So as it turns out, warehouses are p. terrible

I like to think that I put an abundance of effort in choosing what I buy very carefully. Outside of the obvious financial issues that rampant purchases make, I try to avoid buying something from a source that I feel violates my code of decency in some manner. Well as it turns out that's basically every damn where. I guess I should probably just bite the bullet and put Amazon in the same category as Wal-Mart and Target and etc. I mean the signs have been building up and I admittedly ignored that issue with sales tax more than I should have but shit.

I swear to God somedays I think temp agencies should be illegal.

Good God, you idiot! I saw the thread title and thought that someone had found the bodies.

Imagine my relief when it just turns out to be some wage monkey complaining about being VERY easily replaceable.

This time, Mikey's comment isn't even worth acknowledging.

It was like everybody was saying "Why are you here?" Like in a prison, "How did you fall so far that you need to do this job?"

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

This time, Mikey's comment isn't even worth acknowledging.

She quipped, acknowledging Mikey's comment.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

This time, Mikey's comment isn't even worth acknowledging.

Sweet Jesus, Harley.

Even if there was intentional irony, that's pitiful.

That's it, I'm putting Mikey and Harley on my Ignore list.

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

This time, Mikey's comment isn't even worth acknowledging.

At first I thought you were being funny and was all like:
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

But then I realized you said this without a hint of irony and I was like:
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EileenK98 wrote:

That's it, I'm putting Mikey and Harley on my Ignore list.

Looks like someone is rectally frustrated that the Broons are obviously and laughably inferior to the Rangers and that King Henrik will win the Vezina, Hart, Conn Smythe, and Stan Lee Cup trophy, and that Eli is a better QB than Brady and that Brady has no business being in the Hall of Fame, seeing how his greatest achievement without the illegal aid of a camera crew is being Gisele's wife.

EileenK98 wrote:

That's it, I'm putting Mikey and Harley on my Ignore list.

I'm always surprised it takes people that long. My tolerance for bullshit of their kind is very low.

Old news. The husband worked a string of warehouse jobs after high school, one of them for a Walmart distribution center, and yeah. It was shitty. Like, class action lawsuit shitty.

fapfapfap wrote:

Old news. The husband worked a string of warehouse jobs after high school, one of them for a Walmart distribution center, and yeah. It was shitty. Like, class action lawsuit shitty.

I have too. But no one listens to the people actually working the damn jobs until someone on TV tells them to. Until you get media validation you just need to suck it up and deal with it because hey at least you have a job it can't be that bad stop whining you dirty prole...

I'm just thankful this was in Canada and he had access to free healthcare after the job fucked up his elbow. They also treated him like shit after he fucked up his knee from bailing on some ice, too. Fuck that. But yeah, like I said... old news for hundreds of thousands of people already.

Of course it's old news, it's been old news since the industrial revolution. It seems, though, that a large number of people think ordering consumer goods online is a reasonable compromise to buying electronics and plastic crap in a brick-and-mortar store. While you are cutting out a retailer, you aren't cutting out the warehouse, which tends to generate more civil rights violations than the employees of a store might face. That, coupled with the lower overall expense and speed at which items are ordered and expected, makes this an issue that deserves some spotlight.

I understand, but you realize part of why it's such a pervasive problem is because people don't actually listen to the people working these jobs, right? I wasn't accusing you of anything, I was pointing out the prevailing cultural narrative that all these workers need to stop whining so much and just bootstrapsbootstrapsbootstrapsbootstraps...

That is, until the media validates their story. Then everyone wants to wag their finger at the Big Bad Company's for about a week or two then they just go back and buy more shit from Big Bad Company.

Mr.Doobie wrote:

I understand, but you realize part of why it's such a pervasive problem is because people don't actually listen to the people working these jobs, right? I wasn't accusing you of anything, I was pointing out the prevailing cultural narrative that all these workers need to stop whining so much and just bootstrapsbootstrapsbootstrapsbootstraps...

That is, until the media validates their story. Then everyone wants to wag their finger at the Big Bad Company's for about a week or two then they just go back and buy more shit from Big Bad Company.

I agree, I just think that it's important to look at it from a new angle: one that emphasizes online shopping as a moral alternative to shopping at, say, Wal-Mart. Companies like Amazon and Overstock can charge the same or slightly less for a new product like electronic goods or cheaper toys, but they still employ practices like those outlined in the article. This is media coverage. Someone is writing about it, and it is making some (admittedly paltry) rounds around the internet. Yeah, of course it's going to die down, but that applies to any given story about any given issue. If someone isn't directly affected by it, they're going to have a difficult time keeping up with, or even just outright ignore, problems that don't fall into their field of vision. It is a good thing that someone did this.

