7 ms·

Yeah. I’ve heard amazon is really unpopular up there I’m surprised he couldn’t find more to say on the issues.

bm1362 9y ago
As an employee, it was pretty apparent people didn't want you there. The Stranger would post inflammatory articles about tech bros and unflattering caricatures. My girlfriend and I moved up from Texas completely unaware of the stigma. She worked in bars and restaurants, where the staff would disparage customers suspected of being tech yuppies. I even remember being a guest at a BBQ once, I told someone I worked at Amazon (timidly) and the response was "Oh, you're one of those assholes." Coming from small town Texas and being lower income, it was a weird time for me. I was newly middle class and when I would go back home I felt weird about my income, but then being in Seattle I felt unwelcome.
- techsupporter 9y ago
  > and the response was "Oh, you're one of those assholes." Frankly, and I mean this with all sincerity, fuck those people. They're what happens when empathy dies and envy takes its place. Ask any one of them if they'd have liked to immediately be vaulted into a six-figure salary with a stable company and a benefits package that would make a Congressperson blush and I bet you six shares of AMZN (that I've never own, full disclosure) that they'd take that deal in a hot minute. The bulk of the animosity about the "asshole tech-bros" seems like simple envy to me. To wit, lots of people are moaning about all of the wealthy people moving into the Central District and decrying that others are being "pushed out." Something like 72% of the CD was, four years ago, owner-occupied, so the people who are leaving (and, presumably, making bank on those properties they've owned for two decades) are doing so of their own free will and profiting from the sale. Yes, housing costs are a beating here but the bleating coming out of Wallingford and Magnolia and Roosevelt can just shut the hell up because the bulk of those voters ARE THE REASON that new housing doesn't get built at the rate it needs to be built. /end rant //sorry about that
  - biocomputation 9y ago
    >> They're what happens when empathy dies and envy takes its place. Well, forgive me for pointing this out, but what you wrote contains a fairly shocking lack of empathy. Feeling bad or angry about being driven out of a neighborhood by an enormous wave of outsiders isn't about envy. The change hasn't even been incremental; the bulk of the changes have taken place in the last five years! In the central district, entire communities that existed for decades are being destroyed. They are bulldozing people's communities to make room for people with more money. How can you expect people to not feel angry?
    - techsupporter 9y ago
      > How can you expect people to not feel angry? Being angry at the macro effects is one thing. Calling someone an asshole to his face simply because he did what everyone else on the planet wants to do (earn an income) is entirely another. > In the central district, entire communities that existed for decades are being destroyed. They are bulldozing people's communities to make room for people with more money. First, which community? Do you mean the Jewish community that existed there before the folks from middle-Africa moved in? Or do you mean the Catholics before that? Or the Native American tribes before that? Yes, the people who were redlined into the CD had little choice but to move there. That they're cashing out is a good result, in my opinion. Second, if someone sells his or her property and leaves, that's not destruction, that's exactly what everyone who owns property wants to have happen. You can't decry the loss of community on one hand while taking the check from the closing table to the bank with the other. (For what it's worth, I've no property interest in the CD. I live in Greenwood.)
      - fjsolwmv 9y ago
        Your problem is ignoring the renters getting creamed.
        PhasmaFelis 9y ago
        I'm continually baffled as to why gentrification is the new renters' fault but not the landlords'.
- biocomputation 9y ago
  Yes, there has been a continuous and pretty well-organized effort to make Amazon employees feel unwelcome. I've participated in this campaign as much as possible, and I don't feel the slightest bit guilty. Here's why. Amazon is almost single-handedly responsible for destroying communities that people spent decades building. This includes the destruction of at least two of the most significant communities for persons of color in the entire city. And for what? For Walmart-in-the-sky? The people who lived in those communities were not given any choice in the matter, they simply had to pack their bags and leave before their houses were torn down or sold. For many people, the results have been heart-breaking. Please, please, please forgive me for not feeling any sympathy whatsoever for the plight of highly-paid invaders who cared not in the slightest for the communities that were destroyed. It's really, really, really funny listening to an Amazon employee complain about the hostility from a community that most of you never even bothered to try and understand at all. Most Amazon employees came here to consume and to get ahead, and they didn't care - the slightest bit - what got destroyed, and who got hurt in the process.
