There are people, organisations, websites etc. who are concerned about Davids calling out Goliathses. These websites, administartors love Pret or at least over-estimate the company. That’s all they care about. Don’t stick out.
These people, websites etc. are all about being a fan of Apple, Amazon, trump, anything that appears big and powerful. And they crumble.
And when a David calls out the failiures, even crimes of the Goliath, the die-hard fans do everything to squash the small voices.
Die-hard fans of the big guns are sheep. And they will live and die in bliss. But they will never be remembered.
.
.
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.
I usually don’t write on anything outside of Pret A Manger related issues, only in rare exceptions. This is one of those. At first I didn’t want to mention the website JustTheTalk.co.uk to not make free advertising for them, but upon further thinking, I think it’s important for readers to spot online mob behaviour, enabled by moderators aka leadership.
At first glance when accessing the site, it all looks normal and nice. But once you register and some people become aware of a newcomer they don’t like, the sh!tshow begins.
Around mid December 2025 I had a nice chat with someone on social media about Pret, and the person was very pleasant, inquisitive, supportive etc. When I speak to people on socials, I usually don’t check their profiles to not prejudge anyone, no matter if the conversation is positive or negative. But I checked theirs and wish I’d bookmarked them, as I can’t remember where I interacted. On their profile they had a link to JustTheTalk.co.uk which I followed and found it is some kind of forum.
Doing the usual thing at the start, going to the About page and T&Cs, I find on the first 2 sentences a contradiction which is common with those kinds of sites or organisations who support a hostile mob.
Upfront, I made a lot of screenshots, but only post a few here. As most of those texts are hidden or deleted by the admins, I don’t have the mood to type it all out. To enlarge / zoom in on the screenshots on a computer browser, click “ctrl & +” to enlarge and then “ctrl & –” to decrease again.
The first 2 sentences say, quote:
“The aim of JUSTtheTalk is to promote discussion of ideas at all levels. We support free speech, even for people we don’t agree with or like.”
The text then goes on that they don’t support hatred or discrimination. Haha!
I did find the first sentences odd, because on professionally run social media or forum platforms, the text usually says something like, “We support free speech but not discrimination, racism, sexism, hate speech … etc.” A more broader and detailed clarification. But with JustTheTalk (JTT) they make it personal, for a lack of a better word. They say, “we support free speech … even for people we don’t like.”
This last part makes me ask who is, or was, behind this platform? From experience, everything stands and falls with leadership (the people with the pussies).
It’s a very odd way for a forum or social platform to word it the way of liking or disliking people. From experience with slogans or mission statements etc. – when an organisation makes certain claims, it’s often the complete opposite. Pret is the biggest example of this.
What I liked immediately on the platform is the simplicity, minimalism and the lack of nonsense that usually pops up on social media timelines, fuelled by algorithms after you click or engage on a subject. I am fatigued with the increase of images flashing up everywhere without me even clicking on anything, just because I once engaged on a subject. So, this was refreshing, old-school type forum with ONLY text no other nonsense.
So, I registered, being the good citizen that I am taking their word about free speech at face value.
I can’t remember what my first post was, but I think I went to a spot where newcomers introduce themselves and went on to some other subjects. I couldn’t find the “reply” button like it is with many forums and platforms like reddit and other old-school forums where you can reply to an individual post.
I opened a thread to ask how this site works and where the reply button is.
Link to the thread I started which they limited and hid all the 300+ comments when I am logged in. The thread is locked for me when I’m logged in. When logged in, I can only see my initial post. When logged out I can see all the comments. GuyBarry seemed to have been obsessed for me to respond:
After I logged out, I completely forgot about that site for about 3 weeks with Christmas and life in general going on. I came across it again 3 weeks later (I think 5th January 2026) on my bookmarks, logged in again. I saw over 100 or 200 replies to my question. Many were sarcastic, something that is very common on reddit, but reddit is a huge worldwide site. And with reddit you have to collect “karma” points to post etc., I assumed it’s similar with JTT.
One chap named GuyBarry kept asking if I’m still there and didn’t give up to enquire, which I find odd because he seemed keen and weirdly over-interested, but he came across nice.
I started answering many users, not all, but those who where normal like saying welcome, those who didn’t understand my question, and also GuyBarry. I complimented him as coming across the nicest on this thread where many posted cynical comments.
He then thanked me but immediately turned 180 and started his suspicion about my Pret writings. He then went into bossy mode and said that if I can “demonstrate” to not just be on the site to “campaign” against Pret etc. then he is willing to give me the benefit of the doubt. What an arrogant twat.
