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Thread: employment horror stories; Amazon and more

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    Serious Left-Static Negativist Eliza Thomason's Avatar
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    Default employment horror stories; Amazon and more

    I had heard it was bad working for Amazon, and recently decided to learn how bad. I am shocked.:




    Here is a shorter story on the hellish day of an Amazon warehouse worker:



    The above journalist also worked at Convergys (giant call center) and McDonald's. They all sound bad,. but the most frightening thing is Amazon and others like them is they electronically track how you use your every second, as if you are a machine and not a person.



    From the article just above:

    "The work in factories and minimum-wage facilities hasn’t exactly got harder in recent decades, Guendelsberger says. It’s that the jobs have become unreasonably more stressful, mostly due to advanced monitoring technology that meticulously tracks every second of every day for many employees.

    The reason, weirdly enough, is that their productivity is being compared to robots.

    Because of automation, human workers increasingly have to compete with computers and algorithms, Guendelsberger writes. But robots are still lacking when it comes to fine motor control and empathy. So many industries want a workforce that can “think, talk, feel and pick stuff up like humans — but with as few needs outside of work as robots.”

    These so-called “cyborg jobs” demand that low-wage laborers “crush those un-useful human parts of themselves down to atomic size.” And this type of employment is becoming increasingly common, with Oxford University estimating in 2013 that cyborg jobs could account for 47 percent of the US workforce."


    When I looked up and found these articles it was due to the thought that crossed my mind that I might want to do Amazon part-time at some time, since it seems it will be work readily available for some time, so I should read to see what they say what actually goes on there. I'd imagined myself packing boxes or picking, and I am efficient at doing things. But I would listen to myself if my back, my mind, any part of me got tired or stressed and take short 5 minute breaks to revitalize my energy. A a simple walk to a nearby bathroom can be refreshing in order to return to efficiency. I might work fast and hard 3 hours, then take 15 minutes of normal paced work, while carrying on a conversation, before returning to "fastest" work. So I imagined myself taking normal energy adjustments I felt I need to take, and I would be confident that I would be among the efficient workers, and I would be able to take pride that I had put in a full days work for a full days pay. I have always been a fast, productive worker.

    No. At these places there is no listening to your self, it is fastest work ALL the time, nonstop. TO be electronically monitored, how fast you actually work every second, is inhuman.

    It's sickening that this is what the world has come to.


    It has been (still is) a concern that they younger generations seem to be open to socialism, Marxism, and communism, actually seeing things as a good instead of the evil that they are. (I am viewing socialism as the entry door to those other things). The same folk are anti-capitalism. Capitalism done right is a GOOD thing, about the best we can do (other than have someone like Louis IX for a King!). To throw out all of capitalism because of gross misuse of it is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. (Private property, is a GOOD thing i.e.). So until I read these articles on the life of low-wage workers, I did not understand at all anti-capitalism sentiment. Now I do. If this is you work experience, it really must seem that certainly some other system would save you from such horror.

    This is not a good place we have come to. It is horrible.



    If anyone has any other employment horror stories, pleased share. It must not be only Amazon....



    Also, this poor family is in my heart, having lost their Dad at Amazon. The husband, wife and kids all look truly happy together. How truly sad for all of them there is no husband and father any more. https://highline.huffingtonpost.com/...h-amazon-temp/



    I buy from Amazon a lot because of time. Also education/teaching is a morning to bedtime/ 7 day a week job these days, and I wonder what I would do without Amazon. But I must start weaning myself from Amazon, until they can start treating their workers with some human decency. Meantime I need to start making care packages for, and leaving tips, for the delivery guys.....
    "A man with a definite belief always appears bizarre, because he does not change with the world; he has climbed into a fixed star, and the earth whizzes below him like a zoetrope."
    ........ G. ........... K. ............... C ........ H ........ E ...... S ........ T ...... E ........ R ........ T ........ O ........ N ........


    "Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the Church, is often labeled today as fundamentalism... Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along
    by every wind of teaching, looks like the only
    attitude acceptable to today's standards."
    - Pope Benedict the XVI, "The Dictatorship of Relativism"

    .
    .
    .


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    for "horror stories" find how people lived befor Socialistic revolution of 1917 in Russia, after what workers' (of the majority of people) life in other countries was improved to supress their opposing to capitalistic regimes

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    I'm gonna put y'all together. Trust me, I'll take y'all to the promise land.

