Comments

2

"Rich people aren't relatable for majority of others, news at 11."

3

Hey SLOG, your so-called “content” sucks! Stop regurgitating click bait as news! Thanks!

4

Shorter version: people who make $25K a year at Alt-weeklies are jealous of people who make $250K a year.

5

@1 how do the boots taste?

6

What's that the kids say these days? "Hate the game and not the players."

Look. For years the Stranger whines about Seattle being a bush league wanna-be back water that had declined past it's prime. Part of those complaints from people like Savage was there were no high paying jobs in this town. And then - TA DA - we got lots of high paying jobs.

And guess what Varsity Squad cities have? High rents. Businesses that cater to rich people. Gentrification. All that shit. It's what you get. You don't get to have it both ways.

Now, that said there are some new problems that the tech sector tends to exacerbate that make all that gentrification worse. A young disconnected itinerate workforce that eschews community and trends to being either dumb libertarian or rather apathetic left. That makes crafting policies to deal with the gentrification issues harder. So. Sure. That is frustrating.

But these articles simply drip with contempt and envy. Nobody with money gives a shit what you think of them. I know these people. I am one of these people. And I know YOU. You know YOU want a $250,000 a year just like anybody else does. So just shut it with that shit.

And let me tell you if you WERE making that money you'd spend it on dumb shit just like everybody else. Fuck. I never thought I'd buy a watch that cost more than I made in six months back in the day. But I have. It may have been dumb. But at the time it felt pretty awesome.

Convince these people why they need to spread that wealth around. Convince them they could do good with that money. Why that's in their best interests. Taking a shit on them like this just makes them laugh at you. They know you'd switch places with them if you could.

7

@5 better than the shit they walk on.

8

Huh, Refinery29 used to have better-written articles.

9

Wow she is, like, totally awesome and relatable and I will go to bed every night wishing I were her! Anyone who doesn't love her, want to be her, and isn't TOTALLY envious of her amazing, fantastic, incredible life is just, like, way jealous. I mean, hates are gonna hate, right? And there are SO many haters! Jealousy is so unattractive (sad, red face emoji).

10

To be fair, if you talk to white-collar Amazon workers during their first three months or so on the job, they'll all sound like this. Landing a job in American Tech Utopia is deeply ensorcelling, especially when decent jobs are scarce. It can take a while for reality to cut through the intoxication, especially if the newly-minted employee is young and inexperienced.

12

Oh and she says she has a side gig? Amazon employee regulations do not allow anyone who works for Amazon to have a second job. They must work solely for Amazon. Having a second job (or side hustle as she puts it) will get you fired from Amazon.

14

"Reading her story makes me long for a mass shooting at Amazon where hundreds of people are murdered. Yes I know how fucked up that is. It is still 100% how I feel.."

Well that's because the problem is you, not them."

"WHAT THE LITERAL FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE?"

You must be a real winner if someone buying an expensive hand bag makes you want to murder them.

15

"TOTALLY envious of her amazing, fantastic, incredible life is just, like, way jealous. "

Well you posted about her three times, so clearly you have issues.

16

I believe the point of the OP is that this woman is fictional.

16

@Dr.Zaius there are former Amazon employees who tell much different stories.

17

@16 So what? It’s a free country.

18

Lol. That's the only same reaction to an article like this.

19

*sane (android autocorrect strikes again)

20

@xina

Nobody's slagging on chewed-up former Amazon employees. It's the current ones, especially those who haven't figured out what's holding the sky up, who get on people's nerves.

21

Wow, what an incredibly ugly and bitter viewpoint of the author to take. Hating somebody because they have a good paying job and live a different lifestyle than oneself is completely unjustified. Stop feeling so entitled. The world doesn't owe you anything. You need to work for what you want in life, and don't harp on others because they were willing to put in the work that you weren't.

If the author hates her placement in the social divide so much, she should have tried harder in school so she wouldn't have to work for a second grade periodical.

22

Lol I read the original article and thought the author sounded insufferable and out of touch. But Nathalie managed to top her!

24

Dude. The point of the article is that people move here to work for tech companies, but don't try to be part of the community. The city feels like it's overrun with tourists, and all of us natives are just props in their theme park. It's not about the amount of money tech workers make, it's that they live here yet never make an effort to be part of the community. I'm an attorney am very comfortable financially, so there's no jealousy here, but I 100% share the author's frustration with Amazonians. I can't tell you how many times I've been out at bars, and when I tell people I actually grew up here, they're like "OMG! I've been here for six months and you're the first local I've met!" Any community suffers when it's diluted to this extent with people who don't consider themselves part of it.

