If you have no time to read, please scroll to all the screenshots further down below.
(And read the comments at the very bottom of this page.)
UPDATE 2024: Please note that I don’t update every year (some updates below from May 2024) as my posts are always too long. But the main bullying catalyst in Pret has always been, and will always be their mircomanaging and humiliating weekly mystery shopper visits.
UPDATEOctober 2024:
Pret’s opened in India in 2023 under the aggressive expansion task by their owners, and the bullying there is so severe incl. injury. A former staff secretly recorded the aggression and posted pictures.
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 2019 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 in two consecutive YouTube slides about what weekly Mystery Shoppers test staff on.
Via this link: “Smile for the Misery Shopper“. There’s a reason I renamed it to “misery” shopper. Keep the slide playing for the next mystery shopper report where a staff got the £100 reward for love-bombing the mystery shopper, while everyone else didn’t get bonus due to missing food in the fridge.
This misery shopper scheme 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.
UPDATE: May 2024 – I believe due to the intense stress and a more “wild west” style change on the bottom line, staff at times lash out at customers as well. Pret have made a lot of cuts since the pandemic while the CEO gets millions in bonus, rising every year.
Just some updates, but I will not update any more as the posts are always too long.
.
.
.
March 2024 Staff Review: “Every single shop had a bad vibe to it … if you don’t do well then everyone lost their bonus and would hate you for the week”
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.
A little reminder that Clive Schlee pocketed £30 Million on bonus alone when JAB Holdings bought Pret! Link to article.
Daily Mail deleted, but Pressreader has all the reports.
UPDATE 2021/2022
The Guardian:
“Pret CEO handed near-£4m bonus in year staff pay was cut. Pano Christou also given 27% salary rise in 2021 as chain took more than £50m in government support.” Link (Please note, his bonus is now £5 million and counting, plus annual payrise).
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.
As Pret read my blog, you will notice that Glassdoor and Indeed reviews have “improved”, but many of those 5 star reviews read like job ads. 😉
Also always check the voting, those also speak for itself. In case Pret recruit people to leave fake positive reviews, check the voting on those reviews. On Twitter I was told by a friend of the late Jeffrey Hyman, who founded Pret, that Pret recruited someone to keep deleting Hyman off the Wikipedia page on Pret. Pret and the two RE-co-founders Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe REFUSE to mention Hyman.
Beecham and Metcalfe want to appear as these ground-breaking entrepreneurs, while in reality they grew up with a golden spoon in their mouths, lots of cash and lots of high society, even royal connections. Why do you think Pret keep getting away with so many things, which would have gotten a small independent business shut down in a heartbeat!
.
.
UPDATE: 25.11.2019
A new review from a Team Leader also with 10 years experience:
Link“A lot of people cry in the staff room especially in their entry period”
23. Oct. 2019 “I have work[ed] 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:
The following is THE MOST poignant former Pret staff review I have come across, and I have read them ALL!
»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 2024 – The “yes” vote count is now 54.
.
.
UPDATE:31.10.2019
A review by a (then) 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 employee review platforms.
The following Unions cover the food industry:
The BFAWU are the best informed about Pret and have helped Pret staff already. The President of BFAWU met up with me twice and also with a Pret staff who wasn’t even in a union, to assist. 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.
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!
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 and was mentioned by the BBC. Thank you for reading/listening.
Please also see my MEDIA page for the press articles I influenced.
Upfront, the Samaritans social media team on Facebook blocked me after I pointed out the below in a much shorter text. So far to how much they really care. And no, I wasn’t rude or used any swear words.
Also at the bottom of this page about the poor scoring on Trustpilot. Here’s just one of many reviews, and then it makes sense why Samaritans “recruit” members of the public:
Important UPDATE April 2024 at the bottom of this post HOW the Smaritans started.
UPDATE 14. August 2024:
“Sexual harassment against women and girls up 50% on British railways”
UPDATE 2025: Trustpilot reviews at the very bottom of this page. 80% (1 & 2 star reviews combined) disapprove of Samaritans. When I saw the percentage, I thought I accidentally went on the Pret A Manger Trustpilot reviews as they also have 73% disapproval rate.
Poor quality Audio Version via “AI” conversion. Apologies for the lack of crisp quality. This is for people with visual impairment where “AI” programs can’t read screenshots. I briefly explain via audio what the videos and photos show. Please note, the audio is NOT updated with any of the text updates here.
.
.
The Samaritans together with Network Rail and Transport Police have brought out an ad campaign to prevent suicide. The way they’re doing this had me shocked and many women and some men outraged on Twitter/X.
Four such ads appeared in a row within days. The slogan is “Small-talk saves lives” under the hashtag #SmallTalkSavesLives.
There are SO MANY issues with this ad.
They want the PUBLIC who are NOT trained in mental health and even in such serious mental health condition of suicidal ideation to take it amongst themselves to “save a life”.
They ONLY use women to initiate “small talk” with complete strangers on railway or underground platforms.
They want people to ASSUME that someone is suicidal who might look sad or just look however.
They are guilt-tripping, in this case especially women, into feeling bad if someone might be suicidal and the woman didn’t initiate “small talk”.
All my red flags went up when I first saw the ad on X. And as someone on the other side of this, struggling with suicidal thoughts at times, I am appalled!
In the UK, especially in London, attacks and sexual assaults have increased, EVEN in broad daylight on trains and stations etc. And yet, Samaritans, Police and Rail company want WOMEN to approach complete strangers to start a conversation.
One, you can tell that MEN must have been behind that ad. EVERY woman has at one point or another been sexually assaulted, often since childhood and repeatedly. And they know that! Although the CEO is female and the lead psychologist coming up with this ad is also female. It’s the way women are raised.
Two, these men who run the ad campaign, and especially money-saving railway and police want women again to do the heavy lifting and emotional labour.
Three, and even worse, they want UNTRAINED people to deal with extreme mental health crisis of strangers.
And four, to do this with “small talk”!
I struggle with suicidal thoughts. It has become much less, but it is always at the back of my mind! Small-talk is THE LAST thing I want. I never liked small-talk to begin with! And I certainly won’t want a stranger, especially a man to approach me doing small-talk during a mental health crisis! Let alone a woman approach a man!
Also, many people just look tired or sad, after all we live in a busy city. But for the Samaritans to want people to assume someone is suicidal and strike up a conversation is horrendous. I often look sad, even before my brother died I had a serious look on my face because I’m a thinker! People often commented on my serious looking face. I’d be so offended if I was NOT suicidal and someone assumes this and then starts a chitter-chatter!
This ad campaign feels like a lazy cop-out by mental health services as the NHS is overstretched, to “employ” free mental health workers who are NOT qualified, and then to approach strangers. And they appeal mainly to women to do the work!
I am absolutely appalled. And since the comments on X went through the roof, Samaritans have added a post 4 days later adding that people should call 999 if they’re not comfortable. Well, dah!
I and many others have appealed to Samaritans to drop the ad, or at least use MEN to talk to MEN!!!
“Small talk can take lives”!
Here are the examples, with the last video being THE WORST ad I’ve ever seen on any subject!
The first one is, again, women pampering men in the name of free treatment to “save a life”! My stomach’s turning! And please know this is not an anti-men blog post! I’m neither gay nor anti-men, and I know there are more good men in the world than the creeps who fill the news! I love men, I appreciate men, I feel good around great men! This is about the coercion of females and their empathy again.
“Something didn’t feel right. … Just that one little bit of positive small talk and it can go so far.” Yep, it can go so far! It can get you raped or killed! Women are told to FEEL something and make assumptions to approach men to chat!
Really? People sit in a nail salon telling the staff they feel/felt suicidal? And then some small-talk does the trick?
How much did those ad campaigns, especially the videos with actors cost??
And the absolute worst and DANGEROUS ad, telling women to “trust your instincts” while in reality gaslighting them to OVER-RIDE / IGNORE / QUESTION their instincts! Link to the video below as well.
In case Samaritans delete the video, here’s another LINK.
.
.
REMINDER
Sexual and other assaults on women and girls on railway and tube has increased by 50% in the last 2-3 years. It has DOUBLED!
And this is only on public transport!!! We don’t know what the numbers are on the street and behind closed doors.
The stastistic is NOT that male suicides on railway and tube is up by 50%, but assault on females. WHERE are the campaigns for men to step up and look out for women’s safety instead of being SPECTATORS while women get raped and assaulted?! Because we live in a porn sick society, where porn and prostitution has been normalised.
Shame on Samaritans, Network Rail, and unsurprisingly Police for the lazy and money-saving aim to coerce women to approach men and play saviour again!
.
.
I say it again, women are being told to “trust their instincts” while in reality being coerced to IGNORE / OVER-RIDE their instincts and approach complete strangers on a train platform for small talk!
One guy on X tried to guilt-trip me, and make me responsible if a man dies by suicide. I responded that I’d rather hurt his (the X poster’s) feelings than endanger my life. I made it very clear that if I think he or someone is about to end their life, I WILL call for help!
I will NOT, as a lone woman on a platform close to the edge start “small talk” with a man who looks sad or tired or whatever! I will look for staff, call mental health service or even police depending on the situation! ! ! !
But I will NOT approach a stranger to start a conversation! It is NOT my job to be the saviour of strangers and make assumptions about someone’s mental health state! ! ! !
What’s also so appalling in the ad is that behind the “assumed” suicidal man is a MALE staff member with orange vest! But it’s the woman who is implored to talk to the man!
I raised this with Network Rail saying that this is clever to manipulate people to think you’re not alone and there’s staff close by! I NEVER see ANY staff on platforms anymore!!! And then, why is the trained staff member not implored to speak to the man?!
It’s clear why! Women are being lured into danger at worst, or to do the heavy lifting in emotional labour at best.
I say it loud and unashamed, do NOT approach a stranger on a platform, but call for help! End of!
I speak openly about my struggles to take the sting out and release the “mystery” of such horrible thoughts to lighten the pain.
I wrote a blog post years ago briefly linking to helplines that have helped me personally:
One tweet gave the CORRECT approach and it’s appalling that Samaritans want women to approach strangers assuming severe mental health issues. Help someone as a group.
And Samaritans are hiding comments from people, as well as having blocked me on Facebook.
.
.
.
.
Three things:
This is a man dealing with a young lad. Although women can do of course, BUT
He worked in a team.
With a signaller, everyone looking out for each other including for the young lad.
.
THAT’S how you do it!!! No “small-talk”, no woman approaching a guy ALONE! Shame on Samaritans and Network Rail, and I’m not even surprised that British Transport Police endorse this. I don’t expect anything from police with their record of corruption, misogyny, violence against women etc. etc.!
.
Also someone on social media pointing out that suicide is not only due psychosocial reasons.
.
.
And someone else quoted CEO pay. How can a CEO of a MENTAL HEALTH CHARITY get almost the same pay than the Prime Minister of the UK or the President of the USA??
And funds go into media and ads and executives, while the frontline hard work is done by UNPAID volunteers!!! Also, voluteers have NO labour rights under the law like paid workers have. This is all backwards!
.
.
I question the motives of the Samaritans leadership, and I lived long enough to know that for Network Rail (companies) etc. it’s all about money. We live in a world where FREE labour (volunteer work) and low wages are normalised. So, let the public, and especially women, do all the work for free. Appalling!
Now, we mature women see this bullsh!t ad for what it is, aiming to appeal at female empathy, but imagine a teenage girl or even a woman in her 20s seeing such an ad, and them knowing how women’s empathy is being tapped into! She takes this on and assumes she can or “HAS TO” save a man who stands there staring into air! FFS! Women are drilled from childhood on to submit, to shush, to serve, to save! And they know that very well. And many women, like the CEO and the lead psychologist cater to this as well.
If you don’t read anything else, please read the following review by an ex-Samaritan volunteer!!!
.
Female volunteers are STILL coached to go along with sex calls! (Please see infobelow n the “Brenda” line).
Reading these reviews by callers and volunteers alike, it’s very clear that Samaritans TARGET women to save orplease men! Shame on them. These “services” need massive investigation and change!
.
To give UNPAID volunteers SUCH serious, difficult, degrading line of work is not only unfair, but cruel and unethical!
And to any volunteer of any charity, please KNOW that no charity can demand you to commit to work!!! They can only demand PAID employees with a contract, but not unpaid volunteers. Volunteer have NO rights and also cannot be forced to commit.
Here just a few of the many horror news on women being pushed unto traintracks or women being raped, sexually assaulted on trains, platforms in broad daylight. I only link to the news without showing pictures. Yes, this is done to men as well, but we all know the statistics of more violence against women by men than vice versa.
It’s the same with vans, I stay away from vans with open door. If I’m called over and asked to help someone get something in or out of a van or car, I decline and respond to ask a shop or men or whatever. Again, I’d rather hurt someone’s feelings than endanger myself.
Not to mention that a predator can pretend to be mentally distressed to lure women in. We already fight against men suddenly identifying as women to get into women’s prisons, women’s sports, women’s toilets, locker rooms, hospital wards etc. etc. And Samaritans want to lure women and girls to save a man via small-talk! Absolute irresponsible sh!t show!
It just seems that the war on women is in full swing. Women have become too independent, strong, self-sufficient, have opinions, leadership etc. they want to rein women in again! We need to fight over and over not just for new rights, but to not lose the hard-fought rights women and men achieved years ago.
And we women know that when we just even smile at a stranger, some men take this as a hint. Let alone strike up a conversation!
.
UPDATE 2025 – The above comment is shown in black and white on a Pret A Manger Twitter comment by a pastor who assumed he was “hit on” by a female staff member because she smiled at him. For one, I educated him that Pret staff HAVE TO smile, or no-one gets bonus, and 2. the fact that some men take a smile, let alone initiation of small-talk as a hint …nothing more to say.
.
.
The following is only in the UK, I can’t be bothered to include other countries:
December 2023 during the MORNING commute: “A woman was raped on the London Underground in front of other passengers. Why did no one intervene?” (Maybe because too many men are addicted to porn and see assaults like this as normal? Every onlooker’s hard-drive should be checked as well as judges who give lenient sentences to rapists and paedophiles!)
And yes, crimes happen to men too, and women too commit crimes, but we all know that violent and sexual crimes are predominantly committed by men against women and children. And the appalling way judges, the media etc. cater to violent rapists who quickly identify as women to get lenient sentencing and go to women’s prisons, these rapist are called “she/her” in court to put crimes on women! Absolutely fed up with this!
And before anyone says I’m transphobic, fnck right off! I love and support transman Buck Angel, transwoman Blaire White and many others, both who get a lot of backlash, even death threats for speaking sense into this madness! So, try your BS somewhere else!
Sexual and other assaults on women and girls on railway and tube has increased by 50% in the last 2-3 years. It has DOUBLED!
And this is only on public transport!!! We don’t know what the numbers are on the street and behind closed doors.
The stastistic is NOT that male suicides on railway and tube is up by 50%, but assault on females. WHERE are the campaigns for men to step up and look out for women’s safety instead of being SPECTATORS while women get raped and assaulted?! Because we live in a porn sick society, where porn and prostitution has been normalised.
Shame on Samaritans, Network Rail, and unsurprisingly Police for the lazy and money-saving aim to coerce women to approach men and play saviour again!
.
.
Some of the many comments, these are just some of my favourites, hitting the nail on the head. Emotional blackmail in full swing!
.
.
.
.
.
THIS is my favourite comment, SPOT ON observation!
.
.
.
And many, many, many more. You can look those up on Twitter/X. I cannot keep doing such long blog posts. I think people get the message. Speak to your friends, colleagues, especially female, to truly trust their instincts and NOT over-ride them!
The outcry by mainly women but also several men has led Samaritans to update with the following:
Sexual and other assaults on women and girls on railway and tube has increased by 50% in the last 2-3 years. It has DOUBLED!
And this is only on public transport!!! We don’t know what the numbers are on the street and behind closed doors.
The stastistic is NOT that male suicides on railway and tube is up by 50%, but assault on females. WHERE are the campaigns for men to step up and look out for women’s safety instead of being SPECTATORS while women get raped and assaulted?! Because we live in a porn sick society, where porn and prostitution has been normalised.
Shame on Samaritans, Network Rail, and unsurprisingly Police for the lazy and money-saving aim to coerce women to approach men and play saviour again!
