Further complaints on the lack of vegan and veg options in regular shops via Instagram and Twitter here below in my original post before I saw the comment section on Facebook.

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I now sarcastically say on social media that vegans and vegetarians at least can eat meat again in Pret. My post about mislabelling of food which continues, despite customer deaths and injuries: Vegan and Vegetarians Eat Meat at Pret.

When I worked in Pret between 2008 and almost 2018, where Pret opened their first Veggie Pret in Broadwick Street in 2016, which was my first regular shop when I started in Pret, vegan and vegetarian products have never been a good seller. It sold alright, but especially towards the latter 2010s, we had so much waste on vegan items, which are more expensive, that we stopped making so many.

Cmpared to let’s say chikcen Super Club which is a “must sell” item in Pret, meaning we HAD TO have at least 2 sanwiches on the shelves all day as it is ine of Pret’s best sellers, in one shop the first bathc was 40 Super Clubs. And thats just the first batch in the mornings.

Vegan and vegetarian sandwiches were then only made around 10 – 20, or even less depending on the time of day. And because we made less vegan items, we of course ran out and then Pret just say to customers that we “sold out” because it was so popular.

Reality is, it never sold so well that we never made many in the first place and then pretended it’s such a good seller! The same with the vegan porridge. Was never a good seller. Especially on the weekends,we only put out the regular dairy porridge. The reason is, the dairy porridge sold wellcompared to the vegan porridge.

Porridge, as well as soups etc. are cooked in factories, delivered to shops in plastic bags and then just re-heated in water baths or microwave.

Here, a former Panera Bread employee (Panera is also owned by Jab Holdings) spilled the beans on how they do the macaroni and cheese. She was fired after posting the video online.

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But that’s the same way Pret do their soups and porridge. One bag of dairy porridge contains 6 cups. One bag of vegan porridge contains 4 cups because it doesn;t sell well. But even with 4 cups, on weekends we often only sold one or even none. Evern Saturday and Sunday I ended up with having to waste 3-4 vegan porridges, so we stopped doing them on weekends completely and just re-heated the dairy porridge. And since a while Pret completely stopped it.

And in typical Pret fashion, they use reversed psychology for the reasons Veggie Prets are converted back to regular shops. Pret tell the press that rhwy close veggie only shops as vegetarian options “thrive” across all stores! 😀 Hahahahahaha!!!!

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Pret really hold customers for idiots! Pret opened the first Veggie Pret in 2016 as veg items sold well then, and now they say they close Veggie Prets because veg items sell well! LOL! .

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Here’s only few of many many many customer complaints on the LACK of especially vegan options. And I didn’t bother to go beack before 2022 or sieve through reddit, facebook etc.

I keep it as short as possible. I start with a claim Pret made in July 2023 that they cut back on vegan options due to “most not being as meat-free as they claim to be”. Another bullsh!t reason, but at least admitting they cut back.

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I love this Instagram post. Leon checking Pret’s feed and trying to snatch a customer away from Pret! 😀

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Update 17.02.2024 from Facebook:

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New Belfast opening already off to a bad start:

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And many, many more …

Good luck to all vegans and vegetarians with the labelling!

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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 and what Shop Managers and HQ Staff say about Pret and their leadership.
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 and was mentioned by the BBC.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more.

NEW Linktree

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved.

Disclaimer.

Open Letter to Tristan Tate, brother of Andrew Tate (former Pret A Manger barista)

I Survived Pret A Manger (unsafe company)Leave a comment

First post to Tristan Tate “Dear former Pret barista“, I left it as is without naming him. But after I watched the “I am Andrew Tate” documentary, I name him now and don’t ever want to interact with this POS again.

An AI audio version for people with visual impairment or those who don’t like to read long text. Please ignore the pronunciation of “manger” and some glitches in the audio.

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Tristan Tate:
Occupation: Brother Of
Future Dream: Wannabe-gangster

Dear Tristan,

again thank you for inquiring about what I do regarding my Pret writings. But your unsolicited advise was uncalled for.

I knew who you are and your brother Andrew who dragged you with him. I don’t want contact with narcissistic psychopaths who hurt women.

But when I looked up some clips to understand why the Bucharest arrests happened, and then found the “I am Andrew Tate” documentary, I felt disgusted, disrespected and my DM invaded by you.

And NO! It’s no me who missed an “opportunity” with you. You thought you could impress me by DM’ing me, like pimps do! Nopes. I’m never impressed with cowards.

After I looked at everything again, and of course “innocent until proven guilty”, I feel offended that you even think to contact me in private, having no courage to respond in public in your Pret feed. And THEN boasting about your millions of followers versus my 350 followers.

