As the Ghislaine Maxwell trial started today and the UK media remains silent after I sent the below to the press, and Maxwell’s camp tried hard to keep evidence out of court, I re-post this again and again!
.
.
So here I am, minding my own business when I receive an email from an anonymous person with a link to page 38 for a “black book” of none other then convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, who some believe may have been “suicided”. As I am contacted by former and current Pret staff, as well as now itsu issues that I pass on to the press, and at times it gets reported on, I get info as my blog is the main link between behind the scenes of Pret/itsu and the public/press.
So, the black address book of Epstein, what names do I see?
Pret A Manger co-“re”-founder and itsu founder, net-worth £215 million, Julian Metcalfe and his former wife Melanie with two addresses and phone numbers.
Of course it’s not a crime to be in a convicted pedophile & sex trafficker’s address book. And to be fair, Metcalfe was married to Melanie between 1992 and 2005. The first allegation on Epstein to police came in 2005, so technically people didn’t/couldn’t know about Epstein’s crimes. But still! Itsu staff have reviewed Metcalfe as sexist, racist, aggressive etc. (see YouTube below). Metcalfe comes from a long line of elite British folk and grew up wealthy and privileged. And in an interview with the Telegraph in July 2021 Metcalfe’s words are headlined with “Only the fittest will survive high street cull”.
This is very much in line with Metcalfe’s words to the Daily Mail last year regarding lock-down and being happy to sacrifice a few thousand very old and vulnerable people for the hospitality industry (again, please see YouTube below).
So, only Metcalfe knows why he is in Epstein’s infamous “black book” that has Ghislane Maxwell shake in her boots! And it doesn’t need to mean anything. But I find it noteworthy to mention after Metcalfe’s own aggressive words to the press (and other words that he deleted after I confronted him on Twitter), and what others say about him.
Quote from the Western Journal: »Epstein employee Alfredo Rodriguez called the list the “Holy Grail” or “Golden Nugget” that would map out the billionaire’s alleged underage sex network. Rodriguez first tried to sell it to journalists; instead, authorities seized it as evidence.«
I was sent this because I chased Metcalfe off Twitter last year and put it on a YouTube slide where I explained why Pret can’t be distanced to Metcalfe, after Pret made a statement of distancing themselves when Metcalfe made his appalling “eugenicist” lock-down comments to none other than the Daily Mail tabloid of all papers! Dumb move! After I chased him off Twitter, he’s become a little more media savvy now!
On his 2 day Twitter stint, I posted itsu staff reviews to Metcalfe where he is alleged to be sexist, racist, aggressive etc. Metcalfe continued his dumbness by RT’ing my Tweets to him! I suppose someone from Pret then must have warned him of who I am, as he then deleted his Twitter account the next day after only 2 days there, not knowing I already made screenshots!
I even tweeted at him saying, “will see how long you can hold on Twitter”, never thinking he lasted only 2 days, as other Pret execs ran off Twitter since I exposed Pret there.
His deletedTweets:
I use YouTube as my blog url is blocked completely on Facebook/Instagram even in private messages! But they can’t block YouTube!
.
Little side note: Former Pret CEO Clive Schlee is very close friends and business partner with Julian Metcalfe. And Schlee is on the board of directors and owns half of itsu. But no, Schlee isn’t in Epstein’s address book, I’ve already checked! 😉
And a little piece about one of the phone books, as there is more than 1 it seems:
.
.
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 (a close friend & business partner of Julian Metcalfe who also owns half of Metcalfe’s company itsu). I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
This link My Pret A Manger Ordeal is a simple and easier overview to link straight to some of the most important blog entries, summarizing my trauma with Pret A Manger. There is much more writing on my website / blog, but the links on the map are the main articles to narrow down, pointing to the main issues of my trauma with Pret.
On the “map”:
click on the – minus bottom right to decrease and get an overview of the whole map
click on the dots to expand or close menu.
click on the -> arrow on a particular title to link straight to the article
hold the mouse clicked, “grabbing” it to move map around as you would with Google map
DONATIONS
I fully fund my blog and choose not to use ads
If you would like to donate, it would be appreciated. Thank you!
£10.00
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
This is the REALITY of Pret A Manger behind the facade WORLDWIDE. The clean facade of freebies, the forced smiles (tested by Mystery Shoppers), the “ethical” front of Pret that got away with 2 customer deaths, a third allergy reaction nearly fatal (new court-case in November 2020), several injured, multiple warnings ignored etc. Seeking independent investigation into a staff suicide.
UPDATE:LAWSUIT filed against Pret in NYC for racism and discrimination (bottom of page).
Link (More reviews further below in this blog post)
A rare complaint from Hong Kong where most people put their heads down and continue under hard conditions:
Link to Tweet. An online conversion from HKD 45 to British Pound is roughly £4.65 an hour! And Pret didn’t even respond to the Tweet.
UPDATE: August 2021:
.
A VERY common bullying incident from a Manager towards a Team Member. But this time it didn’t happen behind the facade in the kitchen, office or staff room, hidden away from customers, this time it happened in front of customers. The “ethical profile” of Pret is a facade the public still believes, because the bullying is usually happening behind the scenes, away from customers’ eyes. And then, when the Manager or Leader has finished bullying the staff member, the intimidated and humiliated Team Member then is send out to the shop floor, and expected to smile for Mystery Shopper bonus and fool customers with a fake happiness. And as many are from other countries, young, have children to feed or Uni tuition to pay, they feel stuck, too exhausted to find a new job and not knowing where to turn to.
And when the bullying is happening on the shop floor, shops are so noisy with loud music, shouting of staff to make and get coffee orders, talking, busyness. Customers are occupied on their phones or laptops, distracted with talking, eating etc. So, when it happens in the shop, people don’t even notice.
Even when I was bullied during bereavement under the watchful eye of HR, I NEVER told a customer or colleague. I was complimented by customers and received rewards from Mystery Shoppers for my service, smile, giving freebies etc. And after my shift at times I headed for the bridge and still don’t know how I survived. But none of my colleagues and customers knew my inner state and turmoil. I explain in detail at the very bottom YouTube slide about what weekly Mystery Shoppers test staff on, or via this link: “Smile for the Misery Shopper“.
This creates a host of mental health issues under Emotional Labour, that staff are forced to perform. What @Katecordon witnessed here and confronted Pret in below Tweet, is so familiar to me, and this would be a situation where I as a Team Leader then had to console the Team Member crying in the staff room and at times speak to the Manager. Only ONE time when I spoke to the Manager why they shouted at the TM, this Manager apologized to the TM. But this was only one Manager out of many who did not apologize and rather bullied me then as well for speaking out. But I didn’t care!
The Team Member in below customer Tweet made a very simple, innocent, normal mistake. No big deal. And by the way, the TM made that mistake because she was most likely NOT trained in the first place! The Manager must have stood nearby witnessing this mistake. To correct the mistake the TM then did give the 10% discount, but explained at the same time that she made a mistake and gave the 10% as a one-off. PERFECT customer service!!! In fact, a Mystery Shopper would have probably given the TM an “outstanding card”, meaning the extra £100 reward, or even £200 if the overall scores were perfect. Mystery Shoppers many times gave the reward, even when a mistake happened, but they rewarded the staff member due to how they handled the mistake.
The same is by law, when a price tag gives an old cheaper price even though the price has increased, the business is obligated to charge that old cheaper price, even if the till system is updated with the new expensive price. But this TM probably doesn’t know the law on this and did instinctively the right thing because she cares! The TM here did a perfect, correct and kind customer service, but was bullied by the Manager for making a simple mistake and then giving the 10% discount as a good will gesture, which is commendable! And this Manager is particularly offensive by talking down on the customer as well: “It’s company policy, love“. Very, very, very, very common bullying incident in Pret! Bullying and fear management by the book.
The reason this Manager makes a huge issue out of the 10% discount wrongly given as a student discount, is that Pret only does regular discounts in some places like malls or train stations (but not all malls or stations), where the other companies and train station staff within that station or mall get a 10% discount showing their staff badge. So, this Manager would have to do half a minute of paper work to explain for the financial file why the 10% was given in this Manchester airport, that doesn’t give student discounts. Managers hate to do little paper work issues like this as they want their financial records to look perfect. I got in trouble many times for doing it the proper way in recording mistakes, because Managers didn’t like mistakes in their financial files and rather stress staff to not make these mistakes. And at one time I’ve had enough and told one Manager that if a financial file is perfect without any mistakes, this would ring alarm bells with me if I was a financial auditor. But that’s another story. And honest mistakes that are effectively recorded can be traced back in the system and explained. Again, no big deal.
And also by the way, this Manager most likely continued the bullying later in the office, as bullying Pret managers and leaders can’t let go and continue later on, especially when caught out by customers and they “lost face” in front of the TM they just bullied. So, they try to “establish” authority and continue behind closed doors. I hope that young lady finds quick support! And if this Manager is disciplined by Pret, then only because he got caught by a customer who called him out publicly, like he did with his Team Member. If the TM alone would have complained to HR, nothing would have happened.
This shows as well in the very first review from the new LAX Pret shop that was opened in the summer 2019. I could not have put it into better words how this bullying environment thrives in Pret worldwide. I love American reviews, because they find amazing words!:
A little reality check and crash course of Pret’s “ethical” profile. What staff dare to say in anonymity, away from the fear management. Clive Schlee “retired” with quite a legacy!
Glassdoor scores on Pret and its leadership. I wrote a new blog post as well on >>> Pret’s new CEO Pano Christou, and Clive Schlee remaining in the background as a non-executive Director, while on his Twitter account he still presents himself as the CEO of Pret! (UPDATE: July 2020, Schlee’s Twitter account has also been deleted in July 2020). I explain in above blog why Pano Christou deleted his Twitter account. Clive Schlee let Pano Christou take over on Glassdoor already in July 2019, even though Schlee’s retirement was set for September 2019. This typical passing the buck downwards is to avoid further negative scoring. And yet, still not taking responsibility.
NOTE: Pret settled TWO lawsuits in NY having had to pay 4000 workers back after illegally having “shaved off” (rounded down) their pay. But in the UK no-one goes to court, even though the same problem of unpaid hours is systemic throughout the company, as I have experienced countless times myself. One review below shows the hopelessness on the feeling that staff can’t do anything about this.
And only after getting caught and a public outcry and boycotts for not wanting to pay 500 (!) young summer recruits. Do the math on how much money that is. And getting young folk in, who don’t know their rights and are brainwashed easier. Pret always tries and changes direction when caught and boycotted.
Link to FULL review WORTH READING! One quote from above review on the hopelessness, compared to U.S. staff who filed class-action suit against Pret twice: “Sometimes it can be challenging maintaining a natural smile on my face for 8 hours straight. … Pret will do anything not to pay you. They will bend the law and the contract in any way they can,and there is nothing you can do about it (unless smile).”
Because the legal system is different here…no pro-bono lawyer likes to take this on as I’ve experienced, because when you win, the payout is so low, lawyers don’t want to pick this up for their 33% peanuts from a low reward in the UK legal system. Too much work for little reward.
Several reviews on Pret’s shiny London Head Office from current and former employees at the time of reviewing on Indeed and Glassdoor. Again, these are reviews on Pret’s HEAD OFFICE in Victoria, London where the CEO and other Senior Leadership also have their desks in the open plan offices where I saw them many times working on laptops etc.
Also, some reviews from office / corporates in New York.
Link“People don’t seem to get promoted unless you are a bully or belittle your team members. The place is toxic.“
Another one from January 2019
Link“… working really really long hours. No work life balance whatsoever”.
2017 review on HQ from an IT Analyst on Glassdoor:
Link“Manipulative and exploitative approach to employees as owners and senior management concerned about profit margin only. People are taken into account only if it makes a good PR. Genuinely fake and dishonest company.”
UPDATE 05. January 2020 NEW HQ review(customer service team) on homophobia, manipulative HR dealings etc.
Link“Pret has brought over many managers and leaders from the UK and ‘beheaded’ many of the US employees who built the brand…”
This is really upsetting, because I remember when I asked my managers over the years where such-an-such an OPs Manager or General Manager is, I often heard that they where sent to New York, as the American Managers can’t handle the work / can’t manage properly. I remember being confused about this, because I lived in Florida for almost 6 years and traveled to different cities over the years, visiting friends. I stayed 3 months on the West Coast, visited North Dakota, the East Coast, the deep South, often for several months. I have many American friends. Americans are one of THE hardest working people. They are inventive, passionate, disciplined, fun, helpful etc. I was confused, but then thought that I know how complex and micromanaging Pret is, so I didn’t think any more of it. But now I realize, reading all the American reviews that what I was told was bullcrap!
Reading the above review and all the other reviews from the U.S., the main thing the American reviews have in common is: favoritism and racism. And it’s really upsetting, because I know the American mentality vs. the British.
UPDATE: Feb. 2020 from Washington DC – Fired due to pregnancy!
Probational period is 3 months, so they quickly fired her and she can’t take it up in court.
Link I can verify that. I worked in over a dozen Pret shops over the years, and EVERY manager seems to take it personal when you move on. I only moved shop due to management. The reason was always management. They don’t look at you anymore, seem offended when you move on, and yet, they can’t give you a positive word while you work there and then wonder why you leave! And the language barrier is big. You do feel left out very quick when the majority are from a certain country, and you work with them for 8+ hours without understanding a word all day. You feel left out, not understanding their language. And this is not meant racist at all. It’s just a courtesy and inclusiveness to speak English.