.
.
But the outcry remains, and people continue to raise their voice for Samaritans to drop the ad or use men to talk to men, in groups!
Do NOT approach a stranger to strike up a conversation / small talk, especially not as women towards men! ALWAYS call for help if you think something’s wrong! And leave the mental health heavy lifting to the professionals.
If you have suicidal friends/family member, and I have burdened many friends, especially in a drunken state, you did the right thing to continue giving mental health links. Don’t abandon the friendship if you can, but you did and do the right thing to call for or point to professionals.
Thank you.
.
.
UPDATE April 2024
As I still inform people, especially women on social media on the horrible “Smalltalk” ads, I was linked to an excellent exposé by a blogger who did amazing research into the founder of the Samaritans. PLEASE READ!
UPDATE April 2025 – I just found this interview. I had a hunge that a psychologist is behind this ad campaign. And unfortunately a female psychologist who, as many women do, throw other women under the bus. No thought about the dangers, maybe she was protected all her life.
Quote: “We spoke to Dr Lisa Marzano, lead psychologist behind the campaign, who works with the Samaritans Media Advisory Team, and previously British Transport Police, on training staff in helping suicidal people.”
On training STAFF!!!!! But she’s behind the ad campaign guilt-tripping members of the public, especially women to do this work! Appalling!
Hoping for an undercover journalist to go undercover as a volunteer. And for anyone saying reviews are fake, many people on Trustpilot leave reviews under their name and have a mix of positive and negative reviews on organisations. If people are happy, why should they leave a fake negative review?
But I am very weary of “charities”. It’s always about funding once these organisations grow.
Samaritans score April 2025:
.
.
And the mental health charity Mind, of whom I read someone doing what I do with Pret, calling out systemic workplace bullying within the charity have 95% bad scores on Trustpilot (1 & 2 star reviews combined). If a journalist can go undercover into these “charities”. There’s something really really wrong here.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.
Sexual and other assaults on women and girls on railway and tube has increased by 50% in the last 2-3 years. It has DOUBLED!
And this is only on public transport!!! We don’t know what the numbers are on the street and behind closed doors.
The stastistic is NOT that male suicides on railway and tube is up by 50%, but assault on females. WHERE are the campaigns for men to step up and look out for women’s safety instead of being SPECTATORS while women get raped and assaulted?! Because we live in a porn sick society, where porn and prostitution has been normalised.
Shame on Samaritans, Network Rail, and unsurprisingly Police for the lazy and money-saving aim to coerce women to approach men and play saviour again!
How 2 executives got away with 2 customer deaths and what lessons Pret has NOT learned!
Vegetarians and Vegans eat Meat in Pret
Mislabelling continues
Just when you think nothing more ridiculous can happen in Pret, this happens:
Link to Tweet from 27.11.2019 – I responded to SCLFT that the real @Pret killed two people in Britain! And side note: a baguette for $8!!! No wonder former CEO Clive Schlee pocketed £30 million on bonus alone! But he left a legacy behind, where low-wage staff speak out bluntly in anonymity on Glassdoor & Co.
Link OOPS!!! Quickly get into DM to get out of the public eye! Too late!
And the gift that keeps on giving!
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the land of MILK & HONEY!
UPDATE:10. Dec. 2019 – Pret USA again. And the usual response by the U.S. Twitter staff is very relaxed. People in the U.S. cannot DM Pret’s USA Twitter account. It’s like the U.S. side of Pret is cut off from the UK.
The issue of mislabelled products in Pret A Manger continues. It is 2019. Two customers have died, a third incidence was nearly fatal, and several in hospital from unlabelled allergen in Pret products, numerous customer warnings ignored before and even after deaths. Only after the deaths became public has Pret SLOWLY started to label products. But mislabelling products as well as placing products behind wrong labels continues.
Some customers who complain on Twitter assume that this is a one-off or rare problem…
NOTE:
A little reminder that Pret was cleared in New York in 2016 —>>> where a customer sued Pret after he suffered an allergic reaction ALSO to an unlabelled sesame product, the same allergen that Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died of from a London shop in 2016! Even though Pret won the case it did not give them any sense of urgency or a wake-up call to start labelling products! ONLY when customer deaths became public did Pret slowly implement labelling!
After I tweeted to Tom Rache & Julia Ramil with this blog entry I got a full shadow ban from Twitter, probably via Pret reporting me, which got my Tweets hidden for 24 hours and can only be viewed with direct link or via my Tweets and Replies page. This is to silence the systemic issue of mislabelling due to under-staffing:
For the sake of time and not wanting to clutter my page with endless examples, here are just a few visuals that show that the problem of wrongly labelled products in Pret is a VERY common problem and continues to this day!
The main reason for this, from my experience having worked at Pret, is chronic under-staffing of low-paid workers who are often not trained well. They are pressured, rushed and pushed so much, they work in often cramped areas, that these mistakes keep happening.
What is so beyond believe to me is, that in the UK even with two customer deaths, a third nearly fatal, numerous customer warnings ignored before AND even after people died… Pret goes full steam ahead, doing business as usual and gets away with it. In the U.S. it would hail a storm of class action lawsuits and the leadership would face prison! In the UK they put small business owners (often Indian or other with non-British background) in prison after 1 death! And rightly so, but Pret is too big, too rich and in my opinion, too white! Sorry, but I left my PC days behind long time ago!
In the UK people remain lulled in and want to believe the fairy tale that is Pret A Manger.
Vegetarians, or people, who for religious reasons don’t eat pork, keep settling for an apology and cheap freebies from Pret.
So, here’s a visual again on how common this problem is. Just few of the many examples. I had to fix this issue countless times as a Team Leader. In my 10 years in Pret from 2008 to the end of 2017, I had to fix this on a weekly basis, sometimes several times a day!
The other issue also is that, even though the standard is in place to not mix items on one tray, due to lack of staff, rushed for time to not lose Mystery Shopper bonus, staff bake Mozzarella Croissants on previously used Ham Croissant Trays. They even sometimes put both together on one tray to safe time and washing up. This also happens with the sweet croissants and the danger of traces of nuts touching other items. Staff are not supposed to do this, but because they often even work overtime without pay, they stop caring. I had to deal with this many times as well, retrain, redo etc. etc. etc…… And again, I don’t even blame the low-paid worker here, because when they don’t finish their production in time, they are fear managed and scared to lose their job. So, anyone assuming that at times the Veggie product did not touch the Meat product, or wasn’t baked in the “juice” of the Ham or Meat product, think again!
People are fooled with the facade of Pret. But I emphasize again that Pret A Manger is a FACTORY behind the scenes, there is NOTHING “Lovingly made” as their stickers boast! There’s no time nor room for Love in Pret A Manger!
These visuals are only a selection, there is much more, and not everyone goes on Twitter with pictures:
After TWENTY-NINE YEARS… This is 2015. Link to Tweet
This one is particularly misleading, because the Ham Croissant does NOT have a slice of tomato on top like the Mozzarella & Tomato Croissant has, to distinguish each other additionally to the labelling. So, in a rush the Hot Chef, or whoever put the croissants in the oven, added the tomato by mistake. OR they didn’t realize this was the Ham croissant, as in a frozen state they can look similar, although the Ham has black pepper on top, and the Mozzarella Croissant white cheese sprinkles. But again, due to rushing, these mistakes happen fast. From 2017:
A more extensive list on this problem also with soups wrongly labelled >>> “Ongoing Issues, hospitalization, mislabelling…” but I stopped collecting in Dec. 2018 as this is ridiculous!
Again this is due to UNDERSTAFFED Shops, rushed staff, and at times staff don’t understand English well, placing products behind wrong labels.
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.
Interview
NOTE:Since WordPress changed to a new editing system, some features don’t work anymore. For the audio interview, please visit my MEDIA page where the old player still works.
The following blog entry is an open letter to Lila Tighilt Warren, development manager of Pret A Manger head office in London, United Kingdom. This blog post is also converted into an automated voice reading. Please ignore the pronunciation of “manger” which need to get updated in automated voice programs to roughly “monjair” or roughly as Pret A Monjay.
Audio version (Note: Lila’s name is pronounced “Leela”):
my below “letter” is to a Development Manager from Pret A Manger’s HQ who was used by Pret’s toxic HR department to gaslight me. My full story with Pret is at the very bottom in an interview on the audio player. In a nutshell, I was targeted and bullied during traumatic bereavement by higher up Managers under the watchful eye of Pret’s HR department. After the first year of bereavement and the bullying and HR not helping me (I didn’t know at the time that HR was heavily involved!), I wrote an email to then CEO Clive Schlee, and ONLY THEN did some support start (like Pret paying for some counselling sessions).
But the bullying continued, this time in more subtle forms which I explain in detail in the audio player below. Traumatized already from my brother’s death and how it all unfolded, I became ill with emailing (again, I explain in the interview) after I received the news of my brother’s death via a cold email.
I kept raising issues of bullying, raised grievances including a grievance against a People Business Partner from HR (who since 2019 now is not in Pret anymore). Of course the grievances went nowhere and Pret just substantiated bits and bobs here and there to make it appear they cared, but they never really addressed the bullying. And Clive Schlee later patronized me calling me his “late night girl” after I sent late night emails to Pret and the whole world it seemed …
As I didn’t stop raising issues, being in trauma etc. and STILL working extremely well under horrendous circumstances, Pret offered me money, NDAs if I resign, never go to court and never speak about my ordeal. I declined the money. And I wouldn’t stop raising issues as I’ve worked my heart out for this company to just be bullied once my grief got in their way.
Pret finally pulled the last “Ace” out of their sleeve and put Lila Warren on my case. She is NOT working for HR but is a Training and Development Manager. She was tasked to hold a disciplinary hearing against me and told me in the meeting that she also had a brother who died alone in his apartment, wasn’t found for days and was not recognizable as his corpse disintegrated already, just like with my brother. My brother died alone in his flat, was not found for approximately 6 days, his body disintegrating and then they just cremated him without supposedly finding us first.
As I was so traumatized from everything, added with the bullying, I bought the lie that Lila dished out. I recently confronted her on Linkedin and after my confrontation she changed her name from “Lila Warren” to “Lila W.” not realizing that her Linkedin can still be found via Google as search of “Lila Warren Pret”. Lila was extremely manipulative and a very good liar! She’s also a NLP practitioner, a Hypnotherapist and now a Psychotherapist. I am still recovering not knowing if I can ever even trust my own gut anymore.
When I confronted Lila publicly on her Linkedin post, I was blocked of course, and then Lila changed her Linkedin handle from “Lila Warren” to “Lila W” but she still can be found there via google search “lila warren pret linkedin”. I was also contacted by a family member of Lila with subtle threats. Lila herself said to me in 2017 just before Pret fired me that I was making “enemies” (within Pret leadership) as I kept raising issues of bullying.
I share all this to show how utterly perverse and corrupt Pret A Manger is that got away with TWO customers having died, with their smiley and happy facade. I am not afraid of anybody or anything. I’m not doing anything wrong, and the days of Pret’s fear management and fearing them is over! The public still believe Pret is an ethical and caring company. They need to believe what they WANT to believe.
A quote by Friedrich Nietzsche: “Sometimes people don’t want to hear the truth because they don’t want their illusions destroyed.” End of quote.
.
.
My full story will make a little more sense after hearing my interview. And this is my final “letter” to Lila, which I sent to her on Linkedin after I did extensive research if her dead brother “Zain” actually existed.
My open letter to Lila Warren:
.
.
Dear Lila,
I hope you are well during this pandemic.
I am still alive and physically well, although mentally ruined and broken after what I went through with my brother’s death and what Pret put me through, including you gaslighting me.
As you may know, I wrote several articles about what you have done. But in case you missed it, here are two of several posts:
I can’t speak French and did a Google translate, maybe you could correct any wrong translation:
»He left with praise, with thunderous applause, with looks bathed in tears too. The tears of all those who had gathered in town hall from the 15th-16th, yesterday, to say goodbye to Kader Tighilt, chief of the sports department, who died, at 53, of a terrible disease. The elected officials were there, from left and right, Samia Ghali, Patrick Mennucci, Daniel Sperling, Nora Préziosi, Jean-Marc Coppola, Henri Jibrayel, Clément Yana, Jean-Marc Corteggiani, the representative of the prefect also, of the Algerian consul . Kader belonged to the 15th-16th family but he was not from any chapel, subservient to any party, except that of the Republic.
His open, tolerant and always humorous speech had allowed him to gather. Among elected officials and at the bistro. Kader was an all-terrain personality. That is why there were 300 of them crowding in the garden of Villa Laplane where the elected officials rubbed shoulders with athletes, everyday friends and family, of course. A minute of silence launched the tribute ceremony, which was followed by the hymn, symbol of this Republic which he defended as a treasure.
His young son Faris recalled him in a speech full of courage, dignity and emotion: “He was a great man who was going to leave an immense void. We can be proud of the fight he fought. ” Samia Ghali, with whom Kader Tighilt worked, portrayed a man who, beyond ideas, will have marked the town hall with his personality:
“Your voice which surprised us at the Bar des Bons Vivants or at the Régali will be greatly missed.” Nearly an hour of sincere tribute to a man who has spent a too short life cultivating friendship. And to make the young disadvantaged in the northern districts smile. Kader Tighilt was buried in the Vaudrans cemetery, abandoning loved ones torn apart by grief, who nevertheless know that his image and his spirit will remain present in Saint-Louis, La Viste, at the Bar des Bons Vivants and in the town hall of the sector.
Where, without Kader, life will not be quite as before.«
End of translation.
Kader was a prominent figure in Marseille where you’re from.
And a Tweet about a tribute after his death, from the French translated into English, quote: “Kader TIGHILT, A Republican tribute organized by the Town Hall of the 15th and 16th of Marseille” End of quote.
Lila, remember the picture you had on your Pret work-phone? You had NO picture whatsoever on your privatephone number, which is now your counselling number, the painted picture of which you said is a self-portrait by your brother Zain, whom you said died in his apartment and wasn’t found for days, just like my brother. I found the painted picture on Facebook profile of Samir Tighilt, who has this black and white photo of Kader Tighilt on it. Is Samir another brother? I can’t find Zain, though!
And not to be mistaken for another Tighilt family, you, your brother Morad and your Husband/family Warren show up on Samir Tighilt’s friend-list. There is no “Zain” to be found, though!
.
.
I searched for Zain Tighilt and after many Facebook profiles and articles found Kader Tighilt.
You had a painted self-portrait of your “brother Zain” on your work phone, but no picture whatsoever on your private phone. I always wondered about this, why you had no photo or picture on your private phone, but a personal picture (“Zain’s self-portrait”) on your work phone. Well, I think it’s clear now, why. How confused your family would have been if you had that same picture on your private phone avatar. I believed you that you had a brother who died similarly to how my brother died, you were very convincing! As I wrote already in the other posts that you are either a very good liar because of the way you described everything regarding death and your “brother’s” body, which I know from my brother’s death. If you lied, that makes you a bad person. But if this is true that you indeed had a brother named Zain who died alone in his apartment and wasn’t found for days, like my brother, then this makes you even worse than a bad person.
I am still looking for a word to describe how this feels what Pret has done, and what you have done, I can’t find a word to describe this. The only word I can find is: perversion. It is perverse what you have done, claiming that you had a brother who died alone in his apartment and was not found for days, just like my brother. How perverse is a lie like this?
Maybe Kader’s middle name is Zain? But also looking at the date when Kader died and the date you gave me about “Zain’s” death, the dates don’t match. It’s all very confusing isn’t it? But it all makes sense in hindsight with your education, and being a Hypnotherapist, NLP practitioner and now Psychotherapist. You apply psychology the wrong way. You used psychology to manipulate, gaslight and plainly abuse because you couldn’t stand up to Pret.
I cannot find Lila Warren on the National Hypnotherapy Society website anymore. At the bottom of this page in a short “AI” audio clip converted from a text I wrote, I explain why this might be.
