Mandatory Amazon warehouse story:
They have rate trackers, to track how fast a worker scans items or whatever. You get constantly hounded by supervisors if you don’t hit your rates. On the screens by your stations, there’s constant reminders to take wellbeing breaks and stretch breaks and stuff, even though that’s an impossibility if you want to hit your rate.
Then there’s these ‘wellness booths’. I believe they were soundproof. They were just little huts people would go into to have their breakdowns or to escape the constant noise of the warehouse.
Then there’s the vending machines. You can swipe your worker ID card to get free painkillers. No, I’m not joking. They have vending machines for free paracetamol.
It’s crazy how often I reference my time at Amazon, when I only worked there for like 3-4 months.
When I worked at amazon corporate, the floor had a quiet room, which contained just a chair, a lamp, and a box of tissues.
Not enough to kill you, but enough for you get back to work for another 5 hours
I believe there was but I only used it once so I don’t know. The memory is hazy - perhaps you could buy as many as you wanted, but the first one a week was free. I don’t remember exactly.
At the warehouse I work at, which is kind of a amazon wannabe, also has numbers to hit. It’s crazy how they hound you on these numbers but also want it both ways. No phone. The door locks 10 min after shift starts and as soon as break ends so a supervisor has to open the door for you to get in. Don’t talk. They removed the water cooler for 2 weeks because of “talking” before putting it back.
Just wildly draconian rules ON TOP of the numbers. Like dude judge them by the numbers, or fucking don’t. Either let the numbers be judge jury and executioner and let them have a phone and talk to each other or fuck off. It’s so fucking embarrassing this place is a goddamn kindergarten. It’s like management cannot comprehend that people are doing this to live and making every moment miserable is not going to help anyone.
I would never have been here for this long but I got a support position in tech. Otherwise I’d be fuckin outta this weirdo place
Whenever I read stories about workplaces like this, I think “Thank fuck that’s not me.” and I think about how I’d respond.
It’s only after I entertain fantasies of telling off some boss, or holding my boundaries and not debasing myself for some shitty corporation do I remember that if I lost my comfortable job and were looking at the choice of failing my family or letting a company treat me like a disposable robot because I’m cheaper than an actual robot, do I feel the icy chill of desperation and fear that must exist in the life of people who are forced to do these jobs.
It just makes me want to build a guillotine in my back yard, which I have, because I am one of the lucky few who owns a house. Shit, the world is fucked.
Yeah I mean as much as I would love to tell them to eat my ass, fact of the matter is that I have to pay rent and eat. They do pay somewhat ok, and some benefits, but it’s about the only upside. Probably one of the higher paying jobs you can get with zero experience doing anything and with no education and with a felony or whatever, yet they still have a gargantuan turnover rate. Like that REALLY says something about how fuckin weird they are lol.
I’m actively looking for jobs and once I do I’ll peace out and simply not tell anyone. It’s the best I got for fantasizing about owning them lol.