Bullying from the top down: A review by a Team Leader who runs the kitchen and the shop! OPs (area manager) bullying the manager who cries in the office. This OPs sounds particularly nasty, and reminds me of an OPs that I had before my brother died and I was still strong holding out under this kind of “leadership”! It’s also a recent review from 03. October 2019 (this is Chicago, but this happens in other countries/cities as well):
Link“My typical work day consist of Ops Manager yelling and cursing at my manager. … Managers cry in their offices because of how stressed they are. … Managers are secretly looking for new jobs right now to get out of Pret.“
Link“This job should be reported to the department of labor”. Pret settled 2 lawsuits in New York, re-paying 4000 workers. In the UK hardly anyone sues because the legal system is different, low rewards that no lawyer wants to pick up. In the U.S. one reviewer on Indeed recently wrote that Pret is always getting sued.
Link“This company is everything that is wrong with the world. … Corporate hell on earth.”
Former General Manager 4 years after Bridgepoint purchased Pret:
Link Review from NY 2011, but this is throughout the company and still today, quote: “Management is very incompetent. It is clear they have little to know training and have absolutely no training or experience in employee relations or even customer relations for that matter. Every manager I have worked with – I have worked with 6 – will immediately try to belittle you. Not sure exactly why this is such a common practice among managers but it is an intrinsic behavior within the company itself. … Even though Pret A Manger emphasizes that they are a “people first” type of company, the reality of it is is that they are solely concerned with sales and view their employees as faceless and a dime a dozen. You’re not God. Take a continuing ed course in management, employee relations, and labor rights. This should be a requirement before even obtaining the position.“
I can only underline above (and ALL) reviews, and yet know that Pret does NOT care about labour rights etc.
Link“A lot of people cry in the staff room especially in their entry period”
23. Oct. 2019 “I have work in different shops and they are all very similar, it is a toxic environment, Never in my life I have seen so many different coworkers cry in the job. Give more training to your managers, and hire better people, don’t allow them to abuse the staff, it is appalling.”
The next review from recently is a very typical scenario of abusive fear-management by Managers. Scaring low-wage workers that they’re “playing with lives” while the top Senior Leadership got away with TWO customer deaths, Clive Schlee sneaking out quietly, remaining in the background as a non-executive Director, while having ignored customer warnings (link to article), not acting until the deaths became public:
»This job can annihilate every piece of humanity inside of you.
You will lose everything that makes you human.«
Link“I spend 6 months racing all day and barely spoke 3-5 words a day on my shifts if I’m not on till where you are required to have the widest fake smile on earth…”
UPDATE:31.10.2019
A brand new review by a current General Manager that absolutely breaks my heart! One of many along the lines of no work-life balance, due to under-staffed shops and not paid for overtime.
Link“I am about to lose my family as I am never there. I leave to work at 4 am and get home 7 at night. My children looking at me like a I am a stranger. It’s not a life. … Bullying, long hours, shortage of staff, – it’s a proper Modern day slavery”
I think this is the most heart-breaking review I’ve ever seen by any staff member, let alone a Manager. I hope they find a way! I actually cried when I read this.
Another recent Manager review from Chicago tells a similar story, quote: “With the wrong management, the shops begin to break down and brings inner conflict. Pay could be better, especially for seasoned employees. Management gets overworked to save on labor costs. Don’t expect to see much of home as a manager.” Link
Another GM from London in August 2019:
Link A little side note, GMs go to quarterly meetings where the CEO and top leadership are present as well, so GMs know Senior Leaders more than the regular staff. Some GMs disapprove of the CEO – at the time it still was Clive Schlee. But I find it interesting that this GM has NO opinion of the CEO, as if this GM doesn’t care to even mention their like/dislike.
And another GM on Indeed from Glasgow, Scotland: “Amazing in the beginning – showered with benefits and entitlements and opportunities to advance. Terrible once you see how horribly mismanaged and micromanaged the company is. Zero care for human beings and nothing but boosting sales and company growth.“
A little reminder again that Clive Schlee pocketed £30 Million on bonus alone when JAB Holdings bought Pret!Link to article.
UPDATE: 10. November 2019 Brand new Manager review on Indeed worth reading!
Link Quote: “Managers are forced to cheat on results and break standards just so that the area manager looks good on paper, though he stays at home most of the days whilst the shops collapse.“ Yes, but this has always been like this. OPs Managers sit in the pub at lunch time when shops are horrendously busy. OPs Managers fly out to Dubai, Paris or in the U.S. to Vegas, Orlando etc. as mentioned above, to party and blow the hard earned money the shops bring in. Many times I didn’t see my OPs Manager for at least THREE MONTHS at a time, and when they came in, they bossed us around and played scary fear management for a few minutes, before disappearing again for months! The only thing I saw regularly was EMAILS and pressuring us on numbers and Mystery Shopper results!
Quote: “Since 2018 there is so much pressure in getting the standards right however I’ve seen kitchens running on two people on night shifts and even one on day shift (where four people are required per shift) as area management does want figures to be right on paper- this could cause enormous issues if something went wrong i.e. allergens.”
Quote: “People are over stretched and tired since the pressure to achieve selection in stores is high but not enough labour in.“
Quote: “We as managers aim to make our teams happy and safe however the over stretching on labour just made us cover the gaps over and over not realising the biggest gap was within us unable to have a normal life or humanity due to the amount of hours being psychologically forced into work.”
Quote: “I have met great people and higher management in this company but there is an unacceptable level of fear cultureup here in Edinburgh, where people believe they won’t actually be okay if they quit their job if unhappy. It’s 2019 and if your employer raises you to be scared to develop elsewhere then it’s not a good employer.”
Nothing more to add!
And the gift that keeps on giving, a NEW MANAGER review on Glassdoor 16. Nov. 2019
Link“Those willing to step on others make it to the top. Talk the talk but actually don’t live by the values they preach.”
This review is one of my absolute favourites, and brings some humour into all this!
Also, pay attention to the YES vs NO votes on all these reviews.
I could go on and on and on, and add countless more along those lines of above reviews, but my posts tend to get too long. I just post one more which is the shortest review I have come across. It doesn’t take many words to describe Pret A Manger. This is even from a Team Leader. Well, it’s simply Pret:
Above comments and articles are only a fraction of a long list of staff reviews and complaints. For an extensive, yet not exhaustive list please visit: Pret Staff Complaints (list needs to be updated, I stopped in August 2019) with a few collected in below slideshow.
Finally, some very wise words I came across once on Twitter, but I know Pret will not heed (they read my blog) because they are stuck in this profit-driven business and always find ways to sweet-talk their way out of responsibility:
»It’s amazing to me how many business leaders separate their employees from their customers/patrons. Your employees are your core target audience to put word-of-mouth out about your organization.« — @minmilyjung on Twitter
Any employee reading this, especially in Pret and the service industry:
Join a Union and leave reviews on Glassdoor, Indeed and other platforms.
The following Unions cover the food industry:
The BFAWU are the best informed about Pret and have helped Pret staff already. The BFAWU have been instrumental on the first ever McDonald’s strikes in the UK. Also another vital and very active Union that specialize in helping foreign workers is IWGB.
The BFAWU and IWGB are very active with McDonald’s strikes and are the best informed about Pret A Manger.
May not work on mobile devices without Wifi.
Slideshow can be paused
The above slideshow is just a selection, the list goes on in → Pret Staff Complaints. And extensive accounts of Pret’s systemic bullying behind the facade, also witnessed by customers: Caught in the Act at Pret.
Staff review: “Bad managemet, always being ‘hounded’.”
Staff review: “Worked into the ground without empathy.”
Smile for the Mystery Shopper. I renamed: “Misery Shopper”!
NOTE:When on Glassdoor, one has to register and be signed in to read reviews. Glassdoor has changed its selection of reviews. On Pret A Manger reviews, Glassdoor is now sieving out Managers and Leaders reviews on the front page. To see ALL the recent reviews on Glassdoor, click where it says “Popular” and select “Most recent” or “Lowest Rating” AND Clear All “Full-time, Part-time”. Also, Glassdoor demands logins now, where you can only see ONE review without being registered and logged in. The reason why the amount of reviews change from 683 to 697 may be that Glassdoor withholds some reviews. But I’m not sure how that works. On Indeed at the Location feature, scroll up to select “All” and it will automatically list all cities/countries in chronological order starting with the newest.
Indeed now even started handpicking reviews as “the most useful review selected by Indeed”, which shows that these review sites are not neutral, as they only select the positive ones, no matter how “rotten” the company may be or how many experienced staff have voted their agreement with the (negative) review:
DEFAULT view:
Click on Sort: “Most recent” and “Clear All”
.
DONATIONS
I fully fund my blog and choose not to use ads
If you would like to donate, it would be appreciated. Thank you!
£10.00
.
.
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 starve and 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. 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: 1. “Late Night Girl’s” Story with Pret and 2. Pushing Back Against Pret. Thank you for reading/listening.
… from a former Pret employee having survived systemic workplace bullying and gaslighting under Pret’s HR, CEO Clive Schlee and a Development Manager from HQ, who’s also an NLP Practitioner and Hypnotherapist under the National Hypnotherapy Society. On a side note, many Pret leaders from HQ and Operation Managers are NLP practitioners. It seems Pret encourages them to the NLP course, and if one researches on Neuro-linguistic Programming, it is or can be a tool to manipulate people.
As my website has become quite large with various writings from behind the scenes, I decided to create an Index to the most important issues regarding Pret A Manger, that portray themself as this ethical and caring company.
I am still in disbelief myself on what I went through, and writing about it helped me survive and come back to my senses, and expose Pret A Manger! I declined 4 settlement offers from Pret if I am silent about my ordeal and never go to court. I explain in full in my interview at the bottom of most pages here or as the first feature of the below index.
The very fact that Pret did NOTHING after TWO customer deaths, a third nearly fatal, several hospitalized, and numerous warnings ignored, should ring massive alarm bells! But the public remains lulled in, especially in the UK whereas in the U.S. it would hail a storm of lawsuits! The German Reimann family behind JAB, the new owners of Pret, work very hard to divert issues opening in various countries in a whirlwind, more charity work etc.
I write so boldly and loud because I almost lost my life, having been targeted and bullied during already traumatic bereavement. I had several close calls at the bridge and am very proud that I made it through to expose this company!
If this is the only thing I do, having survived this toxic company that hides behind the shiny PR[et] facade and fake smiles, I will do it as thoroughly and detailed as I did when I worked for Pret! I wasted 10 years of my life in this company and explain in my interview how I went through this. This is not about a dis-grunted former employee, this is more. This is about a company that portrays itself to the public as this ethical company and lures in customers as well as employees, exploiting staff for profit. This is just a usual business out for profit as any company is, but the public has been lulled in for years about Pret A Manger and it is human nature to want to believe a fairy-tale…
I confront Pret on a suicide of an assistant manager in 2017 of whom I learned prior to her death. I almost went over the edge, Pret hid TWO customer deaths until it became public, how many suicides of current or former staff happened no-one knows about. I was recently leaked an email that Director of HR Andrea Wareham sent to all Pret shops informing them that two Pret staff have died in two different UK shops. One of them I was told was a suicide, the other person’s death is unclear to the persons who leaked the email. The press is informed and in my 10 years in Pret having had access to Pret emails as I was a team leader, I have never seen an email regarding staff deaths.
Pret must have learned from the customer deaths they never even told us about and also my situation that the truth will always come out.
It is my biggest regret having wasted my time, skill, effort and care for Pret A Manger.
If people don’t believe my story, I have evidence and confront Pret openly on Twitter, Facebook etc. Again, I explain in my interview why Pret is not responding. All I can say to everyone regarding the nice facade of Pret or any company is:
If something looks too good to be true, take a closer look!
The below Index takes openness to read, as many people want to believe the fairy-tale that is Pret A Manger. Only the Unions, Activists and some from the Press know better and look closer.
I start the index with my own story in an interview and continue with general issues, categorizing as best as I can. Any reader and writer, please be aware of the work I’ve put into this website before you just cope & paste and mind the copyright. I have other websites as back-ups. I am open for any interview and article feature, as well as questions.
Any new writings in the future that I may add, I will indicate as UPDATE or NEW.
Index:
Links open in a new window / tab
INTERVIEW
For the first time I share my story with Pret verbally in an interview on a podcast based in California. Interview with The Adam Paradox: (The interview can be played while scrolling through this page and is featured on my website at the bottom of most pages)
> My call-in to BBC radio show of Dotun Adebayo early morning on Christmas Day 2019. The subject of the show was »What does “Christmas spirit” mean to you?«. One of the questions was, if more people are alone at Christmas than it used to be, and what people’s experience is with Christmas in general. As I was up, I just called in. I didn’t speak about Pret, as death and grief is already “heavy” as it is on Christmas Day and I don’t think a BBC radio program would be ready to hear about Pret! I kept it “light” I hope.
(My losses happened in a span of 3 years, not 5 years, I just spoke from looking back on 5 years.)