I mean, it is quiet something that Pret had to go through such length, and you to such abyss to get me out of the company. I wouldn’t be surprised if you got a pay-rise and are exempt from being made redundant. Was it worth though? People can google your name and it will lead to my blog and other writings about what you have done. Anyone who wants to check out your counselling service will land on my blog. Was it worth it? Things always catch up with people, even in years to come. And I keep raising awareness on Pret’s systemic bullying culture. But now from the outside. Did you read those reviews on Head Office? Have you left a review on Pret yet? I remember some of your words about top leadership …
Lila, do you know that I have a hard time now trusting people who are friendly and nice? Every-time someone is kind and interested in my story or life, I get paranoid thinking that Pret sent a “spy” to gaslight me again. You should not be a counsellor of any type! You are not fit to call yourself any type of counsellor. And sooner or later your abusive way will come to light with others as well.
You might be protected and shielded by family, Pret A Manger and the counselling bodies you’re under. But no amount of money or “education” will shield you from exposure. My blog will always be a thorn in your and Pret’s side.
With all respect and condolences, but it doesn’t matter to me anymore if you had a brother named Zain. But I care that the public knows how toxic, abusive, corrupt, exploitative and plain cowardly Pret A Manger is. And I will keep cracking Pret’s shiny and smiley facade. Pret can paint over the cracks like colouring a rotten egg with all the charity and freebie marketing. I will keep cracking it with a pen and paper, and a computer keyboard to expose the foul stench from its core!
I care that the public and staff, many of whom are brainwashed and desperate for a job like I was, know how Pret under Clive Schlee, Pano Christou and HR David Carter etc. victimize hardworking employees who call out wrong-doing. And how you, with your privilege and education have neither backbone nor values to do the right thing. You need to live with decisions of disgrace and horrific disrespect. You allowed Pret to step, and decided yourself to step on dignity. That’s on you Lila.
.
Audio
“AI” audio clip of a text I wrote on another issue, mentioning part of what Lila did to me:
.
.
The page Lila Warren sent to me in a passive-aggressive way, which I mention in above audio clip:
.
UPDATE end of february 2024
.
Lila Warren announced on Linkedin end of February 2024 that she now works for Five Guys. She worked at Pret for 20+ years, and it looks like she’s been made redundent. This means Pret are cutting finances further now in HQ as CEO Pano Christou wants to build his legacy to expand worldwide and double in size by 2026 as instructed by owners JAB Holdings.
Mark my words, I have a sense that after he achieved that and pocket in more millions in bonus and will boast about his legacy in the media, he might also quit. These people are stuck in the Pret mindset, and I’m sure Lila and other longtime HQ staff will struggle to find foot in new companies, their mindset and office politics! Good on them.
I’m always perplex how people who grew up in entitled families can afford to go to university just to end up in head offices of large corporations! If you go to university or college, at least become an entrepreneur, artist, writer, inventor, or anything to do your own thing instead of wasting your life with large, spineless corporates.
These uninspiring people hop from corprate brand to corporate brand. And they look down on the foot-soldiers who make it happen. Suit yourself, you never inspired me.
To any new reader, my full story with Pret A Manger and what Lila Warren was involved in I share at the bottom audio player in an interview on a podcast based in California.
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 and mentioned by theBBC. Thank you for reading/listening.
“We are looking for volunteers who want to do the right thing and help society.”
HAHA!!! Good one Pret!
Below post I wrote on 31. March 2020 after being informed by a Pret staff about Pret wanting some staff to work in kitchens again DURING furlough under pretense of giving freebies to NHS and homeless people. In reality, apart from the typical PR stunt, Pret wants staff to be in place once the Government lifts the ban of closed businesses. And after first trying to cut hours/pay of all staff WHILE giving freebies in March, Pret now becomes “generous” to some staff.
UPDATE:17. April 2020 on Instagram, Twitter and I’m sure on other social media channels. Critical voices about Pret opening 10 shops:
Pret is sneaking into the kitchen and being caught with the hand in the cookie jar!
Let me translate the bullshit that Pret is doing now while Boris Johnson is in quarantine (having shaken hands with corona-virus patients!)
UPFRONT: Apart from the typical Pret A Manger PR, using NHS staff and now homeless people by wanting staff to work in Pret kitchens doing sandwiches for NHS & homeless people, Pret is VERY cheeky by wanting staff in place NOW during furlough, so when the government gives the green light for businesses to open again, Pret has already staff in place to get back to business FAST!
And after having tried to cut hours/pay by 25% DURING the first NHS freebies while the Covid-19 pandemic is in full swing, Pret NOW shows how “generous” they can be, selling this as “doing the right thing” while in reality putting their staff – who may be infected – in danger yet again! (My PLEA to NHS staff →LINK)
To Clive Schlee and Pano Christou,
how about YOU coming down from your arrogant, snobby, spoiled little hill, and do a “Buddy Day” for at least a week to fulfill the below “suggestions” from your Clare.
Part of the “Daily Pret” info from Pret HQ to staff on 30th March 2020:
My comments are in Italics below as a former Pret A Manger employee knowing this company’s bullshit inside out!
Here she is, Clare, on behalf of dwarfs Clive and Pano, quote:
I hope you have all been keeping safe and well since I last wrote to you. (since YOU last wrote?)
Since we closed our shops’ doors last Saturday, (after being forced via Government orders)
I have been very proud of the work that teams all across Pret have done to continue to support those in need. (while you use the NHS to cover up for not caring for your own workers’ needs…)
We made multiple donations of excess food and ingredients (multiple self-idolizing and self-promotion)
to charities and over 2000 cases of smoothies and snacks to NHS staff working at over 25 different hospitals. (yawn… the numbers… let’s talk numbers: Pret turnover 2019 = £710 Million Clive Schlee bonus 2018 = £30 Million JAB Holdings / Reimann worth £28 Billion Pret frontline staff £8.65 an hour Any more numbers, Clive Schlee and Pano Christou?!)
UPDATE 2024: Pret DEBT £700 Million
In recent days, we have started to think about how we might become part of the growing efforts to help the NHS frontline staff further whilst our shops remain closed. (In recent days – since being exposed by the Guardian via expret.org and my people the front-line Pret staff, we have started to think about how we might become part of the growing worry to keep our staff calm and away from the Unions and the press.)
We have been contacted by individuals as well as by NHS leaders and the project team for NHS Nightingale. (aw! cute! Social Media is something else, isn’t it?)
Today, we have started work planning to open a small number of kitchens from the 6th April. (have you now?)
These kitchens will start by producing a small range of products for delivery to NHS hospitals or staff quarters as well as enabling us to restart product donations to the homeless through our Pret Foundation charity partners. (That’s a mouthful! [and this sounds like an addict to greed – listen up!]
Let’s take this apart:
“kitchens will start by producing” – in need labour “delivery to NHS hospitals” – in need of business in the future “restart product donations to the homeless through our Pret Foundation charity partners” – “restart” … in need of reputation
Once open, (once open! There you go!)
we will be able to think about extending the number of kitchens and products (we will be able to sneak more shops in while the Government has announced closures and Boris Johnson has tested positive for Covid-19 – positive = meaning he has the virus y’all … or did he just call sick!).
and start working with 3rd party delivery partners to get Pret food to more people who need it. (Yeah right 😀 Good one!)
I am writing today to ask whether there are any members of our Pret family who would like to volunteer to return to a shop kitchen from the end of this week in order to support this effort. ( 😀 !!! I am writing to ask Clive Schlee and Pano Christou to do a “Buddy Day” to fulfill Clare’s request. Kindly. Please. Unless you are hiking the Austrian mountains in the snow!)
If you would like to volunteer, please email us at volunteers@pret.com by midday on Wednesday 1st April so we can get a sense of numbers.
(Yeah, I might email you on April Fool’s Day!)
Once we have identified volunteers, we will be in contact as soon as possible to confirm. (You do that, but I have to inform you that your workforce … uhm … volunteers are busy signing up for the Unions)
It goes without saying that the safety of our people remains paramount and I want to let potential volunteers know that we will be implementing new standards in our shops to support social distancing. The first day back in a shop will involve training on these new safety standards. (Oh Clare, please do try harder than this!)
Thank you in advance to those of you that will volunteer. I hope that by exploring this initiative we can play our part in continuing to support society, something we have always taken pride in. (Yeah! 😀 )
With love, (Big word, Pret, big word!)
Clare (with sh!t in their pants)
To Clive Schlee and Pano Christou,
how about YOU coming down from your arrogant, snobby, spoiled home, and do a “Buddy Day” for a week to fulfill the above appeal?
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.
And extensive accounts of Pret’s systemic bullying behind the facade, also witnessed by customers: Caught in the Act at Pret.
.
.
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.
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.
On 19.03.2020 in the morning I was contacted by a Pret employee that Pret wanted to cut all staff hours 25%, down to 16 hours. I was sent the email that Pano Christou sent to all shops and HQ (75B) that morning.
Some numbers:
A front-line shop staff member gets a little over minimum wage of £8.65 per hour
+£1 bonus IF the Mystery Shopper is happy (I posted a FULL Mystery Shopper report with the 32 micromanaging questions that Pret tasks Mystery Shoppers to test each shop on every week. If ONE staff member makes a mistake or doesn’t smile enough, the WHOLE shop team is penalized and don’t get the bonus!).
Even if a a staff member receives £8.65 they have to work double and triple for it. Pret has NO choice to pay a little more than minimum wage and give a few perks, as no-one would work at Pret for the backbreaking, micromanaging and stressful work they’re expected to do, often in a bullying environment.
Former CEO Clive Schlee’s BONUS from the JAB Holdings / Reimann purchase in 2018: £30 million
Second richest family in Germany, Reimann via tax-haven Luxembourg JAB Holdings worth €33 BILLION (£28 / $35 billion).
Do the math of £8.65 minus 25% minus hours.
I immediately wrote blog posts and went on Twitter.
The Guardian and other press started publishing and slowly customers and readers started to speak out against Pret’s decision.
What was so vile about this is that Pret started giving free coffees and 50% rebates on food to all NHS staff the day before on 18.03.2020. Pret made a big announcement, did press releases and sent emails to shops boasting about their “charity”.
This typical Pret PR and smokescreen had many speechless and angry.
A day later, after bad press and public outcry Pret reversed the pay-cut until May when they review this again.
On 27.03.2020, CEO Pano Christou was interviewed by the Evening Standard and even lied to the Standard, quote: “Last week Christou said immediately that he will pay his staff 100% of their salaries at least until the end of April.”
Immediately? You mean “immediately” after the public outcry and bad press about the 25% cut, huh?!
First email from Pano Christou on 19.03.2020 announcing the pay-cut. I was asked by the Pret staff who sent this email to me as screenshots to not publish the screenshot but write a transcript. The second letter of the pay-cut reversal is as a screenshot, sent by another staff member.
Recap of numbers again:
Front-line Pret staff: £8.65 p/h (+£1 bonus not guaranteed – no bonus when on holiday/furlough and sick).
This is UNDER £15.000 a year! Subtract 25% AND subtract hours, announced DURING the Coronavirus pandemic AND NHS freebies!
Pret’s turnover 2019: £710 million
Former CEO Clive Schlee’s BONUS (not to mention Pano Christou & share holders …) £30 million
In moments of crisis we are challenged on our values and it is important we continue to support each other. People are at the heart of Pret. That’s why our biggest priority as we navigate the impact of Coronavirus is to protect our people. Pret is a wonderful company because it is full of amazingly talented, passionate, kind and generous people. I call it my second home after spending 20 years of my life with such wonderful people who have helped to shape me as a leader, father and a human being.
There are many people losing their jobs from other companies, especially in our sector. Our aim is not lose anyone, because we believe that we are all in this together.
Unfortunately we cannot ignore the fact that our sales in the UK have dropped by 75% and we believe this will be our new reality for several weeks. Therefore we have to reduce our costs somehow.
We are prioritising cuts in all areas that don’t impact our people directly, however it’s vital we also address pay. This means we need to ask every single Pret employee to take a 25% reduction in their contracted hours (and therefore pay). I know this is a huge ask and it breaks my heart to have to get to this point. I know it will hit people hard, but if we can achieve this, we can avoid job losses at this time. The Global Leadership Team and Board will be taking bigger cuts
We anticipate that our current reduction in sales will continue for at least 3 months and therefore the reduction in hours and associated pay will need to cover this period. If sales improve before then or we receive any further assistance from the government, nothing would make me happier than to be able to reverse this decision more quickly. I will keep you informed.
It goes without saying that if anyone would like to reduce their hours even further (perhaps for personal reasons) or take any period of unpaid absence or sabbatical (even if they haven’t been as Pret for long) then please let the HR team know.
It is important that every single Manager speaks to every single member of their team by Friday 12 noon (20th March) to explain this. There will be lots of questions and following this note the HR team will be sending a list of actions that need to be taken, a letter that needs to be given to every person, and answers to the questions you and your teams may have.
To help our Pret people at this difficult time, we are setting up a Coronavirus Hardship Fund. More details to follow early next week. If any employee needs assistance due to the reduction in their hours then they must ask us for help and we will do all we can to support.
I am fully aware of the impact this change has on us all and I thank you for your understanding.
Take care of yourself and each other.
Pano
After public pressure and bad press:
Second letter of the decision to reverse pay-cut until May:
To all Pret employees:
JOIN A UNION!
And know that even ONE voice / blog / Tweet / email … COUNTS!
Even if things improve or you leave Pret, join a Union! When you stay, Pret will find ways AGAIN to try and cut hours!
These two Unions are very active and the best informed on Pret issues:
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.
And extensive accounts of Pret’s systemic bullying behind the facade, also witnessed by customers: Caught in the Act at Pret.
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.
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.
Clive Schlee, I know you are not the CEO anymore, even though you still present yourself on Twitter as such. You are a non-executive director and I’m sure pretty active in the background. Thank you for your visit yesterday to my blog, I hope you found something useful to inspire REAL change, not just sweet-talk.
Pano Christou, as you have deleted your Twitter account on 01. July 2019 after I tweeted Clive’s retirement news to the press as you didn’t see the need to inform them yourself (you’re welcome!) I write yet again another blog post.
You have done your typical PR stunt yet again with much success of course. It is very commendable to give free coffees and 50% rebate on food to NHS workers. Everyone agrees, it’s very nice. And NHS staff, Fire Brigade, indeed all carers deserve every break they can get! But …
I tweeted yesterday already to NHS staff that Pret workers are paying for this “generosity” by being sent home unpaid due to low business, as I know how you work. And of course I got shadow banned (censored, Tweets hidden from public view and search).
And then you dropped a bombshell this morning in an email to the shops.
I now have messages coming in on various channels that you even go further in your generosity. This morning you emailed shops wanting all your staff to agree to take 25% pay cuts for up to 3 months or more, or to take unpaid leave.
You already want to force staff to take holidays above their current holiday allowance, and they will then lose their holidays for next year.
You promised your employees you will send DAILY communications to shops on developments in Pret during this terrible virus crisis. Yet, in your typical Pret-style of breaking promises, so far you’ve only sent 2 pieces of information to shops:
That cutlery now has to be moved behind the counter and regular sanitizing, hand-washing etc. (Of course you bowed to pressure from the public on this, whereas before you didn’t give a toss!)
Your typical self-idolizing PR stunt, sending press releases on freebies and 50% rebate for NHS workers. And Pret workers are speechless how they themselves are disregarded! One Pret staff called this your typical “PR machine”. Other staff are cursing you out, I can’t repeat here!
I wrote in my other blog post 2 days ago about your Vague Statement and non-specific sweet-talk on precautions during the Coronavirus pandemic. I wrote that Clive should cut his £30 million bonus and give to the workers, so they can pay their rent and not end up on the street and have tax payers pick up the bill!
A courageous act CEO Dan Price has done for his workers, and his company is thriving ever since! Dan Price cut his $1.1 million annual pay down to $70K to raise the minimum wage for ALL his staff to $70K. He will leave a solid legacy behind, built on foundations of truth, integrity and life-changing actions. Dan said he has never regretted it and is happier than ever before. He has healthy and thriving employees! He will not be remembered for the bullshit sweet-talk that brings no change for the better and for which Pret is so known for within its own workforce.
And you have the Pret Foundation Trust that helps homeless people, don’t you? But we former and current Pret staff know it’s mostly for PR! Where is your help, Pano?! Wanting staff to agree to a pay cut of 25% and go on forced holiday which they will then lose the following year? Really?
