ah yes, my first job was at office depot and most of my training video was this, basically. they also taught us how to profile people and had us follow poors around the store incessantly asking "what may i help you with today?"
Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
31–40 of 182 posts
Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#32Earlier quoted context omitted.
For those that want to follow, what are good online shopping alternatives? I find that most people I talk to are drawn to Amazon simply because Amazon has managed to set an expectation of fast deliver, often as little as same-day delivery in areas that have a warehouse nearby (like the one I live in). I make every effort to shop local, or find alternative places to order online, but one cannot argue the convenience A…
Target, Costco, and Newegg (for certain items) come to mind has having good prices and return policies.
Costco in particular, treat their employees quite well.
Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#33> were not anti-union, but we're not neutral So pro-union?
Easily the most disingenuous double-speak in the video. They aren't anti-union in principle, just against any union at Amazon?
I've felt the same way about several employers, actually. I'm not anti-union in principle, but I was anti-union at specific jobs and pro-union in others.
The line is about whether management treats employees fairly. If an employer has reasonable policies, feedback channels, wages, benefits, etc. and employees have reasonable bargaining power, then unions are usually counterproductive. If an employer abuses employees and employees don't have individual bargaining power, than unions are usually helpful.
Union needed: Major local factory is the only employer in an area. (reason: no individual bargaining power)
Union harmful: SWEs in Silicon Valley during a boom cycle (reason: extensive bargaining power, good workplace conditions)
Amazon sweatshops and delivery services are, pardon the pun, prime examples of where unions make sense. Things like the Google unionizing efforts make no sense to me, though.
I have not worked for many employers where I've wanted to be in a union because I try to do due diligence on workplace conditions before taking a job, and usually employers compete for me and not the other way around. In retrospect, the place where a union most made sense in my career was as a graduate student.
Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#34What a beautiful example of propaganda, in the truest sense of the term. The guitar intro is folksy, the guy is warm and lovely, and _excited_ to have us at this training.... it's about your "success". Success of course, is not getting fired for being a collaborator with counter-revolutionary "associates" who reject Generalissimo Uberführer Bezos inspired vision and "history making" five year masterplan for "direct w…
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Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#35Why do they call employees, "associates"?
Before employees, partners, and associates it was workers. All part of the same old euphemism treadmill. "Städare" (cleaner) becoming "lokalvårdare" (environment caretaker) is a personal favourite from my childhood in Sweden. Same darn job and pay; that fancy new name cost your employer nothing other than a new badge of course.
Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#36I wonder where they find the guys selling their voice like that. Not that there is a high bar in advertising, but this is on another level.
It's a job in the end, if this person didn't take it, someone else would've. If they can't find anyone, they'll just pay more or do it themselves. After all, it wasn't just the voice actor, but the animators, the script writers, and all the chain of command that was involved in this.
Morals are flexible especially when money is involved, which is a major problem with capitalism. I too would lend my voice to a clip like this if they offered me enough money.
Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#37What a beautiful example of propaganda, in the truest sense of the term. The guitar intro is folksy, the guy is warm and lovely, and _excited_ to have us at this training.... it's about your "success". Success of course, is not getting fired for being a collaborator with counter-revolutionary "associates" who reject Generalissimo Uberführer Bezos inspired vision and "history making" five year masterplan for "direct w…
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"Godwin himself has also criticized the overapplication of the law, claiming that it does not articulate a fallacy, but rather is intended to reduce the frequency of inappropriate and hyperbolic comparisons. "
Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazon actually pays significantly above the minimum wage, this frequently leads to complaints by businesses located near their plants that they have to hike their pay in response to still get workers. NYT did a nice article on this two years ago: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/05/business/economy/amazon-w...
That's true, but I don't think it's altruism. Working conditions that incent people to urinate in a bottle to avoid being marked as slow...tend to mean higher wages are needed to close that deal. Higher being relative, of course. I know from a historical perspective that warehouse work in the 1980's, after a couple of years, was enough to pay for a modest apartment and car, etc. It's not now.
> That's true, but I don't think it's altruism.
It's almost as if we already have a good system for discovering prices and wages.
Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#39Why do they call employees, "associates"?
Not quite doublespeak, but forced language, like how "shellshock" was changed to "battle fatigue" and then to "post-traumatic stress disorder" (George Carlin has a great set about that).
But it's really effective in changing the mindset. You're not just an employee or a laborer, you're a partner, we're in this together!
Or another take on it; in Scrum, during the retrospective, you don't list things that were shit, you list things that could be improved. This immediately puts you into a different mindset, not of things that are bad (and thus immutable), but how you can improve things. Thinking in solutions instead of problems.
Or in internet terms: removing the dislike button. Only positive enforcement, no negatives. Negatives are bad for business and conversion.
Re: Amazon training video on handling unionizing activity (2018) [video]
#40This is beyond disgusting, and definitely not acceptable. So much for being "the world's best employer". I want to dig a hole and bury myself from the embarrassment of being associated with this company.
Who claimed that they were "the world's best employer" though? Always look at who proclaims that; it's never the employees themselves. Or if it is, it's a subselection of those that actually had something positive to say about it (e.g. higher management, IT, etc, not the warehouse staff).