PRESS
Journalist Amy Sharpe from the Sunday Mirror went undercover into Pret after reading my blog, and having suggested to her to go undercover. I added my thoughts to her report in “Undercover Under Pressure”
I was leaked an email that HR Director Andrea Wareham sent to all Pret shops mid/end of May that TWO Pret staff have died within a month. One staff I was told was a suicide, the other TM the “leakers” don’t have the info. It’s not the first suicide in Pret!
On the below slideshow I added just a selection of staff reviews and comments to save long blog entries. These are from review websites like Glassdoor and Indeed, but also from YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and other websites where people commented on the work environment in Pret.
Just some examples, before the Slideshow, from former Pret employees in NYC, London etc.:
JavaScript required to view slideshow. May not work on mobile devices without Wifi
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
Slideshow can be paused
The above slideshow is just a selection, the list goes on in —> Pret Staff Complaints
NEW
I’m branching out to YouTube, as not everyone likes to read long blog posts. I cover mainly staff issues currently:
CEO CLIVE SCHLEE RETIREMENT
NEW CEO PANO CHRISTOU
NEW 01. July 2019: Announcement of early “retirement” of Clive Schlee supposedly in September, but new CEO Pano Christou is already featured on Glassdoor, probably to avoid further negative voting for Schlee.
Pret Staff work in overheated shops. Customer complaints on behalf of employees regarding excruciating work conditions in 35-40ºC+ heat for prolonged time, weeks and months.
FORCED SMILES & HAPPINESS
for Mystery Shopper bonus, extra cash and fear management
Pret A Manger – Ready to (ch)eat Lawsuits vs. Pret on the “Natural” Food claim while Glyphosate was found in food. Change of signage, packaging and Website.
USA: 2016 “sesame reaction” Lawsuit and Pret doing ZERO
At the bottom of the page: A New York customer suffered an anaphylactic shock from unlabelled sesame in a Pret Wrap. He lost the case, yet Pret still did nothing to label food even after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died from the same unlabelled allergen in the same year of 2016.
USA March 2019 Court PDF Document of new lawsuit regarding Pret’s “Natural” claim. List of chemicals from page 10 onward.
A customer’s comment in Chicago regarding a deceased Pret employee and Pret in general.
Lastly, THE Best description of SYSTEMIC Workplace Bullying and what I have gone through under Pret’s senior leadership and HR, is summed up in this text I found on Twitter.
I have spent over a year writing my hands into a carpal tunnel (not really, just using a metaphor!) on what I’ve been through in Pret A Manger. I described how systemic and toxic Pret’s bullying is behind the smiley facade!
I can wrap up my whole experience and website in this one text:
Further Staff Reviews, one which states that they felt always being “hounded”. I based more reviews in a YouTube slide on this statement:
“Worked into the ground without empathy”
Smile for the Mystery Shopper – Forced to do emotional labour for cash incentives and fear management (I re-named as the “Misery” Shopper for a reason!)
I worked at Pret A Manger for almost 10 years 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 starve and 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.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote an article in the Scottish Left Review.
Thank you for reading/listening.
Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.
Amy Sharpe from the Sunday Mirror contacted me on Facebook after I declined another Mirror Journalist’s request for an interview.
I declined her request as well, as I wasn’t ready for the press, and as I am still paranoid to be tricked and trapped like Pret did with the Development Manager I write extensively about in “The Perversion of a Toxic HR Department“. My experience in Pret is very complex and sounds like straight from a twisted Hollywood script, but I have it all in writing and confront Pret openly on Twitter, which in turn have them report me to get shadow-banned (secretly censored on Twitter & Co. which then hides my posts and accounts from public search). But I urged her to go undercover to see for herself and not just take my word for it, just like James Bloodworth did in Amazon. And she did.
My Facebook message after Amy contacted me:
What I meant by Pret “infiltrating” the mental health club I was a member of, Pret knew about this club as I mentioned it in my last hearing. I write about Pret “infiltrating” the club in my open “letter” to the Pret Foundation Trust which is just a smokescreen to pretend charity to the public.
As I commented on Sathnam Sanghera’s Times article, I’d like to give my two cents also to Amy Sharpe’s undercover article. Both articles from very different perspectives as one from a customer and business point of view, the other from behind the scenes for a few days. But both are equally important and revealing how business works with the main goal of profit in mind.
I have to say that when I saw the undercover reporting yesterday morning (28.11.2018) linked on Twitter, after Amy has been very silent about going “under”, and rightly so, I teared up. I cried when I read her name on the report because not just did she follow my suggestion taking my ordeal serious, but someone from the outside saw what I and many others experience(d), but the public doesn’t want to know about unless it is the press poking into an organization.
It sadly takes deaths becoming public to show how negligent a company, in this case Pret, really is. I’ve been writing openly about my experience with Pret since May 2018 after my father died in March and I started to come to terms again of another loss… still recuperating from my Pret trauma that has “postponed” my grief for my brother. Regular readers know the story.
Some people criticize The Sunday Mirror’s report as being part of a witch hunt, but I don’t think that. The public is so used to be lulled in by a nice and shiny facade, free coffees and cookies.
Customers are so used to the smiles of staff, but no-one knows what really is behind it. The fear management via the Mystery Shopper, rewarded extra £100 if specially nice or told off by the boss in the office and threatened with job security if they didn’t smile non-stop in the highly stressful work environment. I mentioned this in a Tweet response to a customer who without any thought or empathy complained to Pret about a barista, even naming him, for not smiling and rushing the service:
Amy Sharpe’s undercover article to me is like someone understanding this and finally confirming my and the team’s ordeal. Some points I want to highlight as I don’t use the full article, just what I want to confirm and expand upon a little from what this journalist has experienced and witnessed. The article will be in black and my comments in grey. I added the bold to the text to highlight some issues.
Article: A manager reacts in horror as I point out the mistake (of an Almond Croissant with a Jam Croissant label). “Oh my god!” he cries as he switches labels on two trays of croissants – one containing jam, the other almonds.
This is the typical PANIC reaction of a manager who either didn’t take the time or is too disorganized to do the MBWA (Managing By Walking Around) to check that everything is in its proper place, health & safety checks and so on. This could easily be improved by investing to have plenty of staff, instead of cutting staff to save money, so that the Manager On Duty (MOD) can concentrate on checking everything daily as well as throughout the day. It’s a very simple organizational issue. Very, very simple.
Article: In the wake of two allergy deaths, he adds: “It’s really dangerous, especially with everything that’s been going on.”
And yet, no-one steps on the brakes to put immediate, and what CEO Clive Schlee calls, “meaningful” changes in place. The problem with the word “meaningful” to me here is, it sounds too wishy-washy, “poetically” correct but shows no urgency, even though “it’s really dangerous”. The appropriate word should have been to implement “immediate” changes! As Natasha’s parents are in shock over Pret’s procrastination, ITV’s November report:
Article: I am standing behind the counter in Pret a Manger … The pace is so relentless, the demands so constant – customers want serving super-quick – that I find myself under constant pressure. I sense that other staff feel the strain too.
Ms. Sharpe does not give the time of day she was behind the counter, but mentioned having to dash to the toastie machine, so this may have been lunch time. But the strain can especially be felt when a Team Member does the morning shift from 5 or 6am till 2 or 3pm going through two intense rushes: breakfast and lunch. When I worked in Pret I made a decision to not meet with a friend or have an appointment straight after my morning shift having come out of lunch time. I was always like having come out of a tumbler, being shaken for hours and still on electricity. My friends commented on this, so I tried to get home first to clean up and rest and calm down before joining any events.
Many kitchens I have seen with very small working areas for the Hot Chef in particular. Someone leaked a photo to Twitter.
Customer areas are increased to get as many customers / money in as possible; staff areas are decreased. This then creates multiple problems, not only on the mental strain of staff but customers lives as mistakes happen quickly as with labelling I collected in another post “Vegetarians Get Meat Products“:
Or a shop where I worked where there was only ONE multitask room: office, staff changing room with lockers, fridges, freezers, stock room, hot chef soup prep area, chemical room for cleaning materials etc and to top it all, illegally the rubbish room next to the food prep area! This shop was the worst shop I’ve worked in. This photo is from 2015 and after years like this, Pret was forced to expand the work space to separate the rubbish for health and safety reasons. This room was medium size and approx. 15 square meters max. A total nightmare.
Article: I am at a central London branch, where 10 staff vie for space, muttering apologies as we collide and stretch across one another to grab pastries and bags. I shout orders to a barista while dashing to a beeping toastie machine to retrieve a baguette. I make green teas and filter coffees while my other drinks orders are prepared. It’s stressful and confusing and the queue makes it even more so. All the while, staff must be alert to the issue of allergens.
Yep. And as one customer on Twitter pointed out the chaos and stress on the staff and customers alike. I had to console Team Members many times over the years who held their tears back or just cried in the staff room after being shouted at by the manager. Another review: “Better salary than McDonalds or Costa as long as you keep your fake smile up. Staff with more experience cuts corners on Sanitary rules because otherwise it is impossible to finish your batch on time. – The coffee calling system is broken. During busy times it is nearly impossible to keep up with the orders without hating everyone around you. A lot of people cry in the staff room especially in their entry period.”
I also shed many tears on my way home in the bus, especially during grief of course, but after a terribly depressing shift this was a common thing to let the tears finally flow.
I found a photo of the coffee area and it shows how cramped and small the work area is. And the barista/coffee makers are required to get PERFECT coffees out within 1 minute that the Mystery Shopper times to the second! It doesn’t get any more dehumanizing and mentally straining than this. I don’t know how I managed, but we worked a lot in mental and physical pain. Under the coffee machine where the silver jugs are, this working area is so small baristas switch on autopilot and just keep going. Hence, lots of stress, shouting and customers going to Twitter with complaints of half cups of coffees that are made so fast to satisfy the Mystery Shopper, the manager and the long queue.
It is rare that a customer speaks out like this and it’s sad that most customers don’t care how stressful it is behind the counter. They see it, at times even commented about it to me, but they just want their coffees fast. Pret has spoiled them where they would be perfectly happy to wait 5-10 minutes in Starbucks, Pret made the service so fast to get the money circulation into the shops fast. Pret staff are expected to whip out PERFECT coffees within ONE minute and are timed to the SECOND by Mystery Shoppers, while customers think that staff is just happy working under intense pressure. They don’t realize what’s behind that happy facade!
Excerpt:
1 minute aim to serve and another 1 minute to have a perfect hot drink ready, checked by the MS to the second:
“I was served very quickly, after 15 seconds, very quick service.”
“I received my hot drink very quick, after 30 seconds, quick service.”
And then customers run to Twitter with pictures of half full cappuccinos, missing cream, lukewarm coffees…! There’s nothing more dehumanizing at a workplace that I have experienced. And should anyone suffer from boredom, do an experiment and just read through some Pret Tweets a few minutes each day for a week, with the same sweet-talk response from Pret veering customers away from public Tweets to private DM.
Some complaints are legitimate when a customer already spoke to the manager, and yet Pret has a DM button, but customers feel the public needs to be aware of their dilemma in Pret shops. I know, I know I respond a lot to some Tweets, and maybe it is because for 10 years I had to bite my tongue towards rude customers, I take the opportunity now to give my opinion. And Pret doesn’t block me as they collect my Tweets in case for court and certainly to learn some tips, as I have showered them with suggestions for improvement while I worked there. Be my guest, Pret.
Article: Staff now repeat orders to customers to avoid any mistakes. Allergen enquiries are referred to the duty manager, who will show a list of ingredients.
Which is good to repeat, but the pace is still kept high with all sorts of demands, especially for the “Misery” Shopper: always smile, eye contact, make some small-talk, serve within 1 minute, stand on your head, dance on one feet, bend your back, twist your brain, know all the answers, kiss their butts … and all this with a big fake Pret A Smile to keep a low-paid job! In other words you either develop superhuman abilities or mental illness. The pace is the same, the demand is higher, and life is still at risk including the lives of staff who suffer depression, mental ill health and at times become suicidal. But the public “just” wakes up once customer lives are affected. Forget the “slaves“.
A positive Mystery Shopper visit, excerpt:
“The staff member who served me made good eye contact and greeted me with a friendly smile. While remaining focused and efficient, she also took time to engage in a few words of conversation, which added a personal element to the exchange – enhancing the welcoming atmosphere of this store.”
A negative Mystery Shopper visit, excerpt:
“I was not greeted at the till or given a smile. The only conversation was what was necessary for the transaction. To be welcoming the team member could have greeted me and smiled and be engage(d) and positive, the team member could have given me a friendly remark or made small talk.”
— or —
“Team members should smile at customers and may not work when ill, as team member was coughing whilst serving me and was therefore not feeling cheerful to smile that day.”
I wish I could have told this MS that staff are not paid sick leave for the first 2 and 3 days depending on age. So one had to decide if to stay home sick and lose income, or go to work unwell and get a telling off from the manager like I did because I coughed when I happened to serve the MS.
I wonder if Amy Sharpe served the Mystery Shopper and how she would have felt reading a negative comment on her service while feeling the experience of the “overstretched staff” and it being “stressful and confusing and the queue makes it even more so.”
I even wished sometimes customers would just join us for a few hours, especially those who quickly complain about everything.
