expret.org Former Pret A Manger Employee Speaks Out

This episode is after an experience in a Zoom bereavement group which is a great group, but a group more for the facilitators than us all in the group. This is also somewhat my experience with the mental health system and Pret A Manger's abusive conduct via Lila Tighilt Warren (please scroll down to the Lila episode). 

For more info on Pret and my experience of traumatic bereavement in the workplace, Pret's systemic workplace bullying and exploitation, please see https://expret.org 

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://expret.org/2019/11/21/enforced-happiness-of-pret 

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://expret.org/2019/06/19/truth-behind-pret-a-manger-smile 

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://expret.org/2022/08/29/julian-metcalfe-family-line 

I made a mistake in the original blog post that the audio conversion copied. I saw my friend last in 2013 not 2007. This episode is also available as a blog post: http://expret.org/2022/08/05/lose-loss-lost 

Friendships and sabotage.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://expret.org/2020/06/09/questions-to-lila-tighilt-warren 

Just some thoughts from recent struggles. 

In this short episode I included 2 psychologists who speak about PTSD. I have had very bad few days/weeks recently. I'm trying to cope. 

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://expret.org/2022/05/17/the-world-is-a-cruel-place-but 

Upfront, sorry for the LOW VOLUME, this is the first episode I've done spontaneously, having had a cold and using an old phone. Apologies. The other episodes are louder and clearer. --- 

I didn't want to do a podcast, and don't really call this a podcast as such as I am more waffling along, but I've written a lot about my brother and then later about my former workplace Pret A Manger where I was bullied during bereavement. I write extensively on this and other issues on expret.org --- 

My mum's death during lock-down in 2021 is hitting me at the moment of recording and beyond. I couldn't bury her, and like with my brother, everything about my family's passing seems not normal and I am just moving in an ongoing Twilight Zone. 

Some of you who know me only a little bit or since recently may be shocked what I share about Pret. But my story is very complex since my brother died and I have become tired of writing and just want to speak from my gut. I have evidence that I share on my blog as well as customers and staff sharing their experiences. --- 

I never thought I'd lose almost every friend I've ever had, almost from the moment my I received the news of his death. Apologies in advance for the bad language. But it is what it is. 

After spontaneously sharing about my losses etc. (apologies for doing these with a cold), I want to continue on a subject to do with systems. We all see people, organizations, issues in a certain way. The American journalist, political show host Rachel Maddow has a sentence on her Twitter profile that says, "I see political people". Her subject is politics. My subjects are a variety, but I see Systems. Everywhere, and this since all that happened in my life since 2015. 

Since my brother died in Dec. 2014, which I only found out in Jan. 2015 and that he was already cremated without our knowledge, I tried to find help and never expected to be sent around in circles. My ordeal didn't get better after the bullying in Pret and losing my dad, and now mum. This Part 3 is a continuation of Part 2 "Systems" and zooms in on the NHS mental health service. 

There is a systemic refusal to acknowledge trauma and grief. 

I explain in detail why Pret don't do loyalty cards and why Pret's freebie policy is discriminatory. For screenshots of customers and former staff tweets, please see the blog post version, link below. 

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://expret.org/2019/03/29/pret-free-coffees/