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    Captain_CrutchHamilton Nolan
    12/30/14 11:54am

    Up next: Harrowing tales from bartenders who are forced to deal with the busy New Year's Eve rush!! And after that: Restaurant servers forced to work on Valentine's Day!!

    Honestly, these things are getting tiresome (and I'm a shameless bleeding-heart liberal who jumps at any opportunity to slam on big corporations). These people aren't being forced to work in salt mines, and it's to be expected that things might be crazy at a company like Amazon during its busiest and most important time of the year.

    I get it: They're not the nicest or whatever. But this guy was able to make (a legitimately hard-earned) $2,000 despite admitting to a "sad work history." I guess I just don't see the big deal in the grand scheme of things.

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      Hamilton NolanCaptain_Crutch
      12/30/14 12:09pm

      Allow me to raise the possibility that first person stories from people who work various places can be fascinating, illuminating, and insightful for their own sake, whether or not you conclude that their employer is "good" or "bad." Something to think about.

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      Captain_CrutchHamilton Nolan
      12/30/14 12:19pm

      I couldn't agree more; maybe you should put some work in on the "various places" part.

      As for whether these stories are "fascinating, illuminating, and insightful," I would agree that they are — the first dozen or so times we hear them. And I wasn't drawing any conclusions on whether Amazon is good or bad; in fact, your overly frequent presentations of these same stories from the same employers seems to give the impression that you're the one who finds the employers bad, only you're presenting that view through the stories of others, so as to say, "See? Look at all these people who validate my opinion."

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    RussianistHamilton Nolan
    12/30/14 11:50am

    For those who still think "this mandatory uncompensated overtime stuff couldn't happen to me, I'm middle class and white collar!" I suggest reading this article by an unusually frank wealthy guy who happens to have been an early-stage investor in Amazon.

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      PeroxyacidRussianist
      12/30/14 12:39pm

      If you're a middle-class, white collar worker, you presumably already know you don't get overtime. This is already happening to you.

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      RussianistPeroxyacid
      12/30/14 12:43pm

      You'd surprised how many of them think they're somehow different from the warehouse worker who wrote that diary when it comes to getting screwed over by corporate America, though. A lot of them rationalise away the 60+ hour work weeks with their annual salaries, which is a lot less depressing than dividing the salary by the number of hours actually worked to calculate an hourly.

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    Dave MaeHamilton Nolan
    12/30/14 11:27am

    I received all my packages on time and at a reasonable prize. Thank you for your hard work.

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      mikerooDave Mae
      12/30/14 11:44am

      I almost shed a tear.

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      jeanneeeDave Mae
      12/30/14 12:18pm

      Me too! Amazon workers, I salute you!!!

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    BoredHagHamilton Nolan
    12/30/14 11:21am

    Most people commenting on here who claim to hate Amazon as much as HamNo probably have Prime accounts they buy groceries off of bc they don't want to go outside when it rains.

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      TeenaBurnerBoredHag
      12/30/14 11:42am

      I don't know... I think that a lot of people who can be seen here slagging off Wal-Mart at a moment's notice suddenly start pulling out the "Why don't you just work somewhere else?" when it comes to Amazon *because* they have Prime accounts.

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      BoredHagTeenaBurner
      12/30/14 11:47am

      The only times I've seen complaints about Amazon from people who never worked there and also don't use it are authors and book publishers who are held captive by draconian rules set by Amazon which inhibits their own personal profits and forces them at times to print new runs if Amazon runs out of the available edition. I think with all retail—and Amazon is a monster of retail—people just love the convenience and savings. And yes, I use Amazon. I have a student discounted Prime account I use for textbooks (and movies!). But I also know that basically everyone I know does. I'm hard pressed to think of anyone other than some old people who don't really use the internet and a couple passionate go-local types I know (and I live in Austin, TX, so the go-local types are more numerous here than in many other places, I'll bet). Sure, it's anecdotal, but the reason Amazon is such a hell hole to work at is bc so many people use it. Shit, HamNo probably does, too.

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    Saxon 212Hamilton Nolan
    12/30/14 11:17am

    Amazon is the thirstiest of all.

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      webwebsterSaxon 212
      12/30/14 2:59pm

      Just think of the elves, they actually have to make the stuff.

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    bombatathe3rdHamilton Nolan
    12/30/14 11:26am

    Seattlite here, who worked at Amazon for a month before I was saved by a much better job:

    Amazon is the walmart of jobs in the region. Easy to get, but basically low-pay slave labor, and nothing you can build a career off. You cant even put it on your resume when applying to professional positions. Its basically a last ditch effort job, just to put money on the table. Some people can hack it, and to be honest, if it paid about 50% more, it would reach the bottom strata of being "worth it for the money compared to other jobs", but it doesnt. I would recommend Wal Mart or McDonalds before I recommend Amazon (both places Ive worked as well). The stress isnt as intense, and oddly enough you get more free time.

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      I Think I Lost Itbombatathe3rd
      12/30/14 1:30pm

      Were you working for Amazon corporate? I am also in Seattle and I get a little suspicious (a lot suspicious) of the companies who are CONSTANTLY hiring. Amazon is one. Zuilily is another. Their Glassdoor reviews tend to support my theory.

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      GenericName1000bombatathe3rd
      12/30/14 10:49pm

      McDonlands gives you all sorts of experience in the food industry with food safety and front of house work and plenty of management experience if you go that way.

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    MeowthrandirHamilton Nolan
    12/30/14 11:46am

    He seemed to remain cheerful and kind of thrilled to record this all — good on him! I'm sure plenty of is can relate with current/past high-intensity, low-pay jobs and know that shit can be wearing day after day.

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      BuryMeInEnglandHamilton Nolan
      12/30/14 11:37am

      60 hour work week with no overtime - so fucking what? As a salaried employee I've done plenty of 60 hour work weeks with no overtime pay in order to get projects finished or proposals out of the door. I didn't whine about it, it was just part of the job and a part I was aware of. If I was lucky I might see some of that time back as paid comp time, but usually not. For all his problems this guy went back to continue after the holidays so how bad was it really? "Work, go home, eat, shower, sleep. Repeat" Welcome to the world the rest of us live in.

      Oh an how many people on Gawker saying that Amazon is the devil buy all their shit from Amazon?

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        Killer-TofuHamilton Nolan
        12/30/14 11:27am

        Ugh, I feel that pain. The pain of mandatory- I'm sorry, "business required", 60 hours of OT. Been doing it over a year now...

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          Life is a PlaylistHamilton Nolan
          12/30/14 11:57am

          Another great story would be that of someone unemployed during the holidays who had to explain to their children that Santa forgot their house. There are quite a few of those out there.

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