And yet you, million-flollowers-man, have the balls to slide into my 350-follower-account by DM and give me unsolicited advise. And you expect me to melt down to your “advise” like all the girls you fooled? You have the balls to DM me?!

No woman is your saviour. You either stand up to your brother on your own, or you don’t. But you do NOT use women to babysit you away from your big baby brother. I have no respect for you Tates.

You and Andrew, noisy boys with millions of minions following you, and you dare to slide into my DM just like your brother Andrew is alleged to have “slid” into women choking their throats according to the Channel 4 documentary “I am Andrew Tate”.

Really?

You thought I’d be impressed? You did not do your homework on me, did you? You haven’t lost a brother yet, Tristan. You don’t know what that means. Because you suck at Andrew’s tits to survive and get/be rich.

Everyone who knows me, knows that I respond to anything Pret related. I respond to people with zero followers and to people with millions of followers. It makes no difference to me! And you are not different to me than anyone with zero followers.

I saw a clip somewhere, where you boast that you give money to charity. How impressive. Giving money to charity (by the way, something Jimmy Savile, the Mafia etc. were/are good at) is, 1. for a cover up, and 2. to have enough people on your funeral. Right?

No amount of charity can cover up your rotten cowardliness, you POS.

You boasted that you gave to the “Make a Wish Foundation”. Could I please have a list of the “charities” that compromise their values for dirty money that you give to, so I can avoid them?

I have an idea Tristan! How about you donate some millions to the Pret Foundation?! They’d be happy to take your money. The other boy, Pano Christou is busy building his legacy to double in size by 2026 as instructed by his bosses in Germany. All to the detriment of food, drink and service quality. Never mind saving a life, hey.

I tweeted a reply to someone who feels proud to have any of you on their side, and I meant it when I said that I’d rather die in the gutter alone than have anyone of you Tristan and/or Andrew on my side.

In the documentary, you look annoyed many times, silent, irritated … a classic follower of a wannabe strong-man, who abuses vulnerable people and now looks like he injects oil into his muscles. And you go along with everything Andrew things is ok. I tweeted that you and Andrew are sluts. And I mean that as well. I am disgusted when I see/hear you speak. You vomit your toxic nonsense across the Internet and you despise the people who “follow” you, you call them sheep.

You are a sheep Tristan. Your occupation is “the brother of”.

You and Andrew are wanna-be gangsters. You won’t be taken down by the Mafia or drug lords, and certainly not by the police, they all have no interest in you. They laugh about you, because you keep them safe by doing the bling-bling work and being loud and obnoxious to throw people off.

You will be taken down by women. And you know why? Not because of or the Romanian arrests etc., but I will not tell you why women will take you down. I already gave you a hint 😉

Don’t ever have the audacity to slide into my DMs again!

You are not welcome in my space Tristan Tate.

First post to Tristan Tate “Dear former Pret barista“, I left it as is without naming him. But after I watched the documentary, I name him now and don’t ever want to interact with this POS again.

You hurt ONE woman and/or you hurt ONE child, and you hurt us all.

Piers Morgan sucks up to and your brother. Millions are your minions. It will be the “few” who take you down.

You DM’d the wrong person Tristan.

expret.org

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I updated with a slide:

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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. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago.
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 and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
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 as well as mentioned by the BBC.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.

NEW LinkTree

PayPal.Me

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 but just press play)

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Dear Former Pret A Manger Barista

I Survived Pret A Manger (unsafe company)Leave a comment

Upfront to any former Pret barista, here’s one of my infamous “open letters” to or regarding Pret again. But please know this is NOT for you if you’ve been a barista in Pret. This is for someone who contacted me, who is in the public. They know who they are, but I don’t want to out the person as they contacted me in private, and I respect privacy, no matter if I agree with the person(s) or not, unless a crime or injustice is being committed against me.

If the person would have commented in public, I’d respond in public. But I want to write this on my blog because it will be long and I don’t want to write any more via private messages to make the person obligated to read. Plus, I am addicted to writing, it keeps me sane, it helps me to recover and work through the traumas and anger I’ve been through since my brother died.

(UPDATE 12.02.2024 – I DID call out the person’s name on a social media platform while I fell into drinking again, but I leave it. The more I thought about his “advise” and arrogance, the angrier I got. I will leave him here un-named, unless I change my mind. This person deserves to be called out, and I told him publicly to never private message me again!).

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Dear Former Pret Barista,

again, thank you for enquiring what the heck I’m doing with my blog and socials regarding Pret. I will be blunt and straight forward with you, but you’re a big boy and can handle it.

