Current Events > Amazon workers pee into bottles because they are scared of being punished for

(+) Yeah! (+)

taking too long breaks.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-have-to-pee-into-bottles-2018-4
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I love peeing anywhere that isn't a toilet.
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Amazon seems to exist on burning out people then replacing them.
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I wonder what competitor paid for this hit piece.
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Bezos' wealth is built on this treatment of his workers
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Error1355 posted...

Amazon seems to exist on burning out people then replacing them.

Kinda sad
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Kineth posted...

I wonder what competitor paid for this hit piece.

I mean to be fair I've been hearing about Amazon's extremely tough working culture. Both in corporate offices and shipping centers. I remember reading some article about how it's normal to walk by people just fucking bawling at their desk from being so burnt out. <_<
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Without reading the article, this sounds weird.

I worked at an Amazon warehouse and only after my rate became absolutely abysmal did anyone say anything to me about it. And my friend who still works there tells me these crazy stories of all sorts of things people get away with.

Its a crummy place to work but this just seems crazy >_<
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MrTacoBell posted...

taking too long breaks.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-have-to-pee-into-bottles-2018-4

This is what happens when a single company is the sole employer for many things.

The only silver lining is those snooty Whole Foods workers will be taken down a notch

I read a story on reddit lately about someone working in a call centre in America. They were given a written warning for taking on average 10 seconds too long on support calls. They weren't given breaks except 30 minutes for lunch. Your boss would monitor all your activity and walk up and down the line behind your back watching you work. All for slightly above minimum wage.

I have to wonder how shit your circumstances are to accept a job like that.
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Error1355 posted...

Amazon seems to exist on burning out people then replacing them.

That's the usual tactic for big warehouses and factories.
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Not really buying this hit piece that makes Amazon sound like a sweatshop. The reviews from employees on Glassdoor are overwhelmingly positive.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-Reviews-E6036.htm
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Related: https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/poultry-workers-denied-bathroom-breaks-wear-diapers-oxfam-report-n572806
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pinky0926 posted...

I read a story on reddit lately about someone working in a call centre in America. They were given a written warning for taking on average 10 seconds too long on support calls. They weren't given breaks except 30 minutes for lunch. Your boss would monitor all your activity and walk up and down the line behind your back watching you work. All for slightly above minimum wage.

I have to wonder how shit your circumstances are to accept a job like that.

Call center jobs are horrible. I've had a morbid curiosity about them but generally stories coming out of there are slave-driver levels of misery.
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Error1355 posted...

Kineth posted...

I wonder what competitor paid for this hit piece.

I mean to be fair I've been hearing about Amazon's extremely tough working culture. Both in corporate offices and shipping centers. I remember reading some article about how it's normal to walk by people just fucking bawling at their desk from being so burnt out. <_<

Goddamn
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The Admiral posted...

Not really buying this hit piece that makes Amazon sound like a sweatshop. The reviews from employees on Glassdoor are overwhelmingly positive.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-Reviews-E6036.htm

Why do you trust those workers more than these?

A separate survey found almost three-quarters of fulfillment-center staff members were afraid of using the toilet because of time concerns. A report released Monday with the survey's findings said 241 Amazon warehouse employees in England were interviewed.

The survey anonymously quoted one of those workers as saying targets had "increased dramatically" and that "I do not drink water because I do not have time to go to the toilet."

Another said: "The target grows every year. I do not have two more legs yet to make the 100% to pick, where you actually need to run and go to the toilet just during the break. Packing 120 products per hour is terribly heavy.

"You have to pack two products per minute. You do not have time to drink water because you go to the toilet after every evening sends messages to the scanner with the target and tells you to hurry."

The survey, compiled by the worker campaign platform Organise, also found that workers felt considerably more anxious after joining Amazon.

Also Amazon has a history of being a sweatshop

https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/inside-amazons-very-hot-warehouse/

In a lengthy and heavily reported article, The Call said a warehouse employee contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on June 2 to report that the heat index in the warehouse had reached 102 degrees, and that 15 workers had collapsed. The employee also said workers who were sent home because of the heat received disciplinary points.

Eight days later, the paper said, an emergency room doctor at a local hospital saw enough Amazon employees suffering from heat-related injuries to call OSHA and report an unsafe environment.

So many ambulances responded to medical assistance calls at the warehouse during a heat wave in May, the paper said, that the retailer paid Cetronia Ambulance Corps to have paramedics and ambulances stationed outside the warehouse during several days of excess heat over the summer. About 15 people were taken to hospitals, while 20 or 30 more were treated right there, the ambulance chief told The Call.

