You'll love this one...!! A book club & more discussion

Join us for a May 5th start buddy read of On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane
(or join in whenever you can in May)

This book works for Twisted Trivia Task:
21 Art Lit Yay - there is a clock on the cover.

Buddy Readers: Katrisa, Anne....

I'm ready to start in on this tonight, Katrisa! It's an interesting time to be reading about this topic... Amazon has been raking in billions during covid-19, also low-wage workers often forced to work in un-safe conditions, or lost jobs/furloughed when business/restaurants forced to close...

That’s what I was thinking as well! I wanted to read this for awhile, but now feels like an especially relevant time. I’m starting it tomorrow.

I am on the last chapter of the Amazon part so here's some of my thoughts so far
(view spoiler)[ I thought it was interesting when she was talking about Bezos knowing the perceptions of different companies. Like Walmart has a bad rep and companies like Whole Foods and Amazon have a "cool" rep - when there isn't too much of a real difference in how they treat employees. The Amazon work sounds terrible! And how they time their breaks from last item scanned to first item after the break even though their floor takes 5+ minutes to walk to their break room. And how the solution to people passing out from the heat was to have ambulances waiting. Human beings aren't robots and we deserve to have interaction in our jobs for mental health! Humans are social creatures and we need each other - look how hard it has been this last month/month and a half where we had to stop doing our social things! When it was grocery shopping day I was like yea! I get to do something around other humans! And we even have internet to keep us at least somewhat connected to each other while in lockdown. I also thought the tie between this soul-sucking work and opioid addiction was interesting. That our brains are wired to try to feel better - so when we feel powerless and depressed - we try to fix it and not always in healthy ways. I can say that through the stress of this last month and a half where I not only have had to deal with my daughter's mental illness, but also losing my class, having to try to learn to do my job in a whole new way, losing most of my stress outlets like thrift store shopping and going to the gym - so I gained like 10 pounds from snacking and drinking wine while not working out. When she talks to the RV park kids and they all said they could handle their crappy migrant jobs because there was always an end date, it makes you think about how many don't have an end date. And the author repeated tells us that many of the people she talked to said that the work at Amazon was better than many of the warehouses! It was sad to hear how Zappos was really trying to make a positive work environment until Amazon bought them out. Now I feel bad for all my Amazon purchases lately! Yikes! (hide spoiler)]

On Amazon section (view spoiler)[ The degree of micro-managing the workers is unfathomable - soul-sucking is good way to describe it. The way Amazon tries to make the workers as efficient as robots, it creates such a lack of dignity and respect for basic humanity. There was a good quote from one of the workers who told the author: "it's like Amazon is a sociological experiment on how far a corporation can push people - - how much they can get away with mistreating human beings for one single f*cking dollar".

It was interesting to get an idea of the different types of people who are doing this work, and how they cope with the physical and emotional abuse. It's like a challenge for some to endure it. But it does seem that there's high turnover, and workers only last 'months' in the job, not years. Amazon doesn't care about retention or loyalty, only bleeding the workers dry of every ounce of energy, then they spit them out, and bring in more.

Ugh! As you say, I feel really guilty too that I find Amazon so convenient for shopping, and have used it a lot recently. I really need to make a concerted effort to shop other stores whenever possible. (hide spoiler)]

Convergys (view spoiler)[ This one hits closer to home as I have had many a friend in my 20s who worked for Convergys here in Utah and my daughter's last job was in a call center for ATT&T internet (though not Convergys). So I can attest that thise stories are 100% what it is like to work in a call center. Back in my 20s it wasn't as bad with the micromanaging because they didn;t have the technology - but the nightmare of a call canter and dealing with people screaming at you daily and not being able to go to the bathroom was reality even back then. When my daughter worked a call center she would complain all the time at home that their multiple computer systems would crash and then she would get in trouble for taking too long or upsetting a customer. She ended up losing her job because she suffers from severe anxiety attacks and the constant pressure and angry customers would trigger them and her "adherence" would be off. I warned her not to even take the job. I couldn't believe at the end of the section when the lady was talking about going back into their time clocks and taking minutes off of them for not logging in at the exact right minute! And how sad for that sweet couple who were trying to cure the abscessed tooth! I get so angry that our healthcare is tied to our jobs and that it is so outrageously expensive! I was fighting with my insurance company today (another poor call center guy - I didn't yell at him though, I was more crying) because I have been getting bills from the ER visit we had in Feb and my expensive insurance is paying not much! Nobody who works as hard as that poor couple should have to take fish antibiotics and stabbing an abscess with a safety pin while Convergys and ATT&T are raking in money! (hide spoiler)]

Man, I will never complain again about how as a teacher I have to be careful about drinking water because I can't go to the bathroom when I want! I have more freedom to pee than these warehouse and call center workers!

Convergys (view spoiler)[ I had not even heard of the name Convergys before, but ugh another micromanaged corporate work-environment that is really toxic to mental health! I think the author did a good job really zoning in on the anxiety piece for this type of job. I'm sorry your daughter had to experience that type of job, i kept thinking as i was reading how my son would fall apart day one in that environment. I can really believe that there are 'screamers' - you see with social media how rude/berating people are when they are 'anonymous/hidden', so no doubt they are as bad when on the end of a telephone.

Calls to insurance is the one area that gets me all riled up too, Katrisa. It feels like they are so unjust, and we are so powerless. I remember fighting with insurance over a claim that they were trying to deny on a technicality... I fought and fought and fought and finally they accepted it to get rid of me i think.. I used it to my advantage that they can't hang up on you! I never gave up! LOL (hide spoiler)]

I would not last even one day at either of these types of jobs/companies so far! I remember in my teens trying some telephone cold-call marketing job (selling newspaper subscriptions i think?), and I lasted just my first shift of a few hours, I couldn't hack people being rude/hanging up on me, I have way too soft skin - I never went back.

McDonald's (view spoiler)[Well I didn't expect McDonald's to be the best job of the 3! Every job where you have to deal with people has the chance of you having to deal with punks who yell at you or abuse you, but in this job she was at least allowed some scraps of humanity. Also, I can't believe the rent in SF!!! There was still some technology trying to squeeze workers for more like habitually understaffing them, but this job seems like the best of the 3. (hide spoiler)]

Conclusion (view spoiler)[ Well, I liked what she said at the end about continuing to not back down about insisting we can find a better way - but when I try to honestly picture it - it becomes really vague. Like I imagine that there is a world where anyone who works full time has access to all their basic needs and in addition is treated like a human being with needs for autonomy and flexibility in their life and work - but as to how to achieve that I just honestly can't picture it. Our whole world is so skewed to keep the wealth flowing to the already wealthy. We rats have been on the electrocuting floor for too long. I will keep voting for people like Bernie who work for that world of worker dignity and basic necessities for all - but my hope runs thin. (hide spoiler)]

McDonalds (view spoiler)[yeah, after reading about the first two, McDonalds seemed more mild on the scale of atrocities. But it's still part of a broader industry issue with low-wage entry level restaurant jobs, and how they're always squeezing as much as they can/cutting corners wherever they can. We need more examples like Costco, who believe in paying their workers a living working wage.! (hide spoiler)]

Conclusion(view spoiler)[It's too bad the US wasn't ready for a socialist like Bernie Sanders, what positive changes he could have spearheaded! The time will come though.... maybe the unemployment and recessionary times coming out of covid situation might be the tipping point for meaningful change going forward. (hide spoiler)]

I hope so Anne! I hope eventually enough people prioritize humanity over productivity