Discussion
  • Read More
    mvs2527Hamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 3:54pm

    "Did I Resolve Your Problem?" I hate that question with a Passion.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      UmmYeahOkmvs2527
      6/20/14 4:13pm

      I agree. It's not their fault that the company can't fix their problem. I've given people bad survey results before, simply due to questions like this. I'd be lying otherwise. But I try to make sure to leave comments explaining how they helped me as best that they could, but the company itself had placed policies preventing them from helping. Like, for example, they wanted me to pay extra for a special teir of tech support, just to get a password changed. Call center was basically a human variant of their FAQ.

      I worked at a call center once, and just knew how stupid this question was. Did I solve your problem? No? Still no service? Is that why a service tech is scheduled to come out there? You had a snowstorm/hurricane? The service techs in your area forced us to use a union, so they won't be out there till sometime next week from 8am-6pm? Sorry. That's not my fault, but did I resolve your problem?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      a.mvs2527
      6/20/14 6:54pm

      as do we all.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    yaahHamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 4:05pm

    I am so so sick of the "rate my performance" being used as proxy for employee performance. Car dealers are the worst with this, and now hospitals (sigh) are getting into this. "If you can't rate us a 5/5 please call us to say why!" Goddamn, a 5/5 is "exceptional" service which I am not going to get for my damn oil change unless you can get it done in under 10 minutes. A 4/5 is totally acceptable and I would use your place and recommend it to others, but in their warped world a 4/5 is a fireable offense. Why even have a 5 point scale?

    That being said, reading comment #1 above from the amazon employee, even a "yes or no" question can be fucked up by the person (customer) responding.

    While this serves as a critique of amazon, it also serves as a critique of the american consumer. Assholes! If you aren't satisfied tell them why!

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      remixedcatyaah
      6/20/14 4:29pm

      The Microsoft scale at conferences (when I went) was 1-9)

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Missy D Byaah
      6/20/14 4:44pm

      I had an uber driver tell me that if they fall below 4 stars they get fired. I don't know if thats true, but it seems like a very high metric! A 5/5 is exceptional; I don't know about you, but taking me from point A to point B is pretty standard and I only rate "exceptional" if there was water/mints or, more likely, if the driver was especially helpful or friendly. How can 4 be the minimum?

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Captain_CrutchHamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 5:33pm

    All due respect, these articles are becoming like the Dean Martin to That'z Not Okay's Jerry Lewis. I open them expecting to read something that's surprising or eye-opening or at least a little different, and I get the same tired content in the same tired format. Big successful companies aren't always super-efficient, and sometimes being big and successful means you have to use procedures that don't treat every person like the unique and special snowflake they think they are. They also occasionally do things to save money. I feel like these articles are becoming nothing more than an excuse to slam high-profile companies for what are relatively mundane practices.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      marydnathomeCaptain_Crutch
      6/20/14 5:45pm

      You didn't actually read the entire article, did you? These workers are not talking about being special snowflakes but that the system that rates their performance should be fair and relate to how well they are doing their job. It is clear that the system does not do that. But of course it is much easier for you to say "worker: bad, corporation: good.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Captain_Crutchmarydnathome
      6/20/14 6:43pm

      I almost qualified my original comment with something to the effect that I'm not in the camp of corporations or of the "free market" as perceived by greedy wealthy people, so I certainly didn't mean it that way. Having said that, I still believe my original point, which was that when you're evaluating people en masse, and remotely to boot, it's not always going to be a perfect system. Two lamentations does not a consensus make.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ScrambotHamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 3:59pm

    I worked at amazon CS in the late 90's. It was at first great; we were really tied to the overall culture, worked in the main building in Seattle, were thought competent enough to use Unix, and wrapped gifts side-by-side with the mucky-mucks at Christmas. The main complaints were about customers who thought their email address was aol.com. The perks were all rapidly reduced, the stock options, the expectation of promotion to another department, the goal of "the best customer service in the world" (yes, they really said that). Then they laid off the whole CS dept and replaced it with people in cheaper parts of the world. Interesting to hear conditions these days.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      GogogadgetanythingScrambot
      6/20/14 4:03pm

      I guess people in cheaper parts of the world didn't really cut it so their returning to the good Ol' USA and trying to cut their rates.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      unusedburnerScrambot
      6/20/14 4:03pm

      Did you work with Mike Daisey? If so, do/did you have any opinions about "21 Dog Years At Amazon"?

