Disappointed

[NC Belle]

I have been struggling in finding the right words to add in letting Dustin, Sean, and Ryan (Rteetz) for stepping forward in how they were treated. I feel for others also affected by this toxic situation. My last work site was very toxic and even going through channels...let say it was long and not the greatest experience in the outcome. I feel for any one who is facing possible economic impacts and plus all of the emotions. It takes a lot of processing to come up with a new plan of action.
I wish to say more to those impacted, but it has been a hard week plus Sunday...we found out the person who gives us a punch list of tasks when we get to volunteer had died.
I am trying to avoid some posts so sorry in trying not be specific tonight. Too many triggers for me.
It was nice to see some posters from long ago come back to support Dustin, Rteetz, and Sean.

 

[FigmentKrazee]

Just watched Ryno's livestream and between that plus Corey and Craig's posts the thing that stands out to me is that none of the current employees (so far) are defending Pete. I was honestly expecting them all to say "these accusations are from former employees and we stand with our founder" yada yada. But instead, it's been support for the victims (whom I believe) and requests for privacy and grace. That speaks volumes. Perhaps they didn't know the details of the more egregious acts, but it's clear from their responses that the work environment Pete fostered was not one that compelled his team to come to his defense. If anything, Ryno at least seems relieved that the veil has been lifted.

To quote him, "It's time for Roseanne to become The Conner's."

Where can we watch Ryno’s live stream?

 

[BluEye]

You completely missed my point. I was not saying that rooms aren’t shared. If the people are comfortable with it, and they are there to work not play (and particularly if the travel IS the work). That is their choice to accept the accommodations.

I will say my company would absolutely never make any individual employees share a room, as many employees would be uncomfortable with the intimacy of sharing a room (undressing, bathing, sleeping) in the same space as a co-worker. It might work if the co-workers are friends and are comfortable with that lack of privacy, but I’m not going to be the one determining that and hoping I’m not putting one or the other in a difficult situation. There are also too many variables: married individuals, opposite sex or differing gender identities, etc. You’d end up getting single rooms for some and not others and set up a hierarchy of need that’s entirely too difficult to justify. As a business owner, that’s a situation I would never put my employees in anyway. Now, we aren’t shelling out for suites for everyone, but conferences and work travel (even for multiple employees) are always budgeted for single occupancy. If it's for work, the travel is billed to the client. If it's for a conference or other unbillable activity, then a cost-benefit analysis is performed and we determine what we feel is an appropriate travel budget based on the anticipated benefit of attendance, and staff and budget the travel accordingly. But that still isn't the point.

My point, rather, was that Werner strikes me as the kind of individual that absolutely would expect his employees to share a room, while absolutely refusing to do so himself, and the fact that he WAS sharing a room with an employee might be a red flag. He strikes me as the kind of person who would not only reserve the largest suite/cabin possible, but also go out of his way to let everyone know that he had all that space, all to himself, because he can.

Totally agree! Especially regarding Dustin. If you know that your business partner is a hound why not ask questions, try intervene, create policy before the fox at his own whim decides to sleep in the hen house. Maybe someone like John did who knows.
Our household watched the vlogs back then and we saw how good Dustin was on the show and how invested he was. This was the good kid that wanted this dream job so bad. And that made him vulnerable. He created the studio. The company profited from it. Then left abruptly. And we know he was an adult and never told anyone and some of it was consensual…? But share a room with your freakin boss really?? I’ve traveled for work many times over the past 25yrs not once did I have to share a room with my boss. If you know your business partner is attracted to young men why not create a policy.
We watched it on YouTube years ago and when Pete said Dustin and I shared a room…we the viewer suiting on our couch were like whut whut did he just say? We thought it was odd. No one else at that company did? Come on.
Now years later we watched Ryno the other night.. something up…and someone types the word Dustin. Our first words - oh no no. We just knew. So please don’t try to say that no one at that company suspected something was up between the two of them even if he did not tell.

And man we are so pissed that this happened. We have never met Dustin but we have cried for him and we have prayed for him. I know he is doing ok now but you cannot erase this from someone’s life.

 

[jlp879]

Where can we watch Ryno’s live stream?

