Amazon Bruising Workplace Summary

Is This The Right Direction? Working at Amazon sounds like the dream job, right? Working past the point of fatigue, crying at your desk at least once a week, and having your ideas shot down without so much as a thank you for your effort? Not so much. This sea of scenarios is a part of the daily workplace culture that Amazonians drown in every day. In Jodi Kantor and David Streitfeld’s, “Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace,” the co-authors expose the technology vanguard’s bruising workplace. According to them, Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Amazon, has created a code/set of rules that his employees have to practice to survive the cut-throat culture the rules create. Constant data flow that checks and monitors the employees

“Some Amazonians [Amazonian mean amazon employee] say they teach them to their children.” (24) Co-authors, Kantor and Streitfeld, include this blurb to emphasize the importance and ridiculousness of Amazonians’ commitment to their principles. The intended effect works because it exemplifies the pervasive nature of the job. Amazon likes to boast it’s methods and means are what set it as—what they like to call—“a place apart.” The co-authors point out these quirks by mentioning, “While the Amazon campus appears similar to those of some tech giants— with dog friendly offices, a workforce that skews young and male, on-sight farmers’ market and upbeat posters—the company considers itself a place apart” (29). The co-authors use concrete and specific examples to set up what they deem a normal environment which sets up for the contrasting one: “Amazon, though, offers no pretense that catering to employees is a priority.” (30) Both of these quotes serve the to stress the idea that working at Amazon doesn’t come with the expected perks and is not a normal environment yet they’re proud to let everyone