Just few of the countless Tweets, just from this week:
This customer had good service for THREE years, then one negative experience and the world has come to an end. I linked her to Amy Sharpe’s report to bring some perspective for her feeling so unwanted. But I deleted the Tweet again as I write too many Tweets and always like to de-clutter my Twitter feeds:
So, companies like Pret have created a “nation” of complainers where the British were usually patient and polite, they now cry like babies whose bottoms haven’t been wiped in a while! And the money keeps coming in while Pret responds with “Oh no…” and “Oh gosh, are you okay?…” sweet-talk to keep the babies happy and the money rolling!
I responded, but since deleted as well to this baby who had no issues to call hard working people the “C” word because he was in the “teething” period having his day ruined by a hard avocado. Pret’s typical cut’n’paste response, apologizing while he is offensive, and as if they really contact each shop all day long for repeated hard avocados:
Article: The mantra, I am told repeatedly, is “NEVER guess”. But from what I witness, the speed at which staff often have to work could put these commendable new standards at risk. On my second shift I find an orange juice two weeks out of date on the shelves. The shocked team leader tells me: “You don’t need to tell anyone, otherwise we’re f****d. It is really bad… I’ll throw it away.” One barista tells me the cramped service area is a “nightmare”. He says: “If I’m next to you, you have to shout. If you don’t shout I can make a mistake. A person can grab the wrong coffee. Make mistakes and the customer gets mad. You’ve got to focus, stay calm.” With soybeans and dairy prominent on the menu – and among the 14 allergens kitchens must legally declare – this admission is worrying. On my last shift, stickers are introduced to distinguish between soya, coconut and regular milks. But one barista serves a coffee without a sticker – and a manager barks: “Where is the sticker?” The £8.25-an-hour shifts are tough and I collapse into bed exhausted after eight hours on my feet, lifting boxes, mopping and dragging tables around.
Article: Some staff do 12-hour shifts or work at other branches to earn more. To add to the intensity, employees are battling the cold due to its station location. I wear extra layers to stay warm – there are only two Pret fleeces to go round, so we share.
Nothing more to add except that some staff even do 60-70 hour weeks assigned by the manager! I had to speak out about this as Team Members were exhausted, at times became sick from the amount of work, but were too scared to speak with the GM. Again, I did not make friends with my bosses. But neither did I care!
Article: When the bustle dies down I clean the shop but a colleague urges me to skip certain tasks. “You’re supposed to sweep and mop every day but don’t do that or you’ll never leave on time,” he says.
This unfortunately is common in most shops that staff are so swamped with work they are not able to finish in time and are NOT paid for overtime. I fought for this with my managers in every shop. I would say to my teams who did their best and me as the Team Leader helping them, that if they can’t finish I will mark this on the cleaning rota with an explanation, instead of just ticking off the jobs as done like most do to keep the appearance that jobs were completed. I’d then take responsibility when the boss summons me in the office the next day. I let the team go on the dot when our shift finished at 9 or 10pm or whatever closing and cleaning time the branch had.
Most Team Members have families with kids at home, not seeing their children all day as they are in school, and later the parent is working when they go to bed. So I made it a point to let them go when the shift finished. I was very organized and made sure that the important jobs, health & safety was taken care of and prioritized these. I structured my teams in this way and left the unimportant jobs unfinished if we didn’t have time or enough staff.
In the early times in Pret I would work and work, finish in time and also worked overtime unpaid. But then the time came where I drew a line. It is okay here and there to finish a little late, but it was the norm in Pret and it seemed a very calculated one as Teams worked extra for no pay every day. I struggled with my managers and communicated that if we have to stay longer to finish the job, I will pay them the extra time through the system as was part of my job. If my bosses didn’t want that, then I told my team to finish on the dot and we go home. Full stop.
This of course didn’t make me friends with my bosses, but neither did I care! My friends are not these kind of people who exploit workers for their own bonuses. One Pret staff reviews this as a common practice for managers to give them a job to do 15 minutes before the Team Member would have finished the shift. But the job would take 30 – 60 minutes to complete. I experienced this many times as well and was made to feel bad if I needed or wanted to leave. It took me some time to stand up against this. Pret staff in the UK should do what their colleagues in the U.S. did, a class action suit for not being paid overtime.
I have to be honest that I wished Amy Sharpe would have worked longer, a month or so like James Bloodworth did in Amazon. It would have been good for Ms Sharpe to cover the early shifts and weekends as well, including working in the kitchen, as each time and job has its own challenges. But I’m not complaining. She covered 1 or 2 weeks (?) really really well, while I have 10 years of “material” to share that almost literally killed me having survived bullying during bereavement.
So, I have to be patient and acknowledge the brilliant work by this journalist having been willing to do this, as well as Sathnam Sanghera’s article. And many more people will tell their story in time away from the typical PR that Pret does so well. I keep confronting Pret on a staff suicide in 2017 and who knows how many more are under the carpet when they could hide two customer deaths for two years and the other for 10 months! I know my approach and direct confrontation is full on, but I almost lost my life after having worked with integrity, honesty, very hard and with passion for my teams. I cannot be silent after having wasted 10 years of my life in Pret with the knowledge that staff continue to suffer behind the facade. And if any reader wonders if I went to court, I explain here.
Thank you for your time in reading this. And thank you to anyone in the press to have taken a closer look. Thank you to Amy Sharpe. Ironic and delighted to be calling a reporter a now former colleague of mine! Well done Amy!
Life is short, please be kind to yourselves and others.
expret.org
UPDATE: 14.12.2018 A rare observation from a customer regarding forced friendliness.
UPDATE March 2019 – The first time I share my story verbally in one go in this interview.
Interview:
Above interview is with Adam from The Adam Paradox podcast on my experience in Pret A Manger.
We spoke about gaslighting, “shadow banning” and censorship on social media, as well as bereavement, trauma and mental health in general. I further talked about the significant timing of Pret CEO’s announcement of the £1000 Tweet for all staff. I also talked about a regular day in Pret and how staff have to cut corners, in order to fulfill the immense workload under constant pressure.
It is hard to squeeze my traumatic experience into a podcast segment, but we covered enough to get a good picture of today’s systemic stress environment for profit driven global companies.
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 starve and 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.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote an article in the Scottish Left Review.
Thank you for reading/listening.
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.
I tagged people in who clicked “like” on a Tweet. Something I do all the time. Some people appreciate being informed, other people get p!ssed off about it, others start following me after I tagged them in, others block me, others support me etc. etc. etc. I concentrated on the Tweet about Pret staff not wearing masks, not on the Tweet that was RT’d. Jeffrey Taylor later said he muted me (I’m not blocked as I’m notified of his Tweets where responded in the feed).
This woman at first started to want to mediate that I and the initial poster agreed. When I further explained what I’m writing about, she said “bye”. I then explained that this is such typical “cancel culture” attitude where people immediately leave a conversation because they can’t seem to have a normal argument or even disagreement.
This seemed to have been a “fight or flight” situation. She first wanted to exit the conversation (flight). I gave my opinion about “cancel culture” because these days it seems a challenging task to have a discussion when you don’t agree with something. And then she went into fight-mode.
By all means do what you want to do, leave, block etc. But equally everyone has the right to voice their opinions without being accused and insulted thereafter. But it turned very quickly into accusations and insults. When accusations and insults didn’t work, it turned into a classical gaslighting scenario.
I’m not going to post all the screenshots here, the “conversation” can just be followed via the above link. I just post a few classical examples of ganging up and gaslighting.
I was accused of aggression, which took half a dozen Tweets of me asking for clarification before she finally explained. Then another person entered the feed who wasn’t even tagged in, and started off with insults right off the bat.
From then on there was this “struggle” of the two of them for me to stop tweeting while they kept tweeting in a fast pace, or demand for me to admit I made a mistake or whatever they demanded.
Now the first person has 7000+ followers, but who comes to her “rescue”? A person who hurls insults from the get go. It’s with what kind of attitude/people you surround yourself with, that is what speaks louder than anything.
They then went ahead and in a super fast pace tweeting at me trying to force me to stop. At the end THEY stopped, and pretended to mute me while still tweeting at me. If people are that bothered they usually block. End of. But they kept going and going and going while demanding me to stop.
I have to admit I had a little chuckle as well, they were tweeting so much at a fast pace that I couldn’t keep up “screen-shotting” all, nevertheless responding to individual Tweets. I responded in-between asking to please SLOW DOWN and give me a chance to grab everything and respond:
Now I know how Ricky Gervais feels when he gets insulted and he just responds with sarcasm! 😀
After insulting me didn’t work, the gaslighting went into full gear, quote:
“I’m trying to advocate for Laura here because you wouldn’t listen to her, so I hoped that you’d listen to me. Literally the only thing I care about is that you’ve done wrong by Laura and won’t admit that or apologize for it.”
So, they wanted me to “listen” after FIRST telling me to “shut the f*ck up” and calling me the C-word. Yeah, that’s a great way to advocate for someone to “listen”!
Further, quote:
“outside of this you could be a lovely person, a great activist, but the way you’ve acted to Laura and the red flags in your speech along the way have just made it hard for me to empathize with you in this”
Little recap, first I’m a “c***” who should “shut the f*** up” and move on, then I may be a lovely person if I just do as they say. But because I don’t “obey” their demands to not voice my opinion on a public platform, they turn this into, paraphrased, ‘if you do what we say, we will find you lovely and your activism worthwhile‘.
All the while they CHOOSE to tweet at me in a Formular 1 pace from all sides (probably in hopes I’d get overwhelmed?), demanding me to stop. They act like I forceded them to respond, and they work hard for me to stop, while nobody is forcing them to respond. After that ALSO didn’t work, they turn into, paraphrased, ‘you’re sick, dangerous, harassing … and in need professional help‘ …
Classic! 😀
All the while calling me names, accusing me of aggression etc. while I never said one bad word to them. I am demanded to apologize while being called a c*** and should shut the f*** up! No apology from them, instead further accusations, insults and discriminating language.
Now, I have “cussed” people out in the past, but while I was drunk in trauma. I apologized for it, often deleted, and other times left it in as a reminder to myself etc. It’s not something I’m proud of and I did this when drunk and it’s an issue I have worked on since all the sh!t hit the fan. I love what Adele said recently in an interview, that she does not have access to her Twitter account because of the risk of her tweeting when she drank something. She trusts someone who has the password and she tweets occasionally. But for people to show such toxicity while NOT drunk shows a lot about them.
I also have been able to start to heal BECAUSE of support from people who don’t accuse me of things EVEN though they have ALL the reason to accuse me after I cussed them out while drunk. You know who you are, and you will be mentioned in my book credits! But I don’t gang up on a person who raises an issue where I might then get so hyped up because I was tagged in.
I have been tagged in to subjects that have nothing to do with Pret. At times I engaged in the conversation, other times I moved on because I did not know the subject well enough to be able to contribute. End of. But I don’t get upset and then hurl insults at the person who tagged me in to an issue they care enough about to want to tag people in on a PUBLIC platform.
The first person who started accusing me of aggression and other things, is a “disability journalist”. I mentioned this to her later after she became very discriminating (“you’re disgusting … you need professional help…” etc.)
When I pointed this out to her, she then turned it into another gaslighting issue that I supposedly knew she was disabled and tagged her in regardless. I corrected her that, 1. I did not look at her profile when I tagged her in because she “liked” a Tweet about Pret. I looked at her profile many Tweets after the initial tagging in. And 2. her profile says that she is a “disability journo”, not that she is disabled.
The second person who flew into the feed to the rescue, and after cussing me out from the get go, had a moment of self-reflection on her own feed which is commendable. But they were assured by the disability journo that they did nothing wrong.
If someone would commend me for using abusive and insulting language, I would run far, far away from that person! This is not the type of character I would want around in my life! I had a former Pret staff once join into a conversation where I was insulted and he defended me, but he hurled insults at the other person. I quickly stopped it and asked my friend to not speak in such language to them. It’s ok to come to the “rescue” so-to-speak, but there is no need for hating on people, even if they hate on me.
It’s like that Michelle Obama moment where she said “When they go low, we go high”. Again, I have cussed people out before, but I was drunk and then apologized and will never be proud of it. But I don’t gang up on people to kiss butt of someone who throws a fit because she was tagged in. And it’s the people you surround yourself with that either reflects who you are yourself OR if you have a good character, your character gets poisoned.
So, RM_King here had a precious moment of self-reflection, but let the insecure, toxic bully steer them away from potential U-Turn and with it growth in character.
The journo then claimed she muted me (2:37pm). But between 2:49pm and 3:17pm for another half an hour kept tweeting EIGHT more Tweets at me, calling me “unhinged” after I finally called her unhinged first. She kept twisting and turning issues, accusing, getting help from someone else who started insulting me etc. ALL because I tagged her in. Who’s unhinged, aggressive, insulting and in need of professional help here?
When people are incapable of arguing in a civil manner, they twist and turn it into the other person being sick, in need of help etc.
(Off-topic, reminds me of what they did and continue to try doing to Britney Spears. I’m closely following Britney’s ordeal which is one big horror show. Get someone, lock them up claiming they’re mentally ill and a danger to self and others, and then milking them of millions! Classical.)
