American Thinker: Having spent half of a year experiencing firsthand the labyrinthine bowels of an Amazon Fulfillment Center, I must ask:
“What are all the complaints about?”
Employment at Amazon was not perfect. Then again, no job will be. But for those wanting to establish themselves with a job history or get back into the routine of full-time employment, being at Amazon isn’t the torturous ordeal some have described. Coming off a year’s sabbatical and being a technical writer before that, work at an Amazon facility was a shining opportunity to regain some lost footing.
In retrospect, I can’t but be thankful for that. It wasn’t just the financial boon, but also the chance to persevere that elicited and encouraged growth and strength in both physical and mental senses.
Getting hired by Amazon was almost too easily achieved. Applying online hearkens back to the glorious days of spinach-green Game Boy screens. Pass a series of ridiculously simple mini-games and you are almost guaranteed an offer of conditional employment. Show up for a scheduled orientation a few days later and there’s a rundown of various tasks, basic processes, and of course the benefits.
Speaking of benefits, they are more than liberal for an operation of Amazon’s size and scope. Need time off? The company is fairly flexible about that. Employee discounts? Offered out the wazoo. Want to follow your dreams toward your one true career? Stick around for a year and Amazon pays for most of your school tuition and books. Want health benefits? You get ‘em, your family gets ‘em, your dog gets ‘em. The pay itself is better than average. The one perk that I saw employees constantly begging for but were forever denied was free Amazon Prime. And that’s no reason to gripe if it’s the worst that the corporate honchos refused to grant.
After that came the training: straightforward and comprehensive. It could be the most fluid and forgiving training regimen that I’ve seen. The learning curve was not particularly demanding, and new hires were given leeway as they gained a sense of their assigned tasks.
Every night’s shift began with everyone in the department doing “stand-up”: gathered around the supervisor of the evening, we were given a brief summary of the night’s work, a rundown of any issues, and encouragement about what to look forward to during the next several hours. A few stretching exercises and then it was off to the races. For the next ten hours we were on Jeff Bezos’ time clock.
Is the labor hard? At times, yes. Especially during “Peak Season” between Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. Otherwise it’s much like… gasp!… real work. My schedule was Wednesday through Saturday nights, 6 p.m. until 4:30 in the morning. There were two fifteen-minute breaks and one unpaid half-hour for lunch around 11. The break room had six large-screen TVs and forty microwave ovens. The vending machines were loaded with enough confectionary to feed a Texas county. more here
I see why it was too much for my snowflake daughter. That’s not a criticism of Amazon; it’s an admission I failed as a parent.
Does your daughter have a roomful of Participation Trophies & Ribbons?
Considering the big bucks societies “leadership” makes for doing nothing, expecting anything resembling real effort is downright insulting.
It’s the same people that complain that Wal*Mart is filled with disgusting trailer park shoppers as if they exist just because of Wal*Mart. They just want free shit, and a unionized workforce that will donate a huge chunk to democrat campaigns.
Our overindulged offspring have a sense of entitlement that has them believing any reasonable demands placed on them by employers is abuse. They expect praise simply for showing up {when they do} and to be showered with gratitude for any efforts. They also expect the employer to fully attend to their every need and any job requirements are secondary.
Yep – all about unionizing.
Children are the product of their environment. If a child doesn’t know how to work, it is because they were not taught how to. This responsibility falls on parents, who let the TV raise their children, because they are to self important to be bothered with the menial task of teaching their children. Blaming bad behavior on daycare or on the schools. When someone disciplines their child, they take the defense and say “My kid wouldn’t do that”. Schools are no longer allowed to discipline children.
The basic principles of right and wrong, respect your elders (teachers), how to be a good person should all be taught before they even start school.
The parents belief that their entire work day is from 9 to 5, the rest of the day is private time or party time.
I told my “lifetime welfare recipient sister”, that she needed to spend more time with her kids. Her response was “I take them everywhere I go”. Not the same thing.
The very basis of the democratic party is that it is “always someone else fault”, no personal responsibility. I got fired because I’m ___________. No you got fired because you didn’t come to work, goofed off the whole time, came in drunk,…….. the list goes on.
I will close before it becomes a full rant.
Remember who runs that company, what paper he owns, and who he gives money to.