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    cuntybawsHamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 4:39pm

    Can we have that YES and NO feedback thing for Gawker writers 'posts?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      marydnathomecuntybaws
      6/20/14 5:48pm

      Are you paying a fee to read here? Unless someone is pointing a gun to your head and forcing you to read Gawker (at which point you should call the police) then you can always fuck off.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      cuntybawsmarydnathome
      6/20/14 10:33pm

      Are you a Gawker writer with an exceptionally thin skin? (at which point you should call your mom and cry) If not, then you can always fuck off.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    areyouseriousHamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 3:50pm

    Posting these verbatim without fact checking or names attached is just gossip.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ARP2areyouserious
      6/20/14 4:02pm

      1) Nearly every call center has metrics
      2) If you contact Amazon customer service, you will receive the "did I resolve your issue" question. I have.
      3) Two separate emails that essentially corroborate the story.

      But this is as possible as unicorns to you? What a strange world you live in. Sure, you can be skeptical, but to assume this is just a made up story is a bit strange.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      areyouseriousARP2
      6/20/14 4:05pm

      I don't really think he made it up, that would take a lot of effort. I do think that if look around at any major corporation, and grant anonymity you're going to find people with an ax to grind. Without attaching names, these people could say literally anything about how a company is run behind closed doors and it can't be checked.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    dsfsdg4r4fHamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 3:50pm

    Amazon's evil, raise the minimum wage, NYC is the only place that matters, ban guns. Did I miss anything?

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      HelloTh2rdsfsdg4r4f
      6/20/14 3:55pm

      Benghazi?

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Aunt Peedsfsdg4r4f
      6/20/14 3:56pm

      Yes. BENGHAZI!

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    lisaloHamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 7:27pm

    Believe it or not, I had a great experience recently, with Amazon. My Kindle wasn't functioning properly, and their tech support walked me though all of the troubleshooting and finally offered to send me a replacement Kindle. They sent a prepaid shipping label of my return of the broken one, and the new unit arrived the very next morning. The people I spoke with at all steps were so nice. I answered "Yes" to the followup survey.

    It's terrible that the "Nos" can't be made to explain. I have a feeling there are plenty of people out there, just like the downvote trolls on reddit, who feel validated by giving a negative answer even when it isn't merited.

    I'm really sad to hear all the bad stuff about Amazon. I've been a longtime, satisfied customer and I depend on them for lots of purchases. Now, I feel conflicted buying from them. I wish there were some kind of happy solution.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      amazonreplisalo
      6/21/14 2:43am

      we love talking to customers and helping you, but when the threat of being fired looms over your head all week because you get one or two NOs it can wreak havoc on your ability to do your job well

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    misanthrope360Hamilton Nolan
    6/20/14 9:39pm

    We have annual reviews at my organization. We're given a list of our job duties and asked to score ourselves from 1-5. Our supervisors do the same, and then in the review our supervisor compares the score they gave us with the one we gave ourselves. It works really well (for us at least) because you learn where you and your boss are on the same page, where you're dropping the ball, and where you're excelling yet didn't know.

    I can't stress enough, though, that I am very fortunate to work for a company where we are all deeply invested in the organization's success, we all like each other, and we all support each other and work to help each other succeed. It seems like at a lot of places, "performance metrics" are just a way to make it easy to fire people, rather than a tool to help people grow as employees.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      lobstrHamilton Nolan
      6/21/14 2:46am

      This dunce who installed our DirecTV dish left cut zip-tie clippings all over our backyard (over 100 of them) and didn't bother to pick any of them up, and told us that he "needs" us to give him a "10/10 rating" because it's the only way he "can get paid" or some shit. The whole rating system bit feels very much like the Gong Show, having to pick a relatively arbitrary number (1 to 10 leaves a lot of objectiveness!) .. I didn't want to bust this guy's balls, but I didn't like that he was commanding we give him a 10 — I normally would have not taken the survey but because he gave zero fucks about littering that shit all over our yard, it was a 1. *GoNg!*

      Reply
      <