And if they refuse to take holidays they are bullied by managers and sent into the kitchen or do extra cleaning work. Yes, that does sound very Pret-like! And you sit on millions of pounds and your JAB bosses sit on billions.
You, Pano Chrsitou and all the shareholders could also cut your Million pound salaries and bonuses, to actually do the right thing “naturally”, as Pret always claimed. But you just send little emails about cutlery and your NHS PR stunt. And your low-wage workers are speechless and scared shit-less for their lives, jobs and homes!
“It’s what makes Pret, Pret”
Your staff who are sending these infos to me are disheartened and disgusted at your lack of care and your greed. And I am disgusted that you Pano even use your own child, to manipulate your employees to cut their own needs, so you can continue in your millionaire lifestyle and keep feeding your billionaire bosses Reimann / JAB Holdings!
You know what this reminds me of? Pret having used Lila Warren who supposedly had a brother who died alone in his apartment and wasn’t found for days, just like my brother! Lila then gaslighting and manipulating me until I got fired. If Lila’s story is true or not is not my concern anymore.
But for you Pano, to use your own child to gaslight and manipulate workers to take cuts is utterly perverse and disgusting! You write to shops that your child has asthma and is crying all day not wanting to go to school! Two years ago you emailed back a customer, who complained about the lack of labelling and their fear about allergens after the two customers died. You wrote to the customer that your child has food allergies, and that you know how it is!
I really hope your children have no illnesses and allergies, I even hope you are lying like you all did with Lila Warren. But to produce crocodile tears to make low-wage employees feel sorry for you, using your children’s health condition is utterly disgusting and disturbing! You should be more than ashamed of yourself, Pano! You should have the decency and backbone to not only refrain from using your children in any way to manipulate workers to feel bad, but you should pay them a living wage, protect their jobs, give up some of your own millions and get to work!
You “advise” staff to sign a 25% pay cut, and yet your Managers are pressuring, manipulating and gaslighting workers to sign. Pano, you said that all of you in management are also taking a pay cut, sorry, but you still have MILLIONS left even after a pay cut! You manipulate your staff by saying that other companies are firing people. You say that you don’t fire them but you gaslight them with this “generosity” of a 25% cut!
I have one sentence for Pret A Manger low-wage workers: PRET NEEDS YOU MORE THAN YOU NEED THEM! WAKE UP!
And for Pret leadership, you should be ashamed as millionaires to “ask” low-wage staff via pressuring and manipulating Managers, to sign a 25% pay-cut and use next years holiday allowance for this year, while giving free coffees and 50% rebates to NHS staff whose job are secure and have FULL wages! You should be deeply and utterly ashamed Pano Christou, Clive Schlee, and the rest of you greedy share holders! And using freebies to NHS workers for your PR, and then letting low-wage staff foot the bill is beyond disgusting! You should be ashamed!
The only good thing about all this is, as your hard working people are even in deeper financial and existential despair now, more and more are joining unions, and they are coming for you! 🙂 ← That’s a real smile not even the Mystery Shopper could have gotten out of me!
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.
And extensive accounts of Pret’s systemic bullying behind the facade, also witnessed by customers: Caught in the Act at Pret.
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.
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.
1. Mind #FreeSpeech when you think about reporting me to get censored, as I will post again & again. I will not be silenced if my post gets hidden!
2. What EXACTLY is #PretAManger doing, what SPECIFIC things will Pano put in place not only to protect customers, but staff who work without protection. What is Pano doing regarding financial loss to staff who are sent home due to low business?
Maybe Clive Schlee can give from his £30 Million bonus & Pano can cut his own Million £ bonus & actually do what Pret always boasts about by “doing the right thing naturally”!
Learn from @DanPriceSeattle who puts his money where his mouth is & is VERY specific.
Pret & Pano Christou, please stop giving vague sweet-talk & be specific as @RishiSunak has been very specific today with numbers & solid aid to businesses and people. Stop brainwashing staff to believe you are helping when in reality they suffer even more now!
First customer complaints start coming in on Facebook.
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.
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.
Upfront, dear customer and reader, especially in Europe, do your homework on General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). In the USA and other countries, do some research on what laws your country has to protect you regarding data issues. Subscriptions of cheap coffees lure customers into freely giving their precious personal data for future marketing! More on this at the bottom of this post. But under GDPR you can request for your data 1. not be included on Pret’s database, or 2. if you did subscribe, upon unsubscribing you can request for your data to be DELETED and request to not be contacted with advertisement in the future!
I have tweeted this before several times for people to not get lured into DM, mainly to keep the conversation public, but also because Pret wants customer data.
Pret sends little freebies in return for addresses.
If you want to unsubscribe from a website/newsletter but can’t find the feature, press F3 and enter into search “unsubscribe”.
Pret has started collecting customer data since around 2018. They never used to do that before. If you scan through Pret’s Tweets and replies, you will see a LOT of “Could you please DM us…”. And then in the DM, away from the public feed, Pret is luring customer data out of them for marketing! 😀
Try it!
UPDATE Dec. 2021:
A customer having a hard time unsubscribing from Pret’s marketing emails, and I’m not surprised at all. They captured it on video. Apologies for the vertically stretched video, I don’t know why this web-provider does that.
In a NY Times article CEO Pano Christou speaks open about data collection, quote:
»The other benefit of the subscription plan is the chance to gather more data about its customers, who will scan a QR code each time they use it. “Pret have been very, very late adapters to this,” Mr. Christou said. Panera, he said, has a database of more than 40 million customers across the United States. … I think the richness of data today gives you an opportunity to learn much more about your customers”« Link
UPDATE November 2021:
Pret also lure customers into DM to get their home addresses with the promise to “pop something in the post”, and since the pandemic, they don’t send anything but just collect addresses and data. Some of MANY complaints on this, as well as on subscription codes not working which delays customers to get their “free” coffee while the clock is ticking on their daily/monthly allowance:
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
UPDATE 2022 / 2023 Trustpilot review on data breach:
And many many many more complaints like this, especially since the pandemic where Pret want to make and save money as much as they can.
With the subscription and apps Pret can gather data much faster and in greater volume. But there are MANY complaints on Social Media that makes it hard to unsubscribe, or when they unsubscribed Pret still continues to draw money from bank accounts, or Pret draws money a day BEFORE the expiry date when people try to unsubscribe etc. There are LOTS of complaints about the expiry dates on social media and I did an extra blog entry with some of the poignant complaints: Pret’s Continued Coffee Subscription Rip-Off as well as How Pret make Profit via the Subscription. This technical “glitch” doesn’t look like a glitch, but a desperate attempt to keep drawing money and make unsubscribing challenging. Customers are sent in a loop when they try to cancel, or they wait for an email for days, Pret doesn’t pick up the phone, if they do pick up, the conversation is suddenly terminated … all in the name of “technical issues”.
More complaints. People can’t even delete their card details after unsubscribing! Pret needs a lesson in GDPR and a consumer watchdog to take a closer look at Pret as they’re always trying the dodgy thing until caught!
I write about the reality behind Pret’s “happy” facade and collect staff reviews and customer complaints. This is just a small selection of a long list and bigger issue. It’s just the tip of the iceberg. There is a reason why Pret and its leadership have such poor scores on Glassdoor & Co. If a multi-billion pound/dollar company under private equity looks too good to be true, just take a closer look.
Clive Schlee, since September 2019 former CEO even briefly mentioned the data base their building when asked in an interview on “Teddy Talks” (no, not TED Talks!). Mario Bauer noticed that for the first time people are asked to enter their email addresses. I took that interview apart on another blog post: Clive Schlee: A Case Study on the Fun Factory. And it’s notable to say that Clive Schlee at the end of the interview mentions that he’s getting his priorities changed from profit driven to more important things in what we leave behind. Well, now he’s thinking about his own legacy after having driven the company full steam ahead, ignoring warnings on allergen, two customers died and he still didn’t act UNTIL the deaths became public. Now he’s thinking about his legacy.
Schlee still remained in the background having pulled the strings as a non-executive Director. He “retired” with this legacy:
… handing over to the new CEO, his prodigy Pano Christou. Part of the reason for their scores is in a slideshow, clickhere (opens in new window).
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.
Please be aware that soups and porridge in Pret are cooked in factories and just send to shops to get re-heated. This means the soup will be heated for the 2. time after being cooked in factories. But as Pret always pressure shops for profit and less waste while understaffing, staff cheat by now freezing the soup (I’m sure with Pret’s knowledge and permission because Pret always lie about issues) and soups are heated up often for a 3. and 4. time.
Please see my blog post on Pret’s Freshly Made Brainwash how food is done in Pret and how they cheat, continuing to endanger customers’ lives.
Back to the adVENT calender entry:
The soup rota for the week goes as follows:
Monday – Chicken Broccoli and Rice without chicken Tuesday – Chicken Broccoli and Rice without rice Wednesday – Chicken Broccoli and Rice without broccoli Thursday – Chicken Broccoli and Rice without a label Friday – Chicken Broccoli and Rice with a veggie label Saturday – Chicken Broccoli and Rice with a flat wooden spoon Sunday – Chicken Broccoli and Rice with vegan turkey Any other day – Chicken Broccoli and Rice without chicken, broccoli and rice. Water-detox soup!
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. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
If you have no time to read, please scroll to all the screenshots further down below.
(And read the comments at the very bottom of this page.)
UPDATE 2024: Please note that I don’t update every year (some updates below from May 2024) as my posts are always too long. But the main bullying catalyst in Pret has always been, and will always be their mircomanaging and humiliating weekly mystery shopper visits.
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 2019 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 in two consecutive YouTube slides about what weekly Mystery Shoppers test staff on.
Via this link: “Smile for the Misery Shopper“. There’s a reason I renamed it to “misery” shopper. Keep the slide playing for the next mystery shopper report where a staff got the £100 reward for love-bombing the mystery shopper, while everyone else didn’t get bonus due to missing food in the fridge.
This misery shopper scheme 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.
UPDATE: May 2024 – I believe due to the intense stress and a more “wild west” style change on the bottom line, staff at times lash out at customers as well. Pret have made a lot of cuts since the pandemic while the CEO gets millions in bonus, rising every year.
Just some updates, but I will not update any more as the posts are always too long.
.
.
.
March 2024 Staff Review: “Every single shop had a bad vibe to it … if you don’t do well then everyone lost their bonus and would hate you for the week”
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.
A little reminder that Clive Schlee pocketed £30 Million on bonus alone when JAB Holdings bought Pret! Link to article.
Daily Mail deleted, but Pressreader has all the reports.
UPDATE 2021/2022
The Guardian:
“Pret CEO handed near-£4m bonus in year staff pay was cut. Pano Christou also given 27% salary rise in 2021 as chain took more than £50m in government support.” Link (Please note, his bonus is now £5 million and counting, plus annual payrise).
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.
As Pret read my blog, you will notice that Glassdoor and Indeed reviews have “improved”, but many of those 5 star reviews read like job ads. 😉
Also always check the voting, those also speak for itself. In case Pret recruit people to leave fake positive reviews, check the voting on those reviews. On Twitter I was told by a friend of the late Jeffrey Hyman, who founded Pret, that Pret recruited someone to keep deleting Hyman off the Wikipedia page on Pret. Pret and the two RE-co-founders Sinclair Beecham and Julian Metcalfe REFUSE to mention Hyman.
Beecham and Metcalfe want to appear as these ground-breaking entrepreneurs, while in reality they grew up with a golden spoon in their mouths, lots of cash and lots of high society, even royal connections. Why do you think Pret keep getting away with so many things, which would have gotten a small independent business shut down in a heartbeat!
.
.
UPDATE: 25.11.2019
A new review from a Team Leader also with 10 years experience:
Link“A lot of people cry in the staff room especially in their entry period”
23. Oct. 2019 “I have work[ed] 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:
The following is THE MOST poignant former Pret staff review I have come across, and I have read them ALL!
»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 2024 – The “yes” vote count is now 54.
.
.
UPDATE:31.10.2019
A review by a (then) 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 employee review platforms.
The following Unions cover the food industry:
The BFAWU are the best informed about Pret and have helped Pret staff already. The President of BFAWU met up with me twice and also with a Pret staff who wasn’t even in a union, to assist. 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.
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!
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 and was mentioned by the BBC. Thank you for reading/listening.
Please also see my MEDIA page for the press articles I influenced.
In 2016 before I openly exposed Pret A Manger, I wrote a blog entry on another website on a bullying incidence I witnessed, but couldn’t do anything about.
In a nutshell, I came across a bleeding pigeon on a pavement in London on the many walks I do. Around this injured pigeon were other healthy pigeons literally “picking” on the injured one. I realized naively that this is where the term “picking on someone” comes from! Dah! I chased the pigeons away, and stayed put for a while just watching over the bird on the pavement. I explain in above blog post why I couldn’t help. But I vouched that I won’t walk away again.
Today on my usual walk I took a different route than usual and found this goose standing alone under a roof. It just stood there looking at me. I’m not a bird expert, not certainly in goose, but it was odd that this fellow was just standing there alone.
When I came closer I saw it had no feathers on both wings, and under the wings were more feathers missing as well as on the neck. On the other side of the property, the front side by the main road, were other healthy fat geese and some chickens, which I always see when walking by on the road. But this time I took the other road from the back.
I took some pictures and went to the vet that I know who lives nearby. He confirmed that it looked like this goose was picked upon by the other stronger geese.
I went home, contacted the animal rescue place via email, as the phone line was closed for the day. Then I went back with bread and water, and this goose literally drank the water for 5 minutes straight! I just recorded about 3 minutes of it as I missed the first part.
But it is a metaphor of a bullying situation, and how this critter had to hide under this lonely roof, away from his “peers”, his “race”, his “brand” that had no other thing to do than to pick on this goose because it was weaker, maybe?
I sure hope it will be there tomorrow, and I sure hope the animal rescue people bother enough to come by. But the owners surely don’t care. Any animal owner or farmer who loves their animals ALWAYS know EVERY SINGLE animal in their flock, some even know ever animal by name. But for this little one to be left aside, beaten and ripped apart, means the humans who own this property and flock, don’t give a shit!
What’s the message here, apart from jumping in to help? Maybe just to take a different route from time to time on your usual walks or rides to work. You’ll never know what you’ll find at the back.
I call this goose “Pret”, because it’s a pretty little one, and it reminds of the broken wings Pret leaves on many of their workers, not realizing how much they break their own wings!
So, pray or cross your fingers that little “Pret” is still there tomorrow, and that the animal rescue people care enough to get it out of there. I don’t want to have to climb over the fence, please.
So heartbreaking to see the other geese and a few chicken healthy on the other side, and this one so lonely and injured. WTF is up with birds??!!!!
Video underneath the photos:
.
.
.
.
It’s hard to see here, but under the roof thing on the other side of this picture are the other fat geese and chickens. Little “Pret” is just hiding from them, not having access to food and water.
.
.
.
I put the tub inside, poured water from a bottle and the goose drank for 5 minutes straight! I just captured about 3 minutes of it! It even dunk some bread into the water which I didn’t capture, but it had a little feast today.
Turn up the volume to hear the fella drink. It must not have gotten any water and food for a while!
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. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote an article in the Scottish Left Review and worked with the BBC.
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.
August 2019: Supermarket chain Tesco is urging consumers to check their cupboards for a product they have to recall due to unlabelled ingredient from itsu.
I have stopped updating all the product recalls over the years from itsu in supermarkets. But this should serve as a reminder to people who say, “do your OWN food” that there is no such thing as your “own” food when you are dependent on supermarkets and companies to get the labelling right.
One p!ssed off customer:
.
.
Quick reminder:
“Itsu is a British chain of Asian-inspired fast food shops and restaurants, and a grocery company” – Wikipedia
Itsu was founded by Julian Metcalfe, who co-founded (or rather re-founded) Pret A Manger in 1986 after its first start in 1983 by Jeffrey Hyman and soon closure before its new start in 1986. Clive Schlee, since September 2019 former CEO of Pret A Manger, partly owns itsu and has been friends with the Pret (re-)founders Julian Metcalfe and Sinclair Beecham, which got him the CEO job in Pret 16 years ago.
A friend of Jeffrey Hyman told me on Twitter that Pret allegedly employed someone to keep changing the WIkipedia entry about Hyman:
.
.
.