Then finally she said that I am “thoroughly” muted! Excuse me, but you either mute someone or you don’t, there is no partial or thorough mute. And if you mute someone, you don’t keep tweeting 8 more posts to them. And, people often ANNOUNCE that they mute someone when they have no more civil arguments left, while in reality still reading and moving the conversation into private DMs. That’s all reasonable, just don’t accuse or insult people while you yourself are having issues, revealing your deranged attitude! Makes you look stupid, erratic and unreasonable. I felt bullied today, but because of what I survived at Pret, I am proud that this did not affect me emotionally like it would have been a while ago. So, I should really thank Pret! Full circle!
.
.
Brief UPDATE and side-note: What also strikes me very clearly is that @TinyWriterLaura seems to be a very dominant person, always wanting to be right and gathering “yes-people” around her. This is when @RM_King then comes in, trying to please Laura, sucking up to her and then being told by Laura that RM_King did nothing wrong once RM_King has a moment of self-reflection. Laura has now finally blocked me after I tagged her in when I posted this blog post. Of course I could still see her Tweets when logged out after people sent me her Tweets.
If people look at her Tweets, she’s having a lot of issues and people respond to her strongly. Link to another person being bugged by Laura, scrolling up. Laura then again enters into a string of Tweets to the person. Enjoy @KaymakliBlu! 😀 Laura strikes me as a typical insecure bully by the book! And bullies like to surround themselves with other insecure people who poison themselves by defending the bully and even when having a moment of self-reflection, it gets drowned out and so they become more callous. I feel sorry for them to be honest!
.
.
But also to say, I’ve had some interesting interactions with people who claim to be some kind of disability advocate, or once even a guy who was a Samaritan and cussed me out because he was part of a Tweet where I responded to someone else who responded to him. Again, I just responded to a Tweet with no insults or any negative thing except to tweet reality on how Pret is. And boom, world-war three broke out. It’s the people who often proclaim to work with disability, mental health and other health issues, who are the ones who come after me like I just stepped on their toe.
And @RM_King, you’ve been quite an “@rsehole”, and I don’t mind an apology for your insults, but I guess that will never come. But thank you for providing material for a case study of a classical example of gaslighting.
UPDATE 21.01.2022
I thought I was done with that woman, but no, some people have tweeted at me and emailed me on further issues she is doing. She called for others to report me to Twitter. That’s fine, report if you want. That report from Twitter came back as not confirming that I broke any rules. But even if, it doesn’t matter, but what DOES matter is that Laura right out LIES in another Tweet to her followers.
.
.
Not only is she desperate to get help, dragging others in because she doesn’t seem to be able to stand on her own, but 1. She seems to have become obsessed now and keeps dragging people in, 2. THE following can get her in court for defamation! And I am now seeking legal advise.
I loosely followed the case where Jack Monroe has successfully sued Katie Hopkins for defamation. This has cost Hopkins over £300.000 ordered by the court to pay. Hopkins had to sell one of her houses.
What did Tiny Laura lie about? In red (apart from the first sentence):
She blatantly lies saying, I would seek out/find “anti-mask” accounts to “share” with them. I’m intrigued to see in my Tweets and replies where I “found” and “shared” with anti-maskers. This woman is everything she accused me of. Absolutely everything. One of the most toxicity I’ve ever come across.
And the following lie has me now consider to involve legal aid:
.
I tagged some people in who “liked” her post where she lied without anyone researching if what she said is actually true. I tagged people in as she blocked me, to ask Laura for evidence. I have RARELY seen such weird, twisted and blatant lie about anyone or anything! Now, of course they all pretend that I’m harassing them, which is exactly what seems to be the plan Laura had with tweeting these. And I am now looking into legal aid for defamation which is in writing.
What strikes me the most is that she and many people say either on their profiles or somewhere in Tweets that they have disabilities. I saw this AFTER some of them insulted me, just to be clear. And you would think that people with disabilities, or any people who are often at the fringes of society, overlooked, discriminated against etc. that they of ALL people would be kind, understanding, asking where someone is coming from etc.
But here I have experienced such a toxic, aggressive, twisting narrative and plainly DISCRIMINATING group of people under someone who seems like the leader of the pack!
What the heck is up with that???!!! Someone please enlighten me! I have been through EXTREME trauma since my brother died and what happened in Pret. As a result I suffer PTSD and other issues. I am THE LAST person who would call a person with similar trauma or any disabilities a “c***”, an idiot, or rally other people against them! Yes, as I said above, I have cussed people out, but that was 1. while I was drunk and later apologized and 2. I always did that to “strong” people or people who have enough power to “crush” me, but don’t. Because it takes STRONG people to have self-control and empathy.
I gained respect for a moment for RM_King when they had a moment of self reflection. And it is important to see how the gaslighting continues and how it works. One clear sign is to make the villain the victim and the victim the villain. Laura is portrayed as the poor poor person who has been so wronged, while there is so much evidence on how toxic and insulting she behaves. She asked for help from yes-men/yes-people who quickly encourage her that she did nothing wrong. I am so glad I don’t have people like this in my life, but instead people who’d tell me when I’m off-course. But people who say yes and amen to everything someone does or says, are not people anyone would want in their lives, unless they ARE toxic.
It’s also a classical example of bullying and lying to get empathy and a response to then claim “harassment”. I wasn’t paying any attention until someone informed me. I find this interesting for case studies.
So, Laura succeeded in getting followers involved and it is again a very good example of gaslighting, ganging up in bullying behaviour as a group. She gathers an amount of people so they report. The first report didn’t work, so they try again. They claim I harass them while calling me “idiot”, and they keep responding while they could just simply block. They CHOOSE to respond playing victim to try and get more responses from me, claiming I harass them. 😀
After what I survived in Pret and all that I lost, there is NO amount of people and grouping to bully me into silence or to fear or into anything! Gaslighting and twisting things is such a YUK thing, it makes you feel dirty in your soul afterwards! But I will not be bullied into their narrative.
Further UPDATE: I tweeted the following to the press as well as other hashtags. When people search for her name, especially in connection to my handle, they will find these. And if she tries or succeeds to get my Twitter cancelled or minimized, not too worry, it still gets out there. I’ve lost so much in the few short years that losing any online thing means nothing. I was bullied into silence before, that won’t ever happen again!
And I asked again for people to not contact me with more of her lies. Thank you to those who did, as I was done with her. But I will now let the police look into this, so please report her to Twitter and/or the police, but don’t send me further Tweets of her toxicity.
First of several Tweets to the press and others:
I shouldn't b steeping so low & should do what Michelle Obama once said "When they go low, we go high". But after I posted my blog post on how gaslighting works using own experience with a woman called Laura Elliott @TinyWriterLaura she asked for followers to report me to Twitter
— Ex Pret A Manger — expret.org — #NHSpay15💙#BLM✊ (@LateNightGirlMe) January 21, 2022
By the way, my blog stats are through the roof! Thank you!
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
I rarely check on staff reviews anymore like I used to, but sometimes a review jumps out, maybe almost for its “poetry”.
I wanted to call this blog post “Business Plan in Reversal” because the following review by a Barista sounds almost like a proposal or ad.
I want to put the whole review here verbatim but spread out for its creativity. I don’t want to highlight any specific issue like I usually do, because the WHOLE review would need to be underlined.
From Glassdoor. The title, to be frank of Pret not being the same anymore, well Pret has NEVER been good or fair, they just were able to fool everyone better during good/non-crisis times! And former CEO Clive Schlee was better in sweet-talking while Pano Christou puts his head in the sand and goes into hiding, pleasing ONLY the owners, shareholders and himself.
»Not the same company anymore
Pros Free crap food and coffees if you care
Cons A toxic environment that doesn’t stimulate growth.
From the outside, it seems funny, on the inside, it’s a nightmare company based on favouritism.
Its culture and values? Only mere advertisements.
Its promotions? Crap marketing strategies.
Its products? Coffees, frappes, food and beverages are ridiculously cheap for them and 4 times more expensive for people that pay their major expenses with health. Without considering that the majority of the staff in their shops don’t care about hygiene and food standards.
Its staff? Bossy frustrated slaves to the company that tries to take advantage of any person they hire.
They strive to mask the truth from people, that the only thing they care about is money. That is why they have wages to the limit, cutting on staff and driving those who work to quit.
Pret is not a company that cares for its employees anymore, nor for the people. In my experience, from 2019, I have worked over a year at Pret and in the end, I didn’t even receive the payment for the holidays accrued.
If you are looking for a well-paid job that makes you feel satisfied with what you do, then this is not a company for you. In my opinion, any other job would be better than Pret. I don’t recommend it at all.
Advice to Management
You should reconsider a few things if you want to save this company from failure.«
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
Yes, I can be light hearted and join some “fun” from time to time. But I can’t keep it just at a wishy-washy la la land situation. Fun here can be interpreted as wished!
A few “fun” things I tried to fling into the atmosphere from serious issues regarding Pret A Manger.
WOWing Pret Customers (Area managers sometimes give a staff member £10 or £20 when they see staff “wowing” at work incl. wowing customers. This is to manipulate other staff to do more. I still wow customers 😉 )
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 starve and 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. 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: 1. “Late Night Girl’s” Story with Pret and 2. Pushing Back Against Pret. Thank you for reading/listening.
I received an email by a current Pret staff last night. This staff has given a “fake” email that doesn’t work, so I can’t respond to it. Some staff write with their true name and email, others with pseudonym but still a real email, and others want to completely be anonymous, which is fine. But if any current Pret staff read this, could you confirm if this is true or not? The full email verbatim, quote:
.
.
Comment: »Hey! I am a Pret employee and I have been reading on the news that Pret will increase our salaries and benefits. This is true. However all the news I’ve read doesn’t make clear that those changes will be in place only from April!! Even The Times says that this is our second pay increase in four months which is not true. I believe those newspapers were misinformed on purpose. It is ridiculous to announce a pay rise two months and half in advance!!!«
End of quote.
.
.
UPDATE: Also 15. January 2022, the above email seems to be fake. If so, apologies for posting it. Unless you (emailer) have evidence, I’m not interested. thank you.
.
.
If this is true that Pret misinformed the press, then it truly is merely a PR stunt to lure workers in and make Pret look good again in the public eye because many customers boycott Pret after staff wages were cut to minimum-wage. And Pret is desperate for staff! The press played messenger again, like I mention in below post in my take on the pay-rise and why this is a joke: Pret’s new PR Stunt – payrise in Pennies.
Journalists should go to Pret shops and ask staff directly. They may not get an answer as staff are instructed to refer journalists to Pret and not speak with them. But staff are frustrated and some may speak to the press nevertheless.
And here again a reminder on the public outcry last year after a strike was announced and Pret cutting pay to minimum-wage. Customers not only boycott, but many vowed to never set foot inside Pret again!
Two YouTube slides/videos within a playlist. I use YouTube because Facebook and Instagram have completely blocked my website after Pret must have reported me. So, I’m “forced” to reach out on other platforms. Just let the player continue after the first slide with all the customer boycotts, to the next video that will start automatically with Loose Women presenter Nadia Sawalha’s stern words to Pret. Nadia basically highlighted – I paraphrase – how staff have carried Pret through the pandemic and as a thank you Pret cut pay down to minimum, as well as cutting benefits etc.
And Nadia Sawalha having half a million followers on Instagram and more followers on Twitter than Pret UK & Pret USA have combined, Pret surely is desperate to do a PR stunt to fool the public AND potential employees again with the help of mainstream media:
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
You can write what a privilege it “was” to have interviewed me.
Well, I’m still alive and well.
I’m still here on earth.
Sincerely,
expret.org
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
Here we are again, Pret with the help of mainstream media doing their usual PR stunt. Headlines saying that Pret raises wages the second time in months … or this being the biggest ever raise in Pret’s 36 year history … or calling it a pay “boost” … etc.
And upfront as a little side-note, it is telling that Pret made this announcement on their website and NOT anywhere on social media, but let the press announce it. Pret has recently deleted former staff comments and made commenting on their “We’re hiring” posts unavailable. So, they don’t make staff announcements anymore on social media, but use the press for it as Pret wouldn’t be able to keep up with deleting all those staff comments! Why? Here’s why with screenshots of deleted staff comments: Pret “Last Minute” Staff Shortages?
Calling 50p or even 90p etc. the “biggest ever” raise in 36 years is very telling how 1. greedy Pret is and 2. how easily fooled the public is with the help of mainstream media! And even Unions fall for this, assuming “victory” where there is none! Pret only always raised pay a few pennies when the government raised the minimum-wage. On their own, Pret did not raise wages, that’s why they may be calling these peanuts the biggest ever in 36 years. Quite a joke!
With the rising costs of food, utility bills etc. Pret staff are not only NOT better off than before, they’re WORSE off! Pret already made pay cuts during the pandemic down to minimum-wage, as well as cutting benefits, paid breaks and other perks. Raising the pay back to a little over minimum-wage is where staff were before, yet workers are still worse off then before! No more paid breaks. Staff rebates down from 50% to 25%. And other perks and benefits that remain cut.
And before you office workers complain that you don’t get your breaks paid, you should work just 1 hour in any Pret shop! You will run out within minutes, kissing the pavement!
So, what’s this new Pret hype all about that most fall for again?
A pay rise in pennies that’s a little over minimum-wage, like they had before Pret cut wages to minimum. Yet, wages are still under the Living Wage and Pret keeps the “temporary” benefits cut and other perks they cut during the pandemic, while putting more work on staff who work for 3 people each!