Immediately seeing that after he first obsessively kept asking where I am during the 3 weeks I forgot about that site, it became clear very quickly that like many of the other ranters in the clique, were keen on me responding and posting to bait me to bow to their power struggle, when a newcomer arrives.
I recommend Dr Ramani on YouTube, she is a specialist on the subject of narcissism. Some of the people (male especially) on the JustTheTalk forum, who were busy trying to bait me and me just ignoring them, show signs of sociopathic narcissism. They bait anyone who comes in who “threatens” their little life or position, bait them to start an argument, and the worst that happens to them is when you ignore them. That drives them more nuts. In real life, especially with women in relationship with narcissists, that often turns into violence unless the woman/partner leaves.
Knowing power-tripping insecure people like this, I immediately poked back and made it very clear that all I am on the Internet for is to write about Pret. (Of course I write and comment about other things too, but my main subject is Pret). I wanted to make it very clear from the get go that I 1. don’t need to “demonstrate” or proof anything to a bunch of strangers who seem to think they own a forum platform, and 2. that my subject is mainly Pret and I don’t owe anyone an explanation.
I further made clear that if people don’t like it, they don’t need to read and the admins can just ban me, simple as that.
I immediately put down boundaries. But putting down boundaries is fodder for a toxic mob. It seemed like they kept baiting me to respond until they found a reason to report me. Also, very typical for a toxic group.
And I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but the vibes I got there was that those who are toxic, bitter, angry, showing a deep insecurity when a newcomer arrives, seem to be old(er) over 50s, 60s males. Of course I may be wrong, but from life experience the most aggressive ones are the males, and the accommodating ones (admins) are females.
But the main culprits are younger, and deeply unhappy. An online forum makes them feel powerful. So be it. 😉
And I even think that many of the aggressive ones are in their 30s, 40s, and either never had a girlfriend (incels), or were dumped by the love of their life, or have wrong expectations of life in general, job / education issues, unrealistic expectations in general and certainly a messed-up sociopathic / narcissistic view of themselves. The ones who lash out for no reason are the ones who are the loneliest.
Those who try to bait to start an argument come across like they have no “power” at home or at work, so they go on to websites to assert whatever power they think they have to feel better about themseleves. That would be a rabbit hole to get into.
But for GuyBarry to be so obsessive for days asking if I’m still there (while I forgot for 3 weeks about that site) and then once I responded, him going into power-tripping mode was enough to immediately poke back and then block (ignore) him.
What I believe was going on is that this GuyBarry was very intrigued and interested to know what my Pret writings is about, but at the same time intimidated that some random person dares to publicly write about a multi-billion dollar company. This often makes people feel intimidated. So, they start poking.
When I was offline for about 3 weeks and then came back after remembering the site, I found repeated requests by this guy for me to respond to him. Once I responded he quickly went to the subject of Pret and that I had to show him that my writing is not about campaigning or about Pret only etc.
When I am approached with power-tripping behaviour, I don’t waste any time to put down boundaries.
From the get-go GuyBarry shows his adversary towards what I write and deems himself the judge on what is or is not appropriate in the forum. The About us text again as a reminder:
“The aim of JUSTtheTalk is to promote discussion of ideas at all levels. We support free speech, even for people we don’t agree with or like.”
And here the contrast, just a fraction. But GuyBarry was determined to give his judgment on my legitimacy of being there. In chronological order. The first few posts are while I am offline for about 3 weeks.
Please note, “25 days ago” is around the 13th December 2025 from the time of writing this blog entry on 07.01.2026
.
.
.
.
Keep in mind that at this point I am not on the platform for 3 weeks after not understanding how the site works and then completely forgetting about it until logging in again in the new year. It’s amazing how they interpret into what I asked with all sorts of weird theories and assumptions. 😀
Tinfoil hat energy ….
.
.
.
.
.
.
Again, keep in mind, I completely forgot about that site even within a day of registering while people keep posting and posting and posting, but some later accuse me I spam the “board” (forum) or for me to need to “demonstrate” my intentions. I was even criticized for wishing people a healthy new year after every response I made to individuals to be polite to each person I responded to: 😀
.
.
GuyBarry immediately accusing me of being a spammer, just from me asking a question in how the forum works as I couldn’t find a reply button. Immediate suspicion, immediate accusations etc. And the self-importance longtime users assume of the forum, not even assuming that a new user isn’t even interested in anything further in the forum, or busy with life. These kinds of exchanges between people are always good for a case study in how people assume or even fear etc.
