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August 17, 2015

Maoist "Struggle Sessions" vs. Meetings at Amazon

A struggle session was a form of public humiliation used by the Communist Party of China in the Mao Zedong era to shape public opinion
and to humiliate, persecute, or execute political rivals and class enemies. In general, the victim of a struggle session was forced to admit to various crimes before a crowd of people who would verbally and physically abuse the victim until he or she confessed. Struggle session - Wikipedia

At Amazon, workers are encouraged to tear apart one another’s ideas in meetings,
toil long and late (emails arrive past midnight, followed by text messages asking why they were not answered), and held to standards that the company boasts are “unreasonably high.” The internal phone directory instructs colleagues on how to send secret feedback to one another’s bosses. Employees say it is frequently used to sabotage others. (The tool offers sample texts, including this: “I felt concerned about his inflexibility and openly complaining about minor tasks.”) Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace - The New York Times

Posted by gerardvanderleun at August 17, 2015 11:47 AM. This is an entry on the sideblog of American Digest: Check it out.

Your Say

The only ones who thrive in an environment of TOO MUCH INTERDEPENDENCE are the Stepfords, the Sowers-of-Discord, and the Bridge-Club/Poker players.

All the sincere, earnest people who given given their all will be sucked dry, undermined, humiliated and then disposed of.

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Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.

The Lord Almighty has declared in my hearing: “Surely the great houses will become desolate, the fine mansions left without occupants.

A ten-acre vineyard will produce only a bath[a] of wine; a homer[b] of seed will yield only an ephah[c] of grain.”

~Isaiah 5: 8-10

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Hindsight, to survive in a large corporation such as that - and still have a soul - is to have reserve and realize not all people on 'your team' is your friend nor are they doing things for the 'good of the Corporation' either.

Reserve - and when you can make a difference (thereby upholding the promise you made to those who 'feed' you) be certain to do it in a manner that it does not attract ANY attention - preferably anonymously.

I'd go further into details, but I think this'll do.

Posted by: John Condon [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 17, 2015 12:26 PM

Nobody forces anybody to work for Amazon. You work for the pay (both monetary and satisfaction) that compensates for any uncomfortable, unpleasant or dangerous working conditions. I know because I did, right up to retirement age. And, I would do it all over again if I could.

Posted by: BillH [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 17, 2015 1:19 PM

Consider the source. Hatchet job, already debunked.

Posted by: james wilson [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 17, 2015 6:39 PM

"Nobody forces anybody to work for Amazon. "

Good point BillH. People can always quit.

Posted by: John Condon [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 18, 2015 4:24 AM

The USS Amazon has slipped it's mooring and is starting to ease off with the currents.

I've been dealing with amazon for almost 20 years now and for the past few years they have been slipping to the point that I am already looking for alternatives - and finding them.

Sometimes the new way ain't the best way.
And hi-tek isn't the be all end all they told you it is.

Posted by: ghostsniper [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 18, 2015 11:26 AM

Well ghost, I've been dealing with Amazon since it started selling stuff, and in my experience it is just like it always was. Super wide selections, fresh merchandise, quick, prompt refunds when it makes a mistake.... Best service I've found on the web, and light years ahead of what's left of our local shopping industry. I don't use Amazon's more esoteric services like video streaming and eoobks, so can't speak for them.

Posted by: BillH [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 18, 2015 2:16 PM

Today alone UPS dropped off 3 boxes from amazon to my wife.

Amazon has the next Maxpedia backpack I'm gonna buy but I'm going to buy it from the 1500 Gunshow next weekend instead, know why?

Cause I can hold it in my hands and run my eyeballs directly over to see if there are any flaws and determine exactly what it's like.

In 20 years amazon hasn't done anything at all to make the buying experience more bulletproof and subsequently things are constantly being returned.

Amazon is using 20th century technology and collecting 21st century prices.

Last year I had to buy 3 different belts for my riding mower from amazon before I got one that worked properly.

I could go on and on but the point is my money and time are more important to me than amazon can appreciate so basically I'm firing their ass.

Posted by: ghostsniper [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 18, 2015 5:31 PM

"Last year I had to buy 3 different belts for my riding mower from amazon before I got one that worked properly. " (Ghost)

I'm not surprised, Ghost.

Machiavellian Scheming that comes from the badly compromised boundaries of a too socially Interdependent inner structure of a corporation will lead to its eventual downfall.

All corporations implode from within.

So how does the longest lasting Corporation/Bureaucracy in history survive for the last 2000 years - the Catholic Church - survive and not implode like other 'Corporations/Nations'?

The Christian ethic is baked into the system - unlike Corporations/Nations.

The upside of the natural aging process of the corporation - such as Amazon - is that it makes room for 'younger', smaller, upstart companies to flourish and grow. A chance for a fresh start - a renewal - yet again.

"You work for the pay (both monetary and satisfaction) that compensates for any uncomfortable, unpleasant or dangerous working conditions." (Bill H)

There is a certain level of toxicity in all Corporations, but Amazon appears to have a higher level of it and strikes me as one further down the path of implosion than others.

Monetary compensation for working with predatory co-workers is, many times not worth it. You are right: Good, earnest, workers can always quit the corporation (and they do).

As I have intimated earlier; I am not a quitter and there are ways to deal with predatory/toxic Coworkers - as I mentioned above - so that the promise to the employer is fulfilled right up to... retirement.

Posted by: John Condon [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 19, 2015 8:45 AM

Amazon seems to be doing well considering all the failures that work in the bathrooms see article further up, "... shitty job ...".

As it always has been, caveat emptor.

Counter-intuitively there is more quality control in big corporations. When you go to Jed's back yard blacksmith shop or Shadetree's auto repair shop you must know what he is doing and keep an eye on him so his pot smoking or beer drinking doesn't get in his way.
When the work he did fails and you ask for a refund he might go "Er, I don't have the cash right now, come on back on Friday" or some such lame excuse.

As much as the big corporations are soul-sucking places of anonymity and faceless number jobs, they have the stability to get it right or make it right.
You're not paying for the problems of the workers and management, you are paying for the product or service.

Posted by: chasmatic [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 19, 2015 1:48 PM

"Counter-intuitively there is more quality control in big corporations. When you go to Jed's back yard blacksmith shop or Shadetree's auto repair shop you must know what he is doing and keep an eye on him so his pot smoking or beer drinking doesn't get in his way. "

Yet, the Corporation inevitably will implode.

Yes, there are alot of small businesses where it is 'Buyer Beware'. Infact 90% (or is it 95%... I can;t remember) of all Small businesses fail in the first 5 years.

It is the ones that survive.. it is THEY who replace the large corporations. I am a BIG believer of no corporation is too big to fail. Let them fail.

Fail and be replaced.

Posted by: John Condon [TypeKey Profile Page] at August 20, 2015 9:24 AM

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