Latest / Spending time with Dr. Christina / Bonus: Inside Amazon Warehouse 3
Transcript
- 0:00Thank you all for joining me again for this bonus
- 0:03episode of the Amazon experience inside the warehouse
- 0:07I thought of a few other things that are pretty
- 0:10weird and even quirky and That I want to share
- 0:14as well as a final thoughts For example in Amazon
- 0:20warehouse one thing that a lot of the managers
- 0:24and even their lower -level managers, the PAs
- 0:26were noted for are just kind of micromanaging.
- 0:30It's a lot of micromanaging there. In fact, a
- 0:34lot of them you would find sneaking up behind
- 0:37you and sort of like ninjas. I mean, you would
- 0:41not even know they're there because you know
- 0:43you're there, you're doing your work and things,
- 0:45but they are there constantly monitoring. And
- 0:49what I found disturbing was pretty much when
- 0:56they brought in all of these level five managers
- 0:59and level fours right off the street right off
- 1:02the street they just hired them and they said
- 1:05they were trying to fill a void and they threw
- 1:08them in telling them this is the way to go which
- 1:11is this micromanaging style that they like to
- 1:14do where they will constantly stay on people
- 1:19to do processes a certain way And even though
- 1:24a lot of them cannot do it themselves, but they're
- 1:27here writing people up and reprimanding them
- 1:32for things that they can't even do and they hardly
- 1:35even know about because they're so new to the
- 1:37process. So that was weird. But getting back
- 1:41to these PAs and managers, sort of like ninjas,
- 1:46a lot of times I knew when they were in my circle
- 1:49or around and hanging out and, you know, you
- 1:53just ignore them. Then I had one friend that
- 1:56was pretty good and he could sneak up on you
- 2:00like a ninja and you would not know he's there
- 2:03a lot of times. You just have to get very keen
- 2:06to what these practices are. So that is something
- 2:12anyone will tell you at Amazon that this is pretty
- 2:14common in the warehouse, especially in the fulfillment
- 2:17center. I didn't notice a lot of that in the
- 2:21delivery station. I think the delivery station
- 2:23has a lot more balance. Not like their folks
- 2:26there are so, I don't know, so much better. I
- 2:31just think that there's not a lot of that going
- 2:34on there. So. That's just a comparison, but it's
- 2:38also more labor intensive. Other things that
- 2:42I would like to mention is that coming through
- 2:46that experience. I realized what my parents made
- 2:51the sacrifice for me to go to college for. When
- 2:55I think about my grandparents, really only one
- 2:59of them, my grandmother, she got a PhD in art
- 3:02from NYU. My other grandmother only went as far
- 3:06as an associate degree. and my other grandfather
- 3:10was a pharmacist so you know they made a sacrifice
- 3:14but also I come from a family that everybody
- 3:17serves and had been in the military so when I
- 3:20look back at going through this process I can
- 3:25put a value to everything that they warned me
- 3:29about and why they pushed me to go to college
- 3:32and to find a professional degree that I would
- 3:36enjoy and that I like to do. Even my father,
- 3:40my father was an artist, but he made that sacrifice
- 3:42and he went to UPS and was a supervisor there.
- 3:46My mother was a professional, worked in marketing,
- 3:49but also taught school. Her expertise was really
- 3:54mathematics. So when I think about what my parents
- 3:59did for my brothers and sisters and I, it is
- 4:04something to be treasured because the bottom
- 4:07line is that while I went through this process
- 4:11and it was wow it was eye -opening because I
- 4:17would have never allowed in my own organization
- 4:19any of these things to transpire. I wouldn't
- 4:22allow inexperienced managers to be on the floor.
- 4:25I wouldn't allow frivolous reprimands. I wouldn't
- 4:28allow a lot of the brow beating and the pencil
- 4:31whipping that was occurring inside this organization.
- 4:35And that occurs in the organization. The lack
- 4:39of professionalism. And you don't need to go
- 4:43to college to learn a lot of these things. But
- 4:46this is the atmosphere. So When you get into
- 4:52an environment like this It's clear you have
- 4:55really one goal to make the money and to be able
- 5:00to support your family and to take care of your
- 5:03needs because I can't really see anyone Unless
- 5:08you are in that corporate atmosphere on the corporate
- 5:12side not corporate warehouse, but corporate Amazon
- 5:15Would you enjoy? any of this really And even
- 5:21though I have met people and they do the work
- 5:24and they like to get the accolades and appreciate
- 5:27it sometimes, this work is so labor -intensive
- 5:33that I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Even with
- 5:37their, they call them robots, but I haven't seen
- 5:39that one robot in that environment. They're really
- 5:42motorized carts. Whether they're tall carts or
- 5:46short carts, they're all motorized. So they're
- 5:50not robots, but anyone that's there, you should
- 5:53have that ambition to get there and get out.
