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I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

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Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#131
post #61
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What makes you believe the new York Times works with the US government to publish stories that benefit the interests of the US government? What mechanism do you believe the US government uses to reward the nytimes for publishing propaganda? Do they get a black money payment? Do they get not-jailed (as in China?)

More importantly: in the situation where the majority of "free" press is controlled by 5-6 people, it's more profitable to exert this market power rather than to do government bidding for free. So US press is not quite Pravda, but it also has very little to do with reporting the facts, and that factual component has markedly diminished as the press entered a period of decline 10-15 years ago. Now it's just mostly dri…

There are a few columns that do not missrepresent the facts by some ethical journalists but due existing in the same websites and news outlets where columns that only exist to drive clicks is hard for the readers to tell them apart.

As an aside is interesting you are being downvoted and flagged, it seems as censoring more than people just disagreeing

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#132
post #94

...Wow. This article changed my opinions dramatically. Really thankful to see an article like this. It puts the emphasis on irresponsible (whether it's intended or not) journalism as a huge problem here in the US, as opposed to all the dystopian news stories that come out these days. Of course there are real exceptions, like stories that turn out to be true about really bad working conditions in some places. But it p…

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Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For vacation days, your point makes sense to me. For sick days, people don't get to choose when they get sick. Someone can just as easily get sick on day 1 or 2 of a job as on day 401 or 402.

I once talked to a manager about how he handed out raises. He mentioned one engineer who was sick exactly 10 days out of each year. Coincidentally, the company offered 10 days of paid sick leave a year. He laughed, and said she wasn't fooling anyone, and didn't give her a raise.

I'm not defending that kind of employee misbehaviour, but how to handle that doesn't need to be factored into the sick leave policy beyond making the allowed usage clear and reserving the right to ask for proof when the company has reason to be suspicious.

How to handle that, more broadly, is the same as how to handle any other pattern of employee misbehaviour: some appropriate level of employee discipline according to the misbehaviour's severity and the history of past incidents, ranging from an informal conversation to what the manager in your story did to firing, with many intermediate possibilities.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#135
post #7

The author seems to very much worry that negative press is going to be the cause of him losing his job due to automation: >Just about every job in my sortation center could probably be done by a robot. In fact, it amazes me that Amazon hasn’t simply automated the entire facility. [...] If I had to guess, I’d say that Amazon continues to employ lots of human beings because, by putting money into the pockets of working…

[deleted]

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#136
post #10

I had read a few of these negative articles about Amazon fulfillment centers and then a guy we know working the counter at our local pizza place got a job at one of them. That made me change my mind and doubt the reporting after talking with him. The pay was much better better, the benefits if he transitioned to full time were much better, and he was really excited about a program Amazon has to cover tuition after (I…

It feels to me like some of these articles (at least past one) and the overwhelming majority of the anti-Prime Day posts on Facebook were written by people that had never worked even a single day at a warehouse job. The plight of the warehouse worker isn't unique to Amazon by any means. Not even close. From personal experience, I'd say the Amazon fulfillment gigs are way better than ones I did for other companies years ago.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For vacation days, your point makes sense to me. For sick days, people don't get to choose when they get sick. Someone can just as easily get sick on day 1 or 2 of a job as on day 401 or 402.

I once talked to a manager about how he handed out raises. He mentioned one engineer who was sick exactly 10 days out of each year. Coincidentally, the company offered 10 days of paid sick leave a year. He laughed, and said she wasn't fooling anyone, and didn't give her a raise.

So he decided he'd figured out her scam without ever bringing it up in yearly or monthly review. He also never asked for proof of the 10 days of sick leave after the first year, which is reasonable to do if he had a suspicion she was flouting a rule. If he wanted to factor sick days into his pay decision, he had a responsibility to make sure he was correct using the proper internal channels.

An alternate and equally plausible view is that she had a condition that rendered her borderline ill more than 10 days a year, but couldn't afford to take unpaid leave. So she just 'toughed it out' instead for the remaining days.

Laughing vindictively as you deny a raise to someone isn't something be lauded or emulated under any circumstance.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For vacation days, your point makes sense to me. For sick days, people don't get to choose when they get sick. Someone can just as easily get sick on day 1 or 2 of a job as on day 401 or 402.

I once talked to a manager about how he handed out raises. He mentioned one engineer who was sick exactly 10 days out of each year. Coincidentally, the company offered 10 days of paid sick leave a year. He laughed, and said she wasn't fooling anyone, and didn't give her a raise.

We seem to believe that sick always means some type of physical illness that means we can't work, which is completely wrong. Taking a sick day for mental health is totally OK. Taking a sick day to deal with a sick child or spouse or s.o. is totally OK. Leaving sick days on the table at the end of the year is not something that should be valued, whether they are paid or not. I'm sure HR makes every attempt to spend their entire budget before the year is out, so why should employees be held to a different standard? If you get 10 days, take all 10 days. If your bonus is determined by the number of sick days you take vs. the number given, then you need to find another employer. We need to stop letting this bullshit slide - you should never be penalized for accepting and using the resources given to you.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once talked to a manager about how he handed out raises. He mentioned one engineer who was sick exactly 10 days out of each year. Coincidentally, the company offered 10 days of paid sick leave a year. He laughed, and said she wasn't fooling anyone, and didn't give her a raise.

I'm not defending that kind of employee misbehaviour, but how to handle that doesn't need to be factored into the sick leave policy beyond making the allowed usage clear and reserving the right to ask for proof when the company has reason to be suspicious. How to handle that, more broadly, is the same as how to handle any other pattern of employee misbehaviour: some appropriate level of employee discipline according…

Asking for a doctor's note is for children. These are professional adults.

Often people who behave unethically at work believe they are getting away with it. But then they wonder why they don't get raises, are passed over for promotions, are let go in the first round of layoffs, and don't have the respect of their peers.

Re: I work in an Amazon warehouse in West Sacramento

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I once talked to a manager about how he handed out raises. He mentioned one engineer who was sick exactly 10 days out of each year. Coincidentally, the company offered 10 days of paid sick leave a year. He laughed, and said she wasn't fooling anyone, and didn't give her a raise.

We seem to believe that sick always means some type of physical illness that means we can't work, which is completely wrong. Taking a sick day for mental health is totally OK. Taking a sick day to deal with a sick child or spouse or s.o. is totally OK. Leaving sick days on the table at the end of the year is not something that should be valued, whether they are paid or not. I'm sure HR makes every attempt to spend th…

> If you get 10 days, take all 10 days.

So you don't agree with vharuck who said If a person's sick, they're sick. If they're faking, they're faking?

Are you really suggesting faking sickness, or am I misreading you?

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