  - fjsolwmv 9y ago
    What lived in the SLU warehouses? Was it Amazon who forced the city to refuse to allow housing density and transit?
    - WalterBright 9y ago
      I read that before Amazon moved into SLU, there were about 600 residents there total.
  - OrwellianChild 9y ago
    I mean, another option could be that they were looking for good jobs...
  - dang 9y ago
    You crossed the line into flamewar and political battle in this thread, which destroys the thoughtful conversation that this site is supposed to be for. That's particularly destructive to a thread like this one, which managed to stay pretty thoughtful and have lots of interesting substance despite the controversy of the topic. Whether or not you intended to turn the discussion into a flamewar, it's negligent enough to count as arson. Moreover, you've unfortunately done things like this on HN before. Would you please not comment like this here again? The guidelines are at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and we would appreciate your reading and following them, even when it comes to Amazon.
- WalterBright 9y ago
  The local "Almost Live" show in the 90's would regularly lampoon Microsoft employees. (Their other regular target was, of course, Boeing employees.)
  - techsupporter 9y ago
    Relevant video links: "OK guys let me see your Boeing employee IDs!" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i21XcyMG4cU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i21XcyMG4cU "You know the rules in Redmond. You're not allowed to play any kind of sports within FIVE MILES of the Microsoft campus except for hackey-sack." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pxGDSucCEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pxGDSucCEI "Whadda ya mean you don't want to practice the accordion?!" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGlDVmBLibg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGlDVmBLibg "You're entitled to have a crystal present at any interrogation..." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJZplI5L_Fs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJZplI5L_Fs Not the same theme, but... "Did you have to dial a '1' before?" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9jlo4Ht2YA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9jlo4Ht2YA
    - goldenkey 9y ago
      Every one of those links was quality entertainment and a nostalgic insight into the Seattle area of yesteryear. Thank you for sharing!!
- rconti 9y ago
  Yeah, but that's more about The Stranger than it is about you. Or Amazon. That all vastly predates Amazon.

As an employee, it was pretty apparent people didn't want you there. The Stranger would post inflammatory articles about tech bros and unflattering caricatures. My girlfriend and I moved up from Texas completely unaware of the stigma. She worked in bars and restaurants, where the staff would disparage customers suspected of being tech yuppies. I even remember being a guest at a BBQ once, I told someone I worked at Amazon (timidly) and the response was "Oh, you're one of those assholes." Coming from small town Texas and being lower income, it was a weird time for me. I was newly middle class and when I would go back home I felt weird about my income, but then being in Seattle I felt unwelcome.

techsupporter 9y ago
> and the response was "Oh, you're one of those assholes." Frankly, and I mean this with all sincerity, fuck those people. They're what happens when empathy dies and envy takes its place. Ask any one of them if they'd have liked to immediately be vaulted into a six-figure salary with a stable company and a benefits package that would make a Congressperson blush and I bet you six shares of AMZN (that I've never own, full disclosure) that they'd take that deal in a hot minute. The bulk of the animosity about the "asshole tech-bros" seems like simple envy to me. To wit, lots of people are moaning about all of the wealthy people moving into the Central District and decrying that others are being "pushed out." Something like 72% of the CD was, four years ago, owner-occupied, so the people who are leaving (and, presumably, making bank on those properties they've owned for two decades) are doing so of their own free will and profiting from the sale. Yes, housing costs are a beating here but the bleating coming out of Wallingford and Magnolia and Roosevelt can just shut the hell up because the bulk of those voters ARE THE REASON that new housing doesn't get built at the rate it needs to be built. /end rant //sorry about that
- biocomputation 9y ago
  >> They're what happens when empathy dies and envy takes its place. Well, forgive me for pointing this out, but what you wrote contains a fairly shocking lack of empathy. Feeling bad or angry about being driven out of a neighborhood by an enormous wave of outsiders isn't about envy. The change hasn't even been incremental; the bulk of the changes have taken place in the last five years! In the central district, entire communities that existed for decades are being destroyed. They are bulldozing people's communities to make room for people with more money. How can you expect people to not feel angry?