There is a link in post #470.

 

[Hunterr]

Totally agree! Especially regarding Dustin. If you know that your business partner is a hound why not ask questions, try intervene, create policy before the fox at his own whim decides to sleep in the hen house. Maybe someone like John did who knows.
Our household watched the vlogs back then and we saw how good Dustin was on the show and how invested he was. This was the good kid that wanted this dream job so bad. And that made him vulnerable. He created the studio. The company profited from it. Then left abruptly. And we know he was an adult and never told anyone and some of it was consensual…? But share a room with your freakin boss really?? I’ve traveled for work many times over the past 25yrs not once did I have to share a room with my boss. If you know your business partner is attracted to young men why not create a policy.
We watched it on YouTube years ago and when Pete said Dustin and I shared a room…we the viewer suiting on our couch were like whut whut did he just say? We thought it was odd. No one else at that company did? Come on.
Now years later we watched Ryno the other night.. something up…and someone types the word Dustin. Our first words - oh no no. We just knew. So please don’t try to say that no one at that company suspected something was up between the two of them even if he did not tell.

And man we are so pissed that this happened. We have never met Dustin but we have cried for him and we have prayed for him. I know he is doing ok now but you cannot erase this from someone’s life.

i may have missed this detail when i looked at dustins posts.
Was it common knowledge amongst the team, let alone viewers, that they were a "couple"? Or as far as the team knew, they would just do things like share a room to "save money"?

 

[Hunterr]

I have been struggling in finding the right words to add in letting Dustin, Sean, and Ryan (Rteetz) for stepping forward in how they were treated. I feel for others also affected by this toxic situation. My last work site was very toxic and even going through channels...let say it was long and not the greatest experience in the outcome. I feel for any one who is facing possible economic impacts and plus all of the emotions. It takes a lot of processing to come up with a new plan of action.
I wish to say more to those impacted, but it has been a hard week plus Sunday...we found out the person who gives us a punch list of tasks when we get to volunteer had died.
I am trying to avoid some posts so sorry in trying not be specific tonight. Too many triggers for me.
It was nice to see some posters from long ago come back to support Dustin, Rteetz, and Sean.

I dont know if she ever would say anything, but I feel like JL might have a lot of things to say.
Her last show wasn't even on the main tuesday show, but the Universal Edition. I felt like Craig probably had to push to let her be on there to say bye (seems odd that she wouldn't say bye on the main show with Pete).

I vaguely remember her saying on social media some time ago that she had gotten a tattoo removed that she got for a video on the Dis (i think for The Trip). She said she didnt get it removed because of what the tattoo was, but because of its attachment to the reason she got it (a constant reminder of The Dis? *shrugs*).

 

[stindall]

I cancelled my Patreon because I can’t in good conscience just wait and see how it all shakes out. I full heartedly support the team members caught in the crossfire but pulling financial support is just about the only thing I can do that feels like doing something.

I will gladly throw Ryno a virtual tip to counterbalance that (thanks to the poster who shared that link) because I recognize that Pete has a pretty messed up pay structure.

The problem with patreon is Pete has said time and time again it’s “his baby”. No one wants to give him any money right now since no one knows financially what’s going on. I paused mine for now until something is sorted. I stand with Sean and Dustin and the rest of the team.

 

[Princess Jes]

I dont know if she ever would say anything, but I feel like JL might have a lot of things to say.
Her last show wasn't even on the main tuesday show, but the Universal Edition. I felt like Craig probably had to push to let her be on there to say bye (seems odd that she wouldn't say bye on the main show with Pete).

I vaguely remember her saying on social media some time ago that she had gotten a tattoo removed that she got for a video on the Dis (i think for The Trip). She said she didnt get it removed because of what the tattoo was, but because of its attachment to the reason she got it (a constant reminder of The Dis? *shrugs*).

I could be wrong but I believe JL had her tinkerbell tattoo removed as she was having an immune response to it and the ink was making her sick.

 

[Jamie77]

I'm glad it got said here because for some reason, they're being coy about it elsewhere and not wanting to dox the person, but given their strong opinions that they're more than happy to dole out, I guess it's fair that they don't hide behind a Jafar avatar.