The bonus from £1 to £1.25 is also a joke because bonus is at the discretion of extremely strict, micromanaging weekly Mystery Shoppers AND shop management. Bonus can be refused for any and all reasons, no matter how small! Staff reviews on Glassdoor and Indeed have mentioned that the bonus is used as a “weapon“.
Or another review where shops are extremely under-staffed and workers have NO CHANCE to do everything as they have no staff, and the Mystery Shopper cuts the bonus because there was a little toilet paper on the floor in the toilet! Quote from Glassdoor review “Stressful“:
»Constantly understaffed and expected to clean the entire store andmultitask like crazy because there is no one else to do it Sometimes really hard to get the bonus because you work so hard to make the entire store presentable, clean and neat but if the mystery shopper comes during the busy lunch period when you are understaffed and have to stay on till and cannot leave it and tidy the shop floor and they then don’t give you the bonus because there was ‘toilet paper on the floor in the toilet that could have been tidied’. Or if there is a long queue until the door they complain that they were not served within a minute and a half of joining the queue which is ridiculous.«
And these are just 2 of the many reviews on Mystery Shopper bonus issues. And from my own experience, I and my colleagues have been threatened with not getting bonus for the silliest reasons. Current Pret staff who recently wrote to me said that their shops hardly get bonus anymore due to the utter chaos and mess in their under-staffed shops! I know from experience that it was already hard before the pandemic, but I don’t even want to think how staff suffer now, physically, mentally and financially. All the while Pret boast again, having a laugh on the cost of their hard-working employees.
I write about the extremely strict, micromanaging and humiliating Mystery Shopper scheme where ONE staff did not ask a SPECIFIC question, resulting in the whole shop team to not get bonus.
If you don’t read anything I write, PLEASE READ the following Mystery Shopper report via the link, and tell me if reinstating and even raising the bonus isn’t a PR trick by Pret: Pret Staff don’t look Happy.
But not only a little toilet paper on the floor is the issue now, many customers complain about dirty shops. London City Airport has received a hygiene rating of 2 in December after an EHO visit. Detail here.
.
.
The bonus system is a tool to manipulate and fear manage staff. Low-wage shop and kitchen staff ONLY rely on the bonus via the weekly Mystery Shoppers AND shop managers random mood swings.
Shop and area Managers (OPs – Operations Managers) get their bonuses quarterly and their bonuses rely on a host of things like shop profits, waste management, labour costs etc., and the biggest chunk is the Mystery Shopper scores. But shop/kitchen staff only get or lose bonus from Mystery Shopper visits and Managers’ moods.
Hence, Pret reinstating the bonus back in September 2021 after a staff member announced a strike action because Pret cut bonus from £1 to 50p, is a TRICK. I explain in detail here: Pret Staff Consider Strike Action.
The psychology is simple: Pret cut wages to minimum-wage DURING the most dangerous times in recent world history. Pret also cut benefits and other perks. Then Pret raises the wage again to a little over minimum-wage the way it was BEFORE, while keeping benefits cut and staff doing much more work. And thus, they continue to sell ice-cubes to Eskimos in winter time.
And unfortunately staff, most of the public and the press fell for it! Even Unions celebrate! Shame on y’all!
Pret did NOT raise the wages now in pennies because of the strike announcement back in August 2021.
Pret now raised a few pennies as psychology for low-wage workers and the public because many Pret staff walked out, shops closed (also due to rent issues and lawsuits on unpaid rents etc.), many customers announced boycotts and some vowed to never set foot inside Pret again, Loose Women presenter Nadia Sawalha’s stern words to Pret, bad press etc.
All these led to Pret playing another trick by raising the wages a few pennies above minimum wage, but still under the Living Wage.
And all y’all are fooled again! Shame!
And as a visual reminder again, former CEO Clive Schlee pocketing £30million in BONUS for himself alone! Do a rough calculation how much pay PLUS bonus current CEO Pano Christou, all the other execs and the shareholders get! And then tell me again that the pay “boost” and investment of £9.2million for 8000 front-line staff who carried Pret through the pandemic on wage cuts risking their lives, is generous!
Pret’s owners JAB Holdings with seat in tax-haven Luxembourg under the second richest family in Germany, the Reimanns, must have given the green light to Pano Christou to throw a few crumbs at workers to appease the public and burnt-out staff. Front-line workers are so burnt out, they have no strength to even look for a better job. Morale is low, hope is gone, so a few pennies are supposed to fool them again! And it will.
»You can’t run a business on goodwill when the goodwill dries up.« – Pret Staff Review on Glassdoor.
And remember the NHS smokescreen in March 2020 just before first lock-down? Here’s a reminder!
On 18. March 2020 Pret VERY quickly acted to the possibilities of a lock-down and announced free coffees and 50% rebates on food for NHS workers. The press and the public went ballistic with praise.
The very next morning on 19. March 2020, I wake up to a Twitter DM by a Pret staff who in despair wrote that shops have just received an email by CEO Pano Christou in the morning, announcing cuts to staff hours, and with it to pay. Other Pret staff started to send me the CEO email from that morning which I then published on my blog, as my website is the “channel” so-to-speak between Pret staff and the public/press.
I tweeted this to the press and all over, and Pret retracted for a few months until grass grew over it, but then started making cuts left right and center. But only to front-line Pret staff.
NHS workers were used twofold, 1. as a PR stunt for the public as well as NHS staff, and 2. as a smokescreen to hide cuts to staff. I write about the timing of this announcement and posted the full CEO email to shops here: To NHS Employees.
It is safe to say that millionaire Pret execs, who safely worked from home or socially distanced in air conditioned head office, TOOK from their low-wage front-line workers to pay for the NHS freebie PR stunt.And you all applauded!
And here is how Pret continually get caught doing Wage Theft.
Also, if anyone wants to take a peek behind the scenes on WHY Pret always makes BIG and noisy “charity” announcements: Pret’s Charity Projects.
So, dear mainstream media, you can continue to ignore my writings, my own experience and firsthand knowledge of Pret. You can continue to support this gaslighting system that claims to not be able to afford at the LEAST a living wage and PROPER benefits, to keep on enriching entitled prats who s*it on those who made them rich! You can continue to ignore Pret staff experiences and keep their voices silenced. You can continue to suck up to Pret because it’s not YOU who has to feed children on slave wages, after getting burnt out day-in, day-out until there’s nothing left to even find hope that this short life can be good for hard-working, honest people, who are stepped upon because their work is called “low-skill” to justify poverty wages …!
.
.
.
.
.
That’s why very few people make it on my blog and YouTube posts, who are not as easily served up with Pret’s PR bullcrap!
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
I’ve been writing on Pret’s hygiene and pest issues since I started my blog from own experience as well as what customers post on social media.
I’ve tweeted @foodgov on Twitter many times regarding pest issues, stale/expired food etc. I am surprised though that Pret at an airport did so poorly.
When I worked at Pret, an internal health and safety staff from head office made an unannounced visit to a Pret shop, and when this shop did poorly they call it a “black visit”. This means that shop had multiple issues of poor hygiene, expired foods, pest etc.
When this happens, Pret then names and shames that shop throughout the whole company for the rest of us to shudder in fear to do better. I never liked this calling out of shops, managers and staff, for the main reason that Pret do NOT give shops enough staff or PAID time to do things properly. Managers have not been trained properly on pest issues until a shop was shut down by an EHO at around 2011-ish. THEN only did Pret get a professional pest control company on board whereas before only had internal staff to deal with it.
I write about this in below link “Rat A Manger …” where I worked in a mice infested shop and we BEGGED head office for us to close the shop over the weekend to get on top of this! But no, nothing was done until an EHO closed down a shop after finding pest issues. Then Pret started firing and penalizing Managers who weren’t trained in the first place!
Plus, staff have always been overworked, even before the pandemic. Pret schedules staff rotas so tightly that staff have no chance whatsoever to finish all the tasks, especially the cleaning in the time given. Pret pretends that staff aren’t working hard enough, while in reality they work their @rses off! Managers then manipulate and fear manage staff to work overtime for free!
But because I was/am very organized by nature, I often managed to finish tasks with my colleagues on time, even early. And after this constant aim to manipulate us to work even harder for free, I drew the line and clocked off by the minute and as a Team Leader let my colleagues go home at the DOT of our scheduled finish time.
Whatever task couldn’t be completed, we left undone, as long as we did the most important things first, like cleaning, health and safety checks and repairs etc. Anything unimportant we left for the end, finished it, or we didn’t finish it and went home. Enough was enough! As long as we worked hard and did our utmost best, I refused to be threatened or manipulated to do even more for free. My Managers had no choice but respect this, because most of the time we DID finish everything and they KNEW my and my colleagues’ work ethics. They had NOTHING to get us with, even though they tried!
So, my question to regular customers is: You witness shops being so immensely busy, overcrowded, understaffed, two people behind the counter if they’re lucky, one person on the coffee, queue to the door, day in day out! And now during the pandemic and much more staff shortages, staff sick, staff walking out … shops close unannounced and without explanation or with dodgy “technical issues” notices.
Do you think that the food you eat is really FRESH?
Do you think that minimum-wage burnt out staff have time nor care to wash their hands in-between products (vegetable to meat products, allergen, gluten-free etc.)? Especially now during the pandemic in even more understaffed shops?
Do you really think that Pret has high quality products after being fed these slogans for decades?
.
London City Airport’s hygiene rating is just the tip of the iceberg!
And if an airport shop can rate so poorly, a shop that is within a shopping unit on a property run by third parties, not independently as a shop on its own on the high street, are you kidding yourself that all the other shops are doing better?
.
.
When I walk by a business that has a rating of 4, I always ask myself “What was the ONE point they lost the rating for?” I am not a competitive person in sports, or creative things etc. I do my thing, and when people are better or more successful in whatever they do, that’s great. I don’t care about that. Everyone has talents, makes effort, does hard work. But when it comes to hygiene ratings, I expect 5 out of 5 and won’t enter the business with a rating of 4! When it comes to hygiene and health & safety, I have zero tolerance to the slightest issue that is easily preventable!
The first thing I do when entering a restaurant, I go to the toilet, partly to wash my hands before eating, but also to see how the toilets are. I have walked out of businesses before even sitting down at a table, just by the looks of the toilets. End of.
.
Link to part of the report which in this case was pest issue.
Quote:
»Cleanliness and condition of facilities and building (including having appropriate layout, ventilation, hand washing facilities and pest control) to enable good food hygiene« Improvement necessary. End of quote.
Usually when pest issues are found, the EHO who did the visit closes the shop until it is free of any pest. When an internal Pret HQ health and safety staff had a “black visit”, the shop has 4 weeks to improve. Often the shop Manager, even Assistant Managers and Team Leaders will be moved to other shops or send on “holiday” or get fired, depending on the situation and/or how close/friendly the Manager is to the OPs/area Manager. It’s all about making friends in Pret unfortunately. I was never good at making friends. I just wanted to do my job and go home.
Back in 2015 six+ months after my brother died and an area Manager targeted me for months on end with the help of other Managers, I was sent to a shop that had a “black visit” to help fix the mess. I was known for my strict hygiene and safety record, doing things by the book. But it was my darkest time in 2015 and 2016, with my brother’s death and the intense bullying issues that started shortly after I lost my brother.
Other Team Leaders and an Assistant Manager from other shops were also sent to that shop, as the whole shop leadership team was sent on holiday or fired. We had 4 weeks to fix the shop. What I didn’t know at the time is that I was sent there to FAIL! And I did fail in a few things, which was NORMAL because that shop was a f@cking mess and we were in front of a mountain of issues trying to figure out where to start!
All eyes were on that shop! Everyday “important” people from head office visited, health and safety staff came by, the pressure to improve daily was very high. And frankly, it was very unfair on us who came from other shops to fix a mess we didn’t create! They had no mercy! This area Manager who targeted me to get rid of me used the SMALLEST issue to get me a written warning etc. with the help of another area Manager and Managers.
Last year I called out another area Manager on Linkedin and Twitter who helped her to target me. This area Manager who’s shop had the black visit (she doesn’t work at Pret anymore after 20+ years, but still interacts with Pret on Linkedin), helped target me and then had the audacity to “like” my pinned Tweet about former CEO Clive Schlee. I asked her many times, for months to unlike my Tweet as I did not want her on my time line.
She was a SENIOR OPs Manager with 18+ years experience at the time. She could have EASILY supported me instead of supporting the bully-area Manager to target me. I still did my job exceptionally well, even during traumatic bereavement. I was KNOWN for my work. I was TOLD and confirmed via Mystery Shopper reports etc.
She could have stepped in, having seen my track record at work. But she helped the bully instead to get me a “note of concern”, a first step in the direction of a disciplinary and then dismissal. The smallest things I made a mistake in I was targeted with, penalized and threatened. All during the darkest time in bereavement! It was an emotional war zone I found myself in! How I survived this, I do not know! At the time “ignorance was bliss” and I kept giving Pret the benefit of the doubt, until the evidence mounted! I saw with my own eyes after applying for my file, how Pret with HR and Managers SCHEMED against me! It was there, in black and white on paper!
Bereaved, ill, even disabled staff have no room in busy Pret shops. Time is money, and whoever crumbles under the weight of personal tragedy will be sieved out fast.
If Pret would have supported me from day one, like they boast about their Pret Foundation Trust to be helping vulnerable people, I would be writing a completely different blog now!
