[panacea]

"The employees aren't in jail, they aren't slaves, they have choice."

Care to outline the choice they have (you forgot the "s", as belies your worldview)? What are the choices outside of jail, slavery or the work conditions described in the article?

I suspect that many of them can't get another job and they need to feed themselves or dependents like children.

"The article is sensational."

If you disagree with the article, why would you give it such a rousing review?

Yep... you are a Grade-A fuckwit.

[pc86]

I flagged and downvoted both of your comments because there is absolutely no reason to resort to intentionally misunderstanding the poster's intent and petty name calling. It's not worthy of a forum where people supposedly think critically about the material presented. This isn't the comments section of some hack political blog.

[panacea]

Whilst I appreciate you outlining which buttons you clicked on this website, perhaps you could engage with the discussion and present your view? There are mechanical-turk computers behind the scenes to interpret your button pressing.

[pc86]

Despite your lack of respect toward anyone else in this thread, I felt I owed you at least an explanation of why I did what I did.

[nicpottier]

Fuckwit? Asshole? Seriously?

You can disagree, that's cool, we can have different opinions, but aren't we supposed to strive to a slightly higher level of discourse on HN?

You don't know me, so lay off the ad-hominem, this isn't the forum for it. We apparently disagree on what kinds of choices people have in the Midwest. We are coming from different places in our experience, and I happen to think I hold the edge on this particular topic.

Let's keep it civil though ya?

[panacea]

I apologise for the name-calling. (Particularly the egregious terms I used... and it's no excuse that in my circle of friends we use them in conversation, but subtleties are lost in translation, even amongst English speakers)

My broader point is this (if you care beyond taking offence at the language I have used), people desperate for a job to feed themselves and their dependents, should not have to subjugate themselves at the feet of Amalgamated Internet Co. in order to live a fulfilling life... and saying 'it's a bit boring but suck-it-up stranger' doesn't display any empathy.

However your feelings are entitled to be respected?

[nicpottier]

I wasn't asking you to respect my feelings, I was simply asking you to engage in a discussion.

I get where you are coming from, I really do, I just don't think this is the Big Evil Megacorp (TM) you are looking for. Yes, being a full time picker wouldn't be my first choice as a job, but that goes for a lot of jobs out there, many of which I did for a time.

Not all jobs are fulfilling, not all jobs are fun, really only a tiny fraction are. As "knowledge workers" we have the incredible luxury of having jobs that have incredible flexibility and are engaging. But most jobs have to pay you because nobody would voluntarily do the work otherwise, and ya, that's called work.

The Amazon warehouses are just that, warehouses, where shit gets picked, put into boxes and shipped. To me, they seemed fine, no more or less bad than I expected. I think some people are better at coping with that kind of job than others, my brother did the same stint one year and went berzerk, for me it wasn't so bad, I found some form of fun in it.

It isn't a super amazing fulfilling job where you belch unicorn rainbows after every shift, no. But it isn't some forced labor camp either. The testament to that is that Amazon sent off its own super hippy, liberal and educated workforce to witness it year after year.

I have empathy, I'm just pointing out that an alternate reality might be that this reporter spent two weeks investing in this article and then left and had to write something.. so he did. It is a lot less interesting to write "Amazon warehouse work is boring but gives you good calf muscles" than it is to go on about mental illness.

PS. I can tell you if you cared about mental health, working as a software dev during those days was WAY more stressful than any warehouse job. Pressure cooker to the extreme.

[eli_gottlieb]

Nobody expects work to be fun. People expect it to have reasonably short hours (ie: eight hours per day, for instance), to pay well enough to support themselves, and not to actively insult and humiliate the worker. If you can't meet that minimum standard, take your "job" and shove it.

[eli_gottlieb]

>You can disagree, that's cool, we can have different opinions, but aren't we supposed to strive to a slightly higher level of discourse on HN?

I would prefer to strive for a slightly higher level of actual empathy and morality on HN rather than tolerate the "Fuck you, got mine" attitude you're displaying.