Sinclair Beecham has been on the board of Directors of Pret until 2018 when JAB Holdings / Reimann purchased Pret and axed him, among other Directors including Director of HR Andrea Wareham and Pret U.S. President Jo Brett. Sinclair Beecham doesn’t have a Wiki page, but his name-link leads to Pret A Manger instead.
UPDATE2024: Sinclair Beecham is back in Pret to help fix the mess of customer complaints, the aggressive expansion of Pret and the £700 million debt. CEO Pano Christou doesn’t seem to cope well.
Also 2024, a food writer on Facebook shows how itsu’s food photos are very different from the reality of the products: LINK to video as below video player is vertically stretched for some reason. Please ignore his mistake in calling itsu a “Chinese” food place. Itsu is Japanese inspired, not Chinese.
.
.
Further in the mislabeling issues:
Tesco now has to recall a product they bought from itsu, which has not been correctly labelled.
»The supermarket chain, Tesco, has had to issue an urgent recall warning after one product did not have the correct information listed on the label. Those who have recently been shopping in the supermarket are being asked to check their cupboards and urgently return the product if they have bought it. The recall has been issued after the packaging of an itsu (grocery) product failed to mention it contained prawns in the ingredient list. This could cause a serious risk for anyone with allergies and people are being asked not to eat the product.« – By Sarra Gray for Express.co.uk
The [Pret] Schlee labelling saga continues …
Also UPDATE 2024, Clive Schlee from November 2024 is appointed CEO of itsu. So far to his “retirement” 😉
Also, issues of mislabelling, cross-contamination etc. are ongoing in Pret, especially where Vegetarians or Religious people eat Ham Croissants labelled as Veggie.
And the reason why Clive Schlee leaves Pret with such poor results on Glassdoor & Co. and general staff complaints: >>> “The Dangers of Non-Existent Leadership” and the anti-CEO Playbook.
.
And how I “chased” itsu founder and CEO Julian Metcalfe off Twitter after his rant regarding lock-down:
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.
Due to this page being from the old WordPress editor, all the below text is squeezed together, I’m working on fixing it. To sepratae for now I put lines inbetween.
.
.
For any new reader, my full story in an interview at the bottom of this page on the audio player.
For a comprehensive list of writings about Pret A Manger, please visit:
>>> The Most Comprehensive Website on Pret A Manger
I said 6 months ago to a Union person that Clive Schlee will probably sneak out of Pret. And days ago I wrote to another person that he is very quiet lately and either on a Sabbatical or leaving.
I tweeted to the press this morning, and of course now they have “breaking” news 😉 He since has now tweeted his announcement himself AFTER I contacted the press and they “broke” (uhm!) the news.
~10am Tweet before the press started waking up:
Link
.
.
To Clive Schlee,
unfortunately your early retirement you chose not to announce and I had to tweet again for the press to pick this up. Sure, Pano Christou will take over, having come from McDonald’s management (nobody’s perfect!) he will continue where you left off. Pano became UK Managing Director after Andrew Walker “left”. Andrew Walker then became EAT’s CEO which is now swallowed by JAB via Pret. What a cold cold business! It may be good for the press to properly investigate on the Andrew Walker issue!
Pano will do some changes of course, but from his emails years ago, he wasn’t straight forward with me either, and I’m afraid Pret will continue business as usual with a lot of the chaos behind the scenes.
I’m sure you’ve done a lot of good things and many will sing your praises. But for me and many others this PR[et] facade and the reality behind the scenes has been a terrible “ride” and the worst, traumatic experience I have ever had in any workplace! Only my brother’s untimely death supersedes this trauma in an even greater nightmare!
I always shuddered when as a shop Team Leader, working in the office doing the ordering or whatever I had to do, when an email from HQ came in. And that email was sent out naming, blaming and shaming shops that had poor scoring in Health & Safety or other issues. This fear management, also to your low-paid workers via Mystery Shoppers, was always a terrible experience to read and witness.
—
And you think you can just sneak out of Pret, not taking any responsibility?
I worked in the catering industry all my life, in 3 countries. I never shied-away from hard work and was self-sufficient since my teenage years. I lived and worked with integrity, principle and care. And what I received in return was humiliation, trauma, and discrimination. You need to understand that Pret A Manger under your leadership has almost destroyed my life, literally almost killed me!
I survived Pret, which I experienced as toxic, corrupt and exploitative.
You can count yourself very lucky, Mr. Schlee, that my mental health is too low to see through to court without a lawyer and my father having died in the middle of preparation for the Tribunal claim I had to withdraw!
And this is YOUR legacy, sir. And I can never write any other story-line, as much as I miss my old life of writing with encouragement and positivity, having given the benefit of the doubt to you one too many times. Those days are gone when it comes to Pret A Manger!
I’m sure by now with all my writings that you have read (you still haven’t blocked me on Twitter as you collect for a potential court case or to ruin my future further! Pano Christou blocked me and today he closed his @christoupano account!), but I’m sure by now you have learned of amazing CEOs like Guy Singh-Watson from Riverford, or Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and CEO of Chobani who revolutionize the business world. I hope you learn from them, not just for the typical Pret facade and fake smile you are so known for. But a full turn around to make a true difference in the LIVES of HUMAN BEINGS that labour and give their sweat, blood and tears so that you can count your millions!
I am proud to have declined four settlement offers in turn for silence! I have many regrets, but not this one!
Wishing you good luck?
I wish that you would for once take responsibility, sir!
I wish that you would be taken to court for what people have suffered under you!
Regards,
Your “Late Night Girl”
Clive Schlee’s Legacy:
Glassdoor July 2019
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
»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.«– by @minmilyjung
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. Schlee has been appointed CEO of itsu in 2024 by Julian Metcalfe who gave him the CEO spot at Pret many years ago.
I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
Please also see the MEDIA page for more on my work with the press.
If you don’t have time to read, please just scroll down to all the screenshots and links to the tweets. These are only a few of many more. And many customers don’t post photos publicly, but contact Pret via DM, email or phone call. My last update was in the summer of 2023 but I will not update any more as the post is already long. But the mislabelling continues even now.
Also, please be aware that this and other blog posts have not been updated with current complaints. I’ve been monitoring issues and writing for years, I cannot do updates for the rest of my life. Look closer into Pret, do your own research and question their claims. Food Gov have been contacted and tagged in many times but don’t seem to do anything.
Vegans and vegetarians eat meat at Pret, and those with allergies still risk their lives eating at Pret. See picture of Bircher dairy yoghurt muesli made with mayonnaise further down below.
I explain on my podcast how EASY it is for this to happen in Pret.
I highlight a specific and weird seminar that Pret held at the Barbican Centre a year AFTER Natasha died. I also draw comparison between Starbucks CEO and Pret CEO in how they handle crisis.
THIS IS IMPORTANT as it shows how Pret did NOT do a U-Turn or put on the breaks after the first customer died!
Please pay attention to these 2 things specifically: 1. the Barbican seminar and 2. Starbucks CEO vs Pret CEO conduct in all 3 episodes.
Most importantly I point out HOW training in Pret is done (or rather NOT done). Mainly, there is hardly any training, and the pressure to sign training material is huge. And much more insight into how it REALLY is behind the “happy” facade.
Yes, Pret did not break any law, but that doesn’t mean that they cared.
I’m not a professional podcaster and don’t get paid for this, I just speak from my gut and will try to do an updated podcast episode into one less than 30 minute episode to sum up the above 3 parts.
I also forgot to mention that Pret implemented LABELLING MACHINES in kitchens in 2017, YET NOT for ingredient labelling, but for expiry date labelling of ingredients in kitchens. This was NOT important as labeles were handwritten by staff and double checked by managers on duty with no issues. Pret could and should have implemented labelling for ingredients for customers in shops.
I write about the kitchen expiry dates labelling machines in Pret’s Labelling Committment? also mentioning the Barbican seminar and the labelling Pret did from about 2015 or 2016 for CHARITY, but NOT for regular customers.
As “Natasha’s Law” is in effect in the UK since October 2021, named after Natasha Ednan-Laperouse, the first customer who died unnecessarily, Pret now break this law and customers can contact the Food Standards Authority to report any food (mis)labelling issue.
DAYS after Pret opened their first shop in India, mislabelling is already happening. Chicken wrap labeled as vegetarian wrap.
Pret received £485million from owners and shareholders during the pandemic with the high task to speed-open 200 shops worldwide by the end of 2023 and to double in size by 2025. This high pressure target will lead to more food safety issues in mislabelling, stale, mouldy food etc. And Pret continue to get away with it.
Front of the soup labelled Veggie, soup contains chicken, back label says chicken. But the customer will be blamed for only checking the front, not the back. And Pret gets off the hook again:
I thought I saw it all and can’t get surprised anymore, but this has even me shocked! It’s VERY VERY VERY easy in Pret to mistake a product, yogurt vs mayonnaise due to high stress and under-staffing.
So, just when you think nothing more ridiculous can happen in Pret, this happens:
Link to Tweet from 27.11.2019 – I responded to SCLFT that the real @Pret killed two people in Britain! And side note: a baguette for $8!!! No wonder former CEO Clive Schlee pocketed £30 million on bonus alone! But he left a legacy behind, where low-wage staff speak out bluntly in anonymity on Glassdoor & Co.
Link OOPS!!! Quickly get into DM to get out of the public eye! Too late!
Side Note, December 2022:
Pret’s sister company itsu also keep mislabelling their products. I just put one example here, a vegetarian product label but containing chicken. And a further side note, former Pret CEO Clive Schlee under whose leadership TWO customers died and 20+ got injured, which he all ignored before it got public, he owns half of itsu and is on the board of directors.
Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the land of MILK & HONEY!
UPDATE:10. Dec. 2019 – Pret USA again. And the usual response by the U.S. Twitter staff is very relaxed. People in the U.S. cannot DM Pret’s USA Twitter account. It’s like the U.S. side of Pret is cut off from the UK.
The issue of mislabelled products in Pret A Manger continues. It is 2019. Two customers have died, a third incidence was nearly fatal, and several in hospital from unlabelled allergen in Pret products, numerous customer warnings ignored before and even after deaths. Only after the deaths became public has Pret SLOWLY started to label products. But mislabelling products as well as placing products behind wrong labels continues.
Some customers who complain on Twitter assume that this is a one-off or rare problem…
NOTE:
A little reminder that Pret was cleared in New York in 2016 —>>> where a customer sued Pret after he suffered an allergic reaction ALSO to an unlabelled sesame product, the same allergen that Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died of from a London shop in 2016! Even though Pret won the case it did not give them any sense of urgency or a wake-up call to start labelling products! ONLY when customer deaths became public did Pret slowly implement labelling!
After I tweeted to Tom Rache & Julia Ramil with this blog entry I got a full shadow ban from Twitter, probably via Pret reporting me, which got my Tweets hidden for 24 hours and can only be viewed with direct link or via my Tweets and Replies page. This is to silence the systemic issue of mislabelling due to under-staffing:
For the sake of time and not wanting to clutter my page with endless examples, here are just a few visuals that show that the problem of wrongly labelled products in Pret is a VERY common problem and continues to this day!
The main reason for this, from my experience having worked at Pret, is chronic under-staffing of low-paid workers who are often not trained well. They are pressured, rushed and pushed so much, they work in often cramped areas, that these mistakes keep happening.
What is so beyond believe to me is, that in the UK even with two customer deaths, a third nearly fatal, numerous customer warnings ignored before AND even after people died… Pret goes full steam ahead, doing business as usual and gets away with it. In the U.S. it would hail a storm of class action lawsuits and the leadership would face prison! In the UK they put small business owners (often Indian or other with non-British background) in prison after 1 death! And rightly so, but Pret is too big, too rich and in my opinion, too white! Sorry, but I left my PC days behind long time ago!
In the UK people remain lulled in and want to believe the fairy tale that is Pret A Manger.
Vegetarians, or people, who for religious reasons don’t eat pork, keep settling for an apology and cheap freebies from Pret.
So, here’s a visual again on how common this problem is. Just few of the many examples. I had to fix this issue countless times as a Team Leader. In my 10 years in Pret from 2008 to the end of 2017, I had to fix this on a weekly basis, sometimes several times a day!
The other issue also is that, even though the standard is in place to not mix items on one tray, due to lack of staff, rushed for time to not lose Mystery Shopper bonus, staff bake Mozzarella Croissants on previously used Ham Croissant Trays. They even sometimes put both together on one tray to safe time and washing up. This also happens with the sweet croissants and the danger of traces of nuts touching other items. Staff are not supposed to do this, but because they often even work overtime without pay, they stop caring. I had to deal with this many times as well, retrain, redo etc. etc. etc…… And again, I don’t even blame the low-paid worker here, because when they don’t finish their production in time, they are fear managed and scared to lose their job. So, anyone assuming that at times the Veggie product did not touch the Meat product, or wasn’t baked in the “juice” of the Ham or Meat product, think again!
People are fooled with the facade of Pret. But I emphasize again that Pret A Manger is a FACTORY behind the scenes, there is NOTHING “Lovingly made” as their stickers boast! There’s no time nor room for Love in Pret A Manger!
These visuals are only a selection, there is much more, and not everyone goes on Twitter with pictures:
After TWENTY-NINE YEARS… This is 2015. Link to Tweet
This one is particularly misleading, because the Ham Croissant does NOT have a slice of tomato on top like the Mozzarella & Tomato Croissant has, to distinguish each other additionally to the labelling. So, in a rush the Hot Chef, or whoever put the croissants in the oven, added the tomato by mistake. OR they didn’t realize this was the Ham croissant, as in a frozen state they can look similar, although the Ham has black pepper on top, and the Mozzarella Croissant white cheese sprinkles. But again, due to rushing, these mistakes happen fast. From 2017:
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
and the first time I share my story verbally in one go in this interview.
Underneath the interview section are reviews/complaints from current and former Pret Staff.
You can still listen to the interview while scrolling below to the many staff complaints. Links to the reviews open in a new window or tab depending on what’s selected.
Please note, even though the digits show 0:00, just press play it will adjust.
Interview:
Above interview is with Adam from The Adam Paradox podcast on my experience in Pret A Manger.
The main subject being workplace bullying, we also spoke about gaslighting, “shadow banning” and censorship on social media, as well as bereavement, trauma and mental health in general and what to look out for in an interview for a new job. 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.
July 2019 Glassdoor percentage: 44% of staff (all positions incl. Shops staff, HQ staff, Management etc.) recommend working for Pret; 50% recommend the CEO. Occasionally these numbers rise again when suspiciously 5+ positive reviews in a row appear listing each position. But the truth will always surface:
I write extensively about Clive Schlee’s “legacy” on “Late Night Girl Articles“. For new readers Clive Schlee labelled me his “late night girl” which I explain in my interview (audio player) and I used this label to be a sore in his sight!
On 14. July 2019 Clive Schlee was still on Glassdoor as the CEO. But since I post these percentages on my blog and on Twitter, since 15. July Pano Christou who’s to take over as CEO in September 2019 appears already as the CEO:
And on 22. July 2019 he starts on a “clean cut”:
A customer complained on Twitter about how when it is very busy the manager is not helping on the shop floor but sitting in the office. I mention this in my interview as well.
The second Tweet is a response to the CEO’s reply to the above tweet, yet it’s not addressed to his Twitter account nor posted in the same feed as above. I wonder what that’s all about:
If you want to skip this long intro, scroll down until the redwriting, and below it click on any of the many staff complaints I linked from outside Employment Review websites, YouTube, Twitter etc. as well as what I survived in Pret.
Rough translation: “Not very professional company and very low paid, little social life. And too long shifts, bullying and racism was everyday routine“
A customer in Chicago commenting on a deceased Pret staff and Pret itself:
When customers who are so impressed with Pret because they only see the outside, the facade through the PR[et] machine, they ask Pret about these complaints and then are too easily sweet-talked into believing that this is just an unfortunate exception. But the truth will always come to the surface, no matter how long it takes.
I have chosen to do this public because I suffered so much and almost lost my life. I do this publicly for my own protection.
I wasted close to 10 years of my life in Pret! It is my biggest regret.
One major reason, but not the only one why there are so many complaints: Bridgepoint Capital. With the new JAB takeover, it will get even worse unless Pret radically changes their approach to the work conditions, and a £1000 fix won’t do it in the long-run, it is just an incentive to lure new workers in and retain current staff.
