For my people in the shops and on the streets, being loud and clear to say that we care for more than just peanuts and we deserve better than the disrespect we encounter for too long…
I miss my colleagues, working with them shoulder to shoulder, so I march with them shoulder to shoulder…. This is for them… more to come ………
Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission are prohibited.
Don’t you know
They’re talkin’ ’bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Don’t you know
They’re talkin’ about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
While they’re standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion
Don’t you know
Talkin’ ’bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take what’s theirs
Don’t you know
You better run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run
Oh I said you better
Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run
‘Cause finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin’ bout a revolution
Yes, finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin’ bout a revolution, going on
Talkin’ bout a revolution, going on
While they’re standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion
As I tend to not want to waste time as life is short and no-one is guaranteed another second on this earth, I went straight into the ultimate cost of systemic workplace bullying in my first post, the cost of life. Death by suicide.
In this second post I want to highlight a precursor to suicide: mental health, mental illness in all its forms.
What bullying does to mental health and how I am experiencing it in my struggle to recover is very simple.
Systemic bullying sends a distorted and twisted message to the mind.
In a nutshell, if you are in a room with 10 people and 1 person is treating you disrespectfully or attacks you, while 9 people treat you kindly and respectfully, you think to yourself ‘What’s wrong with that person?’
If you are in a room with ten people and 1 person is treating you respectfully and kind, while 9 people treat you with contempt, disrespectfully, attack or exclude you, you think to yourself ‘What’s wrong with me?’
That is what systemic bullying does to the mind and mental health.
Systemic bullying from a group is like democracy gone wrong!
It is not always the majority that is right! It is the majority that is set up of individuals who have their own set of “values”. They have little to no values and principles that are universal and that robs them of courage, blinding them to opportunities to make a positive, and sometimes even life-saving difference.
One of my favourite poems by Emily Dickinson, which I interpret in my own way and a favourite poem in general, always reminds me to chose my crowd carefully:
The Soul selects her own Society —
Then — shuts the Door —
To her divine Majority —
Present no more —
Unmoved — she notes the Chariots — pausing —
At her low Gate —
Unmoved — an Emperor be kneeling
Upon her Mat —
I’ve known her — from an ample nation —
Choose One —
Then — close the Valves of her attention —
Like Stone —
--- Emily Dickinson
I choose my society based on the values that I have. And if a majority chooses to bully an individual or a certain people group, then there is something wrong at the foundation of the values and principles of that majority.
If a company does not have a clear zero tolerance on workplace bullying, than I question the foundation on which this company builds their “values” on.
Mental illness is the cost of systemic bullying and is the precursor to suicide.
Is this really the legacy and the cost a company is willing to have on their record, as I believe things will always come to light sooner or later, unless it is dealt with from the root at top levels.
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.
I am not in tune at all with the German music scene as I used to be, and I am really weary with the pseudo gangster rap bull-crap in Germany, which unfortunately serves as a money making machine like everywhere else. I love hip hop and rap with its fast paced poetry especially in Grime, but I love it when it’s original and authentic, not the cliché stuff that is so huge in Germany.
And then a musician comes along with explosive positivism that grabs me by the heart. I just discovered this guy on my favourite talk-show on German TV, and I am smitten with German music again!
Art, music, meaning and to top it, an important but simple message!
I just did a quick and loose translation of a very simple and purposely clumsy brilliant text.
This song and the video just made my day and brought me hope that life is good, regardless. I know that there is nothing new under the sun, but when you rediscover glimpses of life again, it is like a new day where the sky is blue and the grass is green.
Before I lose this sense again in this emotional roller-coaster of fear and hopelessness, I post this song and text because it deserves a massive mention even or especially outside of Germany.
Ich hab gelernt das Leben zu genießen
Meine Freunde wie Blumen zu gießen
Ich hab gelernt das Feuer zu schür’n
Den Zauber nicht zu verlieren
Ich hab gelernt der erste Blick täuscht
Und dass es gut ist, wenn man sich verläuft
Ich hab gelernt auch wenn’s mies ist
Geht die Sonne trotzdem auf
Dann kommt eine zündende Idee
Wie frischer Wind, ein neuer Tag
Dann kommt eine zündende Idee
Und die macht hell wo dunkel war
Und alles ist jetzt
Es ist alles, alles jetzt
Das Leben ist kurz
Zu kurz für ein langes Gesicht
Und Stück für Stück kommt das Lachen zurück
Und die Freude und der Hüftschwung und das Glück
Ich hab gelernt es gibt viele dumme Menschen
Die ihren Hass weitergeben, so entstehen Grenzen
Ich hab gelernt den Mut den man gibt
Ist Liebe die man kriegt
Ich hab gemerkt ich will kein Nimmermehr
Weiter, geiler brauch ich nicht mehr
Ich hab gelernt zu feiern
Und zu schätzen was ich hab
Dann kommt eine zündende Idee
Wie frischer Wind, ein neuer Tag
Dann kommt eine zündende Idee
Und die macht hell wo dunkel war
Und alles ist jetzt
Es ist alles, alles jetzt
Das Leben ist kurz
Zu kurz für ein langes Gesicht
Und Stück für Stück kommt das Lachen zurück
Und die Freude und der Hüftschwung und das Glück
Und was du träumst das musst du machen
All die besten, super Sachen
Alle machen, alle machen
Was du träumst das musst du machen
All die besten, super Sachen
Einfach machen, einfach machen
Und alles ist jetzt
Es ist alles, alles jetzt
Das Leben ist kurz
Zu kurz für ein langes Gesicht
Und das was du träumst musst du machen, einfach machen
All die besten, super Sachen
Alles ist jetzt
Alles ist jetzt
Und das was du träumst musst du machen, einfach machen
All die besten, super Sachen
Alles ist jetzt
Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission are prohibited.
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.
Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of poetrasblok.com, LateNightGirl.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission are prohibited.
Too strong, random, annoying, a nuisance, out of place, appearing too cold, unpredictable, scary and dangerously looking, over-sized and underdeveloped, un-explainable, unconquerable, unable to catch, restrain, label and put in a box…?
Only a good, humane and sometimes broken heart can understand and know how to embrace, include and incorporate personality, talent and variety in whatever shape or form.
I don’t like tolerance. I don’t tolerate people, I embrace them. I only tolerate a bullying boss until I have the strength to find a way to stand up against it in a healthy way (unlike I have done in my trauma, but I’m getting there) or find a new job. I tolerate a noisy neighbour who blasts their music at 3am in the morning until I’ve found a solution how to “co-exist” peacefully. Maybe I’ll even go over and give them some of my music, so I can enjoy it as well in the early hours!
My all-time favourite advertisement, I can’t find a better metaphor:
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 are prohibited.
Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 
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