Worked at a warehouse for a small family owned business once and now I work at an Amazon warehouse and it’s like fucking night and day. At least Amazon managers have no like personal investment in the goings on really, everything is just numbers and you’re just one cog out of many so its easy to avoid scrutiny. If a small business tyrant decides they don’t like you? Good fucking luck.
I have a similar experience while looking for a place to rent. A few private landlords said “no foreigners”, one refused to believe my female S.O. made median wage for a man in our city and demanded to see her tax documents, and one tried inserting a clause into the lease saying I’m not allowed to cook “ethnic foods” (lmao).
At that point even the realtor was shocked at how shitty these people were being and referred me to a big corporate landlord. They asked to see my ID, my pay slips, and then handed me their standard terms and conditions. I moved in that week.
I am in no way defending any landlord ever, but sometimes being just another number can work to your advantage. Numbers don’t have skin color or nationality or gender.
Small business i used to work at tried to not pay me for 20 hours worth of work. Thankfully I had been recording the hours I worked because I like recording stuff and could show them the pics I took.
Later they started using these wipes I had allergic reactions to, then lied about using them when I was very clearly having an allergic reaction, and then stopped giving me hours after I sent them a picture of a thing my allergist gave me that said I’m allergic to an ingredient in those wipes.
I worked for a gigantic company with sites all over the world and I offhandedly told someone im allergic to the hand soap so I bring my own. That same day the person who coordinates supplies for all the sites in my part of state emailed me about switching the my site to a different soap that I can tolerate.
Fuck that company too (ceo is a nepo baby) but small businesses commit the majority of wage theft and their owners are more likely to breathe down your neck
their owners are more likely to breathe down your neck
For all the Graeberian waste that goes on in corporate businesses, I’ll take being micromanaged by a yes man middle manager over being micromanaged by the company’s owner any day. I worked in a small-to-medium sized business that was growing really quickly and the owner just got more deranged as time went on. Because he insisted that, despite delegating responsibilities to people all over the company, he needed to be the jack of all trades with his eyes in every department. He basically wanted to avoid being out of touch and wanted to make sure he was holding his managers responsible. He even had several instances where he let go of asshole managers who were treating their workers like dirt. He was essentially a good guy who meant well. But he was also a tyrant by nature of his incompetence. He was an awful programmer. He was an awful video editor. He was an awful logistics technician. He was awful at tech support. He was excellent with clients. But his obsession with being the Everyman made sure he drove himself crazy focusing on all the stuff he was shitty at. It made him stressed out and volatile when there was no need for it. I was under constant stress that he might come around at any moment and be having a bad day and decide I was doing my job wrong and needed to be fired. Never again with that shit.
Well technically my facility still does 5 days/8 hours so it’s not as bad. Honestly the standing up all day is nothing compared to having to wake up at 2 am and get to work by 3:20. It’s absolute ass. But they pay more than $20 an hour and have health vision and dental benefits for a pretty low cost. It beats retail that’s for sure
Worked at a warehouse for a small family owned business once and now I work at an Amazon warehouse and it’s like fucking night and day. At least Amazon managers have no like personal investment in the goings on really, everything is just numbers and you’re just one cog out of many so its easy to avoid scrutiny. If a small business tyrant decides they don’t like you? Good fucking luck.
I have a similar experience while looking for a place to rent. A few private landlords said “no foreigners”, one refused to believe my female S.O. made median wage for a man in our city and demanded to see her tax documents, and one tried inserting a clause into the lease saying I’m not allowed to cook “ethnic foods” (lmao).
At that point even the realtor was shocked at how shitty these people were being and referred me to a big corporate landlord. They asked to see my ID, my pay slips, and then handed me their standard terms and conditions. I moved in that week.
I am in no way defending any landlord ever, but sometimes being just another number can work to your advantage. Numbers don’t have skin color or nationality or gender.
Small business i used to work at tried to not pay me for 20 hours worth of work. Thankfully I had been recording the hours I worked because I like recording stuff and could show them the pics I took.
Later they started using these wipes I had allergic reactions to, then lied about using them when I was very clearly having an allergic reaction, and then stopped giving me hours after I sent them a picture of a thing my allergist gave me that said I’m allergic to an ingredient in those wipes.
I worked for a gigantic company with sites all over the world and I offhandedly told someone im allergic to the hand soap so I bring my own. That same day the person who coordinates supplies for all the sites in my part of state emailed me about switching the my site to a different soap that I can tolerate.
Fuck that company too (ceo is a nepo baby) but small businesses commit the majority of wage theft and their owners are more likely to breathe down your neck
For all the Graeberian waste that goes on in corporate businesses, I’ll take being micromanaged by a yes man middle manager over being micromanaged by the company’s owner any day. I worked in a small-to-medium sized business that was growing really quickly and the owner just got more deranged as time went on. Because he insisted that, despite delegating responsibilities to people all over the company, he needed to be the jack of all trades with his eyes in every department. He basically wanted to avoid being out of touch and wanted to make sure he was holding his managers responsible. He even had several instances where he let go of asshole managers who were treating their workers like dirt. He was essentially a good guy who meant well. But he was also a tyrant by nature of his incompetence. He was an awful programmer. He was an awful video editor. He was an awful logistics technician. He was awful at tech support. He was excellent with clients. But his obsession with being the Everyman made sure he drove himself crazy focusing on all the stuff he was shitty at. It made him stressed out and volatile when there was no need for it. I was under constant stress that he might come around at any moment and be having a bad day and decide I was doing my job wrong and needed to be fired. Never again with that shit.
how do you handle standing up for 10h-12h a day/4d a week?
Well technically my facility still does 5 days/8 hours so it’s not as bad. Honestly the standing up all day is nothing compared to having to wake up at 2 am and get to work by 3:20. It’s absolute ass. But they pay more than $20 an hour and have health vision and dental benefits for a pretty low cost. It beats retail that’s for sure