Upfront also, you don’t need to read this long waffle, and no need to respond. In fact, please don’t respond. There’s nothing I need to hear from you as in “advise” or anything else. This is just to get some thoughts off my chest on what you wrote in response to what I do. And also upfront, my mother-tongue is not English, so I use very simple words and my grammar isn’t always there. I write my blog to cope, not to aim for a Nobel Prize in Literature. That info was for the spelling police!

You gave a few good thoughts which I appreciate. I will paraphrase some of the things you said. You feel like my blog should be done better, more slick I guess, and I agree! My blog looks sh!t, cluttered, unprofessional! But I fund my blog fully by myself on no budget. I wrote every single dot and comma myself. No help, no “AI” or whatever trendy stuff is out there now. And I am still too traumatised to trust anyone with my blog.

But for one, I have no strength in “how” I do things, because I still suffer trauma and have to almost daily make the decision if to go on. This might come across weak to you, but I don’t care.

When I started to write my blog, a few months after my dad died, my plan was to write down my story regarding Pret and then end my life.

I started my blog in 2017, actually on the day of the Grenfell Tower fire. For about a year I only wrote about my brother with poems, songs, memories etc. I mentioned my work issues with Pret but without naming Pret. And then in May 2018 after I “licked my wounds” Pret having fired me days after my dad came out of a three-week coma in December 2017, I started to NAME Pret publicly. I was scared they’d sue me even after I declined their “hush money” for silence. But I didn’t care because I had the plan already to end my life.

I speed-wrote my story down and wanted to die. I cannot explain the traumatic state I was in. Looking back, I don’t know how I even got up every day. I always had my Mum in the back of my mind, that I can’t do this to her, but I was at my end. And then also support started to come in from Union leaders, journalists etc. But I found soon that they just wanted THEIR names out, and didn’t really give a toss about my experience.

I kept writing and writing and writing and writing …

Writing my blog and all I “achieved” against Pret (press reports etc.) doesn’t mean anything to you, but it is my way to sow more seeds in my inner “solitary confinement” of my traumas. Like “The Man Who Planted Trees”, I plant words, tweets, blog posts and distract myself from all the losses and bullsh!t surrounding it all. You don’t understand this because you think that only a “big”, famous person can achieve something. I disagree. Every little voice can resonate even, or especially into the far future.

The Light UNDER The Rock

My writings are public, but mainstream media only cares about fame, just like you meant what you wrote, and I get it. But again, I don’t care. Trauma, bereavement, anger is not welcome, especially not from a woman.

That’s why I will always mention freelance journalist Mike Powell who had the courage to mention my blog with his BBC report.

I am not a poet, even though I published a book of German poems before the publisher went bust, but I often think of the likes of Emily Dickinson, who in her lifetime anonymously published only about 4 poems in magazines. She hid her 1800+ poems under her bed, and instructed her sister to burn them once she’s dead.

Her sister didn’t even know the sheer volume of Emily’s poems, and she went against Emily’s wishes (which regardless of Emily’s later fame, I disagree with! HONOUR the person’s wishes!), and got them published a few years later.

But today Emily Dickinson is called the Mother of American Poetry. And all that from her poems under her bed. And during her lifetime, she never saw the fruit of her labour.

No, that’s not my aim to become some big-shot writer posthumously, but I know in my heart of hearts that the work I’ve put in, which wasn’t work at all because it was a lot of anger pouring down on paper, will bear fruit one day. It will bear fruit in that, any company, no matter how small or big should NOT treat their staff like sh!t for profit to the point the staff want to kill themselves. It’s too simple, I know. But again, I don’t care.

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Who Do I Pick Fights With?

You might ask why I didn’t go to Tribunal. I did, and had already 5 court dates including 1 day preliminary hearing. But then I withdrew because my dad died at the time of preparing for the case. And I had no support. I was like you were, in your council home, working from 6am to 2pm or later as a barista in Pret. And then losing my shitty job. I went from Citizen Advise Bureau to free legal advise to online searches on legal issues … while my dad was in intensive care and then rehab. I flew back and forth again like I did after my brother’s death. And then my dad died.

My friends abandoned me early on, my Mum also started to deteriorate, we all still coming to terms of my brother’s death and the weird stuff surrounding it.

I think I did pretty well without going on a shooting spree!

You, dear former barista, you think you have support, because the person you are loyal to is all you need, you think. Because that’s all you know. But life changes at any turn, and in the darkest times, we KNOW who those are who are loyal to us (or not).

“Weakness” is not a bad thing in times of recovery. Vulnerability is ok, weakness is ok, and everyone has their own way to recover. And don’t be so arrogant to tell people you don’t know how to fight their causes.