OSHA, which investigated conditions at the warehouse, told Amazon that the way the warehouse was run had the potential to adversely impact employee safety and health.

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The Admiral posted...

Not really buying this hit piece that makes Amazon sound like a sweatshop. The reviews from employees on Glassdoor are overwhelmingly positive.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-Reviews-E6036.htm

I mean, at just a glance, a lot of them point out the flaw in how you are measured/treated by management.
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pinky0926 posted...

I read a story on reddit lately about someone working in a call centre in America. They were given a written warning for taking on average 10 seconds too long on support calls. They weren't given breaks except 30 minutes for lunch. Your boss would monitor all your activity and walk up and down the line behind your back watching you work. All for slightly above minimum wage.

I have to wonder how shit your circumstances are to accept a job like that.

That is indicative of poor management. They are focused on metrics that have no correlation to profitability.
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What do you want to see happen by telling us about it?
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The Admiral posted...

Not really buying this hit piece that makes Amazon sound like a sweatshop. The reviews from employees on Glassdoor are overwhelmingly positive.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-Reviews-E6036.htm

Many of those reviews are from current workers. They probably wouldn't say bad things for fear of being fired.
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Even if this were true, nobody is holding a gun to these people's heads to continue employment with them.
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voldothegr8 posted...

Even if this were true, nobody is holding a gun to these people's heads to continue employment with them.

Nobody would work a shitty job ever if they felt like they had options.
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Hells yea! I'll take any excuse I can to piss in a bottle
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antfair posted...

The Admiral posted...

Not really buying this hit piece that makes Amazon sound like a sweatshop. The reviews from employees on Glassdoor are overwhelmingly positive.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/Amazon-Reviews-E6036.htm

Why do you trust those workers more than these?

A separate survey found almost three-quarters of fulfillment-center staff members were afraid of using the toilet because of time concerns. A report released Monday with the survey's findings said 241 Amazon warehouse employees in England were interviewed.

The survey anonymously quoted one of those workers as saying targets had "increased dramatically" and that "I do not drink water because I do not have time to go to the toilet."

Another said: "The target grows every year. I do not have two more legs yet to make the 100% to pick, where you actually need to run and go to the toilet just during the break. Packing 120 products per hour is terribly heavy.

"You have to pack two products per minute. You do not have time to drink water because you go to the toilet after every evening sends messages to the scanner with the target and tells you to hurry."

The survey, compiled by the worker campaign platform Organise, also found that workers felt considerably more anxious after joining Amazon.

Also Amazon has a history of being a sweatshop

https://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/inside-amazons-very-hot-warehouse/

In a lengthy and heavily reported article, The Call said a warehouse employee contacted the Occupational Safety and Health Administration on June 2 to report that the heat index in the warehouse had reached 102 degrees, and that 15 workers had collapsed. The employee also said workers who were sent home because of the heat received disciplinary points.

Eight days later, the paper said, an emergency room doctor at a local hospital saw enough Amazon employees suffering from heat-related injuries to call OSHA and report an unsafe environment.

So many ambulances responded to medical assistance calls at the warehouse during a heat wave in May, the paper said, that the retailer paid Cetronia Ambulance Corps to have paramedics and ambulances stationed outside the warehouse during several days of excess heat over the summer. About 15 people were taken to hospitals, while 20 or 30 more were treated right there, the ambulance chief told The Call.

OSHA, which investigated conditions at the warehouse, told Amazon that the way the warehouse was run had the potential to adversely impact employee safety and health.

Holy hell. I actually had to take a step back after reading that Amazon article. Thats completely unethical, and I hope to God those people are doing okay. I also hope whoever managed that warehouse was fired for neglect of their employees, and for even letting it get this dangerous in the first place.
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There are far more hungry people looking for minimum wage positions, warehouses can always get away with abusing their workers

bump
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I've done plenty of factory/warehouse work with similar policies. Honestly, it's just not for everyone.

The problem is, I got paid dramatically more than Amazon pays. They'd be able to choose from a better crop of employees that don't have issues in this type of environment if they compensated them more appropriately.

It's not skilled labor, but there's still a certain skill level to doing the job effectively.
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pinky0926 posted...

I read a story on reddit lately about someone working in a call centre in America. They were given a written warning for taking on average 10 seconds too long on support calls. They weren't given breaks except 30 minutes for lunch. Your boss would monitor all your activity and walk up and down the line behind your back watching you work. All for slightly above minimum wage.

I have to wonder how shit your circumstances are to accept a job like that.

