can describe my experience working at amazon.
Will start by saying I was a relatively young fit guy, and maybe more importantly low maintenance (have literally never missed a day of education or work through illness in my life)
Will start by saying I was a relatively young fit guy, and maybe more importantly low maintenance (have literally never missed a day of education or work through illness in my life)
it was a one-month gig. I think it was all night shifts, can't say for sure as I think my mind has tried to erase the experience for my own sanity. Day 1 began with a slide-show which can be summarised as get ill & you're fucked. The tone was borderline intimidating.
straight into the job as there wasn't too much to it, you learn the location coding, grab your little handheld bleeper thingy that tells you what item to 'pick' and you're off. 13 hours of solid walking. Have read 30km today, back then you'd read 14km a day, I have no idea tbh
no idea as you're kind of in a haze, after a week or so I'm talking actual fight-club vibes of not really knowing what day or time it is or almost whether you're fully awake.
You got a lunch break, can't remember if it was 20mins or half an hour but do remember that half of that time was taken up by simply walking to and from the break area as the sites are so big, no one really had the energy or spirit to socialise a lot of the time
specify spirit because it was such a dehumanising atmosphere and will say culture too because I think it was the product of the agencies who worked in conjunction with amazon. There was a 'compulsory overtime' one day a week which is a potentially strange phrase in itself
this overtime day itself I welcomed at first as it was paid better than a 'normal' day so on top of the extra for a night-shift you were talking almost £150 for essentially a very long walk. The problem was they wouldn't tell you in advance when this day was
half my breaks (I think it was two 10-15min breaks either side of the 20-30min lunch break in the 13 hour day) were simply going to the agency desk asking when my overtime day would be that week, "we'll let you know" was always the answer
in reality it made no difference knowing at least a day in advance as planning your week was a pointless exercise as 13 hour days plus travel back & forth (plus simply getting out of the site, more on that later) meant days were only work, eat, sleep anyway so what can you plan?
the final compulsory overtime I remember vividly. I was eating dinner in the bath (yes really) trying to revive my legs a bit, was a much sadder version of pre-season football camps. The agency phoned as I was in the bath saying your overtime is today, see you in 2 hours.
after days of probing them when the overtime day was going to be then as it got so late assuming ok surely this is a treasured day off then and a chance to revert back to the 'normal' world rather than the nocturnal world it was dry-off, power-nap and go again.
There was this leaderboard of most items picked (black mirror episode?), I was never sure how legit it really was due to testing it one day literally jogging between items and still never seeing my name. Maybe it was only for permanent staff, that may even be an oxymoron
I assume the staff were conveyer belts of people like me, people at a loose end, people new to the country, people between jobs, essentially disposable people and that's the sad key to it all. A half hour lunch break in a 13 hour day, half of which is spent walking to & from, meh
the final day on the job went as follows: 13 & a bit hours done, that and a bit was crucial as it meant the day shift people had all arrived so it was basically a crush of people. The time it took to simply get to my locker, then to the exit, then out the carpark was over an hour
it was about 8 in the morning at this point, my day over whilst other people were starting theirs. I remember driving up to a zebra crossing where a guy was about to cross and I just sped over the crossing forcing him to jump back
the scary part was I barely even noticed until a few seconds afterwards, even worse I didn't care! Reflecting on that later really worried me so I never went back. Nothing that could revert my entire personality from probably over-sensitive to dangerous prick can be worth it.
anyway that was my personal experience. You read these horror stories from apple too for example and I completely get it. The whole worker experience can be improved in such basic ways and the irony is by being happier your pride then kicks in so you're more productive that way
have also worked in Argos too for example and that was an absolute pleasure in comparison.
Don't find those horror stories about apple for example so shocking any more, just stick a suicide net up, make an advert full of fake smiles, carry on.
Don't find those horror stories about apple for example so shocking any more, just stick a suicide net up, make an advert full of fake smiles, carry on.
will end on a lighter note, the dildos were on the same shelf as the Downton Abbey boxsets where I worked which was a much needed perk to get through the day
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