Category: Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

Day 24 – The Pret A Manger Love Treatment

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

24 December – Day 24 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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Merry Christmas.

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The best Christmas gift you can give this year and beyond: Wear a mask. Social distance. Wash your hands regularly and properly.

Comfort the grieving, don’t leave them alone. Support the vulnerable.

Merry Christ-Mask-wearing-handwashing-social-distancing!

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The Pret Head Office and executive people are mingling on Linkedin where low-wage Pret frontline staff and most customers don’t mingle.

Most customers and staff still hang out on Twitter, but not Pret HQ staff. They feel safe on Linkedin.

If you want to complain or reach out to Pret Head Office staff, here are some of them.

I start from the bottom up:

Lila Warren

the toxic Pret HQ staff who was tasked to gaslight me.

I write about it in several posts, but asked questions to her here:

Questions to Lila Tighilt Warren

Her Linkedin profile.

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David Carter, who was put on my case after I contacted former CEO Clive Schlee. Carter thought he, as the big gun of HR, could “win” me, little shop staff over with his ego, asking me how on a scale of 1 – 10 it was meeting him. David, I never wanted to meet you. And I surely won’t meet you again!

His Linkedin profile.

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Andrea Wareham

(David Carter’s line manager)

She used to be called “Director of HR”, now another fancy re-naming:

“Chief People Officer at Pret A Manger”

(She was at the Coxton branch of Pret when former CEO Clive Schlee pointed to me, saying to her that I was his “late night girl” after my emailing and Pret taking the mick. Full story at the bottom audio player).

Her Linkedin profile.

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Pano Christou

CEO of Pret who plays “puppy” in collaboration with the press.

I explain here: “Clever Pret A Manger Marketing“

His Linkedin profile.

The best way to contact Pano Christou publicly is in a Linkedin thread he posted. One example is the subscription thread.

Direct link to Pano Christou’s Linkedin thread.

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There people can go and complain because Twitter is out-dated, and Pret know it 😉

Merry Christmas!

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.


Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 21 – The Mollie Goodfellow Pret-Thread

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

Please note, I changed my Twitter handle from @LateNightGirlMe to @expretDOTorg.

Apart from this being a creative thread by a Pret fan, lover, believer … from a person who only knows Pret from the outside, I post this person’s thread here, because she had all the reasons to block me. But she didn’t. I write from the inside, having massively hijacked her thread. But she didn’t block me, unless she baited my response like many do these days.

I should actually block her
for pretending to not care
Pret A Manger 😉

But that’s what I call a respecter of free speech, who is secure enough in themself to let a post just be!

Most people, especially those with a white-on-blue Twitter “tick”, would have blocked me.

That’s why I “engrave” her fun and creative thread in this year’s Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020, 21 December, Day 21.

Mollie Goodfellow, thanks for being secure enough to let me and some others rant without censoring, and sorry for having hijacked your thread! Most people still want to live in LaLa-Land about Pret! And other people, who are people too, suffer under that smiley facade.

Merry Christ-Mask-wearing-handwashing-social-distancing!

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 20 – »Pret don’t care about anyone«

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

20 December – Day 20 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

Over time I have received many emails, DMs, text messages from current and former Pret A Manger staff. I have never felt like putting them unto my blog out of respect for privacy. But this recent one I thought maybe I should start making an own blog entry on what current and former employees write to me.

I will not post any comments without permission of course, and will always keep them anonymous. This recent email I just asked this current staff if I can post, and they said yes.

Their message is word-for-word and doesn’t need any more explanation.

To the person who wrote this to me and to all the others, thank you for your courage and trust. And thank you for letting me publish this. I will only publish the initial/first mail/DM, nothing thereafter.

Join a Union and leave reviews on Glassdoor AND Indeed like I already wrote to you in the emails/DMs.

Merry Christ-Mask-wearing-handwashing-social-distancing!

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The email:

»Hi, I work for Pret right now and honestly everything you say is 100%. If I didn’t need my job so bad right now I would tell them all to go fuck themselves!

No bonus, unpaid breaks. Everyone is like a workhorse… even a 28 hour contract working 48-60 hours because not enough staff.

People are now just working their 28 hours and leaving, no one stays over anymore the people are waking up!

The exploitation is unreal! Calling people from other shops all over to help! Sweating all day, customers are rude because service is slow.

To make matters worse they add the subscription which states on their website over 18, we have kids coming as young as 8 ordering coffees smoothies and frappes!

Pret don’t care about anyone in this company, everyone is replaceable. It makes me so sick to work for them but at this moment I do not really have a choice!

