Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Phillips About Those Great New Amazon Jobs...
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 6:29 AM
"Well, what if I do start crying?" I ask the woman who warns me to keep it together no matter how awfully I'm treated. "Are they really going to fire me for that?""Yes," she says. "There's 16 other people who want your job. Why would they keep a person who gets emotional, especially in this economy?"
Still, she advises, regardless of how much they push me, don't work so hard that I injure myself. I'm young. I have a long life ahead of me. It's not worth it to do permanent physical damage, she says, which, considering that I got hired at elevensomething dollars an hour, is a bit of an understatement.
As the sun gets lower in the curt November sky, I thank the woman for her help. When I start toward the door, she repeats her "No. 1 rule of survival" one more time.
"Leave your pride and your personal life at the door." If there's any way I'm going to last, she says, tomorrow I have to start pretending like I don't have either.
It's a long read, but it's an important one, since these are the jobs that are coming to Tennessee. I think it's important for us to acknowledge that these jobs, which we are touting as a great coup for Tennessee, really, really suck.
On the other hand, a job that really, really sucks is still better than no job. So, I'd hope the state would treat these jobs as a good place to start — a good place for a person to prove that she'll show up and work hard. But I hope the state also works to bring in jobs that, frankly, people can do for a long time without ruining their bodies, since we will inevitably have to pick up the cost of their medical bills.
And I'd hope that Tennessee and other states would be keeping a close eye on giant Internet warehouses of all sorts, to make sure that people are working under humane conditions and aren't being exploited.
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Comments (19)
Showing 1-19 of 19
Well, weren't we the same group of people (u.s.) that turned up our noses to getting all dirty doing yucky manufacturing, fucking around mowing grass, and collectively dreamed of being on TV one way, any way. None of this lunch pail, 9 to 5, 1200 square foot house for me, no siree. There *has* to be something better, right? Barbara Ehrenreich has already covered all of this years ago in Nickel and Dimed. And, just what is the difference between this and retail and/or food service?
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Too bad there isn't some thing people could join, some ... Oh whatchacallit, some kind of organization that everyone pays dues to so that collectively workers can demand better working conditions from management ... oh yeah, they're called UNIONS. Silly me! "Right to work" = right to be abused and paid like shit by management. Smells like freedom!
This sounds like my newspaper jobs.
By the way, what is a "curt November sky"?
Don't work so hard you injure yourself? Huh? What is this all about? There is little danger of the folks on this board working that hard. And, I can tell you this, most here are always on the look out for even a hint of exploitation. What is exploitation anyway? I think it is insisting you come to work on time, right?
M McClellan is pretty goodd looking by the way.
I used to say, "The more people who can do your job the less you'll be paid." I will add to it, "and the more mind-numbing and repetitious it's likely to be."
No ... correction: This not exactly like my newspaper jobs. The author mentions something about overtime pay.
Anyway, I read more of the story, and it looks pretty good. I'll go back later and read the rest of it. And in the future, I'll not be so quick to leave negative "packaging feedback."
A curt November sky is one that doesn't say much. Just does it's job without a lot of small talk with the clouds.
After seeing Ms. McClelland (with her sexy little bitchy smirk) and scanning the article and reading about her love of dildos, I believe I have a job for her...
Thank you, Larry. I believe I am now looking at a querulous February sky. It looks peevish. Annoyed. I'm getting an umbrella.
@Donna Locke: It sounds like you need to kick back and relax with an amusing, yet unassuming, glass of wine. (Wine revues always slay me.)
With seven journalism graduates for every job opening a lot of journalists may end up working at Amazon. Oh, well, they can always write exposes about the evils of hard work. In China, if they read Mac's article, they would be in shock - "Eleven dollars an hour? Americans get eleven dollars an hour?
Gast, every progressive on this board fancies himself a journalist. And... every journalist is a liberal of some stripe.
As for wine reviews, truly an exception to free speech law and should be banned.
@John:
If by "every journalist is a liberal of some stripe," you meant to imply that every journalist can read and write, I see your point.
Now this is my kind of story, versus "occupy" ones, followed by some great snappy postings!
"In China, if they read Mac's article, they would be in shock - "Eleven dollars an hour? Americans get eleven dollars an hour?"
Pretty easy to totally underpay your workers if your country's government artificially fixes its currency's value and refuses to let it float to the market like every other country on Earth. With such an immense population, it won't last forever for them.
"Pretty easy to totally underpay your workers if your country's government artificially fixes its currency's value and refuses to let it float to the market like every other country on Earth."
And when your country's government is willing to roll out the tanks and jail the dissidents when its citizens dare to complain.
"And when your country's government is willing to roll out the tanks and jail the dissidents when its citizens dare to complain."
Well sure! And when your government stifles attempts by labor to organize for better salary, humane treatment, and safe working conditions...
Uh, wait...
"Pretty easy to totally underpay your workers if your country's government artificially fixes its currency's value and refuses to let it float to the market like every other country on Earth. "
Every other country on earth?
Not quite.
There are plenty of other countries that peg their currency to the US Dollar.
http://useconomy.about.com/od/glossary/g/d…
Apologies for the verbal flourish. It was inexact. The point does stand as valid, though.
I'd say that there are plenty of other things to do with the comparative labor rates between countries - whether it be China or any other - than what it's currency exchange rate happens to be.
Such things as having a massive rural population living at barely subsistence level who see any chance at marginal improvement as something they are willing to go for have plenty to do with it.
As Chinese workers move up the economic chain, there are now jobs being outsourced from China to cheaper places - like Vietnam. The economic laws of comparative advantage will always prevail.
