The Swamp

On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular way of working.

They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learned at previous jobs, one employee recalled. When they “hit the wall” from the unrelenting pace, there is only one solution: “Climb the wall,” others reported. To be the best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by the leadership principles, 14 rules inscribed on handy laminated cards. When quizzed days later, those with perfect scores earn a virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the company’s proud phrase for overturning workplace conventions.

At Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings, toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.” The internal phone directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool offers sample texts, including this: “I felt concerned about his inflexibility and openly complaining about minor tasks.”)

P.D.X. wrote:Tinder and the Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse”

MSM is like 5 years late to the party.

Shirley wrote:An employee-written counterpoint to the NYT piece on Amazon - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/amazonia ... ciubotariu" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

After reading the two - I believe his much more than theirs. Yes, I've heard some bad things about working at Amazon too - they were considering buying my company as well - but there's NO WAY a competitive technology company could function anywhere near the way the NYT portrayed Amazon. This isn't indentured servitude. Good engineers are in demand everywhere and when companies mistreat the good workers - poof - they leave. Why do you think Silicon Valley tech companies are so famous for all of their employee perks?

I think part of what happened here is you had two writers who have never worked in a tech company before - or maybe anywhere other than a newspaper - and they honestly don't know what it's like. Because real life simply can't be like that article described and any reasonable person should be able to see that.

Shirley wrote:That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.

howard wrote:That 0.4% profit margin ain't gonna maintain itself.

Shirley wrote:That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.

DaveInSeattle wrote:

Shirley wrote:That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.

I don't know...I'm crying at my desk right now...

howard wrote:

DaveInSeattle wrote:

Shirley wrote:That and when you believe stories like "I saw everyone I work with cry." I mean, come on. That can't be even close to remotely true.

I don't know...I'm crying at my desk right now...

is that just from having been approached for a job years ago?

rass wrote:The death and life of the great British pub

A_B wrote:Couple of swampers posted on Facebook about The Legend at Greenville High. Great stuff.

Pruitt wrote:

rass wrote:The death and life of the great British pub

Great stuff.

Thanks.

Shirley wrote:

A_B wrote:Couple of swampers posted on Facebook about The Legend at Greenville High. Great stuff.

Man, what a great article. I'm a mess over here.

brian wrote:Liked this story on Antonio Brown and TY Hilton's relationship.

“Many people will probably wonder why I’ve decided to do this,” read the beginning of the suicide note that Eris had scheduled to appear on his Tumblr on 27 April 2015, two days after his death. “I was sexually abused as a child … and have dealt with the consequences of that my entire life. Imagine going through life with an ever-present shadow hanging over you, worrying if you too might be like the people who destroyed your childhood and life.”

Eris’s suicide note was unusual for a number of reasons. For one thing, it included an apology to the many players he had abused online over the years. Eris was one of Epic Mafia’s most popular members, but he was also its most notorious troll. Most of his transgressions were juvenile. He liked to post innocent-looking links that led to a photo of a My Little Pony doll he had jerked off on. He could also be malicious and vengeful. On the Epic Mafia forum, Eris once responded to a post by an African-American player by posting a picture of King Kong. In the heat of an online feud, he had been known to hack into people’s accounts and delete them. And he routinely doxxed other players, using his programming skills to reveal details about their offline identities – their weight, their age, even photographs of their home.

A month ago, Eris also found a new girlfriend, a woman he met through Epic Mafia and whom he describes as being as “dark, morbid and kind-of screwed up” as he is. “When I told her about [my fake suicide] she thought it was kind of funny.” They have not met in person yet, but she lives in Pennsylvania and Eris hopes she will soon make the drive to New York, so he can take her out on a proper date. “The old ways are the best,” he said.

brian wrote:"Send me all around the country to drink" is about as awesome as a pitch from a journalist as I've ever heard. And damn if it doesn't work.