Word: amazoned
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Picking" means roaming the aisles of the Seattle distribution center, filling customer orders from shelves packed with titles arranged according to a bewildering strategy called "random stow" that leaves Toni Morrison: A Womanist Discourse abutting Garfield's Extreme Student Planner. This facility is the smallest of Amazon's nine worldwide distribution centers. But today the place is humming with hundreds of pickers pushing around carts piled high with books and other products destined to land under thousands of Christmas trees...
This is how Amazon's other half lives. At least 40% of the work force labors in a distribution center or customer-service center. It's the blue-collar work of the Internet. Neon hair, body piercings and non-Caucasian skin tones are generously represented. And so is the Amazon work ethic. "You have to prove yourself," says Edwards, 30, who came here from a print shop. "But once they notice that you're on time, hardworking and consistent, good things happen. Some people are really motivated," he says, as a headphoned airhead ambles by. "Others aren't motivated...
...that's growing so fast that entire meetings revolve around how to phone-screen the countless job supplicants; recently more than 400 people applied for four openings. "I had five interviews with five people on two different days, and this was for a temp job," says an ex-employee. Amazon detractors are easy to find. The company, like any growing society, has developed a caste system that embitters some in the lower orders. "I hated working there," says the ex-employee. "I was totally underutilized. My bosses were bad managers who just happened to sign on earlier than...
...money. Oh, to be one of the Amazon anointed, those who signed on early and are enjoying multimillion-dollar payouts. You hear about Gen Xers turned philanthropists: the woman who signed up out of college and plans to retire at 30; the guy who launched a dog-biscuit business on the side. "We get told not to watch the ticker," says Marcus, a three-year vet who, one imagines, does so anyway...
...fierce broomball rivalry. They throw Friday-night keggers, Valentine's Day parties and masquerade balls. Last fall's Halloween party was so huge that PacMed security guys were checking IDs at the door. WELCOME CAMPUS RECRUITS reads one note scrawled on an elevator whiteboard, summing up the prevailing spirit. AMAZON UBER ALLES...