Call centers are among the worst jobs you can get. I've heard better things from fast food.
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voldothegr8 posted...

Even if this were true, nobody is holding a gun to these people's heads to continue employment with them.

workplace standards exist for a good reason. sorry, but this is one area where the free market was allowed to be free and completely let us down.
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the free market will save their souls paradise awaits in the afterlife it's all good
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Shuto-uke posted...

MrTacoBell posted...

taking too long breaks.

http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-have-to-pee-into-bottles-2018-4

This is what happens when a single company is the sole employer for many things.

The only silver lining is those snooty Whole Foods workers will be taken down a notch

The only good thing about working at Whole Foods is that the compensation is better than most other places. You're still working in a grocery store dealing with a spoiled-ass clientele all day, and the company has long favored the sorts of careerists who get ahead by kissing ass rather than knowing what they're doing.
I'm sorry you're so salty though.

pinky0926 posted...

I read a story on reddit lately about someone working in a call centre in America. They were given a written warning for taking on average 10 seconds too long on support calls. They weren't given breaks except 30 minutes for lunch. Your boss would monitor all your activity and walk up and down the line behind your back watching you work. All for slightly above minimum wage.

I have to wonder how shit your circumstances are to accept a job like that.

The kicker is that the boss has no actual obligation or reason to enforce this cruel shit; they make wages barely above the grunts. Capitalism is slavery.
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voldothegr8 posted...

Even if this were true, nobody is holding a gun to these people's heads to continue employment with them.

Because starving and getting evicted doesn't happen
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pinky0926 posted...

I read a story on reddit lately about someone working in a call centre in America. They were given a written warning for taking on average 10 seconds too long on support calls. They weren't given breaks except 30 minutes for lunch. Your boss would monitor all your activity and walk up and down the line behind your back watching you work. All for slightly above minimum wage.

I have to wonder how shit your circumstances are to accept a job like that.

OMG it's only ten seconds, what's the big deal???

10 seconds per call for 200 calls/day is 33.3 minutes.
33.3 minutes per day in a call center of, say, 50 people is 27.8 hours per day wasted.
27.8 hours per day wasted is 138 hours wasted per week or nearly 600 hours per month wasted.
If a cell center worker gets $12/hr that's over seven thousand dollars in wasted productivity monthly or $85,000/yr, or enough to cover an extra two workers' salaries and other associated costs.

Get it yet?
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Fuparulez posted...

pinky0926 posted...

I read a story on reddit lately about someone working in a call centre in America. They were given a written warning for taking on average 10 seconds too long on support calls. They weren't given breaks except 30 minutes for lunch. Your boss would monitor all your activity and walk up and down the line behind your back watching you work. All for slightly above minimum wage.

I have to wonder how shit your circumstances are to accept a job like that.

OMG it's only ten seconds, what's the big deal???

10 seconds per call for 200 calls/day is 33.3 minutes.
33.3 minutes per day in a call center of, say, 50 people is 27.8 hours per day wasted.
27.8 hours per day wasted is 138 hours wasted per week or nearly 600 hours per month wasted.
If a cell center worker gets $12/hr that's over seven thousand dollars in wasted productivity monthly or $85,000/yr, or enough to cover an extra two workers' salaries and other associated costs.

Get it yet?

Imagine thinking that is good reasoning
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Another capitalist success story!
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Fuparulez posted...

10 seconds per call for 200 calls/day is 33.3 minutes.
33.3 minutes per day in a call center of, say, 50 people is 27.8 hours per day wasted.
27.8 hours per day wasted is 138 hours wasted per week or nearly 600 hours per month wasted.
If a cell center worker gets $12/hr that's over seven thousand dollars in wasted productivity monthly or $85,000/yr, or enough to cover an extra two workers' salaries and other associated costs.

That's bad math. Number of calls has no correlation to profitability and cannot be used to determine how productive the place is. Focusing on those numbers results in poor management and sub-par decision making. If selling something, relevant numbers are total sales(and estimated profit for the transactions) for each associate. If dealing with customer support, call backlog/average wait time for service, customer satisfaction and minimizing discounts/free product/etc are important.
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Southernfatman posted...

Error1355 posted...

Amazon seems to exist on burning out people then replacing them.

That's the usual tactic for big warehouses and factories.

Ehhh, theft is high in those areas.
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you just know there is someone in the world who heard this story and their first thought was they would drink out of that water bottle
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yusiko posted...

you just know there is someone in the world who heard this story and their first thought was they would drink out of that water bottle

its like you read my mind
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So, the women were peeing into bottles? How do they not miss?
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