Posters from over there are reading this thread, so for those who were trying to figure it out, here it is, you're welcome!

I never watched that episode with this guy in it until today. I went back and watched it and I am perplexed as to why he’d have such strong opinions about Ryno only. It seems so random. Like why was it Ryno in particular? Because he also was on the show? I’m missing something here. I thought it was going to be some big reveal and it turns out to be just some guy I never saw in my life.

 

[Princess Jes]

I never watched that episode with this guy in it until today. I went back and watched it and I am perplexed as to why he’d have such strong opinions about Ryno only. It seems so random. Like why was it Ryno in particular? Because he also was on the show? I’m missing something here. I thought it was going to be some big reveal and it turns out to be just some guy I never saw in my life.

Going by what I’ve read on the other site and what Ryno said in his live, Ryno and Steve stopped being mates with him and he didn’t like that.

He thought that PW told them not to be his friend and they complied, so he was ragging on them in a very, very harsh way, taking massive swipes at them. What he didn’t realise was that they just didn’t want to be friends with him because he was a miserable person.

 

[yorkieteacher]

So, let’s take the SA out of the equation, not discounting or downplaying that, it’s abhorrent and vile, no one is disputing that, neither here nor on any other website, but it isn't dealing with the issue \that i keep seeing about "Red flags" and how others "should have known".

Now, let’s break this down:

- Owner of a small business (it’s small in employee numbers) hires people he may or may not be sleeping with, in a consenting (to the outside viewer) and/or paid relationship (however dysfunctional it is or seems) with employees/subordinates.

Same owner shows strong narcissistic (true narcissism, not the weird definition of it that seems to have permeated the world where everyone thinks all it means is selfishness or being self involved) traits (at best. Probably full blown narcissism or BPD) treats everyone in the company like trash, gaslights, abuses, berates, condescends. So when he does it to his lovers within the company, nothing seems out of sorts to how you yourself get treated.

Let’s be real, we, the audience, have witnessed team members have their physical traits mocked on air (“the giant head of Lady Clavin"), their food preferences (Steve), their ability to pronounce words, generally those of another language (Fiasco), their opinions on things (“you can have your opinion but it’s WRONG!” Or “you think X but you’re wrong because I think Y and my opinion is the right one” - sound familiar? These are practically direct quotes from shows that I’ve heard over the last 9 years of watching/listening) and just general mockery.

If someone is willing to do this ON AIR, can you even imagine what is said away from the adoring public?!

 

[yorkieteacher]

I guess I’ve always thought that all vloggers created an online persona that sometimes was an exaggerated version of themselves, for example the Trackers can’t be that calm and loving all the time, Nathan, Mr Morrow can’t be that happy and excited all the time. I figured they had acting skills and were performing to an audience. I thought Pete was channeling Ed Asner’s Lou Grant on Mary Tyler Moore, the grouchy curmudgeon who really has a heart of gold. He seemed to pick on Craig most of the time yet I had read they were really the closest. I can’t imagine working for someone who really was petty and dismissive of me. So I thought it was past of his shtick. Now I’m finding myself questioning all the vloggers I watch.
I was trying to reply to part of @Princess Jes but I’m not technologically savvy-

 

[gonzolady]

I dont know if she ever would say anything, but I feel like JL might have a lot of things to say.
Her last show wasn't even on the main tuesday show, but the Universal Edition. I felt like Craig probably had to push to let her be on there to say bye (seems odd that she wouldn't say bye on the main show with Pete).

I vaguely remember her saying on social media some time ago that she had gotten a tattoo removed that she got for a video on the Dis (i think for The Trip). She said she didnt get it removed because of what the tattoo was, but because of its attachment to the reason she got it (a constant reminder of The Dis? *shrugs*).

She posted a screenshot about the emperor can no longer afford his clothes (from the other site) on her IG. She has been reading there at least.

 

[MonaMN]

To those who think others on the team should have spoken up about the toxic dynamics, I’d remind you that not only can things be very weird in a small business as already mentioned, but nearly everyone was still young, barely out of college. Things that raise a red flag to me now probably wouldn’t have when I was 25 years old. Their worlds have been turned upside down and I think giving them grace is the best thing we can do.

