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Public protest against Amazon

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Re: Public protest against Amazon

#111

Post by chapium »

TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #99
ownagefool wrote: post #14

I had a manager that took over from a previous person when I was working remote. There were a few issues, but the one that stands out is they flew me down to London for a week, set me up in a hotel, and had me take taxis back and fourth to the office and expense food etc. After returning home, he rejected my expenses because of variance of costs of the taxis, despite me pointing out that I was using the stipulated ve…

I was recently offered a job by a software company, work from home, paid monthly. I presently work in metal fabrication. Not only was their offer $30,000 below my current income, their deal was I front cash for expenses and submit claims monthly. Is this standard in the software world? Because from my perspective there’s only one possible answer to paying expenses out of pocket and having to claim them back: No.

Unfortunately, yes

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#112

Post by woodpanel »

dpcan wrote: post #68

This may seem mean, and feel free to argue with me and prove my statement below wrong. Well, which was it? Was he taking his daughter to therapy or working from home? If his daughter requires additional care, he needs to care for his daughter, but that can't interfere with work. If your kids are not disabled, they may not be interfering with your work, and therefore, when you are working from home - you are, in fact,…

Hmm, doesn't

> I need to bring her to therapy

imply that he doesn't have to be there all the time? And if therapy is only of short duration, nonetheless he could "set up shop" somewhere nearby and start working from remote, if he were allowed to do so.

And why get hung up on the term "from home" when it really means "from remote"? After all, his remote access won't be geo-fenced.

Dunno if you have kids but until a certain age, they don't "pack themselves". You can easily add 30 min. for a two year old, e.g.. Driving his daughter could easily take away 1hr in each direction.

If his colleagues don't show up until 11, instead of making him show up at the office at 7, he could easily manage working from remote and driving around his daughter.

Normally I'm the free market guy in those situations, but I have a really hard time in this case to not see Uwais Khan as a complete ahole.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#113

Post by dec0dedab0de »

SilasX wrote: post #73
dpcan wrote: post #68

This may seem mean, and feel free to argue with me and prove my statement below wrong. Well, which was it? Was he taking his daughter to therapy or working from home? If his daughter requires additional care, he needs to care for his daughter, but that can't interfere with work. If your kids are not disabled, they may not be interfering with your work, and therefore, when you are working from home - you are, in fact,…

Thank you. I've seen a lot of abuse of the term. One time I worked with a recruiter [1] and said I was feeling really bad that day and took the day off from work and was resting at home. She replied, "ah, gotcha, so you're working from home today". And I was like, "no, I'm resting." (With that said, it could still be a good-faith usage here -- like, he legitimately does work from home, and the therapy is relevant her…

I have been working from home for almost 5 years now, and one thing that I learned in the first 18 months was that it is important to take sick days. In the beginning I would just sit at my desk and try my best to work even though I was sick, but not be able to concentrate and ultimately not get anything done. Then I would stress about it and work extra time, which would just make things worse. Now I take off any time I think I would have if I were in an office.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#114

Post by plainOldText »

ams6110 wrote: post #56
femiagbabiaka wrote: post #29

Workers need unions, plain and simple. The addition of an impartial arbitrator at any step along this process could’ve helped so much.

"impartial arbitrator" No such thing. They are being paid by someone.

Speaking of payments: I was actually amazed to find out how much certain union leaders make. Some of them are in the top 1%, with yearly salaries of over $400,000. [1]

[1] https://laborpains.org/2018/06/04/union-president-pay-watch-...

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#115

Post by lemmsjid »

Scramblejams wrote: post #61

Amazon employee here, though I do not speak for the company. At any big company, your management chain is the #1 influence on the quality of your culture. My experience at Amazon has been extremely positive, but then my org head is a great guy, so it's all been in line with my expectations. I've also left critical feedback through the Amazon Connect survey for my immediate manager and not suffered for it. That manage…

As someone who had a very positive experience at Amazon, but knew people who did not, agreed. In a way, it's better not to think of Amazon as a single company, but as hundreds of startups under an umbrella organization. You cannot generalize from a single one of those organizations. It is impossible, IMHO, for a company to have as many employees as Amazon and maintain a normalized employee experience.

Really the poisonous thing that stands out for me is the Visa experience. Amazon (now) has a pretty liberal internal transfer system that I have seen work really well for a lot of people. But a truly vindictive and sufficiently interpersonally skilled manager can still pin down an employee with what happened to the OP. In such a case, a citizen can walk away and find another company that's a better fit for them. But when they're in H1B land, it is so much harder. It would be so much better for the industry if the system were much more flexible.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#116

Post by thegayngler »

ardit33 wrote: post #78

Former Amazon employee here (worked at Lab126, on the original Kindle devices). While I didn't have a bad manager there (my managers were actually nice people), it is Amazon's corporate culture that turns the place into a 'dog eat dog', arse-hole driven, development. Managers have to run around and cover their arse, as in the first or second misstep, they are out. This pressure filters down to employees who are often…

Everyone I've ever known in real life to actually work there (it is more than just a couple of people) has told me that its not a place a person should want to work. I've never heard of literally everyone I know who works for a company has nothing good to say about it at all....especially from other engineers. So I always ignore the recruiters when they send me linked in messages and emails.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#117

Post by 8ytecoder »

maximente wrote: post #104
alecco wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to believe that. But I saw very close how an IT union was taken over by old school, corrupt fat union guys. And they just pander to the lowest common denominator. They go against meritocracy. I'd rather pay attention and vote with my feet.

"divided we fall" is a cliche but may have some merit here, especially if this will be filled by another starry eyed immigrant visa holder who can be treated as such. the information asymmetry gap is just too high imo. there's other opportunities for organizing labor that don't include old-school unions. screen actors' guild is one example that, e.g., mandates various "newer" members get roles on films and seems to b…

Agreed. But the fight to keep management in check shouldn't devolve into a fight to keep the union leaders in check. What's the guarantee that won't happen?

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#118

Post by Consultant32452 »

whatshisface wrote: post #92
TallGuyShort wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This guy I know, we can call him Jim, left a large tech company and was honest in his exit interview about why he was leaving, and it was mostly his manager. He was later asked to apply for a job with a different team after his manager left the company years (and promotions) later. HR blocked the hire because he was "disgruntled" in his exit interview. As far as I know, they did nothing to recognize or fix the proble…

"I'm leaving because your company is too good."

"I'm applying for a new position here, because after working elsewhere for several years I've determined your company wasn't that great after all."

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#119

Post by 8ytecoder »

napo wrote: post #76
mothsonasloth wrote: post #52

I used to think big tech companies like Amazon and Google would be different, however now I see they are just becoming like any older traditional corporation with a HR department functioning like the stasi and the ability to oppress through mass policies and hiring contracts. We are lucky as developers to have a fairly easy way of life but I still follow my Grandpa's advice from years working in the shipyards of Glas…

"* When things are good, think about leaving" => Wait what? So what do you do when things are bad?

Likely - leave when things are still good. Meaning look for early signs. Some people stay and hope for the good old days - they almost never arrive.

Re: Public protest against Amazon

#120

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

org3432 wrote: post #53
RHSeeger wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like something you bring up with him to discuss if there's a way to avoid it; and then tape the whole discussion.

This is just how many managers are, the best approach is to just recognize them and avoid them as best you can.

It could be argued the best thing to do is gang up on them, record and post your conversations with them, and tirelessly work to undermine them.

Otherwise we're all complicit in allowing bad actors to get away with their behaviour.

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