Complaint Review: Pizza Hut / Thompson & Brock Management inc - Apache Junction AZ - Panama City - FL Select State/Province

Over the last year badbusinessbureau.com has interviewed over 150 ex-employees, existing employees and customers of the Apache Junction Pizza Hut. Many of these interviews resulted in sworn notarized affidavits. Many were E-mailed then signed. Many were consensual taped interviews made in person and telephonically. All taped conversations were consensual.

These are some excerpts taken from a long recorded interview from another employee who worked at the Apache Junction, AZ. Pizza Hut, who has now signed an affidavit, and has offered his help in court if needed as everyone else has. ................................................... "I feel that the Carters took four years of my life"

When I first started working there I couldn't understand at first, how my checks could have been so low. After a while I saw exactly how Betty Carter works, and how many different ways she cheats you out of money owed. I made good money though and chose to ignore her habit of stealing from my paycheck. Throughout my four years of employment I was always pressured to work off the clock, other employees were also. Either you did so, or you wouldn't have a job for long.

Besides forcing workers to work off the clock, there are other ways Betty uses to cheat employees out of they're pay. The first time I ever signed out I think I wrote 9:55, and Betty wrote down 9:45 and she explained that they always "round out" the time cards. Betty took fifteen minutes off my check explaining that they "round it out." They would always round off the number down, off your time, and in their favor. They would always question your hours and say, "you didn't work that" trying to lower the amount of ours that you worked. At closing time She would also say out loud, "OK I'm clocking everybody out at eleven o'clock," (the second they close the doors), and no one would leave the door until 11: 45 or it would be maybe midnight until the 1st person left the door. None of us got paid for the time after the 11:00 even though some were still there working for hours. This happened hundreds of times to me for years.

Betty also never once paid any employees for mandatory meetings,( which they would be fired for if they did not show up). Betty also made delivery drivers pay for the cooks errors with their tip money. For instance, I had to redeliver a pizza because it was burned, and when I came back Betty said that if I did not pay $17.99 for it that I was fired. I refused, and Betty said, "Your fired." So I quickly paid the money and was able to keep my job.

Betty and Rick, (at her orders), would purposely make it impossible to keep track of your own hours. Every week they changed the schedule often several times in one day for several days, right in the middle of the week, which made it as difficult as it could be to keep track of any hours.

Betty wouldn't tell you what days were the beginning of a paycheck, and what day is the last day to be posted on time cards. This also makes it impossible to keep track of hours, or follow your checks.

I've noticed lots of minors working there over the years. 14 year old, who probably were paid off the books, a move which favors Betty somehow.

Betty Carter had me go off the clock to buy her food. At least once a day the management would not pay for an order, and just write "PROMO" on the ticket. We would have to make "Promo" deliveries to their friends and family at our expense sometimes four or five times a day. As a delivery driver I had to go to the grocery store for them which was on the clock, but I would miss out on deliveries and the possibility of gaining any tips. At the end of our unpaid meetings we were all made to sign slips stating that we would do anything that the management asks at any time no questions asked or we were terminated.

As far as health issues goes, here's just a few of some memorable experiences I have had while working there. I have seen cockroaches on pizzas served to customers. Management did not rotate the sauce regularly and never even checked unless an inspection was coming. Food was not rotated in any sort of routine at all. Mice have been killed rolling through the dough roller.

Betty Carter used to come in to work drunk, and I have a witness to that because I have a friend who worked at "Dirtwater Springs" right across the street from Pizza Hut, who said that she would have four or five southern comforts often before coming into work.

While Rick Carter was manager the register was always short. It was never short after he left, maybe a dollar once or twice. While he was there it was at least like exactly $20 short every night. I personally had to pay the register over 50 times because it was short. I was there when a delivery driver named John had to pay when he wasn't even using the register!

Tim Carter, Betty's other son was arrested and went to jail for stealing thousands of dollars from this same Pizza Hut that he was later made manager of. Shouldn't that tell you everything about Betty Carter?

Rick told me to deliver pizza, not pay for the pizza, and explained to me that Betty would never find out and told me to split the money with him for the pizza's this went on for like two weeks straight until I told him I didn't want to do it anymore. He continued to do it for like two months on his own, but he didn't give me any money. He did that to everybody for a while.