Keep doing what you do! Fuck them! I really hope they sink In this pandemic! This horrible corporate cog of the biggest scandals wheel.«

– Current Pret Employee

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As Pret is very customer (money) focused like most big companies and portraying to the public to be an ethical and caring company for their employees, the very opposite is the case. A wise word I stumbled across once on Twitter:

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UPDATE July 2021: Another Email by a staff member.

For a more substantial, but not exhaustive list, on Pret’s systemic bullying culture behind a smiley PR facade, please check “Caught in the Act at Pret” and scroll down to the screenshots.

And for those who don’t like reading long blog entries, get the popcorn out and put the kettle on, a small collection from the “core target audience’s words of mouth” of what many, many other current and former Pret staff say throughout the years, from different countries (including Pret’s London HQ staff) on review sites, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook etc.

Best viewed on full screen (and volume 😉 )

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DONATIONS

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If you would like to donate, it would be appreciated. Thank you!

£10.00

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

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

Day 16 – David Carter Pret HR

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16 December – Day 16 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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I’m sure I’ve just woken a sleeping giant with my last 2 posts. But the good thing about woken sleeping giants is, they are too lazy. That is Pret A Manger.

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I could share a lot about my meetings with David Carter, then Head of Pret’s HR, now “People Director” of Pret (just another fancy word for a department that has as its sole purpose to sieve out “trouble makers” and kiss up to a company).

For you readers who don’t know Pret’s top leadership, you will not understand below confrontation I did to David Carter. He was put on my case after I emailed Clive Schlee.

The two videos below are about Pret’s culture.

LinkednIn is the chosen platform for Pano Christou, David Carter & Co as Twitter is for those who are “too low” for the snobs posting on LinkedIn.

Pano Christou deleted his Twitter account on 01. July 2019 after I linked to his Twitter account when I tweeted to the press about Clive Schlee’s “retirement” (a soft way of saying he got sacked or at least he resigned!). Clive Schlee’s account was deleted in July 2020.

David Carter wrote ONE LinekedIn post, and I happen to take this window to respond.

I wrote THREE posts, but one got deleted. The post about Julian Metcalfe’s words recently (video below) remains, but the post about Pret has been deleted, but I have screenshots.

So, Pret keeps the post about Metcalfe’s disaster words, but Pret got my post/video on Pret itself deleted. Well, there you go, they just threw Metcalfe under the bus for making detrimental statements hurting Pret! The business world is brutal indeed! No forgiveness.

Carter’s post is about the apprenticeship program where Pret uses former – mainly young and short-term – homeless people for PR, while the main workforce suffers. I posted to him because a few days ago he visited my LinkedIn profile.

For those who are not on LinkedIn, if someone looks at/visits your profile, you will see it unless they privatized their account. Because my account is blacklisted, I won’t see their profile pictures.

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With the account I posted, I cannot see his profile photo. But without being logged in I can see his photo. That’s why there seems to be inconsistency.

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My P.S. response which got deleted:

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UPDATE 16.12.2020

So, there was a LinkedIn email today informing me that they censored … uhm, I mean that I went against some community standard shit! Of course I did! After all, LinkedIn ain’t Twitter where CEOs run away from confrontation!

Part of the above hidden/deleted post with a new post under it that I just wrote:

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New Post, yet to be censored: (Sidenote: suddenly David Carter unblocked me. What’s the game here Mr. Carter?)

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My, my, I haven’t been “professional”! Here’s my take on Pret’s “PRofessionality“. <—

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In my first post to him I posted the YouTube slide about Julian Metcalfe:

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The second post was about Pret customers gobsmacked on the reality of Pret, but that LinedIn post got deleted:

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After the second post, he blocked me.

I want to mention here as well, that Pret via Carter, paid for some therapy counselling AFTER I contacted Clive Schlee about the bullying I went through. Before that, I approached Pret for about a year for help, not realizing that their toxic culture is systemic. For a year I didn’t get help. Only when I contacted then CEO Clive Schlee, die Pret pay for some counselling to pretend that they supported me.

But my daily work in shops continued with bullying, no information given, excluded from meetings, my pay wasn’t the amount of hours worked, shouted at, blamed for Manager’s mistakes etc. etc. etc.

And David Carter made 3 offers of settlements if I resign from Pret and never speak about my ordeal nor go to court. The fourth settlement offer came via ACAS when I withdrew my Tribunal claim against Pret, because my dad died at the time of preparing.

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 13 – #PretAManger “Annihilates Humanity”

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

13 December – Day 13 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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»You will lose everything that makes you human«

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 11 – Pret A Manger’s Coffee Subscription

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

… and so many complaints that customers continue to get charged even after they cancelled their subscription in time.