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Strong Against Strong – vs – Weak Against Strong

You wrote to me that if Pret would have wronged you as you were the teenager at the time you worked at Pret, and with the position of “fame” you have now, years later, you could really do some damage to Pret. Yes, of course you could, but the way I do it, I can’t really do anything else, BUT I do what I do with WHAT I have, not with what I wished I would have.

And what you’re really saying is, the sheer arrogance you portray that only if one is big and famous, they can make a difference. How immature and ignorant you are! Have you never learnt, or have you forgotten that it is often the “small” people who START a revolution? Oh no, I won’t start a revolution, but I am in for the long-haul and that subtle but defining difference my little contribution does and did to this world.

You were a kid when you worked in a shop that opened up new. New Shop Openings that are fresh and shiny are easier than established old, dirty shops, because Pret give more staff, no targets for about a year before they start squeezing. And the higher you move up the ladder, the more issues you encounter. Like they always say, it’s “lonely” at the top, right? Or, the higher the levels, the higher the devils. Old sayings.

I was a shop team leader, and as you should know, unless it was different in your days, team leaders are the real managers. They run the shops, while the job of managers is to scrutinize where to save money and blame the team leader.

You even advised me to stop doing what I do. I had a laugh-out-loud moment there. If what I do has no impact, why even “advising” me to stop? 😉

It is EASY to do something once you’re “big”. It’s a completely different thing to do what I do when I’m “small”. And THAT takes courage, determination and hope. And all that WITHOUT having anyone at my side helping me! Try that for once my dear former colleague!

And as a side note, I worked 7 years in Pret when my brother died, long-term staff and team leader. And even though I AND an OPs manager asked Pret in WRITING for me to be put under the Pret Foundation, like they do with the “rising stars” (patronizing way to call former homeless people), Pret never responded.

Why do you think Pret 1. don’t sue me for writing publicly and 2. don’t respond? You do know it would open a can of worms for them, and they already have enough bad press as it is. But they will soon have good press again, because the media is in Pret’s pocket and the general public accepts bullying of low-wage staff.

And your mentioning of my 350 followers, sure, these days it’s all about building numbers, quantity over quality.

Several things, I don’t care about numbers. Also, my own fault, at one point I kicked all my followers off while drunk. Other times I asked people to unfollow and/or block me as I kept writing drunken posts. Another reason is that my account is heavily censored, often shadow-banned where people can’t find me. And I neither believe in nor would compare myself to Jesus, but I too CHOOSE my followers. Evertime someone follows me that I don’t recognise having anything to do with Pret or anything I post about, I discreetly click the “unfollow” button, as well as block any advertiser or spammer who only follow small accounts to fish for followers. Again, that’s “weak” to you, and again, I don’t care.

I don’t owe you this explanation, but it’s my way to “teach” you for a change that sure, when you have a lot of followers, you can reach more people fast. But not everyone is or has to be like everyone else who is just out for a name and numbers. That’s why I don’t have my name and face public, because I suffer anxiety from everything including what Pret did.

I stand by my weirdness and the trauma with it. My trauma and anger that pushes even good people away, a form of sabotage I feel for letting my brother down. And yet, I’m on my way to become better, but I like my solitary and silent place after all the stress.

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Fighter Or Coward?

Imagine you are a boxer in a ring, and you fight an equal opponent with the same weight and roughly the same strength. That’s courageous and fair.

But then imagine you are a boxer and you beat up a woman who has no physical strength. OR you witness another boxer beat a woman, and you don’t step in. That’s cowardly, and there is NO honour or respect in that.

If Pret would have hurt you when you were the teenage barista that you were, and you were to speak out against Pret NOW when you’re big, sure, that’s easy! Super easy! Nothing admirable there.

But if you speak out against Pret when you have NOTHING, when you’re a small nobody, oh AND a woman mind you, that’s courageous. No? Tell me!

I pick fights with the big guns. I picked a fight with 5 TALL German police men while drunk (ok WHILE drunk!) in my anger for how German police dealt with my brother’s death. I woke up in a jail cell and later when at home saw the black and blue marks all over my legs. And cutting marks from the hand-cuffs on my wrists that I had to hide from my Mum who started to deteriorate with a combined form of Alzheimer and dementia.

I pick fights with anyone equal or stronger than me! I don’t beat down on vulnerable people. That would be the EPITOME of cowardliness and TRUE weakness.

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“Innocent” Days of Work

You were a Pret barista when you were a teenager for 4 years at a time just when Pret sold out to private equity firm Bridgepoint. But that was after McDonald’s already had a 33% stake in Pret and resold it after Pret got their foot into the USA market. You just left on time, just before they really put on the squeeze on the operations and on us staff.