And the little help they did provide was ONLY after I contacted former CEO Clive Schlee in WRITING, so as to cover their tracks! But the bullying continued, it just shifted in more subtle ways.
Pret’s Foundation Trust charity project is PR and a smoke screen. Longtime staff have no chance when they become bereaved or ill! They need to go ASAP!
I even suggested to Pret in writing to put me under someone in the Pret Foundation Trust until I recuperated, another OPs Manager I worked with briefly, also suggested this to Pret, also in writing! But Pret refused!
So, this experienced area Manager helping the bully and then liking my pinned Tweet? Really?? Nah!
She ignored my request to “unlike” the Tweet again and again! Only when I requested this again under current CEO Pano Christou’s Linkedin mention, did she unlike it, then blocked me and then LIED publicly to never have liked it. Well, thanks for confirming what a toxic b**** you are!
Typical Pret leadership!
She then lied publicly on Linkedin after I asked again for her to “unlike” under a post that mentions former CEO Clive Schlee and current CEO Pano Christou. I then got booted out of that feed and my post got hidden/deleted by Linkedin after someone reported me. That’s why I take screenshots. But this is VERY typical Pret A Manger leadership, they like stuff in secret while pretending to be with/for Pret in the open.
.
Really?!
.
But regarding Pret’s hygiene and pest issues, and the 2 rating in City Airport, dear customer, you see the tip of the iceberg here!
YouTube video and slide for those who don’t want to read long blog posts:
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
My second post of the year is for a lady who has raised the issue of racial profiling in a Pret shop in Manhatten, NY. She contacted Pret, and after a few times did get a response, but then keeps getting ignored again since months.
Of course, at this point it’s an allegation, but no-one who makes up stories would pursue this for months. And from experience having worked at Pret, I know for a fact that there is racism in Pret, also toward staff. I mention this because some come with the bullcrap “argument” that these are only allegations and no proof. I can only implore journalists again to go undercover into Pret and see for themselves!
I send her a link to CEO Pano Christou’s Linkedin post on Facebook, she posted on Linkedin as well now (see below). But so far no response again.
Pano Christou closed his Twitter account on 01. July 2019 after I tweeted to the press about Clive Schlee’s “retirement” and also mentioned Pano’s Twitter account. He then promptly deleted it and now “hides” on Linkedin where people tell each other sweet little nothings all day, and how awesome Pano is, while Pret shops lie in shambles!
Journalists read my blog, so I offered her to put her concerns on my blog. Her message to Pano on Linkedin which they still leave in, usually they delete critical posts:
»On August 30, 2021 I was racially profiled in one of your locations in Manhattan New York 47th & 6th street. I went through the proper channels and emailed customer service. As of this date December 23,2021 I have not gotten a phone call or any type of gesture apologizing. I have been in contact with someone but nothing has been done. I emailed them yesterday and my email came back blocked so I use two other emails address and they came back blocked. The first Rep was Elle Reference #10091595. I don’t want to discuss in details what happened on the platform but if I have to I will. You can check into this matter and get back with me ASAP.«
And having worked at Pret for 10 years and visited Pret’s London Head Offices many times, I rarely saw Black, Indian/Asian staff working there. Most are Caucasian British, German, French with very few exceptions. The same with OPs/area and shop managers.
Also, a Twitter feed of a customer experiencing racism in a Pret shop:
Former Pret staff after Pret made their PR stunt BLM message and always make big noisy charity announcement:
.
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
What encourages me so much in this is that he, that SOMEONE recognizes that this has been a “lonely” road, and that in fact ONE person can have an impact!
So, please NEVER underestimate YOUR voice, no matter how silently you whisper at first!
Check out his music, very soothing:
.
And while I’m at it, another musician I literally just discovered yesterday, the last day of 2021. A year cannot end and start better than with new discoveries!
John Murry of Mississippi, but residing in beautiful music country Ireland. Also, check out his amazing covers of Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World”, and the classic Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted” and have some hankies ready! …
UPDATE 06.01.2022
After purchasing John Murry’s last album and one song jumping out at me, I find that John Murry has plagiarized Mark Heard’s song “Nod Over Coffe” as his version of “Yer Lil Black Book”.
I’ve listened to Mark Heard since 1991-ish / 92. Unfortunately discovered his music shortly after he died through some of my favourite artists at the time doing a tribute to him. His catalogue is out of this world. Having died at age 40, he made 16 albums and collaborated, was a writer to writers like no other.
Up until 06. Jan. 2022, John Murry’s album was a new favourite. But not crediting to Heard is unacceptable. I will not post here what Murry’s excuses were he wrote me in DMs. But it’s telling that he took “Nod Over Coffee” and put the lyrics in the tumbler, swirled it around and out came a product he portrays as “art”.
And of course, if Murry would have clearly stated that this is a cover of Heard’s “Nod Over Coffee”, but that he’s put his own spin on it, way to go! I even love this cover. But now I will take a closer look at all the other songs.
I hear Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Joy Division … and that’s all valid and ok. We all are influenced and sound like so-and-so a bit. No problem. But FREAKING GIVE CREDIT!!!
Please scroll up in the following Tweet feed. I’m sorry, I made a mistake!
My Tweets to him, please scroll up. I deleted some Tweets as I was angry and don’t want to unnecessarily offend Murry:
I love covers, and your cover would have been good, but not crediting to Mark Heard? Are you serious???!!
— Ex Pret A Manger — expret.org — #NHSpay15💙#BLM✊ (@LateNightGirlMe) January 6, 2022
Songs below, but I also put the two lyrics next to each other on a PDF file and uploaded it, external link.
Seeing the lyrics next to each other, it’s safe to say that about 80-90% of the lyrics and a lot of the rhythm/melody is taken straight from Mark Heard’s “Nod Over Coffee”. Heard’s title even appears in Murry’s body of text towards the end! That’s when I woke up after thinking “I know this song, I know this song … where did I hear this song???…”
When you click on the – minus to decrease the page, a pop-up window will come up which is advertising, just click it away and ignore. Then click – minus or plus again how you need it.
I even love this cover! But if he won’t give credit to Mark Heard, I don’t want any of his music! It’s a principle.
Mark Heard’s original from 1991 just before he died, my favourite of his:
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
From the day I started writing on my Pret A Manger ordeal to the day the BBC, via journalist Mike Powell, put my writings on the map, 1312 days have passed.
Thank you BBC.
Thank you Mike Powell. Thank you Vivienne Nunis. Mostly for your patience. And for believing (in) me.
730,000 rounded down, because in selfish capitalistic worlds you round down … Time is money, and we don’t have time to be generous! Lose leap years, hold your numbers very tight! Mathematics don’t lie. In a nutshell, estimated 730,000-ish days from the first Christmas. Happy Christmas y’all! Life comes to an end, but until then we’ll live it. Every second of every day.
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
When I started writing about Pret publicly in May 2018, I never knew about Glassdoor and Indeed. I was too occupied with work and the traumas I went through, that I never realized that there were employment review websites out there.
I started to research on Pret and then came across Glassdoor and Indeed. It was like a new world opened up to me. I was so naive and like a kid in a sweet-shop, I discovered all these reviews about Pret that sounded so similar to my experience.
I then went to town and started collecting reviews. I put a chosen review that spoke to me on my blog every day and called it “Quote of the Day“. I obsessed over those reviews and scanned through the whole of Glassdoor and Indeed, as well as YouTube, Twitter etc.
Yes, I know! Whatever you think of my loony mind, it’s okay with me! I know what I survived!
These days I don’t check reviews so much anymore because I’m tired and I think I made my point now!
But a new review by Senior Leadership came that deserves its own blog post. I don’t know what “senior leadership” means, if its a shop General Manager, OPs Manager or someone in head office. It’s someone who’s either been in Pret leadership for a long time, or is in a high position. But these words ring painfully true and I love the way the person wrote it. Simple, short and sharp!
Quote:
»Awful, non-collaborative leadership that are never on the same page. Huge toxic blame culture. People are expendable… expected to work around the clock for the business but then in return were treated inhumanely when covid hit. Pret doesn’t care for it’s employees at all – it only cares about it’s externally facing reputation. Many of us that left, after having our morals and ethics compromised during lockdown have experienced PTSD.«
Advice to Management »You can’t run a business on goodwill when the goodwill dries up.«
PHEW!
The advice to management would have been a quote of the day I’d chosen. And this is exactly what CEO Pano Christou’s problem is. He has his head in the sand and is stuck in the past. He runs Pret the old way and thinks that sweet-talk and brainwash will continue to float the ship, while not realizing that the ship has run into an iceberg and is slowly tilting!
This review is one of those reviews that has me in tears! Please be safe, value yourself, aim for a better job that you deserve. Life is short.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
I understand now why no journalist wants to report on my story. Every journalist wants to put THEIR name under your story! I am too much in control of my own story. It is always and will always be about people wanting THEIR name under a story. I is always and will always be about money, self-interest, ones own skin.
Your friends will leave you when you lose the floor underneath your feet. You employer will move heaven and hell to get rid of you once you have loss or illness in your family.
This world will spit you out once you are of no use to them.
Britney Spears said it best in her now deleted Instagram post:
Stay safe y’all.
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
The ongoing issues in Pret with EXPENSIVE items Pret don’t serve under the supplier issue lie.
So, how do Pret make money, save money, and get as much money as possible?
If you think that it is a coincidence that Pret keep having supplier issues, then why do Starbucks, Caffe Nero, Costa etc. even small independent cafes/restaurant have all the items that Pret claims are not available? Pret rides on the supplier chain issue and don’t give any EXPENSIVE item or complimentary extras. The pandemic forced Pret to show their TRUE face!
Interestingly, Pret NEVER have supplier issues on coffee, cow’s milk and bread, all the main products, but ALWAYS on expensive items like: chai latte, matcha latte, hot chocolate powder, frappe, smoothies (always broken ice machines or blenders or no ice!), plant based milks, and now cream! Complaints started also that shops don’t do a strong espresso shot or syrup when buying with the coffee subscription.
UPDATE: 23.12.2021 on Facebook:
Also as a side note, but IMPORTANT to note that Pret do NOT serve full extra shots, but HALF shots! I write extensively about this in Pret A Manger’s “Strong” Espresso Shot and why Pret call it “strong” and not “double”.
If a shop truly runs out of milk or coffee, then it’s due to management having miscalculated and didn’t order enough or in rare cases there can be delivery issues. But that’s rare. When I worked at Pret as a shop Team Leader, responsible to order stock, I once miscalculated and we ran out of milk. This is extremely rare. I grabbed a colleague and we went to Tesco down the road to buy milk. Pret allows that as long as the milk is organic, or whatever Pret advertises.
Of course, there are occasional delivery issues, but we had to move heaven and earth to get the missing stock in from another Pret shop or supermarket. Pret has no mercy on shops running out of even 1 item! But now, it’s a daily occurrence since the pandemic started. And supply chain delays come in handy for Pret to dupe customers. Wouldn’t it be funny if the supply chain REALLY don’t deliver coffee beans, milk and bread? 😉
Customer complaints since 2020 when Pret started the subscription, no iced drinks, or then iced drinks were served in SMALLER paper cup sizes, again due to “supplier issues” Pret claimed. Pret had NO issues getting the NEW 14oz paper cups while having supplier issues on their more expensive 16oz plastic cups for iced drinks. Do a rough calculation how many people are cheated out of 2oz per iced drink IF they’re lucky to get one on the subscription. The plastic cups are back now, but if I’m not mistaken, have also shrunk in size.
How do Tesco say? “Every little helps”! It all adds up in numbers!
Check the dates of the Tweets, especially towards the end of the slide. This is STILL going on now in December 2021:
.
Clever thieves don’t do a big heist, they steal little by little but MANY people. People who had their credit card details stolen didn’t realize for months that a consistent amount of money was stolen, because the amount was small, but it went on for months. A steady income for thieves.
A customer realized this as well recently:
Pret stopped the complimentary butter portions for the soup bread. Customers also started to complain that Pret don’t do the little compote and seed pots for the porridge. And the honey sizes in the little pots has also decreased to smaller squeezable honey.
.
.
.
Of course it’s at the discretion of a business to offer or refuse complimentary items. But I’m painting a picture here in how Pret is pinching at every turn while sitting on millions and making profit again. Little by little things are removed and people get used to it after initial outcry. And of course it helps for staff to not have to prepare all the little pots for porridge which is very time consuming, but to decrease sizes and stop complimentary items altogether is the typical business thing to cut costs.
And with the cream they ADVERTISE for their Christmas drinks, now they give more reasons to try and prevent exposure. And I keep telling people to contact ASA as well as consumer rights groups, and fill in the complaint form for false advertisement Pret keep doing. It just takes 2 minutes to fill in.
Day 20? Month #6! No cream since at least June 2021:
.
Sorry 8 months!
.
Sorry, 12 months! You get the picture!
.
.
How can a company the size of Pret have “supplier issues” for 6+ months on specific items?! Since I write extensively about Pret’s “supplier issue” and Pret read my blog, the updated version now covers a broad range of reasons, quote: “ongoing shipping issues, delayed 3rd party deliveries or smaller quantity deliveries”.
And this way customers as well as consumer rights group cannot trace back if that is true, because more people/businesses are blamed.