    -Joe Biden

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    Politics is a parade of the self-important.

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    for better understanding, one should read:



    Also available from Amazon.com!
    “I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.” --- Pippi Longstocking

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    Serious Left-Static Negativist Eliza Thomason's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Joe Biden View Post
    I'm gonna put y'all together. Trust me, I'll take y'all to the promise land.

    -Joe Biden
    Joe Biden, you are a creep.
    "A man with a definite belief always appears bizarre, because he does not change with the world; he has climbed into a fixed star, and the earth whizzes below him like a zoetrope."
    ........ G. ........... K. ............... C ........ H ........ E ...... S ........ T ...... E ........ R ........ T ........ O ........ N ........


    "Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the Church, is often labeled today as fundamentalism... Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along
    by every wind of teaching, looks like the only
    attitude acceptable to today's standards."
    - Pope Benedict the XVI, "The Dictatorship of Relativism"

    .
    .
    .


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    Jesus is the cruel sausage consentingadult's Avatar
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    So what can we learn from this?

    • buy your books at the local book store
    • buy your music albums from your local record store, limit the use of streaming services, good music is worth paying for, so the artist can make a living.
    • get your meat from a source that treats animals decently, like this one:




    (note: enable subtitles and enable auto-translate to english)

    • etc. etc


    Obviously, all of this might cost you a little more money, so you either you have to work more yourself, or live a little bit more soberly, focusing more on what really contributes to your life.

    But if you are an I-EVERYTHING-NOW kind of person, you are going to buy these 5 buns with roast beef which are on special offer for only $0.99. At such a price point, you can rest assured that someone else, most likely someone conveniently out of your view, is paying the price.
    Last edited by consentingadult; 08-30-2020 at 12:13 PM.
    “I have never tried that before, so I think I should definitely be able to do that.” --- Pippi Longstocking

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    Serious Left-Static Negativist Eliza Thomason's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by consentingadult View Post
    So what can we learn from this?

    • buy your books at the local book store
    • buy your music albums from your local record store, limit the use of streaming services, good music is worth paying for, so the artist can make a living.
    • get your meat from a source that treats animals decently, like this one:




    (note: enable subtitles and enable auto-translate to english)

    • etc. etc


    Obviously, all of this might cost you a little more money, so you either you have to work more yourself, or live a little bit more soberly, focusing more on what really contributes to your life.

    But if you are an I-EVERYTHING-NOW kind of person, you are going to buy these 5 buns with roast beef which are on special offer for only $0.99. At such a price point, you can rest assured that someone else, most likely someone conveniently out of your view, is paying the price.
    That is sad but true. I think of it with guilt when I buy a nice thing for a good price. Fortunate me! But - did some child in China make this in his slave labor? Then, can it be right for me to have it?

    Yes, eating healthy meat can be expensive. We have some nice grass fed cow farms around here, because we are near wealthy country homes (also near poverty, working class, and expensive boarding schools). Yet a person can make lifestyle changes to let him spend more for the "moral meat". Incorporating intermittent fasting can help with that (food money is saved those days). And that's good for health and for spirituality. Also all those things you mentioned can be done by incorporating disciplines into ones life, and finding ways to live simpler and be committed to having less stuff means you shop for stuff less often.

    I am preaching to myself because I have too much stuff, and have been working ruthlessly this summer on getting rid of nice stuff I have hung onto for way too long. Just because it's nice. i remember a priest once saying its immoral to hang onto things you don't use when there are people who can use them. I guess it didn't make enough of an impression on me because I still hung onto my too much stuff. What a journey it's been into my past. It tells on me: I have been too stuff-centered. I am too interested in getting the just-right of anything. My childhood was so much more simple, and I didn't feel I missed out. But we moved to a wealthier neighborhood for high school and there was quite a different focus on stuff. I found it interesting how you can examine and judge any object for so many qualities. What is the best this? The best that? it was a whole new way of looking at the world. I "caught" that stuff-focus. It seems everything I ever bought I researched thoroughly. Its habit. [Lately I am all-in shopping for the right used wood stove]. So much though went into all that stuff I gave away this summer. I saw years of thought went into STUFF. I think I could have found better use for a lot of that thought. I would like to spend less time thinking about stuff in the future. . .
    Last edited by Eliza Thomason; 09-02-2020 at 04:17 AM.
    "A man with a definite belief always appears bizarre, because he does not change with the world; he has climbed into a fixed star, and the earth whizzes below him like a zoetrope."
    ........ G. ........... K. ............... C ........ H ........ E ...... S ........ T ...... E ........ R ........ T ........ O ........ N ........