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11 December – Day 11 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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People either can’t cancel, can’t log in, don’t get a confirmation email, don’t get a response when emailing Pret (except when publicly tweeting), having various “technical” issues and a dozen other reasons why they can’t cancel. And if they manage to cancel before the expiry/renewal date, following all the terms and conditions, they are still getting charged the following month as if they’ve never cancelled. Coincidence? 😉

In one Tweet a customer has even cancelled TWICE and Pret still keeps drawing money out of their bank account, or someone contacted Pret 4 times without a response, and then went on Twitter in public.

People need to cancel the direct debit with their bank to avoid being charged.

The Tweet here is an RT of a news article about this. The article is at the bottom of this page, which also shows how to make sure it’s really cancelled.

The below YouTube slideshow with the Tweets are only a fraction of the huge amount of complaints. There is much more, also on Facebook, Instagram and who knows how many emails Pret doesn’t respond to.

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A year ago a customer already noticed a dodgy thing Pret was doing regarding unsubscribing from marketing emails:

Link to Tweet

Just a few collected complaints on YouTube:

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News report on MoneySavingExpert.com that only bothered to give 3 examples from customer Tweets:

Link to article

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 9 – How Much is a Life Worth @Pret A Manger?

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

9 December – Day 9 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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In 2016 a customer in New York suffered an anaphylactic shock from a Pret product containing unlabelled sesame. He went to court and he lost. The court document shows how tricky it is when different countries have different laws on different allergens.

Example: The UK and Europe have the 14 allergens listed compared to the U.S that has only 8 listed by law.

In the U.S. sesame does NOT have to be listed, but in Canada it has to. The Unites States 8 allergen – versus – the 14 in Europe.

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Link

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Pret won the case, yet it did not give them any urgency to change into labelling their products.

One poignant reminder of the lack of former CEO Clive Schlee’s care nor knowledge shows in a reply from Schlee to an open letter from one of many customers’ complaints and warnings:

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Account doesn’t exist anymore.

Last part of Schlee’s response, quote:

“You also make a good point about allergen information. To be honest, I’m not exactly sure how to respond. I think you are telling us to train our staff better. I can’t argue with that. I think you are telling us to treat allergen more seriously. Again, fair point. Is there anything else you would specifically like [u]s to do?”

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Clive Schlee was informed, warned about and complained to many times about starting to label Pret products.

Another sesame reaction:

13 months after Natasha died

Link

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Another sesame reaction of another student that went to court in November 2020

Quote: »The food chain pleaded not guilty to “selling food not of the substance demanded” at Bristol Crown Court on Monday following the incident which reportedly took place on November 26, 2017.«

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Link to Evening Standard article

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I worked at Pret when TWO customers died. I was a Team Leader of the shop floor and among other things responsible for health and safety. But not only were we, was I NOT informed that 2 people have died from allergen in products, but there wasn’t even as much as a HINT to be more diligent, cautious and attentive to labelling and allergen. Nothing!

Natasha Ednan-Laperouse’s mum puts it into her own words:

Link to full report from ITV News

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  • How much is a life worth?
  • 1 seed of sesame killed a whole human being
  • 1 seed had a man lose his case in court for lack of evidence
  • 1 seed had others in hospital and court
  • Pret set aside £10 million for legal bills
  • Clive Schlee was paid £30 million
  • How much is a life worth?

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In memory of Natasha Ednan-Laperouse.

In memory of Celia Marsh.

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 8 – Pret A Manger – Symbol of the Highstreet

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

8 December – Day 8 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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A little sidenote behind today’s door that I started calling Pret a “symbol of the high street” because people kept asking why Pret is always mentioned in connection with the economy during the pandemic. I tweeted that several times and after that the press and different journalists picked it up in their articles, including an interview with CEO Pano Christou. 😉

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Tweet from 29. August 2020 BEFORE journos started using that term in their articles.

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 7 – Pret A Manger Misery Shopper

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

7 December – Day 7 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 6 – Worked into the Ground without Empathy

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

6 December – Day 6 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 5 – Hounded at Pret A Manger

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

5 December – Day 5 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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Last year’s Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2019

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 4 – #PretAManger – Great Company in Risk of Ruin

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

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4 December – Day 4 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

‘

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Last year’s Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2019

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 3 – Julian Metcalfe’s Foot-in-Mouth Disease

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

3 December – Day 3 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

The following YouTube slide is self-explanatory.

UPDATE 20.12.2020

A lovely comment on Twitter on the below YouTube slide:

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Last year’s Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2019

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

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Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org


Interview:

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 2 – Mystery Shopper £100 Reward

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

2 December – Day 2 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

Many customers are impressed with the constant smiles, generosity (freebies), chatty appearance of front-line Pret staff. Very few ask why low-wage workers in an intense work environment smile and chat so much.