- 5:59One guy I read about, he went there, learned
- 6:02all about their delivery system, bought into
- 6:05it. I think it's like 30 ,000 and started his
- 6:08own delivery company because that's what he preferred.
- 6:11Have a go. Go there. If you didn't get your high
- 6:14school diploma, get your high school diploma
- 6:16and get out of there and get on to something
- 6:17else. You know, if you didn't get any, if you
- 6:21didn't go to college, then you want to get your
- 6:23college degree, then go there and get your college
- 6:26degree. But one thing that I think is very sad
- 6:30that I see at these organizations is that they're
- 6:34bringing in their children. I would never do
- 6:38that. You know, everybody needs work. and blah
- 6:43blah blah if if a child is there let them be
- 6:46on an internship and passing through let them
- 6:49be there for a summer job but don't let them
- 6:52be there for a full -time job so i could see
- 6:56where my co -worker um who was in her early 30s
- 7:02and she was going to school and and normally
- 7:06she wouldn't even do anything like Amazon, but
- 7:09she decided she wanted to get out of the profession
- 7:11she was in in business and do something else.
- 7:14I can see why her father called her up and said,
- 7:17Hey, get out of there. You know, this is, this
- 7:22is not, this is not it. I can only see people
- 7:27that are way on the top benefiting from this.
- 7:30So no, don't invite your kids there. Have a limitation.
- 7:34Let them come for summer internships or a summer
- 7:38job, but don't let them coming there full -time
- 7:41unless it's something of significance because
- 7:45a place like that, it changes you. it will bring
- 7:53you into a mindset that's just not healthy. All
- 7:59that micromanaging, all of the behaviors that
- 8:05are just out of sorts. For example, I didn't
- 8:07have a chance to, I don't think I mentioned this
- 8:09too much in any of the podcasts, but hey, the
- 8:12screaming. by the men at the women in the organization,
- 8:16but I've also seen some of the women managers
- 8:19yell a few times, but it was mostly the men getting
- 8:23in the face of women, got in my face a couple
- 8:26of times. And of course, you know, listen, I'm
- 8:28going to document this. I'm going to take this
- 8:30to HR. I'm not going to let anybody provoke me,
- 8:33but there's a lot of this behavior that's unhinged.
- 8:37So my final thoughts really are anyone that's
- 8:42there. Get what you need and propel yourself
- 8:47out of there if your dream is like a lot of people
- 8:50that say hey I want to have my own business and
- 8:54I want to do this and I want to do that do it
- 8:57Life is short and we're not promised tomorrow,
- 9:01but don't get into a cycle For a paycheck if
- 9:05you don't have to if you if you really don't
- 9:09have to Don't get into that cycle where you forget
- 9:14your dreams and you're stuck building somebody
- 9:17else's dreams, Mr. Amazon, Mr. Bezos, you know?
- 9:22Think about what your dreams are and let that
- 9:26organization propel you there. And that's one
- 9:29thing I did as a young person. When I got my
- 9:32first full -time job, they paid for everything.
- 9:35They paid for my college degree, my graduate
- 9:38school, my extra training. everything like that.
- 9:42This is what a good organization can do for you.
- 9:46And they let you go to any school. They let you
- 9:49go to good schools. I'm going to mention that
- 9:51for a brief second. I was not happy with the
- 9:55selection of schools that Amazon offers. All
- 9:58of them. Tier four schools. And not really good.
- 10:03The best ones they had on there were SUNY schools.
- 10:06And that's really it. I was not happy what they
- 10:10were. giving people a choice to go to and they're
- 10:13thinking oh it's just a degree no people want
- 10:17to get trained by the best they want to learn
- 10:20from the best they want to know what they're
- 10:22learning has value and they'll get recruited
- 10:24and that somebody won't take their resume and
- 10:27put it in the trash because they went to an online
- 10:29school because this is what happens You know
- 10:33people can be very finicky and now we have AI
- 10:35that's going over resumes So these are things
- 10:39that all of you should think about while you're
- 10:43there Just don't let it be a job that you go
- 10:46nine to five and you have no life and you have
- 10:48no dreams still pursue your dreams and Try not
- 10:53to leave this earth without fulfilling them because
- 10:57we're not promised tomorrow make the most of
- 11:01today. So those are really my final thoughts
- 11:06for this particular season because as I mentioned,
- 11:09I really feel like I'll be coming back to share
- 11:11some more on this. But in the meantime, thank
- 11:13you for joining me and I wish you all a very
- 11:16good week.