25

@16 I’m not talking about Amazon specifically. Amazon is a symptom. Sure working at tech companies is soul sucking. But people still line up by the tens of thousands for a chance to work there. And they do that because the tech sector is the last gold rush. The last frontier career path (other than Wall Street) where people can still make a lot of money.

I’m talking about making money.

And EVERYONE wants to make a lot of money. Everyone. And when any city suddenly grows with young people with large disposable incomes and no stake in the community - the disease of gentrification is what you get. If that’s Amazon or any other corporation.

Contraction is on the way. If that’s any consolation. But be careful what you wish for.

There will be a a year or two of the sweet spot. Where rents and property values contract but economic growth is sustained.

But then the same market forces that make gentrification will drive unemployment and everyone but the rich, who have assets, get fucked... and round and round we go. Rinse. Repeat.

Personally, I like it better when people are making money and not having to eat dog food to survive. Because at least there is the chance of money to be directed to the community. There’s a chance to pass progressive taxation.

But when the recession hits. And it will.

Well. You can’t get blood from a stone and you can’t tax revenue that’s not there.

But that’s just me, I guess.

26

There's really not a way to say "jealousy" louder. Yes, the article sounds nauseatingly saccharine and out of touch... But what is refinery69 and why do I care? If the overpaid want to overspend on overestimated bullshit, whatever. SLU was written off years ago for good reason. Fuck 'em.

27

@24 exactly right.

The problem is having a system that extends no stake in the community.

Most Amazonians only last two-three years. Most tech sector jobs last two - four years. About half of those workers pull up stakes and leave town. So they don’t give a shit. And the business that cater to them don’t have to give a shit. It’s a social dynamic that’s a race to the bottom. That’s the venomous libertarian “disruption” nature of tech.

But that culture can change when enough people decide to stick around. Start up thier own businesses. And see a community reach out to them.

Just shitting on them because they make money is dumb. We need that money. Convince them we’re a place worth investing in.

28

"The problem is having a system that extends no stake in the community."

Let me guess, you live in a long house down by the river and smoke salmon all summer for the lean winter months ahead?

29

Let me guess you’re loser who makes a dozen sock puppets all day with dumb user names?

30

"don't try to be part of the community"

Which to the Slogger Barista class simply means, "bend over and give your money to the government" so it can piss it away on bums.

31

@27:

But that pretty much goes to the heart of the dilemma: you can't convince someone we're a place worth investing in, when they have no intention of remaining in that place for any substantial length of time. I'm sure there will be a few among them who can envision staying here long-term, but I suspect a large portion of those are in administrative positions, not development; those people are looking to get their year or two of "Amazon Time" in to boost their resumes, and when they finally get burned out by Bezos' Social Darwinist "dog eat dog" environment, they'll pretty much be able to write their own ticket at any other company in the country and they'll move on to something that pays just as well, if not slightly better, but without the pressure-cooker atmosphere. Some may remain in the area, but my suspicion is many, perhaps most, will relocate. But, that's sort of hard-cooked into Amazon's system, and they'l be replaced just as quickly as they no doubt replaced someone else. Lather, rinse, repeat.

33

@6: "Convince these people why they need to spread that wealth around. Convince them they could do good with that money. Why that's in their best interests. " --DocZ.

BINGO
thnx Doc

34

@32 yeah. That’s not something a fucking loser would do with thier time. Not at all.

36

@33 Begging for tips is quite unseemly.

37

“pretty much be able to write their own ticket at any other company in the country and they'll move on to something that pays just as well, if not slightly better”

That might be what the Ex-Amazonies want but it’s increasingly unrealistic.

I get resumes all the time from these kids. They’re not getting that automatic one-way up ladder extended to them anymore. And most tech corporations are not that much better than Amazon in how they treat people. Amazon’s Battle Royale type of system is being copied everywhere. God knows why. It’s a god damned disaster. But it is.

No. If this city could get a handle on its rent and property values and build better mass transit infrastructure you’d keep many of these kids. All you need is 10-20% to stick around. That’s all. It would build momentum.

Ps. You know people said the same things about Boeing during its boom.

38

seattle is nothing but a lost cause

39

Sorry, this is precisely what most stranger readers would be doing in the same scenario.