It is a good thing. The bad thing is the cultural narrative.

Cultural shifts take a long time, moreso when they're ingrained into our country's history, and even more when they're a bellweather for prosperity in the history of western civilization in general. It's not going to happen in our lifetime. I see awareness like this as an enouraging step, albeit a baby step.

Hawaiian Shirt wrote:

god how I wish that there was some script that could change that smilie once it was posted to a small but still recognisable .gif of shit spraying out of a toilet

fapfapfap wrote:

I'm just thankful this was in Canada and he had access to free healthcare after the job fucked up his elbow.

Uh, in America, we have something called "Worker's Comp." This dandy little feature guarantees that if you hurt yourself in the course of performing the duties of whatever job you have, the company will pay medical bills and, I believe, reimburse you at least somewhat for work missed due to injury. However, if you take the Worker's Comp, you can't sue the company for what happened to you.

Hawaiian Shirt wrote:

the warehouse, which tends to generate more civil rights violations than the employees of a store might face.

You puss brained fucking idiot, no one's "civil rights" are violated. There is no right to a cushy job where you get paid MEGABUX and don't have to actually work. If any of the workers are particularly displeased with the job, they can leave. It's like the pussyfart diva football players (by which I mean prima donna WRs and some sissy QBs) who complain about getting hit in the head. They fucking signed up for it, what did the expect?

Here's how a warehouse (FedEx's warehouse, at any rate) works. Like most service providers, demand for their service is VERY inconsistent. At some points in the year, demand is fairly slack, other times, they are swamped. Now, they can't have enough full time employees to deal with the one busy month, because, for 11 months a year, it's fucking expensive and unnecessary. However, they need capacity to meet the demand of The Hard Times. So, they'll hire enough full time workers to cover demand during most of the time, plus a few extra, to be able to deal with random spikes of demand and other issues that may arise.

To deal with the busy period, they hire temp workers to increase capacity. Now, the average full time warehouse floor worker is barely smart enough to be able to follow simple orders and operate a forklift without killing someone. The temp idiots aren't as smart, if they were, they'd be full time. They also lack experience. So supervisors have to chase them around at all hours to make sure their doing their jobs right and not fucking up the entire operation.

As for FedEx, they had to get everything in and out as fast and as accurately as possible. That's what they're there for, the best quality service at the most anus searing price. This means that the workers CANNOT waste time or make mistakes. This is why the supervisors are humorless dicks.

If that doesn't sound like a fun time, don't volunteer to work in a warehouse.

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

If that doesn't sound like a fun time, don't volunteer to work in a warehouse.

haha you're fucking retarded

Hawaiian Shirt wrote:

Mikey Go WOOGA wrote:

If that doesn't sound like a fun time, don't volunteer to work in a warehouse.

haha you're fucking retarded

Thread Summary:
*People whining about something*
*Dissenting opinion explained strangely well considering the clod it came from*
"LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL IT'S EASIER TO INSULT YOU THAN TO RUB MY TWO BRAIN CELLS TOGETHER TO COME UP WITH A REAL RESPONSE!!1!"

I like how this thread went from a good article about something that's hardly talked about to a bunch of cynical old vultures where all they have to say is "At least it's a job" or I guess they do trolling or whatever. That's not how you motivate changing poor working conditions. Sounds actually more like laziness and only acknowledging the problem for a split second, just enough time to decide that since you can't see slavery, it's not slavery. Look, Hawaiian, between you, me, and Reepicheep we know you meant well and I certainly learned something. I have to admit, I was too cowardly to investigate how much indirect harm I was causing... hell, I also feel guilty about turning the other way about the sales tax thing. I suppose what might be a good question is that since we do use Amazon quite a bit, what are some decent alternatives?

I certainly have no qualms with only buying from individual merchants on Amazon (even if that means cutting Prime out... *sigh*) but I feel like I just haven't been doing enough to be good to people around me. I get up, work, get home, fuck around, sleep... hell, when I get all fired up politically and socially, it just sort of fizzles out into me sinking into a chair and brooding for ten minutes in silence. Rinse and repeat four more times.

Christ, don't you people get irony? Do I have to put a little after every joke? Are you THAT devoid of any humour?

At least it's a job.

But what a horrible, horrible job it is. Seriously, what is this, China? Some Nazi labor camp? No, it's fucking AMERICA. Sure, shelf-stacking isn't the most fulfilling thing ever but I think sometimes (lots of times) people confuse how hard a job is with the qualifications you need to have it.

"Hmmm... somebody delivers the post. Well seeing as they don't need a PhD in physiology to do that, I figure it's only right that they should get paid minimum wage."

Harley Quinn hyenaholic wrote:

HA HA I TROLLLLLL UUUUUUUU