.
.
.
.
Again, I did not write that I was “blocked” from posting, but that I couldn’t find the REPLY BUTTON!!!! 😀
But these retired school teachers don’t seem to be able to read correctly.
On a side note, some in the thread immediately played the spelling police. I usually try not to tell them that English is not my mother tongue and prefer to respond with even more mistakes. But sometimes you need to release them from their misery. 😉
.
Here is when I came back 2 days ago (05.01.2026)
I won’t post the whole thread, people can just click on above link unless they delete it. My response must have stepped on some retired toes. GuyBarry did a U-turn pretty quickly and put the boss-hat on. He also seems to purposely misunderstand my query in how to reply to individual posts, turning it into a “private” messaging thing to be able to tell me that his email address in on his profile. No thanks, dude.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I disagree. There were some really decent people responding, some emailing. I purposely don’t mention them here to not get them targeted.
But from then on the milk turned sour and their toes started swelling and the mob licked blood. I won’t post all the hostile comments to safe time and space. They can be easily found on the forum (board).
I also later ended many posts by informing people that if I don’t respond anymore it’s due to either being banned or I blocked the user. I made it clear that I always respond to people out of respect for their time to write. And if I don’t write, I’m either banned / suspended or blocked users.
Some people were nice, others neutral, but a core group of the same people went into full toxic weirdo mode, even seemingly following me throughout the forum. Granted, it would be understandable if anyone was intoxicated and/or suffers current trauma, I have understanding and empathy for that. But this was a particular core mob of people, following me around the forum pretending to be annoyed with my presence and writing there.
Some people had genuine comments and questions about Pret, another even linked a post from my blog, but then deleted again which might be out of fear of the mob, I don’t know. Some people claimed they don’t click on my blog or links, yet my blog statistics are through the roof and it’s visible how many clicks come from JTT.
The animosity of a core group of them (some I named here, others I can’t be bothered to find), who then seemed to follow me around the forum, while pretending to not care or pretending to be annoyed about what I write, is very typical for a stale, years-long group who have huddled around each other, and don’t anyone dare to interrupt this cosy clique.
I expected to get banned and made it very clear that I don’t give a flying fudgecake if I get banned. These bitter old folk take themselves too serious and might have gotten used to bullying people on that platform who then either retrieve into silence or fight back until they get banned.
Any post, comment or new thread I tried to open on 06.01.2026 in the evening was “suspended” under review of admins.
The fake reason they gave to review my account was when on one thread I spoke about Isobel Colnaghi, a then student in 2017 who landed in hospital also from unlabelled sesame in Pret. She almost became the third fatality after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse was the first, also from sesame. Or rather Isobel almost became the second death, as her injury came before Celia Marsh died. But the admins then took that and deleted some of my text and someone informed me via contact that I named names publicly.
I then again posted somewhere that Isobel Colnaghi’s and other names are public through the court case and press reports. It was clear the mob and admins tried to find anything to pin on me to censor me.
I have to find the link, but yesterday (06.01.26) upon reading further things about that platform, I came across either a page or thread where it’s stated that the majority of admins are female. This is no surprise of course, as women usually do volunteer service work while man sit on their asses with a beer belly power-tripping. And this includes female admins bowing to the whim of toxic male (and female) users who call the shots on a platform.
I bookmarked one last post I made to see when I get banned. When I opened the link today (07.01.26) without logging in, I saw two chaps whom I blocked making a usual insecure male comment about being surprised that I am female.
An admin already mentioned that my account is under review without naming me, and that any post about Pret will be deleted.
“We support free speech, even for people we don’t agree with or like.” 😉
When I find the link about more women as admins, I will post later.
It also doesn’t take much, especially when seeing posts from newcomers saying “hello”, that old users repeatedly say things like, “to be on this platform you need have a thick skin” … or … “don’t take some users here too serious …” … or …“people are suspicious as we rarely have new users….” etc.
Of course you rarely have new users if you immediately jump at anyone new and meet them with hostility, and then excuse your behaviour with lies such as “we suspect you are an old user who got banned …” etc.
This toxic lot know exactly what they’re doing.
One typical thing from the get-go also is when someone points out spelling mistakes, this is usually done when they have no argument, but try to find anything they can to offend someone they feel intimidated by. When I get corrected on typos on the Internet, I usually respond with even more spelling mistakes. And that usually shuts them down fast.