    "Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the Church, is often labeled today as fundamentalism... Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along
    by every wind of teaching, looks like the only
    attitude acceptable to today's standards."
    - Pope Benedict the XVI, "The Dictatorship of Relativism"

    .
    .
    .


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    There’s always cheaper immigrant labor that won’t complain as much.

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    Since I read about amazon warehouse conditions, I've avoided buying things from Amazon that are fulfilled by Amazon when possible. I prefer to use it as a platform to shop from third parties.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ritella View Post
    Over here, we'll put up with (almost) all of your crap. You just have to use the secret phrase: "I don't value it. It's related to <insert random element here>, which is not in my quadra."
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    I used to work at Amazon & it was actually my favorite job that I've had. I got fired (wouldn't have quit) because some old man got in my face & we exchanged some words, & he ran to HR & made us both lose our jobs. Really liked the job itself, & I was a learning ambassador who trained new employees on outbound ship dock. He was one of only 2 people that ever gave me a problem there. The other person was a guy who keep trying to hit on me then got mad when I turned him down & started causing drama. Neither were from my shift either. Both were when I was working overtime. Everyone including the managers & process assistants on my shift were great. I'm still friends with a couple of the process assistants. Apparently I can reapply a year after when I was fired, which I plan on trying to do because I wanted to work my way up to management. It's a lot of work for sure, but the money was worth it to me & I personally love staying super busy. I don't mind working hard at all.

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    The rates aren't even difficult to make if you care to actually work. I could scan & stack totes faster than the robot machine we had, because it honestly didn't work that fast & it would malfunction a lot.

    Also, for palletizing our scan rate was supposed to be 160, & often my scan rate would be anywhere from 180-500 depending on the work load coming to us & how many different sorts there were.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sbbds View Post
    There’s always cheaper immigrant labor that won’t complain as much.
    There is no bottom to human wages if the only alternative is starvation.

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    At my previous job, my LIE employer asked me if I was more S or more M (BDSM). He also told me one time after work when we were eating alone that he once got a boner after a full body massage. There were other lewd comments I’m not repeating right here, towards me and to my LSE @Smilex -esque coworker. Around the same time I found out that we were in the red among many other problems, and that most of my other coworkers were quitting as well, so after chewing him out I too quit a few weeks later.

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    Quote Originally Posted by sbbds View Post
    At my previous job, my LIE employer asked me if I was more S or more M (BDSM). He also told me one time after work when we were eating alone that he once got a boner after a full body massage. There were other lewd comments I’m not repeating right here, towards me and to my LSE @Smilex -esque coworker. Around the same time I found out that we were in the red among many other problems, and that most of my other coworkers were quitting as well, so after chewing him out I too quit a few weeks later.

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    Quote Originally Posted by nanashi View Post
    when I grow up, I'm going to attempt to retrain and then fire people who still do this.

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    Quote Originally Posted by LMFAO View Post
    I used to work at Amazon & it was actually my favorite job that I've had. I got fired (wouldn't have quit) because some old man got in my face & we exchanged some words, & he ran to HR & made us both lose our jobs. Really liked the job itself, & I was a learning ambassador who trained new employees on outbound ship dock. He was one of only 2 people that ever gave me a problem there. The other person was a guy who keep trying to hit on me then got mad when I turned him down & started causing drama. Neither were from my shift either. Both were when I was working overtime. Everyone including the managers & process assistants on my shift were great. I'm still friends with a couple of the process assistants. Apparently I can reapply a year after when I was fired, which I plan on trying to do because I wanted to work my way up to management. It's a lot of work for sure, but the money was worth it to me & I personally love staying super busy. I don't mind working hard at all.
    Is that Amazon in this country (USA)? (I just wonder if it's worse here).
    Last edited by Eliza Thomason; 09-06-2020 at 09:46 PM.
    "A man with a definite belief always appears bizarre, because he does not change with the world; he has climbed into a fixed star, and the earth whizzes below him like a zoetrope."
    ........ G. ........... K. ............... C ........ H ........ E ...... S ........ T ...... E ........ R ........ T ........ O ........ N ........


    "Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the Church, is often labeled today as fundamentalism... Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along
    by every wind of teaching, looks like the only
    attitude acceptable to today's standards."
    - Pope Benedict the XVI, "The Dictatorship of Relativism"

    .
    .
    .