But again, Pret NEVER has issues with coffee beans, cow’s milk and bread, the holy trinity of Pret’s business.
Also, Pret now SELL expired food they give to “charity” via food app TooGoodToGo (TGTG). Pret sell food under their “charity” umbrella and try to get money at every turn. Pret even now sell hot (cooled down) expired food via TGTG that Pret before wouldn’t even give for free due to safety issues with the temperature fluctuation! Also, soups get frozen now, NOT fresh as Pret claim. It was never freshly “made” anyway as soups are cooked in factories! I write about frozen soups in Pret Food is NOT Fresh.
The Mushroom Risotto soup is usually a favourite of Pret’s soups by many customers.
.
When I worked at Pret, I know for a fact that the soup for example is heated at least twice, often 3 – 4+ times! By the time it is given or now sold after its 2 hour hot shelf life, the customer then heats it up AGAIN for a third or more time!
Soup is cooked in the factory and delivered in plastic bags holding 6 cups per bag. First thing in the morning the Hot Chef then places soup bags into the water bath (marinator) or later heats it up in the microwave. This is then the second time soups are heated. If a bag of soup is still in the water bath at the end of the day, it HAS TO be wasted! But many cheat under the pressure from stressed Managers. They let the bags cool down and then put it back into the fridge and heat up the next day. Third time heated up! Etc.
Of course this is not allowed, but many do it! My Managers always hated me because I wasted it! Yet, even with the waste, I still managed to help shops be successful. You absolutely CAN do things properly without cheating, but due to understaffed shops, staff feel the intense pressure and keep heated products as well as “stretch” dates of expiry dates!
Pret now making money for “charity” where before they wouldn’t give high risk products like hot food for FREE! When it comes to money, health and safety out the door! When I called Pret & TGTG out on it on Twitter, TGTG_UK promptly blocked me! Thank you confirming that you don’t appreciate the truth! I can still respond to people who tag you in TGTG_UK, you know that, right?
Pret also placed donation devices NEXT to payment devices. Customers in a hurry and with the noise and stress in shops accidentally donate £5 thinking they’re paying. Pret does their usual psychology without saying it, many customers are upset but too embarrassed to request a refund from “charity”. Pret knows that very well! Many businesses, even theaters etc. have these donation devices SINCE the pandemic to raise funds. But they don’t place the devices NEXT to payment devices like Pret do!
.
.
And many more complaints on all social media platforms.
.
.
A small collection of issues where people feel scammed by Pret:
.
Some posts of how customers feel scammed via the subscription, including not being able to cancel, and even if they manage to cancel in time, received a confirmation email of the cancellation, Pret still takes money even months after people have cancelled. Pret need serious investigation from financial auditors on how they skim customers.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
As current and former Pret staff contact me, at times I want to post their words on my blog, always with their permission.
A recent email in which I keep out certain information [deleted content], as they are too specific and may identify the person, like the shop they mention or their position or a specific incident with management, or the exact time they’re working at Pret etc. But here a few words verbatim:
“Hello,
I am just discovering your blog; first of all, hope things are getting better for you, on a personal level.
There is so much to go through, but so far what strikes me is that what was said 3 + years ago about pret, is still so very true. … [deleted content] … What I seen and experienced in just about [few] months at pret, I have never experienced it anywhere, and all I’ve read so far from your blog is still very accurate. I am thinking about … [deleted content] … Kind Regards,” Current Pret Front-line Employee
I totally agree with what the person wrote in regards to never having seen/experienced anything like this anywhere else what we experience(d) at Pret. I worked most of my life in the hospitality industry, in 3 different countries. I’ve never ever experienced the micromanagement, emotional abuse, exploitation and sheer toxic environment than at Pret.
I had to learn to respect myself and stay out of this type of environment. In my case I had to learn it the hard way as I kept questioning my own feelings. And Pret took advantage of that. In my case the top leadership and HR got involved. For any new reader, my story is scattered throughout my blog on every page at the bottom audio player interview.
To the person who emailed me with above words, thank you for permitting me to publish, and like I wrote already to you and to all others, join a union, leave a review on both Glassdoor AND Indeed (even in your own language to help your country women & men understand fully).
One of many former staff words, on reddit for example:
A recent Tweet regarding sexual harassment has since been deleted. But any staff who goes public on social media is desperate for things to get resolved, but out of fear staff then withdraw complaints, especially while still working at Pret, understandably:
etc. etc. etc. I have listed countless staff reviews and complaints as well as customer observations. But I want to keep posts short as I’ve written enough for 3.5 years.
And to Pret customers, contact consumer rights groups when you run into problems regarding the coffee subscription, pest problems and other issues.
A small overview of issues at Pret on YouTube. But issues are much bigger and persistent, this is just a small overview:
.
DONATIONS
I fully fund my blog and choose not to use ads
If you would like to donate, it would be appreciated. Thank you!
£10.00
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
Terms and conditions at the bottom of this below Loyalty Card:
“Redeemable at the Manager’s discretion. Excludes Pret shops within Central London Zones 1 and 2…”
It even has an expiry date on it, forcing the customer to buy coffees before that date to get a free one … and at the manager’s discretion mind you! Pret showing its true “generosity” here!
I’ll spare the readers with more screenshots and links to Pret’s rip-offs. Do your own homework if you truly care!
But just to say that the Pret Perks (which used to be what they called “Pret Perks” for Pret staff with rebates from other companies) is NOT a first ever loyalty program for loyal customers. Pret had loyalty cards as you can see above, as far back as 2012, probably longer. But these loyalty cards were only available outside big cities and Pret kept it really quiet.
So, here you go with another Pret shadiness.
And also, to the WordPress staff who check every post I post after Pret contacted WordPress, and you’re instrumental of getting my blog moved to the adult section where porn sites are moved to. You will be found out as censorship on WordPress will be exposed. I’m not doing anything wrong. I exercise free speech and whistle-blowing. You will be found out and expose as well.
DONATIONS
I fully fund my blog and choose not to use ads
If you would like to donate, it would be appreciated. Thank you!
£10.00
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
Pret having abandoned burnt-out staff and loyal customers to increase profit:
.
Boycott in support of minimum-wage staff:
.
Recent new staff reviews on Pret having gone downhill and Loose Women Presenter Nadia Sawahla’s stern words to Pret:
.
Customer complaints on hardly ever getting the expensive iced drinks that are advertised on the subscription since the sub started last year:
.
Customers unable to cancel the subscription, and if they managed to cancel including receiving a cancellation email, Pret continues to withdraw money:
.
To be continued unfortunately!
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
Since I’ve been writing openly on Pret A Manger issues from a behind the scenes look with my own horrific experiences and other staff complaints directly to me and on review sites, I’ve been asked by many people WHY these issues aren’t more known in the public.
Simple answer: free speech does not exists on social media platforms, with mainstream media and with Wikipedia etc. Censorship is rampant on platforms.
It shows how Pret fears the truth getting out and how mainstream media and social media platforms assist big brands from exposure. I’d need a Ronan Farrow type journalist who cares about the truth getting out!
Here’s an example of how many customers are gobsmacked that they never heard about the issues in Pret. And here via the YouTube slide I ONLY included Tweets, I did not even bother to include Facebook posts/messages, Insta, private mails via my contact form etc. etc. If I’d include all, the slide would be over an hour:
.
Examples of censorship:
Facebook and now Instagram that is under FB have completely blocked my website. If you enter a complete url from any of my pages here even into a Facebook PRIVATE mail, you will receive a message that this page goes against some rules etc. That’s why I started YouTube slides that FB/IG can’t block. I also link to Tweets etc. where my blog is linked to and people then can go directly via Twitter to a specific blog post that I post. And if FB shut me down, I will find another way. But Pret & Co will not be able to silence me!
Twitter:
Since 2018 when I started to publicly call out Pret, Pret that can’t sue me for libel as I have 1. evidence and 2. I declined 4 NDAs from Pret. All they can do is report me to the social media platforms to get censored or what is called “shadow banned”. Twitter then hides my Tweets and my Twitter account altogether where people can’t find my Tweets even when specifically searching for it. To check if you are shadow banned (censored) on Twitter, please visit www.ShadowBan.eu or if that site is down then www.ShadowBan.io .
Twitter heavily shadow banning has forced me to have several Twitter accounts, which is allowed on Twitter. You can even merge several Twitter accounts.
Taliban members and pornographic images are on Twitter. Facebook has heavy criticism on their dodgy actions. But hey, lets censor a nobody, a female who has written the most comprehensive website on Pret A Manger. Nothing new under the sun!
Put my Twitter handle @LateNightGirlMe into Twitter search and click on “Latest”. You will only find a few recent Tweets but not ALL of the latest Tweets. Compare this by going to my handle directly and click on “Tweets and Replies” for truly the latest Tweets, you’ll see ALL the recent Tweets than the Twitter algorithm are programmed to leave out randomly, even when I’m NOT shadow banned.
Linkedin:
People on Linkedin are die-hard Pret fans! They don’t want to hear the truth and they reported me to Linkedin. Linkedin then locks my account and wants me to send my ID! This has become increasingly an issue on social media as they are breaching data constantly. Facebook is the prime example of this. Pret know me! They know who is behind expret.org, but social media increasingly try to get private data and if they can’t force it, they lock accounts. Same with Twitter and phone numbers.
Linkedin is mainly into toxic positivity where rich business people tell each other sweet little nothings all day. It’s very rare to read critical voices on there, except when an official news report is out. But when I as a former Pret staff with FIRST HAND experience link to a critical issue on Pret, even if I link to a newspaper article, not even to my blog, BOOM! my account is locked after they report me to Linkedin.
The Press:
I have been contacted by many journalists and have contacted hundreds of journos directly and also copied in many on Twitter etc. Some journalists were very interested to report on certain issues (as I cover a lot of various issues in Pret, not just staff issues). But here I have to give a heads up, it is partly MY FAULT that they did not report because I’ve had these terrible outbursts while drunk. I speak openly about it and am still waiting for help via NHS mental help services as well as doing everything I can to recover.
I have lashed out at EVERYBODY, no matter who they were. I continue to apologize and hope people are ok. I accept the consequences as this is solely my fault and something I will always be ashamed about.
One journalists, Will Bedingfield from Wired wrote an article with a click-bait title of “The Rise and Fall” of Pret”. He wrote that 2 days after I tweeted a response to him with some facts. After he published the article I called him out and he deleted his initial Tweet. And his article wasn’t even anything deep and certainly not new. It was just a typical “lazy” report with a catchy title to put under his portfolio belt:
My Tweet calling him out and then he deleted his initial Tweet.
These and other reports that HAVE been reported with my help have never been credited back to me. The only 2 people I will ALWAYS credit as having reported on my experience and blog are Adam from The Adam Paradox Podcast, based in California who interviewed me in 2018. And Gregor Gall, editor from the Scottish Left Review who published TWO of my posts.
Any other journalist just publishes without giving credit WHO put them on Pret’s case in the first place and who fed them all the info. They just say to me “Thank you for you help…” And that was that! And I did “kick off” many even high profile journos from the Guardian, Telegraph, Times, BBC etc. because I was tired for journoalists to sit on my following waiting for a story to drop into their laps, while some ignored or ghosted me after my DMs to them!
.
.
.
Etc. etc. etc.
And Pret apparently is asking journalists who contact Pret to verify if they know me, to NOT report on my blog! And they “obey”. There you go.
But yes, my outbursts didn’t and don’t help, but if a journo really wants to expose wrongdoing in Pret, they won’t be deterred by my traumatized behaviour.
On my Media page I linked to the reports that came out from my blog having either contacted or having been contacted by journalists who then reported.
WordPress:
WordPress has moved my blog into the adult section where they usually move pornographic sites. The reason they gave me was that I use curse words. But I linked to them a few of the many WordPress websites where people use heavy language, worse than me. So, even as a paying customer WordPress censors under the “adult content” umbrella. It means that WordPress users who are logged in cannot find my blog when they search for anything Pret A Manger related.
Wikipedia:
Mid November someone has linked my blog to Pret’s Wikipedia page as approved editors can edit open source pages. Screenshot below. I saw a referrer from Wiki on 18.11.2021 for the first time. I then contacted the main editor Edward Betts who started Pret’s Wiki page, and informed him that there are some out-dated infos and a mistake on that Wiki page, which I can send him updates with evidence. He then promptly deleted my link again from Wikipedia the next day as I had last referrers from Wiki on 19.11.2021.
Whoever linked my blog to Wikipedia, thank you! Sorry, censorship has gotten the better yet again. So, lets keep the mistake and out-dated infos on that page and not donate to Wiki on their annual donation efforts. Edward Betts/Wikipedia take info from my blog without crediting back. And this is why so many people on social media asked me why the public isn’t aware of the problems in Pret. That’s why. Mainstream media and even open source pages censor whistleblowers and protect companies.
The clever thing that journalists and now Wikipedia editors do is, they skim through my website and take all my research that I did, where I found press articles or where I am leaked info where I link to press reports. They then take these press articles which they never found on their own before except linked on my page, and then use this on their Wiki page so as not to have to cite my blog as a source. Thus, the press and Wikipedia continue to ignore people who have first hand experience because they bow to Pret and companies like that.
Journalists and writers in general are the biggest thieves of intellectual property and research. So, Pret will be delighted with my short-lived link on Wikipedia.
