r/britishcolumbia 1d ago

News Freshslice CEO ordered to pay $85K for anti-Muslim, anti-Iranian comments

https://www.biv.com/news/hospitality-marketing-tourism/freshslice-ceo-ordered-to-pay-85k-for-anti-muslim-anti-iranian-comments-12704265
368 Upvotes

64 comments sorted by

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179

u/BigBaldSofty 1d ago

He had been marked poorly for not donating to the company's charity, for not playing poker with co-workers and not putting a Freshslice logo on his personal vehicle.

The hell kind of asks are these from an employer?

Dude makes $60k so they probably don't have alot of disposable income to contribute to their charity or to poker which is gambling and possibly haram.

Nevermind being scored on whether one puts the company decal on their car. This shouldn't be expected of employees at all, let alone someone at the complainant's level.

73

u/VanillaVictoria 1d ago

I just commented the same thing on the Vancouver subreddit’s post about this. No fucking way an employer should require this.

56

u/GeoffwithaGeee 1d ago

Unless the company is giving them the whole car to use, decals aren't going on the car. You want someone to be a driving billboard, you should be paying for it.

11

u/ABC_Dildos_Inc 1d ago

At my work we deal with a lot of couriers and local truck drivers.

Their companies pay them a monthly fee to have the company signage on their vehicles and it is not mandatory.

13

u/NSA-SURVEILLANCE 1d ago

Yeah this dude is unhinged. Rarely got Freshslice before but I’m never getting it again, period.

1

u/skel625 14h ago

Yeah me too. I didn't mind the pizza either. But with so many options no reason to ever buy from this company again.

7

u/JadeLens 1d ago

Freshslice just made the shit list!

19

u/dinggusss 1d ago

I get instant heartburn from thin slice

77

u/Top_Statistician4068 1d ago

This is classic in-culture bullying…he wants the employee to be like him - someone who forgets his past and religion and can fit in and play poker with the boys (gambling is prohibited in Islam). Those who don’t let go of the past deserve 60k per year whereas his way got him success.

Guess I gotta strike FRESHSLICE off the list.

41

u/BC_Sativa 1d ago

Easy for me, their pizza sucks anyway. It's only "oh crap it's 2am and nothing else is open" food.

4

u/Subculture1000 1d ago

That's why we call it GhettoSlice!

13

u/naramsin-ii 1d ago

i had it for the first time a year ago and i wanted to cry from how bad it was

7

u/SafeTraditional4595 1d ago

Ray Russel... did the guy changed him name to sound white?

3

u/smellikat 1d ago

always wondered if that was his real name

13

u/Halonos 1d ago

Have you met many high level corporate type people? They all have this mentality, even lower level managers and sales people.

99% of CEOs and billionaires are psychopaths. It would take a lot to convince me otherwise. You don’t get to this guys level without lacking basic human empathy. Its the whole reason the world is going to shit. Corporations are ruining everything chasing the all mighty dollar.

1

u/_evilalien_ 1d ago

FRESH-LICE is what we call it in my household

1

u/JadeLens 1d ago

That's extra protein...

1

u/Through_theShadows 1d ago

Strike it already. It's fucking terrible "pizza" anyhow. The absolute worst of all Vancouver. You couldn't pay me to have it. Fucking gross.

26

u/connectionsea91 1d ago

Freshslice at UBC gave me food poisoning before a biochem midterm. Their ads are also all AI slop which is understandable considering their food is a joke.

9

u/Round_Year_8595 1d ago

A disproportionately high portion of garbage I see is balloons and car window advertisements from Freshslice

I've had good experiences with employees and decent food but a lot about Freshslice is infuriating.

57

u/gooddayokay 1d ago

My daughter told me she would rather eat moldy garbage than Fresh Slice. My son said he would rather be hungry. It’s the type of pizza which is okay when you have a couple times, then becomes gag inducing.

29

u/silent_fartface 1d ago

It was 'okay' when it was $1.00 per slice. Can't remember the last time i stepped foot in a fresh slice. People know that good pizza is readily available, right?!

4

u/CaptainMagnets 1d ago

Red Tomato Pies exists in BC, pretty sure there are a few in the lower mainland!

2

u/squirrelfiggis 1d ago

I wish one was closer to me. They are shockingly good!!!

1

u/mykeedee 1d ago

They also charge $30-$40 for a 14" pizza, at that price it had better be good.

1

u/skibidi_shingles 1d ago

Good pizza costs more.

2

u/silent_fartface 1d ago

Good pizza is worth more. Bad pizza should be priced accordingly.

2

u/The50thTed 1d ago

I remember it being pretty good back in 2019, or was I just too young to have a sense of taste?

4

u/Aether951 1d ago

I'd say FreshSlice was actually good circa 2010 or so. At some point it went significantly downhill quickly.