In the end, when nothing worked to make me resign because my grief was in the way of Pret’s business and my suggestions to improve work conditions was an inconvenience. When nothing worked (bullying, threats, file notes…) Pret used a Development Manager from HQ who also is a Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner, both that can be very dangerous tools in manipulating people, and they used it well. This development manager supposedly lost her brother similarly to how I lost mine and that way they used her to get to me, stepping on her as well as my dignity.
On a side note, she is governed under this therapy body who have a commitment right on their front page that I have not seen on other therapy sites: “Our accredited Register status helps to ensure the safety and protection of the public.” I find this odd, as if they have therapists who are not working for the safety and protection of the public. This Development Manager who is also a Hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner certainly is not adhering to safety and protection.
I became suicidal and ill. I was tricked and trapped again and again by management and HR, and my ill emailing out of trauma, having started to drink, I was fired while my father was in intensive care just out of a coma. I declined 4 settlement offers not signing anything and survived to speak of the ordeal I went through. This is Pret “doing the right thing naturally” as their HR department, and Pret in general claims.
I want to “let” others speak as well, complaints from even recently on employment review websites, YouTube, Twitter and other sites in the long list below.
Complaints from current and former staff members and managers, you can “blindly” click on ANY link below at RANDOM and it will read the SAME in a nutshell, at different times/years, from different positions: Discrimination, horrible, biased and incapable management, overworked, not paid for overtime, favouritism shown to own country-men etc…. Pret has extremely good PR in place and is sweet-talking their way out of this or post their “good deeds” online to cover up what really goes on behind the scenes, when customers contact Pret regarding these Staff Complaints.
The first person ever to stand up publicly against Pret’s terrible work-conditions wasAndrej Stopa. I am the second, and in time more people will stand up.
In my own way to cope with this be it sarcastically or with humour to get away from the seriousness and pain, I take a complaint from below’s list and put them daily as “Quotes of the Day” on my blog and collect them HERE, to stress the point how toxic Pret’s work environment is, and how it is hurting people hidden behind the shiny PR(et) facade.
NOTE:
Since I compiled all the staff complaints there seem to be quite a lot more “positive” reviews appearing, especially regarding “good” management and work environment. If there are fake news, I am not alleging anything, but there may be fake reviews! And also the Pret website as well as the CEO’s has as the main pinned Tweets the “good” deeds Pret & the CEO are doing, again excellent PR. There are good managers and good shops of course, but the management style in Pret to pressure for more profit, is poisoned throughout the company. And in time the truth will always come out. Knowing how Pret and their corrupt HR dept. manipulate, I wouldn’t be surprised if someone is tasked to write these reviews. In my 10 years in Pret I worked with over a dozen managers, and only 2 were decent, fair and caring, not to mention hard working. The majority I worked with are immature, discriminating, bullying, insecure, complacent and oftentimes incapable due to lack of training.
True reviews will always continue be written on the same lines of horrible and bullying management until this changes. Pret does annual staff questionnaires that are at times manipulated by management. So, I wouldn’t be surprised if some are leaving fake reviews.
One quote from a former barista in Pret NYC mentions that every shop they have worked in, it is the same story re: bad management, favouritism etc. And it really is, also in London, UK: “I worked in 4 different shops and the song and dance was the same in each one.”
Another review also from NY: “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 …” And I can verify this even in London, and I have worked with more than a dozen managers! Only 2 of them were exceptional and good, but it is the sad exception even now in 2018 as my experience and the below reviews show.
On the subject of missing pay and overtime not being paid as I have experienced as well in 10 years countless times that I had to chase missing pay from managers. This was draining and a job in itself.
Pret staff in the UK and elsewhere should do the same as Pret staff in the USA have done, go to court to reclaim missing pay: Pret A Manger settles overtime wage claims of 4000 employees!
You can click on ANY of the below reviews and read the same in a nutshell: bullying, discriminating management, over worked, missing pay, discrimination etc.
I did not correct any mistakes in the below reviews to keep it in their own words.
Start of the long list of staff complaints / reviews
Get ready to lick so many a***es to advance “Dear Lord, protect me from ever need to work for Pret a Manger ever again. Amen. For this company you are numbers, robots, machines, you are no humans.”
“horrible management … management is disrespectful, they fire people when they are having rough times in life even if they talk to a manager about it , i was penalized for calling out for a funeral.“
“Go back to the UK, Pret … I have never worked in such a toxic, unprofessional corporate environment. Employees relocating from UK were given preferential treatment, better salaries for equal experience…
“Horrible place they shout at you all the time for any little mistake. … push you to be more and more quickly treat you like a robot not a human being … Dumb and bossy staff members….” Review from 27. June 2018
July 2019
Barista – “Not good – I always stay longer without pay. Change managers, treat your workers with respect! Pay more!“
Team Member – “Stressful and unsocial – stressful, poor management, rude and unempathetic”
Team Member – “Very bad experience – Advice to Management: You don’t listen to us! Nothing more to say! Bad experience and company!!“
Team Leader – “depressing workplace – quick money but depressing work place stop shouting“
Team Member, London – “horrible company! – Pros: nothing at all, low pay for slave work Cons: horrible manager and leaders. lies and discrimination. horrible company! Advice to Management: get new managers”
Team Member, Gatwick, UK – “Awful, vile kitchen staff – Constant bullying and harassment by the Team Leaders and staff. Low pay Disregard for employee’s wage payments Unhelpful managers“
Hot Chef, London – “Toxic, Stressful, chronically understaffed … baking over 200 pastries. Most of staff members are required to work over 45 hours a week. Staff members are being denied holidays booked with several months of notice.”
Team Member, London – “Aweful!Terrible work experience. Stressful and demanding for minimum pay. Not worth.“
Barista, London – “Micromanaged slave workI expected slave work to be in the past but at Pret A Manger you are treated like dirt!!!”
Team Member, Manhattan NY – “Apply to this job if you want to work for a role and not get paid for that role … as a team member I was made to hot chef, be a team member trainer, and an A team member, and was only being paid minimum wage whereas those key roles get paid more money.“
Barista, UK – “waste of time – very busy coffee shop, no work/life balance, staff calling sick every day so every day was short in staff, no pay for doing extra hours,unexperience and unprofesional managment“
Team Leader, Massachusetts, USA “don’t bother – Its a mess management is horrible and the higher ups are worst. all they care about is saving themselves from trouble and will throw anyone under the bus for their benefit“
Barista, Paris, France – “They accept anybody and pay the minimum possible in each role.”
Team Member Trainer (TMT) New York – “They don’t give you raises when its time. Inconsiderate and care more about gossip than why their stores are failing.“
Don’t work at Pret, slavery in 2019 – “They promise pay rise and promotion just to keep you slaving for hours and you have to remind manager to pay you the right amount of hours you work“
Nightshift, St. Pancrass, London “Toxic environment – Unprofessional superiors that scream a lot and treat you like slaves; Managenent not present during the nightshifts; Training programme not delivered appropiately. Stop treating your staff like slaves and give them a proper training“
Barista, Gatwick – “Stressful – Early hours To busy Stressful Hard to handle“
11. June 2019 “Nightmare – If you want to feel like a slave, work here. All management who will not accept you if you aren’t one of them…All phonies with fake smiles. They look down on the workers with spite. This company is everything that is wrong with the world.”
11. June 2019 “First world slavery!! – There aren’t any positives the negatives are too many…You don’t need to leave the first world to experience slavery. Pret is a extremely harsh and rude place.”
09. June 2019 NY Barista: “Poor Management and Favoritism – I had basically no work life balance for the almost two years I worked there just to have someone who was only there a few months get promoted to leader because she was friends with management.“
08. June 2019 Barista, Oxford: “Worst place in my life Cons: All! Everything is bad! Slave job! Bad managers who put always the blame on you… Learn to be more kind with the workers!“
05. June 2019 Team Leader: “DON’T APPLY – You meet great coworkers that get you through the day … You have disgusting managers that only worry about themselves and their pockets. Never threaten an employee. Be honest and upfront….”
05. June 2019 NY: “Nice people, tedious work – You are doing the job of three different positions because they are low on staff. Pros: Money Cons: Everything else“
01. June 2019: “Just Ugh… Pros: Free food, that’s really it. Not much more Cons: Everything else. You get worked like a slave for pennies – treat it like a VERY temporary job to put cash in your pocket”
Rough Translation: “Working in the kitchen is like slavery, they force you to make sandwiches in very little time under pressure, the supervisor/leader is always “screwing” up. When you finished your job you have to stay longer for free. It’s physically and emotionally draining/exhausting. You sweat for 8.65€ (£? as this reviewer is in Edingburgh and Pret’s wage is £8.65). Stop crushing people. Pros: Free food and coffee Cons: Slave Labour”
28. May 2019 “massive pressure on kitchen leaders, early hours, stressful environment”
28. May 2019 “Favoritism everywhere, all the hardworking people continuously got in trouble for the lack of job the favorites did.“
27. May 2019 “Robots welcome, humans go work somewhere else!!“
27. May 2019 General Manager (GM): “Pret is great place to work if you want to make some money – on management level. However pressure is so high you can’t rest when you’re off or even on holiday“
27. May 2019 “Work politics, blame games, pressure to deliver highly set targets”
23. May 2019 “Not good – Bad manager and team leader is lazy in the office long hours little wage Not a good company to work for“
23. May 2019 “I did not like working in Pret. My team leader is aggressive, I could not finish my bench in time. Pros: going home at end of shift Cons: horrible place“
23. May 2019 Hot Chef: “Thank you, NEXT! Training for me and others mostly happens at home when we are not getting paid. There is no appreciation for those who actually are acting as team members because one tiny mistake and you’re on the chopping block… being made to feel like I don’t matter, daily new rules and expectations“
22. May 2019 “Most Managers are super bad – Get more involved within the shop instead of sitting in the office. Learn to make better rotas.”
22. May 2019 “Do not work here – Management are rude and unreliable. Listen to ALL EMPLOYEES!”
21. May 2019 “-terrible managment -early start at 5:00am -long hours –rotas never ready can’t plan week -GM is stressing us all time -low pay -fake smiling even when feeling down -mistery shopper unfair -too much stress -no team work -manager stress and not available”
20. May 2019 “A lot of the raises that were given have been taken away. Not enough front of house workers“
13. May 2019 “the mystery shopper pressure is too much – every little detail is a problem your hard work is lost by the smallest mistake.“
13. May 2019 “very neurotic environment – everyone is so afraid of little mistakes – management manipulate in fear and are always stressing us. very stressful not worth the pay. Advise to management: get some psychological help – your leaders are neurotic – what do you do to them?
12. May 2019 “Don’t work at Pret, not recommended! – Huge stress and constant lack of staff. Very bad management. Terrible workplace. No point in giving advise, they don’t care.”
12. May 2019 “Pret A Manger is like the military and a cult!!If you work at Pret you go between brainwash and abuse. You get told nice things and given a few perks but for the peanuts you have to work like an animal“
09. May 2019 NY: “robotic work that eats away at your soul one day at a time. The turnover rate was ridiculously high, and for good reason.”
07. May 2019 “Scrap the bonus and pay us the £1. We work reallly hard.”
04. May 2019 “Stress, discrimination, mental health problems – Do not work there, HR cannot be trusted. Worst place ever. Pret has gotten much worse over the years, cut benefits, even less staff as before. Terrible place.“
02. May 2019 Barista: “Pret soldiers – You’re not a human in their eyes, more like a slave. The management rubbish, they doesn’t care for you. no opportunity, no life. Pros: Non Cons: everything“
01. May 2019 “Most staff english is not there first language, so this is often confussing – To speak english and not shout“
30. Apr. 2019 “Dishonest and incapible managers, long hours, stress, noise, low pay, no room to grow and learn”
27. Apr. 2019 “Constantly understaffed – No one listens to staff members,your advertising ,that you care for people,but it’s often complete opposite-discrimination,abuse no equal rights,constant favorism,most of times managers are in their positions ,because of licking their way up ,not because of hard work or honesty.”
22. Apr. 2019 “I don’t recommend Pret – What is your training for managers?? Why are many so careless and some so rude and bullying?? What is your problem???”
16. Apr. 2019 “Toxic work environment – very poor management, long hours, fake smiles, too high expectations … stop be racist“
13. Apr. 2019 “bad place to work don’t go there – we give you lot of advise already you don’t listen. it’s only about profit and cutting corners to do all the jobs. not worth”
01. Apr. 2019 “Treated like a slave Rude to new staff Over working So much pressure”
07. Mar. 2019 “Modern slavery Pros: it does not have anything good Cons: modern slavery and bad manager“
“Tough – Be careful not to fall in the trap of the happy family: it’s a brainwashing strategy to make you forget you’re just the piece of an engine to them.“
“Getting harder to stay here – In the last 6 months everything has gone downhill, many new standards which make it difficult to focus on customer service and turns us into robots.“
“Never again – Prêt a Manger is an appealing company from the outside, but once you get in you realise how rotten the sistem is.“
“Painful job – pret a manger is painful job. feel like a slave. no time for breath. depress. bad paid. anxiety bad boss. work so fast. loud and shouts. tired. lot of pain“
“Temporary job to get on your feet – Working for 8 months was easy at first then became very stressful and I couldn’t wait to leave that job. Managers lack management and pushes it off for employees to handle. They sit in the office all day. Play favoritism“
“Don’t even bother – The baristas for some reason act like management and hurl abuse at you. Horrible People“
“Worst company, dishonest, discrimination, lying to young people”
“Would give 0 stars if I could – Most of the managers are also passive aggressive and just generally neurotic and stressed and have a go at you for every small detail.“
Team Leader: “A lot of favouritism, if you don’t lick butts it’s complicated to develop your career there, unless you don’t mind to work there for ages to become Assistant Manager.”
“Exploitation!!!– there is never enough team members we have to work double and pick up the mess manager leaves behind.“
“Not enough staff on purpose – Pret always has low staff. every shop I go has not enough people. Manager is happy when they got big bonus but they got it by team members woking extra hard”
“Didn’t stay long – I spend a few days but it’s not for me. Manager didnt like me. Very hard job. Dont believe the hype.”
“Horrendous Place to Be – Hiring process is robust and Engaging. Sadly its terrible beyond this. Demotivating Team Leads.Grossly biased unless you are from their country/background. Floor was supposed to be cleaned with a Blue Role,By Hand.“
“Sugar-coated Slavery – The worst company I’ve ever worked for. Dishonest. Exploitative. Discriminatory. The HR depertament is a joke and the general managers or operation managers are either highly psychopathic or incompetent.“
USA “Treated like trash – Employees were treated like trash -Advice to Management: Treat employees better”
“Nightmare!! – too loud, too fast, too stressful, manager is shouting, not many team members, worked more then 50 hours all the time… The emotional labour of having to always smile and be super friendly is exhausting and also ridiculous. We are retail workers not customer’s friends.“
“Managers expect you to work like a robot and never get tired or worn out. Customers would get away with shouting at us and being abusive for no reason and the managers would just apologise and offer them some free food to avoid getting a complaint.”
“Floor Leader – extreme pressure for minimal pay -company constantly changing rules and adding standards”
“Team Leader – Rasism, discrimination ,team leader favorism ,screaming at you on daily basis high expectations people working for 2-3 people”
“Modern Slavery – Pros: it does not have anything good -Cons: modern slavery and bad manager”
Team Leader: “Never again – very poor screening system when choosing management, lots of hr issue unsolved … reconsider the Happy Team, Happy Customer scenario and solve the hr issues from headoffice“
“Not for british – I felt like an outsider in my own country. Train your managers! They look unhappy and stressed. I kept a low key to not become a target and just left.”
