Day 197 - 07 Dec 95 - Page 74


     
       1      was in on all of this, had done it himself, and knew
       2      perfectly well that you were doing it?
       3      A.  I am referring to people above Mr. Davies.
       4
       5 Q.   No, you said Mr. Davies knew about it as well?
       6      A.  Oh, yes, I am saying these practices would not have
       7      happened when people above were in the store.
       8
       9 Q.   But you say Mr. Davies did it when he was Manager and then
      10      when he was Supervisor he knew you were doing it.  Am
      11      I right.
      12      A.  Correct.
      13
      14 Q.   Here he is writing these performance reviews?
      15      A.  Yes.
      16
      17 Q.   Drawing attention to weak coffee and thick shakes,
      18      correct?
      19      A.  He is indeed, but in the context that we are talking
      20      about here we are not talking about the actions that were
      21      taking place at that time.  It is related to the coffee
      22      machine or the shake machine, but not what we were doing
      23      at that particular time.
      24
      25 Q.   Why would he draw attention, Mr. Coton, to something that
      26      could well be, if indeed it was not, a direct consequence
      27      of these cutting corners?
      28      A.  Because the problem we were having was to do with the
      29      machines themselves as opposed to what we were doing.
      30
      31 Q.   Then please turn to page 59, which is your performance
      32      review for 1st November 1990.  This is two years, sorry, a
      33      year and a half since the first reference to thick shakes
      34      which is on 11th May 1988.  Under "Quality" the fourth
      35      paragraph: "You still leave yourself wide open where
      36      drinks are concerned".  Do you see that?
      37      A.  Yes.
      38
      39 Q.   You told Mr. Morris this morning that that was, in effect,
      40      a warning from Mark Davis that if you did not watch out
      41      somebody would spot that you were watering down the
      42      drinks.
      43      A.  That is the way I see that, yes.
      44
      45 Q.   What, in fact, it means is that the quality of your
      46      drinks, weak coffee, etc. had still not improved.  That is
      47      what it means, is it not?
      48      A.  That is your interpretation, not my interpretation.
      49
      50 Q.   If the earlier references were not references, weak
      51      coffee, thick shakes, to the watering down that was going
      52      on all the time, why do you say this one is? 
      53      A.  Because the other ones were references to direct
      54      mechanical problems that we were having at the time.
      55      Therefore, the two are not connected.
      56
      57 Q.   The next one (6), it is the next paragraph:  "Problems
      58      with the shake machine have been recently sorted out.
      59      Maintenance of equipment has in the last few weeks
      60      improved dramatically.  Why did it take so long?"  That

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