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    Quote Originally Posted by nanashi View Post
    when I grow up, I'm going to attempt to retrain and then fire people who still do this.
    Sexually/verbally harassing people, or vomiting all over the floor?

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    Quote Originally Posted by sbbds View Post
    Sexually/verbally harassing people, or vomiting all over the floor?
    Sexually/verbally harassing people, not to mention all the bullshit Eliza was pointing out Amazon does. People are assets. They can't do their best work when they have shitty environments.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Eliza Thomason View Post
    Is that Amazon in this country (USA)? (I just wonder if it's worse here).
    Yes.

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    Clearly the solution here is to just completely automate away that 47% so those people can go find better jobs.

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    I once worked on a production line in a factory near Detroit. The company didn't make cars, but rather made steel baskets to hold auto parts. The baskets were about four-foot cubes and had to be welded together from steel angles and wire grids.

    I got the job during a winter semester that I was taking off from school. I had decided that I wanted to learn how to weld and it seemed best to have a company teach me on the job, rather than me paying someone to learn, so I applied for the job and lied and told them I was a welder and then spectacularly failed the welding test, but they were so desperate for workers that they called me the next week and told me I was hired.

    I was hired for the third shift, from 11 PM to 7 AM, which meant that I slept until about 3 PM, then got up and started drinking and doing drugs with my roommates and buddies until it was time to go to work.

    The factory was huge, dark, dirty, and had minimal safety equipment. They didn't waste money on a lot of overhead lights or heat because the welders provided most of that. On lunch breaks, I would go exploring and I don't think I ever came to the end of the place. There were welding stations everywhere, throwing sparks into the darkness, and the welding arcs projected shifting shadows of the operators on the black walls and ceilings. When you walked through the place to your position on the line, you were walking though pools of oil and water that came through the leaky roof, and the huge ventilators were roaring overhead, collecting the clouds of welding fumes from the firestorm below. You wore earplugs because you couldn't hear anyone shouting anyway. The arc welding cables would snake through the puddles, and sometimes, when you stepped in a black pool, you could feel the sixty-cycle hum of the leaking current. Honestly, it was a lot like a corner of hell.

    My job was to finish weld the wire grid into the cubical frame. The baskets rolled on conveyor rollers on a line that was running all the time. The line didn't stop. I'd grab my stinger and welding mask, jump into the basket, squat down and start welding the wires to the frame. I've since figured out that the welder should have been set for about 125 amps, but I turned it up to 500 amps to weld faster. At 500 amps, a welding rod doesn't weld, it sprays steel vapor and molten droplets through a hellish, snapping ball of plasma toward the work. My skill was in keeping the rod moving, because if I paused, even for a fraction of a second, the metal spray blew through the angle iron and the basket got shunted off the line for rework, which the foreman hated. I didn't lose too many baskets this way.

    My partner on the line was a heroin addict. He was tall and thin and had long white hair, although he, like me, was only about twenty years old. He'd sometimes come back from ten minute breaks outside the plant and just stand really upright, swaying slightly, just looking at the line.

    If the work got to be too hard, someone, somewhere on the line would weld a basket to the line, which immediately seized the mechanism and brought the line to a halt. If you were inside a basket, which was normally moving past your station at a very slow walking pace, when this happened, you'd lurch sideways and whatever you were trying to do to the basket would scrap it instead. Then the maintenance guys would have to come out and cut the offending basket from the line. During this time, everyone would head to the outside doors to do more drugs. The plant manager hated these interruptions, but it's impossible to prove intent rather than accident when you have this many welders all working way faster than they should.

    When I got home from my shift, I'd take a shower before going to bed at 8 or 9 AM and I'd cough up black soot in the shower.

    Despite everything, I liked that job. It was very clear and straightforward. You welded baskets, and then you went home. You didn't talk to your coworkers or your foreman unless something went very wrong, which only happened a few times a week. Life was simple.
    Last edited by Adam Strange; 10-14-2020 at 04:31 AM.

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    @Eliza Thomason

    I kind of really like your anti-Illuminati, anti-Establishment posts despite you being a Delta (don't worry I like you anyway <3) Yeah go get 'em girl. Tell those condescending Amazon pricks what they do to humanity is wrong.

    I use Amazon sometimes but I refuse to use prime. I ain't paying no yearly fee just for quicker packages and a mediocre streaming service. They can suck it.

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