this post was submitted on 08 Sep 2023
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[–] [email protected] 195 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Okay I’m gonna get absolutely blasted for this, but here it goes.

Water went out in the warehouse at 3:45am, the last workers on that shift went home at 5:00am it sounds like. And the next shift which was to start at 7am was called and told not to come in because there was a water issue.

They were called back into work when the issue was fixed.

I see absolutely nothing wrong with this at all according to the facts as stated in the article.

They were without water for about an hour before they were scheduled to go home. It would take about that long for management to even recognize the issue, contact the city and get a timeline for repair. In the meantime, just keep working until they figure out how long it’ll take to fix, and when it is clear that it’ll take awhile, call the next shift and tell them they will reopen when the water is fixed.

Sounds absolutely reasonable to me.

But I know everyone loves shitting on amazon, so this post is gonna get murdered

[–] [email protected] 111 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I will cheerfully shit on Amazon every day, which is why shit articles like this piss me off. Amazon does plenty of real harm, but articles like this give this make people think "well, if this is their workplace mistreatment, then it's not that bad."

It is that bad, but this isn't an example of that. This could happen anywhere, to anyone, even the most ethical company/co-op/whatever on the planet. They handled it well. So let's go after them for actual shit instead.

[–] CryptoRoberto 21 points 1 year ago (7 children)

No access to water or toilets for an hour and fifteen minutes is a lot if you really need either.

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[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

See, the real trick amazon does is that no one is ever without a drink.

because if the water goes out, the workers can just pick up the piss bottles from the previous shift who had to piss in the aisle since they arent allowed to go to the bathroom.

Just imagine how many pissy fingerprints and straight piss might be on those packages your getting, having plenty of time to dry between boxing and delivery.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You're not wrong, I work for the government and if our utility services shut off for more than an hour I think we go home. People are saying that time without water would suck but I mean they are pissing in bottles and shitting in buckets. Does that make it right, no. But unless you have a medical emergency an hour fifteen is not going without water.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Well yeah they are pissing in bottles, but that's every day.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago

Yes but amazon has shown a history of not giving a shit about its workers

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The article says the water went out at 3:00, not 3:45. The shift ends at 4:45, again from this article. That's nearly 2 hours without drinking water or toilet facilities. That's a fairly long time.

Your also wrong about the next shift and the notification. Again, in this article....

The issue continued during the day shift. ‘They emailed dayshift workers at 7 AM to not come to work when the starting time is 7:45 AM, so many were already on site or on their way to work,’ explains Hannah.   

They sent an email, not a phone call, 45 minutes before the shift started. I'd be surprised if any of the employees checked their email at the last minute before leaving for work. It goes on to say that many employees come from a town an hour away. The email was sent while many employees were already on their 1-1.5 hour commute. The. They told them just go home.

Then, at 12:30, they messaged the employees that the water was on and they needed to be back at work in half an hour or they would not be paid for it.

Your description of events does not at all match what the article describes. Do you really think Amazon's behavior is acceptable ad I and the article describe it?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

The issue continued during the day shift. ‘They emailed dayshift workers at 7 AM to not come to work when the starting time is 7:45 AM, so many were already on site or on their way to work,’ explains Hannah.

Many workers travel to the Bristol site from the Newport area, roughly an hour and a half away. GMB union organiser Marie McDonald says workers were told to go home and advised that they would be paid for the day. But at about half past twelve, they received a message from the site saying that the water was back on, and they were expected to be on-site by one o’clock. ‘You’ve got to bear in mind that a lot of our members travel great distances to get to work. The bus stop in Newport is not centrally located. They have to walk for half an hour, so many couldn’t get on the bus in time to get back to Bristol,’ she tells Tribune.

One of our members, who couldn’t physically get to the site, was told they would have to take annual leave if they couldn’t get to the site. She doesn’t have any annual leave, so she’s being penalised for an issue completely out of her control. As far as I’m concerned, Amazon is putting productivity over staff safety.’

That sounds “absolutely reasonable”to you? Really? I hope I never work for someone with standards like that.

[–] [email protected] 52 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I don't buy on Amazon anymore. Not only to they treat their employees like crap, but also it's harder and harder to find quality stuff on their platform. Fake reviews are a huge problem.

[–] [email protected] 32 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Amazon is the new AliExpress with higher prices.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] OberonSwanson 13 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I feel like 2023 will be remembered as the year of enshitification.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I feel like the 2020s will be remembered as the Decade of Enshitification.

