There are several annual exceptional selling moments that Amazon prizes. During these periods employees are encouraged to accept overtime shifts. The amount of hours you are allowed to work is extended. (This also happens in July for whatever reason). The alerts come to you on your scanner (the device that you wear that tracks your productivity) and to your cell phone. The list of shifts appears and you can apply at will. Except if you don’t that decision will “go down on your permanent record.”
Today instead of remembering that this is the Summer solstice Amazon will be telling its employees, and the rest of us, that this is one of two Prime Days. There are banners on the Amazon work floor that remind employees that Amazon is servicing and encourages customer obsession and that this is the time to squeeze out a little more effort in order to sell, package and distribute products.
It’s about that moment of extra joy that Amazon services when we can buy something else we may or may not need. I get it. I do it too. There’s no need for the dog ramps, the extra bedstand, or the new bedsheets, but I enjoyed three or four moments of total satisfaction during the whole experience that was comprised of searching, finding, buying, and receiving my packages.
It’s just that when Amazon tells me today is special because it’s going to make extra money off me it ignores the momentous occasion happening outdoors and thus I feel a little pissed off and maybe a little doomed. The view of the world is then narrowed to a short term idea of success that encourages me to be more detached from the natural world, from history, and from community.
Bite me Amazon and your Prime Days.
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