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Everything is about degree. Nobody in my office has ever called 911 due to something like this. I have no idea where this rates in comparison to other warehouse

Everything is about degree. Nobody in my office has ever called 911 due to something like this. I have no idea where this rates in comparison to other warehouses. But also it's hard to measure because maybe Amazon calls 911 to report this where other companies wouldn't -- similar to Apple calling an ambulance over people walking into glass doors just to protect themselves.

legitster 8y ago
How are you sure? Talk to someone in HR and you may be surprised how many ways that people can lash out or cry out for help.
- elicash 8y ago
  Fair, but still a matter of degree regardless.
  - legitster 8y ago
    It's more likely that the type of people working in Amazon warehouses have less access to resources (friends, therapists, etc), so 911 is the only place to call. Which is a much bigger issue than just Amazon.
    - elicash 8y ago
      There's zero evidence to support any one theory. What we know is what's in the article -- that Amazon had 189 incidents in five years.
- ken 8y ago
  I've worked in warehouses. I've never worked in an Amazon warehouse, but I have worked with people who have, who've told me it's the worst warehouse they've ever worked in, and they refuse to buy anything from Amazon.com today because of that experience. I've also worked in offices, and while it can be stressful I've never seen anyone urinating in a garbage can because they weren't given time to go to the bathroom. I think I would have noticed that.
  - krapp 8y ago
    I work in an Amazon warehouse. The first two months I was in the worst pain of my life, after that, the worst problems were backaches and tedium and complaints about the bad UI with their stow app. I'm not going to lie, though, VTO is a hell of a drug if you can afford it. Some people can deal with the stress, some people can't. I don't think it's a strength/weakness thing either. It's just one of those jobs where you're perfectly aware of the degree to which you're a cog in a machine, and everything you do has to meet metrics. If you want a job where you feel as if you matter as a person, or a job that brings you a sense of meaning, satisfaction or long term security, L1 at an Amazon warehouse isn't for you. I wouldn't consider the horror stories to be typical, given the size of the network. I also wouldn't dismiss them, given the culture and the incentives Amazon can create. If someone told me there was a warehouse somewhere where the AMs shocked the pickers with cattle prods, I'd believe that Amazon would try it at least once, if they could get away with it, just to see how many seconds they could shave off their time.

legitster 8y ago

How are you sure? Talk to someone in HR and you may be surprised how many ways that people can lash out or cry out for help.

elicash 8y ago
Fair, but still a matter of degree regardless.
- legitster 8y ago
  It's more likely that the type of people working in Amazon warehouses have less access to resources (friends, therapists, etc), so 911 is the only place to call. Which is a much bigger issue than just Amazon.
  - elicash 8y ago
    There's zero evidence to support any one theory. What we know is what's in the article -- that Amazon had 189 incidents in five years.
ken 8y ago
I've worked in warehouses. I've never worked in an Amazon warehouse, but I have worked with people who have, who've told me it's the worst warehouse they've ever worked in, and they refuse to buy anything from Amazon.com today because of that experience. I've also worked in offices, and while it can be stressful I've never seen anyone urinating in a garbage can because they weren't given time to go to the bathroom. I think I would have noticed that.
- krapp 8y ago
  I work in an Amazon warehouse. The first two months I was in the worst pain of my life, after that, the worst problems were backaches and tedium and complaints about the bad UI with their stow app. I'm not going to lie, though, VTO is a hell of a drug if you can afford it. Some people can deal with the stress, some people can't. I don't think it's a strength/weakness thing either. It's just one of those jobs where you're perfectly aware of the degree to which you're a cog in a machine, and everything you do has to meet metrics. If you want a job where you feel as if you matter as a person, or a job that brings you a sense of meaning, satisfaction or long term security, L1 at an Amazon warehouse isn't for you. I wouldn't consider the horror stories to be typical, given the size of the network. I also wouldn't dismiss them, given the culture and the incentives Amazon can create. If someone told me there was a warehouse somewhere where the AMs shocked the pickers with cattle prods, I'd believe that Amazon would try it at least once, if they could get away with it, just to see how many seconds they could shave off their time.