[–] OberonSwanson 7 points 1 year ago

Sad that you’re right. I even questioned saying, decade, but hesitated thinking I shouldn’t be to negative. 🥴

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Probably only because it became so glaringly obvious despite having started far earlier.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

Completely agree. Don’t use them for numerous reasons now, one (of many) being the amount of cheap junk cluttering up the search results with fake reviews.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (5 children)

Is there an actual alternative general online store that treats its employees well and has good prices on decent products? I'm all for supporting a different online retailer over Amazon.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Similarly, I've been trying to purchase less on Amazon, but the brick and mortar stores around me are also giants (namely Walmart). I haven't been doing a good job of it, but I feel like part of the process of getting away from Amazon is also accepting some inconvenience and seeking things out from local shops.

Things though like detergent, toilet paper, etc, I really don't know who sells them other than big box stores.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Things though like detergent, toilet paper, etc, I really don’t know who sells them other than big box stores.

I buy some of that stuff locally from a well-known & supposedly-"eco-friendly" brand. Just now I checked their website to see if they sell direct-to-consumer. Some do but this brand doesn't. So I took a look at their "Where to buy" list. Most of the listed online sellers were the obvious big-box or affiliated. But there was one apparently independent and environmentally-focused alternative retailer listed, with reasonable retail and shipping prices. I'm reading up now (Wikipedia and reviews) to decide whether that retailer will interest me or not.

So, my suggestion is to visit the websites of some brands that you like. Perhaps some may sell direct; and if not, check their "Where to buy" listings to see if any interesting options might be found there.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Depends where you're from but I don't know any who's global like Amazon is.

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[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (9 children)

I bet everyone shitting on amazon in the comments has a amazon package on thier doorstep right now lol.

[–] [email protected] 36 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't see how one invalidates the other. Amazon's predatory practices have killed off the competition and created a sizable price gap. Not everyone has the luxury of voting with their money.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

I haven't noticed their prices being lower in most cases. Check eBay. It's usually about 10% cheaper.

They haven't killed competition. There are hundreds of other online places to buy stuff for most items, too.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

My household has not bought anything from them since before the pandemic. Unfortunately, this means relying on Walmart, which isn't much better, but at least they get toilet breaks.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (25 children)

This is normal in the United States and has been for a long time. When i was a homeless LGBT teenager trying to survive, i went to a temp agency trying to make a living some other way than SW. They sent me to this warehouse where a bunch of felons and ESL people were working in some of the most inhumane conditions i had ever seen before. 12 hour days in a 110 degree warehouse working with toxic industrial chemicals that we had no information on, with a bare minimum of PPE, intense physical labor moving large stacks of equipment, and one break at the 6 hour mark to drink water. Most of the people there had been there a while. They just had this quiet resignation and determination to survive.

I didn't even last a single day. I started to feel heat stroke coming on around the 8 hour mark. Shivering, no more sweat, everything started to feel distant and confusing. I tried to go get water and they wouldn't let me, so i threw all my equipment on the ground and stumbled outside to find water, and never went back. I'm white, trans, and feminine enough to survive other ways, but most of those people didn't have any other options.

Fuck this monstrous place. I've been radicalized ever since seeing things like that.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

one of the most fucked things about america is that it seems like whenever you have a shitty work environment, it's actually fine because

a) it builds character. complaining is weakness.

b) the company has to make a profit

like zero cognizance of human rights or quality of life. just, it is what it is, deal with it or you're a sNoWFlAkE.

from grade school to now peers have looked at me weird for simply complaining when something is shitty, which i've never understood. like oh we can't use headphones while we work 8 hrs washing dishes? you just take that? ok i'm going to stare at a wall because a guy said so? wtf?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

That's the thing that has always driven me crazy about our way of speaking about these things. Politicians say "we created x jobs" like it's something to optimize for. People fear automation because it takes away their livelihoods. But, automating work and eliminating jobs should make people's lives... better? Why doesn't it actually? Where did the wires get crossed?

Why did we incentivize making humans suffer, at a grand societal level? Are we insane?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

But, automating work and eliminating jobs should make people's lives... better?

Sure, but not yours or mine, it seems.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

feminine enough to survive other ways

Is this supposed to imply prostitution?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Not implying, just saying it. What do you think SW means?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

That makes sense. I didn't attempt to decipher what sw meant because it didn't seem relevant to the story.

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[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It might be somewhat normal in the US, but it's frightening to see in the UK, a country that supposedly actually has employee rights.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Unfortunately not most of them

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I stopped using Amazon. It used to fill the niche of "I need this particular thing how" but honestly, 2 day shopping has been a lie for a while. If I need something that bad I can find a store with it. If I need something specific I can order manufacturer direct.

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