I started in 2008 and don’t know Pret in any other way than the extreme micromanagement. But I worked with people who know Pret from before Bridgepoint took over. They said it was always tough and micromanaging, but since 2008 it became worse. And needless to say, now since 2018 with JAB Holdings / Reimann family having taken over, it’s another level of worse and staff turnover is high as well as customer satisfaction down the drains. But before long, Pret will bullsh!t everyone again and the reviews turn positive, as well as Pret (allegedly) employing people to write positive reviews.

Let’s ignore what shop managers, even area manager and HQ staff say? But I guess you’d tell them to toughen up, hey?

And I’m sure you’ll say that they shouldn’t complain, but just take their destiny into their own hands. Well, I wouldn’t take that advise from you, because you never took your destiny into your own hands. You were taken along on the ride by an alpha person who needs you to cover him, no matter if you go down as well.

Of course, if you would have been in my shoes in what Pret did to me, you could for sure do some damage with all the “fame” and followers you have now. BUT many of your demographics and followers follow a macho pretence and a lie that hurts another demographic of people, those who are vulnerable. And you KNOW that very well!

If you were to tweet right now that Pret are a horrible company, MANY of your followers wouldn’t even care, because they don’t hang out at Pret. They hang on the computer, in schools, in clubs, many wouldn’t even know who Pret are. And I say “are”, because I know the executive team behind Pret, a group of the core team of Pret who don’t care about anyone but themselves. But you know how that is.

Judging from the response you get regarding Pret in your feed with all the followers you have, no-one even gives a toss about Pret or your experience with Pret.

And then you wished me luck on my “crusade”. Yep, I have had this patronizing advise many times. Nothing new under that sun.

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Unsolicited Advise

You gave me unsolicited advise, now here’s my unsolicited advise to you, and I will be straight out. Especially after the stuff you and especially the person you are loyal to and are a shadow of “hand out” to vulnerable people (allegedly 😉 ).

Since you contacted me, I knew who you are and who the person is you are loyal to. But I didn’t do any more research, because I couldn’t be bothered with what you deal with. I watched a few of your interviews, some clips with the person you “hang out” with etc. When I saw the few clips of you people, I saw boys, not men. I did get a little cross with how the heck someone like you dares to give me advise.

I mean, you must feel so secure in yourself OR delusional to give me advise even before you researched what I went through. That takes balls my friend!

The person you hang out with because of your “bond” and the loyalty you feel obligated to, is not what I would call courageous. But you are just known for being the “person of” the other person. It’s like when my brother was popular in the school yard when we were kids, I was known for being “the sister of my brother”. I always hated that! And when my brother fncked up, I wasn’t popular anymore either. I wanted to be myself. And yet, even though my brother always protected me in school, like big brothers do, I let him down when we were adults. I lived too far away for years and never knew if he had any troubles, because he kept it away from me.

My brother rather suffered himself than to drag me down! I didn’t know a lot of the things he struggled with until after he died. And now, I don’t forgive him for that!!! But equally I protect his dignity, his privacy, his struggles, even after death BECAUSE he wanted to protect me, even though I wish he reached out and I won’t forgive myself for not having seen the signs.

If your person goes down, you go down with them, because they involve you. And maybe that’s your appeal, to be an infamous “couple of people” like Bonnie & Clyde or the Kray brothers etc. that went down in history and filled books and movies. Yes, you will fill some books and films. But no, there are too many 5-minute famous people these days who will also have hammered their legacy into stone to compete in death to live on.

Your bond makes sense, and putting myself into your shoes, I’d probably run with it as well, I don’t know. But knowing myself, I can strongly relate to Aimee Osbourne, the other daugther of Ozzy Osbourne who didn’t want to partake in the reality show and carved out her own path. Or Peter Green who founded Fleetwood Mac and named the band after the rhythm section and then withdrew because he didn’t care about all the fame and pitfalls. That would be me. I used these examples because music is everything.

But I certainly know for sure, I’d not be partaking in any illegal or violent enterprise for the sake of money and fame. That’s lame and weak. And maybe one day you’ll wake up and have an epiphany that life is short, and how much loyalty is healthy for you and them.

Don’t be known for a legacy of being the “sister of …”

That’s my unsolicited advise to you. Life is short.

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Open Letter to Tristan Tate, former Pret Barista – Brother of Andrew Tate.

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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 and what Shop Managers and HQ Staff say about Pret and their leadership.
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 and was mentioned by the BBC.

Please also see the MEDIA page for more.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

.

.

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved.

Disclaimer.