“Paris: Charge de travail horrible. – Entreprise a fuir absolument, des rushs épouvantables parfois 7 jours de travails consécutifs sans repos.“
“Never left a job so fast – I worked only a few week in Pret but fell used and stressed out. Expectations is high but no help from manager. Don’t recommend work there. Not helpful manager, stessful, not enough help, small team but lot of work“
“If I could give zero stars I would – Pret does not deserve even 1 star. I regret having worked there. Pret looks good from the front but once you work thete it’s a lot of stress and dushonest managers“
Barista: “You can do better – I was stressed out nearly everyday. The manager was very unprofessional and disrespectful. All she cares about was the money and working hard. But the pay didn’t match up with the amount of work. You’re required to do so much and know so much yet no one is taught the correct way. It just began to get too crazy for me. Drama, poor management skills and attitudes everyday. Toxic work environment“
“to much stress for little pay – bad managers in most shop I worked, dirty work kitchen don’t wash hands, no real training, blamed for everything, no support, bad paid“
“No – The place was always dirty. People wouldn’t take the job seriously. Everyday people would call out. I wouldn’t recommend working at this company. Avoid.“
Italian: Exploitation, racism: “Sfruttamento – azienda poco seria e stipendi molto bassi, poca vita sociale e turni troppo lunghi, bullismo e razzismo erano all’ordine del giorno“
Barista: “Horrible management – management is disrespectful, they fire people when they are having rough times in life even if they talk to a manager about it , i was penalized for calling out for a funeral.” (Note from me, this one is close to my heart as I was bullied during bereavement under HR and CEO’s knowledge and cover-up).
“Intense and stressful environment – The coworkers are very demanding and rude. The managers don’t fix issues with coworkers properly which causes a hostile work environment.“
Barista AND Hot Chef: “Horrible – Pret A Manger is honestly a very unprofessional work environment. I’ve met great people at the job but the job itself is very stressful and not worth the pay. Cons: Horrible management, pay, hours“
“I hate work in Pret A Manger – Treat all fair and don’t push so much. Boring job, learn nothing but have to work so fast. I hate working there!!!!”
“Wouldn’t recommend – There are lot of slogans and promises of awards but when you do well there is no award. Manager is stressed and hectic no time to learn and make mistakes. “
“Discrimination and favouritism – If you can play games Pret is perfect. Hard work doesn’t count but only when you push teams hard for bonus and not train them. “
“Don’t work for Pret when you sick – I have disability from doctor but manager don’t believe me. they push hard no matter when you sick or not.“
General Manager review, London: “Not the best place to work – Not much support to the management from the Operations Team. Had to work there at least 12 hours, as there was no other manager in the store, due to some HR issue, and hadn’t received the bonus, due to lack of staff which influenced my Family tree… was left with quite a lot of food waste, instead of having an ability to increase sales. As well, there was no charity collection, as they always use in their marketing… As much as they “Like to promote internally” you are still just a pawn for them.”
“Other locations were filthy. Seriously… I worked at a relatively new location with staff that enjoyed themselves… but I was sent to a couple other locations at times if they needed help and ooooh was it a different story. There were some seriously gross violations, health and cleanliness wise, as well as duty and customer service wise. Listen to employees if we say there is something wrong going on… there definitely is.”
Head Office: “Great brand poor management – Poor management resulting in poor decisions. Office culture is working really really long hours. No work life balance whatsoever and constant office politics.”
Manager: “Standards have dropped in recent years, growing animosity between team members and even their managers, training new employees is very sporadic and not everyone is trained properly, management standards have also lowered, if you’re a manager, good luck trying to have a life. You guys really need to start training people by following a system, not however and whenever you feel like it. “
“Ehh not worth it at all – Unprofessional staff, youre not even trained properly they just throw you in there and if youre lucky someone who isnt BRAND NEW (btw literally had someone that got hired 4 days before me showing me the ropes) will notice you dont know what youre doing and assist you…not enough breaks…I do not recommend!”
Review on YouTube towards the bottom beginning of July 2018 from RPQ who now changed the name to Branzinotito, quote: “I used to work for Pret. What a truly brutal nightmare is was. Horrible company.”
Same comment, new name:
“I am an ex GM. I walked out last yearas I couldn’t take the way we had to treat TMs to achieve ever increasing demands for profit and efficiencies.” (Full review in the picture below.)
The “certain venture capitalist firm” this Ex-GM is talking about is Bridgepoint who set the immense target since the 2008 purchase of increasing shops by 15% per year and were set to make a seven times return on their investment in 2018. It is “deal hungry” JAB’s turn now to take the baton from Bridgepoint and squeeze even further the life out of staff. Good luck Pret employees!
My initial comments to James Hoffmann’s video and his response, which are still not released but only visible when I am logged in to my YT account. I wrote an Open Letter to James Hoffmann because my comments weren’t visible, otherwise I wouldn’t have written one. He still hasn’t responded and just briefly recognized it via Twitter, as I have a hunch that he might have contacted or has been contacted by Pret who may have sweet-talked their way out of this again, as “PR”et is very efficient for the outside facade:
Unfairly dismissed Worker was unfairly dismissed, became homeless, lost his relationship, slept in his car for a few weeks.
A review regarding Pret’s Head Office from a former IT ANALYST!
Quote: “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 good PR. Genuinely fake and dishonest company.”
“One of the oddest work experiences. Worked their during a transition period – so company going in one direction and then the opposite.”
Quote: “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…”
This, dear New York Employee, is because like you already mentioned that there is no training in leadership and employee relations. I have had over a dozen managers, and even more managers I’ve worked with when I helped out in other branches for a few days. In my 10 years in Pret there were only 2 of them that had people and leadership skills, one of which is this wonderful person, who’s also proven that a manager can be nice, hard working and still be really successful, as she was often at the top (#1, 2 etc.) out of all the shops. Also, Pret pays a little more than the competition and gives incentives, more holiday, bits and pieces here and there, because if they won’t give more they would have no one wanting to work in Pret as Pret is just way too stressful and hard work. To me, the hard work was not so much the issue, the issue was the UNNECESSARY bullshit = bullying and discrimination. And for Pret to dare bully me while I was going through extreme trauma with the loss of my brother and all the tricks and traps I could not clearly see until later, you bet I will speak about this openly no matter what they come up with next.
From YouTube 2008 this was before Pret became increasingly and intensely bullying But it has always been difficult, but since the 2008 Bridgepoint takeover, it became more systemic bullying as Pret was tasked and pressured to open more and more shops fast on almost every corner in London at least. I won’t point out who, but in the video is one person I later worked with, who became a GM later (I worked with them when they were AM) and is one of the rare people/GMs being good to their TMs.
“The idea of proper training is also rediculous – Most people are taken in under promises (including being a front of house or kitchen person but then dumped where they are needed and not where they were promised) but find that often by day 2 or 3 are thrown on a bench on their own in the kitchen and nagged at due to not being fast enough and expected to reach TM* productivity levels within the first few weeks with hardly any proper training.”
Throughout all my time in Pret I have mentioned the lack of training again and again and again and did my utmost best to train my teams even though many of my managers tried to stop me because I was investing time in my teams, but managers wanted me and teams to just be busy on the tills and in the kitchen… Training hardly exists in Pret. Development Managers are just doing their 9-5, Mon – Fri job, not being bothered if what they train is even implemented in the shops! There is a huge chasm between HQ and shops, no matter how much “PR”et is trying to convince otherwise!
“I’ve learned a Lot!…” “Cons: In Spite of the wonderful Pros of this company, Your subjected to emotional blackmail and serious labor issues with Most shops being run by Unprofessional and Bias Managerial staff backed by a corrupted HR Dept. Advice to Management: The Core Values you instill in your Employees are Virtuous , And is the the secret to your success!…..On the Contrary, I strongly suggest a Labor Union! so employees that are treated unfair have a platform for their voice to be heard without resentment or the sinuous backlash from your Inadequate Managerial staff & Flout HR Dept.!!!! who support them.”
“If you want to work in a happy enviroment without being bullied then whatever you do DON’T work for Pret … Being made to feel incompetent. Worked into the ground without empathy. Managers treat staff like idiots. The image of the happy enviroment is a joke. It would be good for the BBC or Dispatches to go under cover and work in a shop for a week to show the world what really goes on behind the scenes.”
and replace them with more educating indiviuals and ones that dont discriminate … Nothing but aggravation and a discriminating HR” <– (This review is as recent as 12. June 2018! I have my own extensive experience with the Pret HR dept. as the Head of HR said that I “Exhausted the HR department”. Sorry about that @ Head of HR, but as a Tribunal Judge already ruled that your hearings are “fundamentally flawed” I can more than verify this after raising grievance after grievance that were NOT conducted fairly and impartially).
“Interesting comments. My husband now works for pret and is being treated so badly by his area manager. I am astounded that they can get away with it. It seemed like such a nice place to work but it’s like some kind of sect… “
My response: they get away with it because it is systemic and they are trained to treat staff like this, for more and more profit.
— 4 months later: —
“Further to my previous comment [scrolling up above this review] about my husband having problems with his area manager. They stitched him up good and proper and fired him…this was done in such a way that they found a couple of things to hang him on which wouldn’t normally result in him being sacked. They clearly did all of this because he was going to put in a grievance against his area manager for bullying (he was talked out of this and thought it had all smoothed over) and then wham! The company disgusts me – how they could treat an employee with a wife and 2 small children like that I don’t know. The management of this company are pure evil.”
“Regarding the area manager, yeah they just sit on their fat bums all day, and email on their phones or look at stupid graphs. End of the day its about increasing sales, meeting targets and reducing labour. They will always cover there own backs first, to watch there bonuses, and not care about the workers.
Alot of managers i have met, are complete arrogant snobs, that know nothing about even running a store, yet alone trying to explain things to you, they sit on there high throne, and blah blah blah things.”
“Please get the bullies out – Forced to work without pay, … bullying tactics used by Heads, unfair salaries, descrimination …
“The brainwash is real” “The coffee calling system is broken. During busy times it is nearly impossible to keep up with the orders without hating everyone around you. … managers/team leaders are not properly trained when it comes to simple communication. Especially towards female staff members. A lot of people cry in the staff room especially in their entry period. Advice to Management: Get some proper training regarding real people skills.” (Absolutely true!)
“… Team Leader … Every shop has less people than required as this affects shops profitability” True about the Mystery Shopper! But even if you do well with the Misery Shopper (yes MISERY Shopper!) as I did again and again for years, I never gotten rewarded other than the usual bonus, even during bereavement doing really well, no mention. But the moment a few points are lost, hell breaks loose!
“Very demanding … Nothing you do there is appreciated“ “… Horrible atmosphere and you feel too much pressure all the time. Advice to Management: Please treat employees as humans not as robots! It seems like you enjoy making people unhappy.“
“Not kitchen, food factory”“Not everybody has to be a leader who works long enough for Pret and shouts loud enough. Management should assess the personality, the leadership skills and the interpersonal skills before making someone a leader.”
“Horrible training, too many lies” “Training sucks, people are treated like crap. Upper management do not care about you, will never recommend this company. Bottom line as a British company they treat employees as machines, they don’t care about how they feel, expect too much for too little. Horrible environment. Advice to Management: Treat people with respect and appreciate their hard work. Stop using your British mentality when it comes to deal with people. You’re people are horrible at this.“
“Worst place..” “Advice to Management: Absolutely less stress and please cut the roles because looks to work like slaves. Terrible experience.”
“Worst first day experience” “Pros: Nothing at all….. Not even a 0.0005 star. …Lies about family team vibes… They don’t recruit you for your work ethic…”
“Worst company to work for” … managers are always working with fear … Advice to Management: Get back to basic, care about the team and always listen to the little people, also be open and get rid of some top management who are so corrupt.” (And I thought I was tough with my critique!)
“The worst job I’ve had in London”“the good payment is not enough for getting worse my health (my back and my heart). l am with anxiety all the time, working in a tiny kitchen in a HORRIBLE atmosphere!!” (Yes, I was bullied during bereavement and tricked and trapped via HR, high five!)
“I have asked for several transfers to other shopsdue to management. Either a manager was extremely “lazy”, un-supportive, but gave the team a hard time when things didn’t go well, or another manager was like a tyrant, constantly threatening the team & individuals with & giving file notes for the smallest things. Ops Managers either aren’t aware of it, mostly being concerned with mystery shopper results for their own bonuses or not bothering about how the team is “motivated”.”
“You are of course right, hiring happy people is only a part of the solution. If an employee is unhappy, and its affecting their work, ask them what’s up (gently).”
My response: I lost my brother and in my bereavement was NOT asked “gently” what’s up, I was bullied, targeted, tricked and trapped by Pret’s HR dept. to get me out and ultimately fired while my father was in intensive care, just out of a coma. So, here I am again having survived to tell my story as “gently” as possible collecting all these reviews from other sites.
Pret A M*ffin “…team member are over worked and managers are always working with fear … listen to the little people, also be open and get rid of some top management who are so corrupt”
Pret A Robot “People are treated inhuman way in terms of sickness and work load. Employees are being treated more like robots than human beings“
Pret A Joke “You have a limited time to do your job everyday but this time limit is a joke. they give me the next rota just the day before the week starts.“
Pret A Nothing “didn’t learn nothing as i have things to give to that shop as i came with lots of experience and skills.“
Red A Manager “their [managers] personality only is good for business, but not for the people that work under.”
Pret A Scream “One of the things that I absolutely hated about working at pret, was the fact that management wanted you to act like you were having fun and smile at all times.“
Pret A Manager “the staff are great the guys who do the real work. The management suck“
Pret A No Respetar “Los managers son penosos“, “un horror!!” “desastrosa” and “todo… no tiempo libre, no respeto..”
NOTE: I don’t agree with the racism here! But the trend of complaints about management and leadership should be clear.
“Hot Chef Advice to Management: Be human. It’s not your own business.”
My response: That’s what I said once to a line manager who told us leaders that if we don’t like it in “his” shop to f*** off, I replied that he is also only employed by Pret, he does not own “his” shop!
“Brain wash, Control, Never stop…” “Cons: Aggressive and mortify management, brainwashing, mobbing, after working hours NON PAID, if you don’t finish YOUR DUTIES you stay after the working hours non paid… Advice to Management: Respect people that work hard! Don’t exploit them!”
“Assistant Manager Respect yourself don’t let managers to overload you.”
My response: easily said when they immediately threaten with Note of Concerns, disciplinary and job security!
“…also has a motto: FIFO or Fit In or Fu*k Off. I always got the impression that Pret was actually a free-thinking company…but perhaps they are becoming too large too and need to do the conforming thing.“
“Overworked, High expectations, No recognition” “Manager at my shop treated everyone really poorly. Expect you to stay longer to complete your job for free when not enough time is given. Constantly missing hours from extra shifts taken. Have to ask every week to see if they have repaid those hours and in some cases takes months to chase back.”
“I regret working there (don’t go)” “Team Leader who was working with me during the weekends (I was a part timer) was very rude to me , calling me stupid etc. … And I also ”love” how the company itself tries so hard to create this friendly enviroment for the employers by putting these sweet posters around etc. etc. when in reality it is very miserable and stressfull place to work for ! … People working in your company are not robots with smiles on their faces 24/7 !!!”
“Good first job … as foreigner” “Often happen to work “unpaid” overtime to finish daily duties … Limited progression career if you’re not in the state of grace of the Head of your working Area … In many cases I’ve weighed up a big incompetence and lack of skills between Team Leader and Assistant Manager’s position.”
“Demanding. Can be fun” “High demands not in line with pay, lack of support, inconsistent training, stressful/poor work life balance”
“horrible management, super biased” “super biased managers most of the girls in my store are from the same place even the assistant manager and FOH so they tend to group together against people they don’t like even if they don’t know them. … make sure the store isn’t just a bunch of biased friends that if you aren’t part of their group they’ll make your life hell”
“Horrible experience” “Lack of communication b/t managers and staff. – Immature workers – Slave-like environment – Biased behavior – Too strict on simple task. Advice to Management: Work on communication and stop treating co-workers like robots.”
“Team Member” “my location had a rude manager who cleaned up her act after I tried relocating. There is no HR, just a recruitment team who will give you phone numbers to where you wanna go. Overworked for sure; management expects perfection for their weekly shopper. You’ll be running from the basement to the first floor, between tons of customers, and up to the second … “
“The one thing that did frustrate me and ultimately caused me to leave was the way it dealt with the enthusiasm troughs. In fairness to Pret, I left 8 years ago; so this may have improved since but in my experience the company was not good at dealing with people’s frustrations. There was a strong message for people who were frustrated with something and couldn’t get it resolved – leave! I saw a number of people become shunned and passed over if they had feedback which wasn’t entirely positive. Often people left disgruntled having started out as the desirable happy employees. I suppose in someways it was a useful self selection process – when I became frustrated with a few things and felt threatened that my feedback would fall on highly judgemental ears I knew it was time to leave – leaving the happy people behind me. “
My response to this review: This person left in 2008 out of frustration, I started in Pret in 2008 and can only say in all fairness to Pret, that it gotten worse.
