Just back from a trip to Solihull (5 minutes away) to the opticians. My glasses, which are a bit odd because of my double vision, had a wobbly leg (arm?). I’d been using lanyards for my distance glasses, so that they are always available when I need to put on my reading or my computer glasses. However, the legs (arms?) are quite thin, and the lenses are very thick at the edge, so I guess they’re a bit heavy for that. The wobbliness was because I’d managed to twist them somehow. It was touch and go whether or not they could fix them at the shop, or whether they’d have to pop my lenses into new (identical) frames, which would cost me £60. Waaaah!
So I was despatched to do something else, anything else, for half an hour, in the rain, while they decided what to do. I can barely see without my glasses, so had taken my computer glasses. But of course I was masked up too, so what with one thing and another, it was a fraught half hour. Which was mitigated by going to Hotel Chocolat and spending over £40 on chocolate. Yep. On chocolate. Some dairy free for me and some for hubby. Then I went to Pret a Manger and was able to sit inside, drinking apple juice and eating a dairy free chocolate fudge bar. That definitely helped.
When I went back to the opticians, the laboratory had had a go, and they’d managed to fix the old frames. When I say “old”, I’ve had them about two months. So not actually old, really. Very relieved. And no more lanyards for my glasses. There is a downside, but the upside is I can probably manage dangly earrings again, at least when I’m not wearing a mask.
loonyfeminist 
Hi, I write on Pret from a behind the scenes perspective. Pret is trying anything to survive including keeping food overnight. Staff leak info that food is expired and customers complain on social media that chicken tastes off or bread is stale etc.
A list of issues here:
https://expret.org/2021/05/04/pret-a-manger-will-indeed-try-anything-to-survive
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Wowsers! thank you for that. I will steer clear in future. What a shame though to be driven to such lengths.
Yes, I write extensively about Pret having worked there and literally survived their toxic culture. Even after TWO customers have died and a third narrowly surviving with several injured, the public for most part is STILL under the illusion that Pret is an ethical and caring company.
My website is THE most comprehensive writings on Pret. Pret know me, they read my blog but don’t respond as this would open a can of worms for them. I was offered 4 settement offers (Non Disclosure Agreements – NDAs) if I’m silent etc. LONG story.
But I expose Pret for who they REALLY are!
I write mainly on staff issues, but cover EVERYTHING from daily food waste, pest, mice, rats in shops, racism, bullying culture etc.
I was bullied DURING bereavement in Pret which went all the way up to top leadership as I wouldn’t give up raising issues re: bullying. Pret picked the wrong person. Please scroll down to the screenshots of the following post:
➡https://expret.org/2019/10/28/caught-in-the-act-at-pret⬅
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Please scroll down to the screenshots:
https://expret.org/2019/10/28/caught-in-the-act-at-pret
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I had no idea things were so bad. I’m appalled. I don’t suppose they’re unionised?
Yes, many people are unaware because Pret is SO GOOD in bullsh!tting the public. I just always tell people that if something looks too good to be true, ESPECIALLY with a multi-billion, private equity, shareholders company … you need to take a closer look! Even TWO customers having died, a 3rd narrowly surviving and 9 other injured doesn’t wake up the public. And Unions? Haha! Pret is super anti-Union. Pret fired Andrej Stopa in 2012 for stating a Union, firing him under pretense that Andrej allegedly has made homophobic remarks TEN MONTHS before getting fired for this allegation, coincidentally at the time when he started a Union. His encounter is here on YouTube:
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P.S. we all know how it is when we hear about things from a “quiet” neighbour or an “exceptional” community member or a politician with a clean slate, and then things unravel and we are shocked. The same with Pret. People STILL want to believe the Pret fairy tale, and very few are willing to do the homework and dig deeper. I get angry responses sometimes on Twitter because I burst people’s illusions about Pret. And even 2 customers having died, a 3rd just about survived, and people keep thinking it was just a mistake they made … But they’re not willing to listen to the front-line staff who KNOW how it is behind the facade.
Hi, a recent customer complaint on Twitter regarding work conditions in Pret. I hope more professionals will speak up as Pret ignores staff voices:
»Until Pret changes its exploitative working practices I will not buy a single sandwich« – Dr. Eunice Goes
https://expret.org/2021/06/10/until-pret-changes-its-exploitative-working-practices
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P.P.S. I chased Julian Metcalfe, founder of Pret and itsu of Twitter after his horrific lock-down comments to the Daily Mail last year. But Metcalfe and Pret are thick as thieves and work under the same goal to make as much money as possible behind a shiny facade. I confronted Metcalfe with employee reviews about himself, he was so stupid to RT my Tweets, by the time he realized to come on Twitter and keep puking his BS, it was too late. Before he was able to delete his Tweets and close his Twitter account, I’ve already done screenshots and now have put it into a YouTube slide and rubbed it in to itsu on Linkedin. These multi-millionaire entitled people are cowards at the end of the day:
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What an absolute b*stard. Tone deaf, not terribly media-savvy (!), selfish, and just nasty. Well done you.
Yes, indeed! I texted a friend once I saw Metcalfe RT my the first of my Tweets. My friend couldn’t believe that he even RT’d. The first RT he did I thought, he must have made a mistake not realizing who he’s RTing. But then he kept RTing like an idiot and I quickly screenshot, although never thinking he’d run off the very next day!
But yes, not media-savvy at all as if itsu doesn’t have a PR person guiding their execs. But it shows how utterly arrogant he and his cohorts are. They’ve gotten away and keep getting away with stuff. Pret recently won a court case AGAIN where a 3rd customer almost died also from unlabelled sesame ONE YEAR after the first customer died!
We live in times where the big guns get away again and again.
Hi, P.S. please share this with EVERYONE you know!!! NHS data base, OPT OUT by 23. June 2021. See article:
https://metro.co.uk/2021/05/27/nhs-england-set-to-share-medical-records-with-outside-third-parties-14655452
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