Midlands Man Recalls Working at Amazon
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Columbia, S.C. (WOLO) — Online shopping powerhouse, Amazon, is coming under fire this week after an in-depth New York Times article hit the stands. The article detailed current and former employees criticisms of the workplace. One former employee stated, “Nearly every person I worked with, I saw cry at their desk.” Now, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is speaking out against the claims. In an email to his employees he wrote, “The article doesn’t describe the Amazon I know.” However, Amazon former employee Robert Cook said he wasn’t surprised by the claims attacking the corporate culture because he faced a very similar experience working at the local level. “Brutal, I mean I can’t really think of a better way to describe it,” said Cook. Cook said he used to work 10 hour shifts each day with two 15 minute breaks which he said often got cut short. “That 15 minutes you have to make your last scan, get to wherever you want to take your break in the 1.3 million square foot warehouse, take a break and then get back to the scanner and make the next scan on the dot,” explained Cook. Cook said he believes a lot of the problem lies in company polices. “There are too many employees to manage personally, so everything’s done by computer and the computer’s frequently wrong,” said Cook. Cook said if the company listens to it’s employees, the environment may become a happier place to work. Meanwhile, Bezos is asking employees to contact him directly with any issues described in the article.