  - techsupporter 9y ago
    > How can you expect people to not feel angry? Being angry at the macro effects is one thing. Calling someone an asshole to his face simply because he did what everyone else on the planet wants to do (earn an income) is entirely another. > In the central district, entire communities that existed for decades are being destroyed. They are bulldozing people's communities to make room for people with more money. First, which community? Do you mean the Jewish community that existed there before the folks from middle-Africa moved in? Or do you mean the Catholics before that? Or the Native American tribes before that? Yes, the people who were redlined into the CD had little choice but to move there. That they're cashing out is a good result, in my opinion. Second, if someone sells his or her property and leaves, that's not destruction, that's exactly what everyone who owns property wants to have happen. You can't decry the loss of community on one hand while taking the check from the closing table to the bank with the other. (For what it's worth, I've no property interest in the CD. I live in Greenwood.)
    - fjsolwmv 9y ago
      Your problem is ignoring the renters getting creamed.
      - PhasmaFelis 9y ago
        I'm continually baffled as to why gentrification is the new renters' fault but not the landlords'.
biocomputation 9y ago
Yes, there has been a continuous and pretty well-organized effort to make Amazon employees feel unwelcome. I've participated in this campaign as much as possible, and I don't feel the slightest bit guilty. Here's why. Amazon is almost single-handedly responsible for destroying communities that people spent decades building. This includes the destruction of at least two of the most significant communities for persons of color in the entire city. And for what? For Walmart-in-the-sky? The people who lived in those communities were not given any choice in the matter, they simply had to pack their bags and leave before their houses were torn down or sold. For many people, the results have been heart-breaking. Please, please, please forgive me for not feeling any sympathy whatsoever for the plight of highly-paid invaders who cared not in the slightest for the communities that were destroyed. It's really, really, really funny listening to an Amazon employee complain about the hostility from a community that most of you never even bothered to try and understand at all. Most Amazon employees came here to consume and to get ahead, and they didn't care - the slightest bit - what got destroyed, and who got hurt in the process.
- fjsolwmv 9y ago
  What lived in the SLU warehouses? Was it Amazon who forced the city to refuse to allow housing density and transit?
  - WalterBright 9y ago
    I read that before Amazon moved into SLU, there were about 600 residents there total.
- OrwellianChild 9y ago
  I mean, another option could be that they were looking for good jobs...
- dang 9y ago
  You crossed the line into flamewar and political battle in this thread, which destroys the thoughtful conversation that this site is supposed to be for. That's particularly destructive to a thread like this one, which managed to stay pretty thoughtful and have lots of interesting substance despite the controversy of the topic. Whether or not you intended to turn the discussion into a flamewar, it's negligent enough to count as arson. Moreover, you've unfortunately done things like this on HN before. Would you please not comment like this here again? The guidelines are at https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and we would appreciate your reading and following them, even when it comes to Amazon.
WalterBright 9y ago
The local "Almost Live" show in the 90's would regularly lampoon Microsoft employees. (Their other regular target was, of course, Boeing employees.)
- techsupporter 9y ago
  Relevant video links: "OK guys let me see your Boeing employee IDs!" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i21XcyMG4cU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i21XcyMG4cU "You know the rules in Redmond. You're not allowed to play any kind of sports within FIVE MILES of the Microsoft campus except for hackey-sack." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pxGDSucCEI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pxGDSucCEI "Whadda ya mean you don't want to practice the accordion?!" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGlDVmBLibg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGlDVmBLibg "You're entitled to have a crystal present at any interrogation..." - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJZplI5L_Fs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJZplI5L_Fs Not the same theme, but... "Did you have to dial a '1' before?" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9jlo4Ht2YA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9jlo4Ht2YA
  - goldenkey 9y ago
    Every one of those links was quality entertainment and a nostalgic insight into the Seattle area of yesteryear. Thank you for sharing!!
rconti 9y ago
Yeah, but that's more about The Stranger than it is about you. Or Amazon. That all vastly predates Amazon.