While he was my boss, Rick Carter told me he was a drug dealer and a user. I've seen a lot of drugs in the manager Rick Carters hands. I have been there and heard Rick say to me when the police showed up Pizza Hut, " what am I going to do now? - I can't do the drug deal now, the cops are here."

Rick used delivery drivers to do his drug deals. He would have the drivers just drop him off somewhere, and come back and get him in an hour. One time I came and picked him up at this girls house and he asked me if I wanted to smoke Meth with him. He smoked meth in my truck on another occasion while I was delivering pizza. Rick gave me money and asked me to go to a guys house and drop it off, and I knew that the guy was a meth user and that this was drug money I was delivering at my risk and expense. This and other drug related errands were done almost every day. I told him that I didn't want to do it anymore, I explained to him that it was coming off my time and money, so Rick offered to pay me money for continuing to do it.

Rick had sex with a 15 year old and bragged about it, her name was Jennifer. He said he "went and got a hotel"...He is a pedophile, child molestation, Rick Carter, at 35 years old!

Rick Carter constantly harassed and intimidated his employees. This is acceptable management practices for his boss/mother Betty. Both Rick and Tim have had affairs with underage girl employees while working there as managers. This is also accepted by their mother. Tim was actually going to marry a girl who was only a 16 year old employee. She was Melissa Carters best friend. The affair lasted for like five months, with Betty right in the middle of it all giving them rides. Etc..Even though they are in their 30's, neither of Betty's manager son's can drive, due to legal problems.

One day Rick and Betty were standing outside the back door, and I walked by and Rick told me in front of his mother, word for word, "I f***ed every single girl who worked here the last time that I worked here, ask my mom!" and his mother Betty said, "that's nothing to brag about."

Rick asked Misty to trade sex for dope. He must have not known she didn't do meth. I saw her dad come in, he was yelling at Rick. As I was walking in he was walking out yelling at Rick in front of all the customers, "your a f***in crank boy."

I was sitting at a table in the restaurant with and Rick asked an employee, named Megan, "come here for a second, then he said to her" tell him" (as he pointed to me), "didn't I make you squirt so hard last night?" and she blushed and walked away.

Rick asked me as an employee if I wanted to join in with him to have sex with a girl. He said that to me at least four times while I worked there.

I know another girl who works at Little Caesar's Pizza in Apache Junction, who said the reason she left was because Rick Carter asked her to have sex with him while she was in the walk in.

I have video besides the one you already have, that shows Rick and Vanessa kissing at the make table in the middle of rush hour. The video shows Rick as manager grabbing Vanessa's a*s and everything right in the middle of the crowded restaurant.

I was accused of being gay from Rick one day. This was because I was on good terms with an employee named John who they were always harassing every way they could. They always referred to him as "the f*g."

John was a very good employee, and goes by the rules. They would constantly say things like he's being a b***h, that he was a f****t, and they made fun of him in front of other employees, which is risky for John in a town like Apache Junction. Betty once told me while John was ill, that John faked a doctors excuse for having heat stroke during the summer of 99. I found out that Betty lied about this. She said that she was looking for a reason to fire him. It turned out that Betty sent the doctors note back to his doctor, and wrote "return to sender" on the letter. John's doctor knew what type of person Betty is so the doctors secretary actually hand delivered the letter to the Pizza Hut management herself so Betty wouldn't get away with firing John over this! What's interesting is that it is Betty's fault that John even got heat stroke. She had him sweep the parking lot for hours, and then she wouldn't let him drink any liquid in the car, in the middle of summer in Phoenix AZ!

I think that John could be in danger from these people, but I think that the Carters are afraid of him as well. I told John while he was still employed with Pizza Hut and was being threatened by them at the time, that he was crazy to go back to work there. I could see at least a 50% chance of Rick setting John up while he was delivering Pizza, having people just grab him into the house, beat him, and just throw him into the desert somewhere.

I've seen 15-20 managers come in and out of there in the four years that I worked there, and the only ones that would stay are all members of the Carter family or their girlfriends.

The Carters are such hateful and soul destroying people, you have to deal with that while working there, plus you have to worry about your life while delivering drugs, or drug money for the management while working with them. You also have to worry about them even thinking you might have double crossed them or something, which as crank addicts they were always suspicious of everyone all of the time. Who knows what these types of addicts will do to someone. Employees who know too much always end up being afraid of them.

I feel so much better now that I am employed elsewhere. Looking back is hard for me.

I feel that the Carters took four years of my life.