40

I read the Stranger daily, but directing hate towards Asian-Americans? Maybe you as a privileged white person couldn't identify with the article, but there's a ton to identify with if you're Asian American like me, even if you're not making $250,000 a year. Examples: Boiling Point, frequent visits to international district, mom visiting from Korea or China after a thirteen hour flight, buying flowers from Japanese florists at Pike Place.

You've sunk low, the Stranger. You've lost a reader and supporter.

41

@40 None of that was cited by the Stranger article as relevant to the issue at hand. There are plenty of reasons to dislike this masturbatory Real Seattleite™ article. If you feel that they've "sunk low" by criticizing an article written by an Asian woman on purely class/financial grounds, that sounds like your business.

42

*plenty of other reasons, reasons which are actually valid because they come from the article itself, rather than from some imagined attack on Asian-Americans.

43

I though we collectively agreed on the last posting like this, that these are at best rage-click articles, and at worst, total fiction? I make it a habit to not visit any sites that have seemingly unnecessary numbers in their address and I would advise you do the same, Nathalie; 99% are malicious sites.

"I think the best way to feel at home in a city, even if you’re there for a smattering of days, is to take public transit. That’s how I learned Seattle."

I think it's funny how carefully you step around the obvious answer of DRIVING YOURSELF around a place to learn it. No one pays attention to their surroundings on a bus; everyone is staring at their phone, or a laptop, or a book, or napping, anything to make the miserable experience of riding the piss-soaked metro bus feel shorter. You could also argue walking, but a city the size of Seattle can't be walked, and those on bikes have their head on a swivel to avoid being doored while they ignore all traffic laws. I get it, demonizing anyone that has the temerity to actually own and use a personal car is required within the Stranger's offices, but it does make for some tortured logic on topics like this.

And yeah, there's definitely someone in the comments making sock puppet accounts to be all buttsore about this. I have a roommate and landlord that both work in tech, and I've heard them moaning about the high cost of the housing market when both of them each own at least two other properties (yeah, the guy renting here owns other properties), so I get the frustration, but I still value my time more than that.

44

the unbridled stupidity of seattle is very evident in most of these comments. so nice to see socialist garbage just inviting jeff and his beta-male henchmen to rule the world. i like how you all enjoy paying for it too. seattle is truly home to the biggest hypocrites in the world. keep on advocating gay mayors who rape children and conmen like jeff bezos. there is no hope for this city. no hope.

45

@41 all of that was cited in the refinery29 article

46

@24 and @27

Ignoring the fact that the same argument has been used about immigrants for thousands of years, why would Amazon employees try to assimilate into a culture that is hostile towards them?

47

Yes, some tech workers new to Seattle are young, prosperous, and clueless about their potential role helping build community. But real "Seattleites hate you"? Some of these young tech workers will begin to meaningfully participate in Seattle's politics and philanthropy. Many already are. Maturation takes time--for everyone, left and right, rich and poor. We all have flaws, limitations, and room to grow. Love might mean more than pointing a scolding finger at people you don't like. It might mean empathetic patience and nurturing engagement with people you don't like. "Community" and "compassion" should not limited to those just like us. How discouraging to see a hyperbolic, vicious word like "hate" so casually floated by people ostensibly committed to community.

48

Did the author of this article seriously mean this woman should have eaten at Ivar's because she's a "foodie"? I think she must have because the article wasn't amusing enough to be satire. The Stranger has hit the bottom.

49

@36 'Begging for tips is quite unseemly.'

Perhaps. Oddly enough, there's a whole Industry devoted to just that....
Other than Congress, of course...

I spose the perception might depend
on the beneficiaries of those Monies however.

50

Just ridiculous, this article basically implies a "real Seattleite" is a WHITE Seattleite. There's plenty on that refinery29 article that will instantly appeal to you if you're of Asian heritage, and it has nothing to do with making $250k a year. The Stranger should issue an apology for this article.

51

Current Seattleites dealing with clueless Richey Rich Amazonians, I share your frustrations and blame Jeff Bezos and the Err of Trump.

52

Rot in Hell, Jeff Bezos!

53

Definitely not a techie there. I have long conversations (more like just listening) and all the women techies there talk about how stressed they are and how abusive the men are. Or should I say boys?

