Panda Express Workers Were Forced To Strip Down To Their Underwear In A "Team-Building Exercise" That Would Make The Worst Hazing Fraternities Jealous

A former employee of a Panda Express in Santa Clarita alleges she was required to strip down to her underwear and hug a partially clad co-worker during a “cult-like ritual” at a 2019 training seminar sponsored by the company as a prerequisite to promotion.

What kind of backwards ass fraternity hazing ritual is this? I guess I somewhat understand the lore of trying to join what people may call a prestigious brotherhood or sisterhood that holds social events while in college, but why would anyone go through this bullshit to work at a Panda Express? What do their workers make, $8 an hour? I'd pack my shit up and head over to Jimmy Johns at the first sign of this rite of passage. I don't care if you were going to promote me to Assistant Store Manager and give me half off entrees at the end of my shifts, I'm gone. 

Now to be clear, Panda Express is saying that they had nothing to do with this, and it's all a Seminar and Coaching Academy that they hired out to personally develop their employees. But uhh, maybe do your homework before sending your fried rice cooks to get partially naked and get berated like, and I quote the lawsuit, like "a terrorist" would during an interrogation.

At the start, attendees were told to sit down and not talk, and were left in isolation for a full hour before a man stormed in, yelling in Spanish and berating them for sitting there and doing nothing, when that is exactly what they had been instructed to do, says the complaint.

Kinda like this part, honestly. Announce your presence with authority. This is like a teacher giving a detention on the first day of school. Set the tone for the rest of the year. Well if you want to set the tone for the rest of the seminar, come in yelling Spanish and berating anyone that looks at you. That'll shut up em up. 

But here's the thing: if you leave me in isolation for more than 15 minutes before the start of a meeting, I'm leaving. That's College Etiquette 101. If your professor is more than 15 minutes late you can leave without consequence. So while I do feel bad that their first interaction was a negative one, it's one that could've been avoided. 

“If plaintiff wanted to use the restroom, someone from the Alive Seminars staff would stand outside the restroom door,” says the suit. “When another participant ran into the restroom to throw up, Alive Seminars staff ran after her. Another male participant was only given a small trash can to throw up in and was forced to do it in front of all the other attendees.”

This reminds me of 7th grade basketball practice after we got our doors kicked in against Barberton U.L. Light Middle School. Coach Knapp didn't even turn the lights on the next morning. He opened a door for the 7 am practice and said when the sun comes up we'll be able to see. In the meantime, we just ran sprints, because as you know….it was our conditioning that allowed the other team to hang a 70 spot on us while playing with 6 minute quarters. Put a trash can right in the middle of the floor and said if anyone was weak enough to need to throw up, do it in front of everyone else.

But again, a three win 7th grade basketball team was infinitely more important than working at Panda Express. What are all of these employees going through this for……..?

“Alive Seminars staff proceeded to dim the lights,” says the suit. “Plaintiff and the other attendees were instructed to stand up and close their eyes, pretending that a light from above would come down and take all the ‘negative energy’ out of them, then pretend that a hole opened up in the ground and swallowed the negative energy."

Kinda weird. Not my cup of tea, but nothing to write home about here. Just gotta peak your eyes open and watch the clock tick down til you're done. Or check your phone while everyone else is participating in the nonsense. Except…..

Seminar participants were prohibited from using their cellphones, there was no clock in the room and the doors and windows were all covered with black cloth.

Damn, General Tso was not messing around with these employees. I can't remember the last time I've been in a situation as a grown adult where I was PROHIBITED from using a cellphone or a clock. I mean, has it happened since like, the ACT test I took as a junior? But even then the doors and windows weren't covered in black cloth.

I don't have enough information to indict Panda Express here, seeing as it seems to just be a single restaurant that used a third-party training agency. However, I have heard enough to give my official review of the Alive Seminar and Coaching Academy: ZERO STARS and would not recommend. Unless you were like Sigma Chi or something, then I'd give my full endorsement. These are the guys you're looking for.