John is maybe the only one who could have said or done something - he seems like one of the only people that was treated as more of an equal. Maybe he didn’t know given the division of duties, or maybe he should be held more accountable for not doing something, but abusers abuse everyone and hindsight is 20/20.

 

[vikequeen]

To those who think others on the team should have spoken up about the toxic dynamics, I’d remind you that not only can things be very weird in a small business as already mentioned, but nearly everyone was still young, barely out of college. Things that raise a red flag to me now probably wouldn’t have when I was 25 years old. Their worlds have been turned upside down and I think giving them grace is the best thing we can do.

John is maybe the only one who could have said or done something - he seems like one of the only people that was treated as more of an equal. Maybe he didn’t know given the division of duties, or maybe he should be held more accountable for not doing something, but abusers abuse everyone and hindsight is 20/20.

100% this. The attacks and suggestions that the team didn’t do enough have to be making a horrific situation even worse for them. I really hope everyone can just move on and leave them alone.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

To those who think others on the team should have spoken up about the toxic dynamics, I’d remind you that not only can things be very weird in a small business as already mentioned, but nearly everyone was still young, barely out of college. Things that raise a red flag to me now probably wouldn’t have when I was 25 years old. Their worlds have been turned upside down and I think giving them grace is the best thing we can do.

John is maybe the only one who could have said or done something - he seems like one of the only people that was treated as more of an equal. Maybe he didn’t know given the division of duties, or maybe he should be held more accountable for not doing something, but abusers abuse everyone and hindsight is 20/20.

Agreed.

And I think John (and Donna behind the scenes) were in an even tougher spot. As someone said upthread, this isn’t a club that they can just kick Pete out of. He founded it and owns part of the business. So even if they had a hunch about him, they’re kinda stuck unless they want to blow the whole thing up. Remember, John is the original “work boyfriend” and has probably been trying to handle Pete behind the scenes, make him go to rehab when he gets too out of hand, etc.

Going after Craig, Ryno. Etc. cause they “had to have known isn’t fair. If you want to direct that sentiment somewhere, they’re a more logical direction to point it towards. Just my opinion.

 

[Jamie77]

Going by what I’ve read on the other site and what Ryno said in his live, Ryno and Steve stopped being mates with him and he didn’t like that.

He thought that PW told them not to be his friend and they complied, so he was ragging on them in a very, very harsh way, taking massive swipes at them. What he didn’t realise was that they just didn’t want to be friends with him because he was a miserable person.

Wow. I’ve seen more maturity on a third grade playground. Thanks for filling me in!

 

[vikequeen]

Wow. I’ve seen more maturity on a third grade playground. Thanks for filling me in!

I’m glad there was a space for Sean and Dustin to tell their stories but too much of the content there is remarkably toxic

 

[ML_LovesDisney]

100% this. The attacks and suggestions that the team didn’t do enough have to be making a horrific situation even worse for them. I really hope everyone can just move on and leave them alone.

I agree. Abuse is very insidious. I work with trauma and abuse survivors every day in my line of work and there are people within the same home that don't "notice" things because it's all they know and they simply go into survival mode which turns off higher level, rational thinking; you feel powerless. People just love getting on their high horse to judge others, not ever having been in the situation themselves.

 

[rmm7e]

I’ve been going through old emails which caused me to remember sending a rather lengthy one to someone detailing the definitions of “consent” and “rape” as well as Florida law. It was prompted by this discussion from about 24 minutes in.

https://www.youtube.com/live/AT-344JyeL8?feature=share

The irony. I’m so angry.

Craig never said a word but he looked like he wished the floor would swallow him up whole.

I could be wrong but I believe JL had her tinkerbell tattoo removed as she was having an immune response to it and the ink was making her sick.

I thought it was an Alice tattoo and I never heard anything about it making her sick. I believe she didn’t want to have that link back to the show.

I was at the Richmond meet and the two people I most wanted to chat with were JL and Dustin. Unfortunately JL was fighting a nasty cold and our conversation was brief. Dustin was very withdrawn/unapproachable and now I know why, as he said Pete had pressured him in to telling his fam that weekend.