>A Papa Johns boss fired a “starving” teenage employee because he asked for a free pizza while working overtime and couldn’t afford to buy one. In a text conversation seen by WalesOnline, the owner of a Papa Johns branch in Caerphilly refused to let Lawson Callaghan, 17, have free food and told him to “stop looking for handouts”, before he fired him, bragged about his wealth and called him a “loser”.
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>Papa Johns UK said they are currently investigating the incident which occurred on Friday night, September 2, and said they could not comment further until the investigation is complete. The owner has also been contacted several times and at the time of publication has not provided a comment.
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>The teenager told WalesOnline he had started the job about a month ago and was on the minimum wage rate for 16 to 17-year-olds (£4.81). He texted the owner at around 10pm to ask if he could have a medium margherita for free, as he was “starving” and had expected to finish work at 9pm.
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>Lawson said that while employees weren’t given free food on shift, they were allowed to have 50% off food. He said he had asked for a free meal as a one-off as he had no money and hadn’t had a payday yet.
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>But the owner replied that he was “confused” by the request, and asked why he should pay for the teenager’s food, which would have cost £8 with the employee discount. After Lawson pointed out he was on a low wage and had no transport cover, the owner wrote: “I was paid £3 an hour when I started at 16 and built my business.
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>”Your (sic) really rubbing me up the wrong way. Stop looking for discount (sic) and handouts and feeling sorry for yourself because of the cost of travel. I paid £15 today to get to and from work and got paid 0. Make your money what your (sic) owed for the hours you work and stop trying to get hand outs!”
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>After Lawson pointed out that the owner was on a lower wage ten years ago because inflation has since risen, the owner said the teenager was “taking the p***” out of him, told him to pay for the pizza himself and said “don’t disturb me again”.
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>After Lawson proceeded to complain that the employees’ rotas are given last minute, they’re on minimum wage and the time they are allowed to leave work is at the manager’s discretion, he said the owner sacked him on the spot. In the remainder of the conversation, he appeared to brag about his wealth, saying he is “worth a s*** load”, while also mocking Lawson for not having enough money.
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>”I pay what I want. I pay myself 8k a week as I have 4 shops looking to buy 4 more soon. Your (sic) a loser good luck boy!” the owner wrote. Lawson said he was then removed from a group chat with the owner and other Papa Johns employees.
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>Another employee in the group chat shared screenshots with Lawson that revealed that the owner had appeared to share screenshots of their conversation with the rest of the group, along with the caption “I can’t believe the cheek”. After the employee advised that the owner should keep the conversation between himself and Lawson, the owner replied: “Nah my business I do what I want”.
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>Another screenshot from the group chat seen by WalesOnline appeared to show that after the owner discovered the employee had passed on the messages from the group chat to Lawson, he fired him on the spot too and removed him from the group.
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>Speaking about his reaction to the incident, Lawson said: “[I thought] how can he be saying that type of thing, especially to someone who is under 18 who’s only been working there for a short amount of time – their first job as well.”
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>He shared the exchange online and the owner’s actions have been widely condemned. He admitted the incident had “knocked his confidence” and is also concerned about getting paid. “I have no money. If he pays me on [September 14] I will get money,” he said.
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>A spokesperson for Papa Johns UK said: “Papa Johns UK restaurants are 100% franchisee-owned and we require all franchisees to be good employers. We are currently investigating this matter and it would not be appropriate to comment further until that investigation is complete.”
Wish I knew what other franchises he owns near me. They said 4. Guessing Cwmbran and Pontypridd.
Surly that’s unfair dismissal and ripe for a lawsuit. Rinse the bastard.
> I was paid £3 an hour when I started at 16 and built my business
Get the feeling if you don’t understand inflation, you probably didn’t build the business yourself.
Papa John is no dad of mine
The mark up on Pizza is ridiculous. A small pizza would have cost the owner pennies.
How shrivelled a creature do you have to be to treat someone like this?
That lad would have sucked up a lot of courage to ask for that and to receive such a disgusting response would be humiliating. I used to work at a Maccies and on one shift I turned up to work and had to ask some pals on the line to sneakily make me a cheese burger ‘cause I couldn’t afford to eat that week before pay day, couldn’t even afford a 99p burger. It was embarrassing as hell, wanted to cry from both humiliation and gratitude that my work collages sympathised with me and ended up making me 3 to eat. We need to get these egotistical lunatics out of management in minimum wage jobs. We should be sticking together, we’re all making fuck all wage wise, regardless of job title, we are in the same boat!
Edit: spelling.
£8k a week from four sites? 🤔
Overall I think the kid dodged a bullet, don’t need to work for a prick like that.
He doesn’t make £8k a week, the people he’s exploiting for £5 an hour do.
>the minimum wage rate for 16 to 17-year-olds (£4.81)
How the fuck is it this low? This is beyond fucked. It’s like we’re living a third world country. What the fuck is wrong with this fucking country?
