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AIBU?

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Original poster

Panorama - Amazon.....

90 replies

AtYourCervix · 25/11/2013 21:21

Chap gets a job in a vast warehouse. Is surprised when he walks miles.

Chap gets an hour break in a 10 hour shift.

The bing bong electric noises irritate him.

Chap is late starting 3 times in a week then nleats because he is disciplined.

He has targets.

So what?

OP posts:
LovelyMarchHare · 25/11/2013 21:46

Panorama is such a rubbish programme these days. This was a non-story.

wonderingsoul · 25/11/2013 21:47

sorry i dont buy it.
loads of people work hard, do maunall jobs in good conditions.

that was working hard in shitty conditions.

id also throw in the fact that most people enjoy thier job or at least some small part of it... something that keeps them going.... i fail to see how worrying your not going to meet your targets and get a warning and possibly fired becasue your not a computer and cant infact move faster then the speed of light for 10 hours straight is good for any ones mental health. becasue there really isnt much else to it is there? some where you cant even talk to people to keep the moral, so to speack up.

ilovesooty · 25/11/2013 21:52

If others are working in illegal working conditions it doesn't justify poor conditions elsewhere.

WooWooOwl · 25/11/2013 21:55

I don't get the outrage either, panorama are really scraping the crap out of their fingernails for this one.

Loads of jobs are hard work. That's why people get paid to do them.

Darkesteyes · 25/11/2013 21:59

YY Sooty Its like saying that because Woman 1 is only being emotionally abused by her husband she should think herself lucky because Woman 2 is being physically abused by hers!!!!

Ive yet to discover the joys of internet shopping myself.

And to all you rules is rules sticklers on here.....funny how the fact that he was expected to run around in the dark has not been mentioned considering its against H and S laws.

AnyCrunchyCarrotFucker · 25/11/2013 22:01

Well, if it was me, I would complain about the lights, and take in a head torch. Why would you stumble around in the dark if you had targets to meet??

Darkesteyes · 25/11/2013 22:03

Any i think you just answered yr own question Confused

TheCrackFox · 25/11/2013 22:03

Your average waiting staff walks about the same distance, lucky to get breaks and worst of all actually has to deal with the general public.

Llareggub · 25/11/2013 22:09

Well, a lot of people at Amazon are employed via an agency and have few, if any employment rights. Amazon seem to be avoiding not just tax but their obligations as employers too.

KnappShappeyShipwright · 25/11/2013 22:11

I'm a bit confused about the outrage - I work in a distribution centre, I walked miles picking orders when I was on the shop floor (around 12 miles a night on a 12 hour shift) and, here's the fantastic bit, I got paid a wage. These days there aren't many options for entry level, unqualified and unskilled work.

I stuck with it and now have an office based job within the distribution centre with a slightly better wage. I'm a bit baffled that Panorama thought this was news worthy - how do they think Amazon and the like deal with their orders?!

wonderingsoul · 25/11/2013 22:12

you might as well just tell nurses and midwifes and the lot other people at the nhs to man up. it a hard job. its manual work.

man up and dont get pissed at the lack of breaks. nothing should change, you knew what you was getting into when you took the job.

dont sit to good does it?

cocolepew · 25/11/2013 22:12

DH has done manual jobs all his working life, including being a coalman. I've never known himto work 9-5 type hours.

He's now an ATM engineer and spends all day stuck in tiny spaces in all weathers fixing them. He regularly does 10-14 hours days. He only stops for a 20 minute lunch break now because he has just be diagnosed with a chronic lung condition (due to being a coalman Hmm)

wonderingsoul · 25/11/2013 22:14

knap but did you get a talking to if you didnt manage to pack/ppick up 2 things in 30 seconds that well could have been a different sides of the room?

KnappShappeyShipwright · 25/11/2013 22:26

wonderingsoul I had to work to targets, same as a lot of people in all sorts of working environments. I didn't work for Amazon (don't want to name who I do work for, obviously!) so I can't make a direct comparison.

For me, as an unqualified, unskilled and inexperienced job, it wasn't bad. It was warm, it was dry and the shifts meant I could earn a wage. I'm not condoning Amazon's tax dodging and treatment of agency staff as lesser employees.

GobbySadcase · 25/11/2013 22:28

Oh goody. Another race to the bottom!

hiddenhome · 25/11/2013 22:31

I don't get an hours break on a 13 hour shift. More like 20 minutes if I'm lucky Hmm

LessMissAbs · 25/11/2013 22:41

Imagine that a person should have to work in a job, and do things that they might not do for fun! Its terrible!

TheCrackFox · 25/11/2013 22:42

It isn't a race to the bottom - lots of people work for shit pay, shit conditions but it isn't actually illegal.

When you go on holiday (Britain) your average chambermaid probably walks further, has extremely tight deadlines and it is unbearable physical work. Would you like to clean 15 bedroom, bathrooms and change the beds every shift? Why doesn't the BBC make a documentary about Hilton, Forte etc?

I worked for house of Fraser - your PAY was docked if you are 10 seconds late on the shop floor which meant you had to arrive 15 mins before a shift to guarantee to be on the shop floor on time. You weren't allowed to cash up until the shop was shut which meant you worked for free for half an hour at the end of the shift. Why don't the BBC make a documentary about that?

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 25/11/2013 22:45

Now hiring people to work in Amazon, that is an awful job... Wink

BeyondTheLimitsOfAcceptability · 25/11/2013 22:47

Llaregub - all of the general type workers are employed via agency, and most of the supervisors too. Or at least, they were 3 years ago before I left work.

GobbySadcase · 25/11/2013 23:19

It so is though.

"My work conditions are shiiiiiiiiiit so everyone else's should be just as or more miserable".

I wouldn't wish my 'work conditions' on anyone!

Darkesteyes · 25/11/2013 23:36

YY Gobby Totally agree I think it was Owen Jones who coined a good phrase for this sort of attitude.

"Ive been mugged so my neighbour should be mugged too"

WooWooOwl · 25/11/2013 23:38

No one is forced to work there. If they think their work is worth more money, then they are free to look elsewhere.

GobbySadcase · 25/11/2013 23:40

Only because most of society is bemoaning their own situation so badly that they expect others to have it worse than them nobody is fighting to improve pay and conditions so of course it's a race to the bottom.

Darkesteyes · 25/11/2013 23:43

Gobby thats it pretty much nailed in one sentence.