“Great company, but will take advantage” “Rude young team members and too many managers in 1 store. Advice to Management: Cut back on all the chiefs we need more indians” – My speech for 10 years!
“Team Member” “Multiple Supervisor – Confusing Leadership … Lack of leadership … Add some structure & look for ways to encourage workers to work hard and have fun without risking their jobs”
“General Manager“ “Very racist upper management. They make you work 60 hours per week and they don’t pay you for it (just basic salary). They don’t appreciate your work no matter how good you are. Tendency to promote british managers than american ones. Advice to Management: Open your mind towards american managers. stop racism that is happening to workers. Get involved with the employees and don’t let the operational managers act as they own the people.”
“cashier / hot chef” “Some managers are very anal! The customer is more important then workers. Advice to Management: Listen to your employers suggestions!!” – (I think they meant “employees”)
“Great things preacherd, not always practiced” ” If you are a Pret Person, quirky, and in with the right crowd, you’re golden. If not….good luck. Pompous and thinks too highly of itself.”
“Pressure is crazy especially if you work in the kitchen. … Paperwork is excessive at times. Advice to Management: Reward those who work hard for you and give them a raise. Catch them doing the right thing and praise, and dont just discipline the bad”
“team member” “stressful environment, too many people trying to overpower others. Advice to Management: think like a team member and your key roles to understand success of the team”
“just terrible” “Discriminatory management. Unprofessional atmosphere … Abusive staff. Don’t just promote the people that you like, promote the people that are the most qualified.”
“working at pret” “Lack of accountability … poor management.” (Absolutely!!!)
“Long hours, unrealistic expectations…” “Unrealistic targets, little support, long hours. Advice to Management: Stop changing everything all the time with poor execution“
“Terrible experience…”“Cons: Pretty much everything is a con: -lots of stress -under payed -long hours/ short brakes -terrible management -really unflexible schedule.”
“Spoiled, selfish upper management…” “upper management thinks they are better than everyone else. They spend (waste) lots of money on dinners for themselves and “leadership conferences” that are really just excuses to party in Orlando or Vegas. “Business” trips to Boston and Chicago are really expensed vacations for their families. The Brits have taken over NYC. Pret has brought over many managers and leaders form the UK and ‘beheaded’ many of the US employees who built the brand to make room for them. Advice to Management:get over yourselves.”
I will shorten the comments now as this is never ending… Links can just be clicked and read….
In an Imaginary but Honest Interview with Pret I made up the acronym of what Pret stands for: PRET is a four letter F-Word spelled F E A R which stands for: Fire Early At Request. Or one can say Fret.
@Pret, at any company, please treat your people right, as a team leader I have shown you that when you treat your team right, you will still be successful and the money comes in and the team feels truly respected. You don’t want people like me who raise the standard while still treating the team good. I was too loud for you, and yet, if you would have protected me in the darkest time instead of continuing to put me under suppressive management, I would be writing a completely different blog now.
Thank you for reading.
.
.
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“. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What Shop Managers & HQ Staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
Please also see the MEDIA page for more.
NEW LinkTree
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 Open “Letter” to Lila Tighilt Warren. 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, but I was not ready for the press:
.
.
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. Pret never responded when I AND an OPs manager asked if I could be placed under someone from the Pret Foundation when I became bereaved and then targetted. Pret never responded.
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 (being from Germany, that word doesn’t exist in Germany except in its English form. I had to explain it to a German therapist), “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 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 and What shop MANAGERS and HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 as WordPress sometimes “messes” with my blog. Just press play or go straight to the interview on Adam’s page).
The more people learn about my story with Pret the more the question comes up if I went to court against Pret.
Yes I did. But I withdrew.
If you are a new reader to my ordeal with Pret A Manger, you will be confused and overwhelmed as my story is very complex and long. Those who have been following since the beginning when I started to publish on my blog in May 2018 have a good picture on what I went through.
This will eventually turn into a chronological book of events.
But to briefly answer the repeated and valid question if I sued Pret or if not, then why not, which I was just asked today again on Facebook, I decided to write this in a blog and just link to it.
When I was dismissed after being bullied, manipulated, gaslighted, held low, lied to by Pret’s toxic HR department, and continuously patronized by Pret’s CEO, Clive Schlee, who is not willing to label products for allergen information but was willing to label me his “late night girl” after the ordeal I went through… when I was dismissed three days after Christmas 2017 with my dad in intensive care just woken out of a coma, I filed a Tribunal claim as soon as I was able to in February 2018 as you have 3 months minus 1 day to file a claim.
In the meantime I was flying back and forth again between London and Germany to be with my dad (who was in hospital since 10.11.2017) as best I could on his bed side and then later in rehab. In the middle of all this I started to prepare for the Tribunal claim which would have happened in September 2018 with the first preliminary hearing in April 2018.
But I had no legal aid as I cannot afford lawyer fees. I scrapped all legal information together as best as I could, going from Citizen Advise Bureau to other free legal advisors to online researching back and forth, while also flying back and forth between London and my father’s bed side.
For people in the USA to understand, the legal system in the UK or in Europe in general is very different to the USA. Since 2015 on and off I contacted various law firms including pro-Bono, no-win no-fee firms, I even had a lawyer for a while who advised me for free. But I had to find out later again that he only wanted to make a quick buck by settling with Pret and get his 30%+ fee from the settlement. He didn’t really advise me properly anyway and even gave me some false advise at times which I later found out when I continued to do my “homework” researching online. I rejected four settlement offers from Pret, three while still working in Pret, and the fourth one via negotiating with the ACAS conciliator while withdrawing the Tribunal claim I raised and then closed. I dropped the “charitable” lawyer as soon as I found he was just looking for fast money himself.
In the USA lawyers would line up like vultures wanting to sue Pret on my behalf as the compensation can be ridiculously huge. In the UK the compensation would have maybe be maximum £10.000, maybe even more and mostly around £8000.
One former assistant manager who became homeless after being unfairly dismissed from Pret has gotten under £10K.
But 33% for the lawyer is peanuts for them to go all the way through with days and days of preliminary and then the main hearings. The free lawyer I had for a while also kept saying to me that it takes months before the hearings take place. In the UK they don’t bother for this “little” amount, while the Millions that can be won in the USA has lawyers drooling for cases like mine.
My father then died in March this year, and again I found myself crumbled under the weight of what life has thrown at me since I learned of my brother’s death in January 2015 (but he died in December 2014) and all I went through in Pret. Autopilot kicked in again, but I couldn’t cope anymore. Enough is enough. I want to die, but I want to live. I need a break.
I withdrew my claim against Pret as my father died in the middle of preparing for the court case with scraps of legal advise I stumbled through, and my mental health taking another nose dive beyond basement level. But I did my homework and asked the Tribunal for the right to file a second claim later should I decide to file again. And I was granted this request.
If I will raise a second claim or if the time limit will be over, I don’t want to talk about.
But this is the reason why I withdrew my case, as it is so complex which involved the heart of Pret, the CEO, HQ, Head of HR, a Development Manager who was used to gaslight me etc. etc. etc. Unwillingly and unprecedented I poked into the heart of Pret, and for me to go all the way through to court without a lawyer going all the way with me would be suicide, as I cannot handle even small stress mentally at this time.
So, lucky for Pret I withdrew, but lucky for me I didn’t sign my rights away for peanuts. And even if Pret had offered me a huge amount, I don’t prostitute my values nor sign my rights away for life. So, I published now.
What happened to Natasha Ednan-Laperouse and her family has utterly devastated and shaken me. I wrote it before I have learned of her death, that having worked in Pret is my biggest regret in life. And now having learned of her tragedy, I am deeply ashamed to have ever given my time, effort and skill to this company, and having tried to improve work conditions from within while extremely traumatized myself. A company’s facade that does not care for people’s lives and health will get more and more cracks in time, with a glimpse behind the scenes of their carelessness.
My heart and prayers go out to Natasha’s family and friends; her brother Alex, her mum and dad Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse.
I hope in time more people will come forward, especially on the issue of suicide in Pret as well as work conditions, bullying and customer injuries. On work conditions this former employee was the first to go public, I am the second and in time I hope more will follow. And I hope Natasha’s family pursue Pret in court as they have the finances for legal aid and the public behind them now with many warnings Pret ignored.
Thank you for reading and please open your eyes to Pret and take a closer look behind the facade, as indeed take a closer look at ANY company or organization that looks too good to be true in this profit driven society today.
If you don’t take anything away from my publications, ask yourself if anyone can really smile and be “happy” for 8+ hours DAILY in an intensely high stressed work environment out of true “happiness” or if there is anything else behind this!
And my question to Pret A Manger remains: If an assistant manager died by suicide in 2017, I almost did as well after my turmoil at work, and now Natasha’s death in 2016 is revealed, HOW MANY MORE people died and/or suffered hospitalization, depression, mental health issues, physical and mental injuries in relation to Pret.
Link to Tweet (please not that my Twitter handle was first @LateNightGirlMe, but I changed it to @expretDOTorg later).
The only way I cope is to write, and to write creatively of my ordeal. I said it to Pret while I still worked there that it is a mistake to mistreat someone who suffered loss and is a writer, as that person has nothing to lose anymore. And as Madeleine Peyroux wrote so poignantly in her song “Don’t Pick A Fight With A Poet“, Pret in their arrogance and feeling invincible, #toobigtofail, again did not heed yet another warning.
Some blog entries that give a good glance behind the shiny PR(et) facade:
Selected “Quotes of the Day“ from substantial, but not exhaustive list of Pret Staff Complaints.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post. An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou. I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
If you are a new reader to my ordeal with Pret A Manger, you will be confused and overwhelmed as my story is very complex and long. Those who have been following since the beginning when I started to publish on my blog in May 2018 have a good picture on what I went through.
.
This will eventually turn into a chronological book of events.
But to briefly answer the repeated and valid question if I sued Pret or if not, then why not, which I was just asked today again on Facebook, I decided to write this in a blog and just link to it.
When I was dismissed after being bullied, manipulated, gaslighted, held low, lied to by Pret’s toxic HR department, and continuously patronized by Pret’s CEO, Clive Schlee, who is not willing to label products for allergen information but was willing to label me his “late night girl” after the ordeal I went through… when I was dismissed three days after Christmas 2017 with my dad in intensive care just woken out of a coma, I filed a Tribunal claim as soon as I was able to in February 2018 as you have 3 months minus 1 day to file a claim.
In the meantime I was flying back and forth again between London and Germany to be with my dad (who was in hospital since 10.11.2017) as best I could on his bed side and then later in rehab. In the middle of all this I started to prepare for the Tribunal claim which would have happened in September 2018 with the first preliminary hearing in April 2018.
But I had no legal aid as I cannot afford lawyer fees. I scrapped all legal information together as best as I could, going from Citizen Advise Bureau to other free legal advisors to online researching back and forth, while also flying back and forth between London and my father’s bed side.
For people in the USA to understand, the legal system in the UK or in Europe in general is very different to the USA. Since 2015 on and off I contacted various law firms including pro-Bono, no-win no-fee firms, I even had a lawyer for a while who advised me for free. But I had to find out later again that he only wanted to make a quick buck by settling with Pret and get his 30%+ fee from the settlement. He didn’t really advise me properly anyway and even gave me some false advise at times which I later found out when I continued to do my “homework” researching online. I rejected four settlement offers from Pret, three while still working in Pret, and the fourth one via negotiating with the ACAS conciliator while withdrawing the Tribunal claim I raised and then closed. I dropped the “charitable” lawyer as soon as I found he was just looking for fast money himself.
In the USA lawyers would line up like vultures wanting to sue Pret on my behalf as the compensation can be ridiculously huge. In the UK the compensation would have maybe be maximum £10.000, maybe even more and mostly around £8000.
One former assistant manager who became homeless after being unfairly dismissed from Pret has gotten under £10K.
But 33% for the lawyer is peanuts for them to go all the way through with days and days of preliminary and then the main hearings. The free lawyer I had for a while also kept saying to me that it takes months before the hearings take place. In the UK they don’t bother for this “little” amount, while the Millions that can be won in the USA has lawyers drooling for cases like mine.
My father then died in March this year, and again I found myself crumbled under the weight of what life has thrown at me since I learned of my brother’s death in January 2015 (but he died in December 2014) and all I went through in Pret. Autopilot kicked in again, but I couldn’t cope anymore. Enough is enough. I want to die, but I want to live. I need a break.
I withdrew my claim against Pret as my father died in the middle of preparing for the court case with scraps of legal advise I stumbled through, and my mental health taking another nose dive beyond basement level. But I did my homework and asked the Tribunal for the right to file a second claim later should I decide to file again. And I was granted this request.
If I will raise a second claim or if the time limit will be over, I don’t want to talk about.
But this is the reason why I withdrew my case, as it is so complex which involved the heart of Pret, the CEO, HQ, Head of HR, a Development Manager who was used to gaslight me etc. etc. etc. Unwillingly and unprecedented I poked into the heart of Pret, and for me to go all the way through to court without a lawyer going all the way with me would be suicide, as I cannot handle even small stress mentally at this time.
So, lucky for Pret I withdrew, but lucky for me I didn’t sign my rights away for peanuts. And even if Pret had offered me a huge amount, I don’t prostitute my values nor sign my rights away for life. So, I published now.
What happened to Natasha Ednan-Laperouse and her family has utterly devastated and shaken me. I wrote it before I have learned of her death, that having worked in Pret is my biggest regret in life. And now having learned of her tragedy, I am deeply ashamed to have ever given my time, effort and skill to this company, and having tried to improve work conditions from within while extremely traumatized myself. A company’s facade that does not care for people’s lives and health will get more and more cracks in time, with a glimpse behind the scenes of their carelessness.
My heart and prayers go out to Natasha’s family and friends; her brother Alex, her mum and dad Tanya and Nadim Ednan-Laperouse.
I hope in time more people will come forward, especially on the issue of suicide in Pret as well as work conditions, bullying and customer injuries. On work conditions this former employee was the first to go public, I am the second and in time I hope more will follow. And I hope Natasha’s family pursue Pret in court as they have the finances for legal aid and the public behind them now with many warnings Pret ignored.
Thank you for reading and please open your eyes to Pret and take a closer look behind the facade, as indeed take a closer look at ANY company or organization that looks too good to be true in this profit driven society today.
If you don’t take anything away from my publications, ask yourself if anyone can really smile and be “happy” for 8+ hours DAILY in an intensely high stressed work environment out of true “happiness” or if there is anything else behind this!
And my question to Pret A Manger remains: If an assistant manager died by suicide in 2017, I almost did as well after my turmoil at work, and now Natasha’s death in 2016 is revealed, HOW MANY MORE people died and/or suffered hospitalization, depression, mental health issues, physical and mental injuries in relation to Pret.
Link to Tweet (please not that my Twitter handle was first @LateNightGirlMe, but I changed it to @expretDOTorg later).
.
The only way I cope is to write, and to write creatively of my ordeal. I said it to Pret while I still worked there that it is a mistake to mistreat someone who suffered loss and is a writer, as that person has nothing to lose anymore. And as Madeleine Peyroux wrote so poignantly in her song “Don’t Pick A Fight With A Poet”, Pret in their arrogance and feeling invincible, #toobigtofail, again did not heed yet another warning.
.
Some blog entries that give a good glance behind the shiny PR(et) facade:
.
.
I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit “My Ordeal with Pret A Manger”. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.
An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment: Caught in the Act Bullying at Pret and What shop MANAGERS & HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.
I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.
Please also see the MEDIA page for more.
The Guardian: “Maasai Cricket Warriors determined to hit female genital mutilation”
“Sport is often usedas a way to engage people and spread health or education messages.” — Maasai Cricket Warriors
.
.
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.
Glassdoor July 2019
Bullied during bereavement in Pret A Manger 
You must be logged in to post a comment.