Lesson learned, if they pay you so little you can’t afford food, just take the food
8 quid for a pizza after discount? I haven’t bought pizza in the UK in a long time but that seems like a lot? (you can buy filth pizza that’s all you can eat for five bucks at some places in the states).
I was getting £4 in 2006 @ a KFC franchise & I got a free meal while on shift – to be on £4.80 16 years later and be told he has to buy food (which the owner is 100% making a nice profit on with the discount) is a ducking joke. What a cunt I hope his business fails the self centred prick. Imagine your feelings being so hurt by a 17 year old as a grown “man” (baby) that you mock them to the other employees and sack 2 people. I bet he’s one of these “No one wants to work” cunts.
Shame the entire staff didn’t walk out on him
This guy’s franchises deserve a visit from raiders/rioters
Please can everyone just go straight to Google, find Papa Johns in Caerphilly and leave the store shit a review…
I support PJ stores in work, so I talk to a lot of FOs, we all hate them, they are our worst customer by far
Let’s see how smug he is in a few months time when no one can afford to buy his crappy overpriced Pizza.
I doubt he’ll be paying himself £8k a week then.
Well, there’s another bunch-o-cunts I will never use again
Surely that’s a breach of gdpr when he shared the private conversation in another chat with the rest of the employees. Hope he’s gets the franchises took off him, that’s disgusting. The fact that the kid asked for the pizza too and not just stolen one shows that he’s an honest worker.
There are so many independent pizza places… And the food is much better.
Why would you choose papa John’s!?!
Guess I’m done with Papa John’s then. Paying people terrible wages is one thing, but not having a shred of decency or empathy is another. What would giving the guy a free pizza have actually cost? A few quid at most if that?
Are these are same Papa Johns franchise owners who abused the eat out to help out scheme, posting fake till receipts though and fleecing the government?
That whole exchange from the manager was shocking but a standout part of it for me is when he talked down to the worker because he “can’t even afford to buy a pizza”. He’s the one that pays him so little that he’s in that position in the first place. 50% off pizza? Ignoring the fact that virtually everyone pays 50% for pizza from those types of places anyway, having to work for two hours just to afford the staff price for a fucking pizza is absurd.
Minimum wage should be minimum wage – this whole under 18, 18-21, 21-25 or whatever pish needs to be scrapped. Just because the guy’s 17 it doesn’t mean his Labour is worth any less than a 25 year old’s.
24 comments
>A Papa Johns boss fired a “starving” teenage employee because he asked for a free pizza while working overtime and couldn’t afford to buy one. In a text conversation seen by WalesOnline, the owner of a Papa Johns branch in Caerphilly refused to let Lawson Callaghan, 17, have free food and told him to “stop looking for handouts”, before he fired him, bragged about his wealth and called him a “loser”.
>
>Papa Johns UK said they are currently investigating the incident which occurred on Friday night, September 2, and said they could not comment further until the investigation is complete. The owner has also been contacted several times and at the time of publication has not provided a comment.
>
>The teenager told WalesOnline he had started the job about a month ago and was on the minimum wage rate for 16 to 17-year-olds (£4.81). He texted the owner at around 10pm to ask if he could have a medium margherita for free, as he was “starving” and had expected to finish work at 9pm.
>
>Lawson said that while employees weren’t given free food on shift, they were allowed to have 50% off food. He said he had asked for a free meal as a one-off as he had no money and hadn’t had a payday yet.
>
>But the owner replied that he was “confused” by the request, and asked why he should pay for the teenager’s food, which would have cost £8 with the employee discount. After Lawson pointed out he was on a low wage and had no transport cover, the owner wrote: “I was paid £3 an hour when I started at 16 and built my business.
>
>”Your (sic) really rubbing me up the wrong way. Stop looking for discount (sic) and handouts and feeling sorry for yourself because of the cost of travel. I paid £15 today to get to and from work and got paid 0. Make your money what your (sic) owed for the hours you work and stop trying to get hand outs!”
>
>After Lawson pointed out that the owner was on a lower wage ten years ago because inflation has since risen, the owner said the teenager was “taking the p***” out of him, told him to pay for the pizza himself and said “don’t disturb me again”.
>
>After Lawson proceeded to complain that the employees’ rotas are given last minute, they’re on minimum wage and the time they are allowed to leave work is at the manager’s discretion, he said the owner sacked him on the spot. In the remainder of the conversation, he appeared to brag about his wealth, saying he is “worth a s*** load”, while also mocking Lawson for not having enough money.
>
>”I pay what I want. I pay myself 8k a week as I have 4 shops looking to buy 4 more soon. Your (sic) a loser good luck boy!” the owner wrote. Lawson said he was then removed from a group chat with the owner and other Papa Johns employees.