Simple answer, weekly Mystery Shopper visits.

For a FULL 32 question Mystery Shopper report, please visit Pret A Manger – Service Secrets revealed, in today’s post I keep it shorter.

When I worked at Pret the Mystery Shopper “Outstanding Card” reward was £50 if the overall shop scores weren’t perfect, and £100 if scores were perfect. In 2017 an OPs Manager asked me for ideas to improve Mystery Shopper scores company-wide as the shop I worked at as a Team Leader had mostly perfect Mystery Shopper results. I made many suggestions, one of which was to double the individual cash reward from £50/£100 to £100/£200. Since then Pret doubled it.

The complex customer service of Pret A Manger via the Mystery Shopper scheme was already micromanaging in my time, with 4 – 5 pages of questions Mystery Shoppers test staff on every week in every shop. But Pret later increased this to about 8 pages with 32 micromanaging questions.

In my time the bonus scheme was that we got £1 per hour. We earned just a little more than minimum wage, but below the Living Wage, and we had to work double for it. Pret has no choice than to pay a few pennies more and throw in some perks as no low-wage worker would break their back for minimum wage. What the low-wage worker doesn’t know is that this seemingly generous wage via backbreaking work will stay like this for years. It takes forever to get a pay-rise. So, staff start off seemingly with a higher wage, but remain at this for years to come.

The bonus scheme depends to the largest part on Mystery Shoppers. If I worked 40 hours the week the Mystery Shopper visit was successful, I received £40 extra that week (£1 x 40 hours).

A different Mystery Shopper visits each week, each shop. The shop is tested on variety of things: the overall atmosphere upon entering the shop, the amount and variety of selection of food on display, cleanliness, after customers have died from unlabelled/mislabelled allergen, Pret added questions about allergen and recipes in general. But the main thing that shops are tested on is the service. Are staff smiling, giving eye contact, chat? An individual staff member can earn the extra £100 or if perfect shop scores, £200 if the Mystery Shopper is extra impressed with the service of that one individual.

So staff kiss butt and it’s almost always guaranteed to get the £100/£200 cash reward when the staff member gives a freebie to the Mystery Shopper.

If the Mystery Shopper who counts the amount of selection of food on display and 1 item or more is missing from the amount that Pret demands, then the whole shop team lose bonus.

If ONE Team Member doesn’t smile while serving ANY customer and the Mystery Shopper witnesses the “non-smiling”, the whole Team are at risk to lose bonus. Depending how harsh the Mystery Shopper is, any tiny mistake from ONE Team Member can lose the whole Team their bonus.

Even if the bonus is lost that week, one individual staff member can still earn £100 if they kiss butt well enough and impress the Mystery Shopper. This happened in below YouTube slide where I put a real Mystery Shopper report. The shop lost bonus due to some food items missing from the range, but a Team Member gave the Mystery Shopper a free drink, explained the drink and was rewarded £100. This is done to make the other Team Members jealous and created peer pressure. All the other Team Members didn’t get their bonus because the kitchen couldn’t get the food items out in time, thus the whole team got penalized while just ONE Team Member received £100 for kissing butt.

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Managers, OPs Managers and higher up Leadership receive their bonus quarterly. Managers always put intense pressure on Team Members regarding the Mystery Shopper because Managers’ quarterly bonuses rely to the largest part on Mystery Shopper results. Bonus depends on a variety of things like profit, how much/little waste a shop has, how much labour can be cut, cleanliness, health and safety visit scores etc. But the biggest chunk of Manager quarterly bonus depends on the Mystery Shopper.

This pressure is to push smiley, chatty, supposedly “happy” customer service to impress customers with the happy facade while in reality staff are peer pressured, bullied and forced to pretend a happiness.

I write so detailed about this because I was bullied by Management when the Mystery Shopper commented that I didn’t smile. What the Mystery Shopper didn’t know was that I just buried my brother. But Management knew. HR knew. Pret knew.

An older Mystery Shopper report where Pret demanded that staff smile, chat, give eye contact to EVERY customer:

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2020 expret.org


Interview:

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Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.

Day 1 – WOWING Pret A Manger Customers

I Survived Pret A MangerLeave a comment

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1 December – Day 1 of Away in Pret A Manger adVENT Calendar 2020

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When I worked at Pret I used to “wow” customers.

Now since I don’t work at Pret anymore, I continue to “wow” customers.

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Last year’s Calendar: Away in Pret A Manger ad-VENT Calendar 2019

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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review.

.
Thank you for reading/listening.

©2017 – Present: expret.org
Interview:

.

Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org, 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.
©2017 – Present: expret.org, poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.