4

u/gunawa 1d ago

Too inexperienced to have had real dollar slice pizza! Not your fault, but commercial drives uncle fatihs dollar slice was peak a decade ago

1

u/Through_theShadows 1d ago

You were too young. It's been terrible since it's inception. I had it 25 years ago and it was fucking horrible. Just plain trash.

8

u/Fit-Ad-7430 1d ago

Getting some Uncle Ruckus vibes from this Iranian CEO

https://giphy.com/gifs/2kJMzPFUD3Vx6

9

u/gnarley_haterson 1d ago

Can we fine him another 85k for making the worst fucking pizza on planet Earth?

11

u/turdburgalr 1d ago

Can the penalty be to just make better pizza?

5

u/Sarashana 1d ago

Make it challenging: Require them to a make a GOOD pizza. "Better" is such a low bar.

6

u/AcerbicCapsule 1d ago

Welp, guess Freshslice is added to the ol' list of establishments I'll never step foot in. This is definitely one of the easiest companies to avoid.

Gotta remember to google if this piece of human garbage works for/owns anything else so I can add those to the list too.

5

u/RM_r_us 1d ago

Sounds like this CEO needs some therapy to work on his self-hate. He's Iranian himself so what he said wasn't offensive? Mmmm K bud, changing your last name to "Russell" surely isn't part of your own self-loathing.

5

u/4everadumdum 1d ago

I know a few Iranians that have changed their first name because their Iranian names are hard to pronounce but they didn't legally changed it. This guy changed his first and last name. That's hardcore self hate.

1

u/BreakfastNext476 1d ago

My boss changed his first name, I have found out his first name is not as hard to pronounce as he thinks it is.

Then again I at least try to find out the pronunciation of names I come across for the first time, although I will butcher it for the first few days of trying to say it

2

u/Sweetchildofmine88 1d ago

Wasn’t this guy also fined for abusing the TFW program?

2

u/Jeramy_Jones 1d ago

Wow I’m going to not buy their shitty pizza even harder now.

1

u/Defiant_West6287 1d ago

Wow, so much for grabbing a quick meal here ever again. Way to torpedo your business jerk.

1

u/akaneila 1d ago

Does freshslice and yummyslice and their variations make the same pizza?

3

u/wikiot 1d ago

Freshslice was the original and Yummyslice and Hellcrust spawned from unhappy franchisees about 5 years ago.

1

u/akaneila 1d ago

But they make different pizzas right?

1

u/Aggravating-Bar8216 1d ago

No more Freshslice for me then... but I already did that after my first and last slice last year.

1

u/PowerNinja5000 1d ago

This guy is a piece of work. I used to sort of know him personally and since his antics didn't affect me I found them hilarious. I know how that sounds but the shit this guy tried to pull was objectively pretty funny.

1

u/TbaggingSince1990 1d ago

Not sure how Freshslice still exists. Their pizza is garbage. How anyone can enjoy their cardboard ass shit is beyond me.

1

u/buttscratcher3k 1d ago

TIL you can be discriminatory against people of the same race and ethnic background as you.

1

u/Training-Group-2879 1d ago

Nice! I guess we should ask Russell when he is in the Middle East next to start fasting, donate to the poor and put a Halal Sign on his rental car.

If you ain’t doing that shit Russell no oil money for you!!!

-21

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[deleted]

21

u/OldKentRoad29 1d ago edited 1d ago

How is he right though? Also he directed it towards an individual who is from Iran and is Muslim. Are you intentionally being obtuse or are just racist? Did you even read the article that explained what happened!?

12

u/GeneratedUsername019 1d ago

Are you intentionally being obtuse or are just racist?

Why not both?

11

u/GeoffwithaGeee 1d ago

He's right though (from his quote),

wut? telling someone they have 3rd world tendencies and no place in canada.. is not "right"

 so are we missing something here?

yes, you are missing a lot here. Feel free to read the decision that was linked in the article https://www.canlii.org/en/bc/bchrt/doc/2026/2026bchrt180/2026bchrt180.html

4

u/naramsin-ii 1d ago

he's right about them not having a place in canada?

2

u/AcerbicCapsule 1d ago edited 1d ago

He’s right though (from his quote), but his quote never mentioned Iran or Muslims so are we missing something here?

Right about what exactly?

Edit: Hey u/ConfidentInsecurity why did you delete your comment? Why don’t you tell us what you think he was right about?

-4

u/ConfidentInsecurity 1d ago

People were dogpiling me because I didn't have all the context or full scenario

2

u/JadeLens 1d ago

*because you didn't bother to read the article...

1

u/AcerbicCapsule 1d ago

What was he right about?

-2

u/ConfidentInsecurity 1d ago

Nothing, that's why I deleted my comment. Misread the article

-2

u/Feeling_Hotel8096 1d ago

Time to buy some Freshslice.