>
>Another employee in the group chat shared screenshots with Lawson that revealed that the owner had appeared to share screenshots of their conversation with the rest of the group, along with the caption “I can’t believe the cheek”. After the employee advised that the owner should keep the conversation between himself and Lawson, the owner replied: “Nah my business I do what I want”.
>
>Another screenshot from the group chat seen by WalesOnline appeared to show that after the owner discovered the employee had passed on the messages from the group chat to Lawson, he fired him on the spot too and removed him from the group.
>
>Speaking about his reaction to the incident, Lawson said: “[I thought] how can he be saying that type of thing, especially to someone who is under 18 who’s only been working there for a short amount of time – their first job as well.”
>
>He shared the exchange online and the owner’s actions have been widely condemned. He admitted the incident had “knocked his confidence” and is also concerned about getting paid. “I have no money. If he pays me on [September 14] I will get money,” he said.
>
>A spokesperson for Papa Johns UK said: “Papa Johns UK restaurants are 100% franchisee-owned and we require all franchisees to be good employers. We are currently investigating this matter and it would not be appropriate to comment further until that investigation is complete.”
Wish I knew what other franchises he owns near me. They said 4. Guessing Cwmbran and Pontypridd.
Surly that’s unfair dismissal and ripe for a lawsuit. Rinse the bastard.
> I was paid £3 an hour when I started at 16 and built my business
Get the feeling if you don’t understand inflation, you probably didn’t build the business yourself.
Papa John is no dad of mine
The mark up on Pizza is ridiculous. A small pizza would have cost the owner pennies.
How shrivelled a creature do you have to be to treat someone like this?
That lad would have sucked up a lot of courage to ask for that and to receive such a disgusting response would be humiliating. I used to work at a Maccies and on one shift I turned up to work and had to ask some pals on the line to sneakily make me a cheese burger ‘cause I couldn’t afford to eat that week before pay day, couldn’t even afford a 99p burger. It was embarrassing as hell, wanted to cry from both humiliation and gratitude that my work collages sympathised with me and ended up making me 3 to eat. We need to get these egotistical lunatics out of management in minimum wage jobs. We should be sticking together, we’re all making fuck all wage wise, regardless of job title, we are in the same boat!
Edit: spelling.
£8k a week from four sites? 🤔
Overall I think the kid dodged a bullet, don’t need to work for a prick like that.
He doesn’t make £8k a week, the people he’s exploiting for £5 an hour do.
>the minimum wage rate for 16 to 17-year-olds (£4.81)
How the fuck is it this low? This is beyond fucked. It’s like we’re living a third world country. What the fuck is wrong with this fucking country?
Lesson learned, if they pay you so little you can’t afford food, just take the food
8 quid for a pizza after discount? I haven’t bought pizza in the UK in a long time but that seems like a lot? (you can buy filth pizza that’s all you can eat for five bucks at some places in the states).
I was getting £4 in 2006 @ a KFC franchise & I got a free meal while on shift – to be on £4.80 16 years later and be told he has to buy food (which the owner is 100% making a nice profit on with the discount) is a ducking joke. What a cunt I hope his business fails the self centred prick. Imagine your feelings being so hurt by a 17 year old as a grown “man” (baby) that you mock them to the other employees and sack 2 people. I bet he’s one of these “No one wants to work” cunts.
Shame the entire staff didn’t walk out on him
This guy’s franchises deserve a visit from raiders/rioters
Please can everyone just go straight to Google, find Papa Johns in Caerphilly and leave the store shit a review…
I support PJ stores in work, so I talk to a lot of FOs, we all hate them, they are our worst customer by far
Let’s see how smug he is in a few months time when no one can afford to buy his crappy overpriced Pizza.
I doubt he’ll be paying himself £8k a week then.
Well, there’s another bunch-o-cunts I will never use again
Surely that’s a breach of gdpr when he shared the private conversation in another chat with the rest of the employees. Hope he’s gets the franchises took off him, that’s disgusting. The fact that the kid asked for the pizza too and not just stolen one shows that he’s an honest worker.
There are so many independent pizza places… And the food is much better.
Why would you choose papa John’s!?!
Guess I’m done with Papa John’s then. Paying people terrible wages is one thing, but not having a shred of decency or empathy is another. What would giving the guy a free pizza have actually cost? A few quid at most if that?
Are these are same Papa Johns franchise owners who abused the eat out to help out scheme, posting fake till receipts though and fleecing the government?
That whole exchange from the manager was shocking but a standout part of it for me is when he talked down to the worker because he “can’t even afford to buy a pizza”. He’s the one that pays him so little that he’s in that position in the first place. 50% off pizza? Ignoring the fact that virtually everyone pays 50% for pizza from those types of places anyway, having to work for two hours just to afford the staff price for a fucking pizza is absurd.
Minimum wage should be minimum wage – this whole under 18, 18-21, 21-25 or whatever pish needs to be scrapped. Just because the guy’s 17 it doesn’t mean his Labour is worth any less than a 25 year old’s.