I worked at Amazon in '05/'06, and the perception of frugality was still important then. For example, someone from another group complained to me that they wer

I worked at Amazon in '05/'06, and the perception of frugality was still important then. For example, someone from another group complained to me that they were being forced by higher-ups to remove a set of plastic plants they had recently bought. When it was pointed out that the plants were actually quite cheap (not to mention a sunk cost), the reply was that they "looked expensive."