I responded to the “thick skin” comment something along the lines that one doesn’t need a thick skin, one just needs to laugh it off and/or ignore. That must have gotten under the mob’s skin. When they realize that people are not impressed with their bully tactics, they mass report to admins to get the person silenced, as in posts hidden/deleted, accounts locked, suspended or banned. It’s a very common occurrence on social media in general.
The amount of people I speak to who are perplex why they got suspended on various platforms, and when you hear their story or read the other comments, you quickly see a pattern of kindergarten bully behaviour of a mob who don’t like a certain person. Very, very common on the Internet. But on JustTheTalk.co.uk it has an extra level of depth to insecurity and hostility of a core clique of people who dominate the forum, including the admins, who of course are in the majority females.
The gaslighting by the core group is also classic. They gaslight those who speak up against their mob behaviour in hopes those who speak out question themselves. That is a typical bully tactic.
It seems a sport to them to trash on people to see who is vulnerable, who they can bully and whom to power-trip over. And whoever fights back, will be mass-reported to get suspended/banned etc. Unfortunately most people bow to that manipulative behaviour and retrieve into silence or go along with such insecure bully behaviour.
Link to my last or one of my last posts and the typical old-fashioned chauvinistic guys commenting on their pretentious surprise about me being female:
When you click on the hashtag # numbers it will lead straight to that particular comment. I blocked (or the platform calls it “ignore”) about a dozen people on the first day, something I usually don’t do, and certainly not at that scale. But after years on social media you learn to block and ignore fast and move on to the wholesome, mature and intelligent people.
Please note that any of the links may get deleted by the platform, so just concentrate on the screenshots. I have more screenshots, but my posts tend to get too long *sigh*.
Some of them shared their age and are in their 60s. And the following is now not at all meant mean or offensive to anyone. But an unfortunate reality I have seen with friends and relatives elderly people, with age unfortunately often comes dementia. Some people (not all) become aggressive with age in dementia. After years of experience on the Internet, I have certainly never come across such aggressive, hostile, toxic lot on any forum or social media platform. They exist of course, but not in that scale and hostility.
Reading the T&Cs the amount of rules many of them break is mind-boggling, and the admins are either part of the clique, or bow to their whim.
The toxicity on this platform makes me wonder if that was the reason that The Guardian shut down the forum years ago. I will send this blog entry to 2 journalists, one who is still with The Guardian, and the other who left into freelance journalism but still working with The Guardian. Of course they will say that they have no connection to the forum, but I’m intrigued why The Guardian forum got closed. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s due to those toxic people whose lives seem to evolve around getting the one little bit of power they might need to boost their insecure egos.
There are some good people there of course, but I won’t name them as I don’t want them to be ganged up on by the bitter mob. I can stand up for myself, but I prefer to protect those who don’t have enough courage to stand up.
I will send this link to this blog entry to that platform, and then will not return to that hostile forum. Life is too short. They are too scared of people like me, so they should stay the way they are and continue on those lines and keep the doors closed to newcomers.
And upfront, some will say they won’t click on my link, but my stats are through the roof.
And to those who contacted me via my blog, I appreciate your words but I can stand up for myself. I will not reply to your email and prefer to reply in public without naming any of you. But thank you for your kind words.
So, I hope my account now gets banned to get my traces off that toxic site. I strongly believe in the old saying “don’t throw pearl before swine”. It’s a waste of time and resources. I am staying away from such insecure, immature folk who have nothing to look forward to than to avoid looking in the mirror. Some will say, “you let them win”. Yes, absolutely, they need to win to feel some kind of purpose in their bitter lives.
And those who say I am thin skinned. No, since my Pret ordeal coming up against a powerful group, I have become very thick skinned. But what has become important to me is my time and how I spend it. The beauty about my blog is, I take an hour to write a post, publish it, and move on. And my blog has taken on a life of its own.
And yes, believe me, I will not read any of their kindergarten responses, but will watch my statistics counts climb from that site referrals.
So, my free advertisement here will hopefully help them get new users for the toxic mob to learn, or for the new user to realize, “ah yeah, now I understand …”
I hope they get more new users to rattle the stale cage some more.
To those who contact(ed) me, especially the nice folk, please don’t take it personal when I don’t reply. I keep my email private and only for those who contact me regarding Pret, meaning staff and journalists, and I recognise the authentic ones very quickly.
Anyway, that was an interesting couple of days, and now I understand why I immediately forgot about that forum after registering and not understanding how it works.
Healthy new year and spend your time with people and projects that are worth your while.
For the sheep of those online platforms, please see:
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.
Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 
You must be logged in to post a comment.