54

There was a similarity of attitudes between Seattle in the Boeing Bust to Dot-Com Boom years and NYC's long slump from the Lindsay mayoralty until the Disneyfication under Guiliani, or London from Heath through Thatcher: "Yes, this place stinks; but that allows us to feel superior because we're tough enough to survive here." NYC's and London's emblem of that was the Punks, for Seattle it was the Grunge waif: twee little ankle-length floral granny dress, the better to show off the contrasting combat boots. Then a class of people arrives who actually effect development by means of that most dependable of human traits: selfishness, and the old survivors somehow find streets lined with condos tougher going than gutters piled with trash. Seattle was another Milwaukee hoping to be another San Francisco, and the tragedy is that Seattle got its wish.

55

I'm not riding the bus. If that's what it takes to be truly someone from Seattle, then I'll happily continue being someone from Bellingham who just works and lives here.

56

Hope the Stranger is proud to be able to bring terrorists together in one place. Such an aggressively biased, inflammatory tirade that has literally led to a call for a mass shooting is irresponsible (see comment 11, et al), if not criminal and complicit. I hope the author gets what she wants when the results of her terrorist tirade are realized. Is Nathalie Graham one of Kshama's pen names?

57

Perhaps if The Stranger paid their employees better their employees would hate Amazon employees less.

58

@50 Its a dumb article but it's pretty obviously about class and income. Why make this article more defensible than it is?

59

@57 No shit. I still remember seeing one working as a restaurant hostess in evenings to pay her way.

And yes, Xina the non-binary fairy prince just made a threat to commit mass murder of tech workers. Someone report it.

60

Dr. Zaius is illustrating how completely soulless and greedy the neoliberal Hillary Clinton capitalist fan club is.

61

@60 Hah aha ha ha ha, he's still at it.

Sorry ladies of tech, turns out once you climb that ladder and crack your way into the guys club, you just get called a bitch by "progressive" women everywhere.

62

And she complains that [A] chick calls out tourist crap as good in Seattle and also [B] chick hasn't done basic tourist shit, like eat at restaurant everyone fucking eats at.

It took me 12 years of living in San Francisco before I was ever at the Tadich Grill (you can skip it). In 17 years, I've never been to Zuni. And I have lived across the street from Zuni for 6 years. Sometimes things stay on your to-try list for a while.

63

Or Foreign Cinema! Man I should do these things.

65

Our HR director used to work there and confirms it's a messed up abuse factory. I turned down a job there because I already get enough money and more and didn't need a 30% kick to see people in tears in the hallways. I do not shy from conflict but the culture of sabotage and snitching at Amazon is fucking scary. When you dump a ton of high earners on a city who think that's acceptable, I do worry about the civic culture.

Also I earn 6 figs and I take the dang bus. I chose a place to live that accomodates a relatively simple transit strategy just like people select the place they live commuting with a car. I don't understand this "PISS SOAKED BUS" attitude people have here. Taking transit is cosmopolitan and we need to start shaming people for living on Capitol Hill with MUH CAR attitudes. The city offers great things and I'm glad metro is doing so well in terms of ridership. We can do better.

66

@11

Xina, I reported you to the Seattle Police. They thanked me for doing so, as they treat threats of mass murder quite seriously it seems. Enjoy!

67

@65: What do you mean, "'PISS SOAKED BUS' attitude?" I meant that the bus I regularly rode down 15th Ave in the U-District literally stunk like piss, and so did some of the riders. The second bus that I got on at Montlake was a Sound Transit bus, and those were fine, but they were newer, and stuffed with techies on their way to Microsoft. Draw what conclusions you will from that.

68

I stopped reading the comments with the one that wished for a mass shooting at Amazon. How is that comment still up?!?!?!

69

@66 & 68: Tell me are those pearls of yours cultured or dimestore? Either way you're going to get a hand cramp clutching them so hard.
Xina's comment was absolutely inappropriate, and over the line but she didn't "threaten" anybody with mass murder you hysterical pair of goofballs.
Wishing something terrible would happen is shitty, but it isn't the same thing as threatening to do it.

70

Hey Refinery29: This Refinery29 Article Is Why Refinery29 Readers Hate You

71

@67 How trying to be in amongst the unwashed. I encounter unpleasant things every now and then on buses or on the street and I just kinda shrug it off because this is a city. I wish we had a transit system people adored and respected like they do in Taipei or Stockholm.

I travel to the east side, you nailed it there but I ride with all kinds of people, not just techies. Auto mechanics, day laborers, nurses and docs. These are my neighbors. ¯(ツ)

72

What happened to sending all the slackers to Seattle and walling it off? That was the world I wanted to live in :( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Q4txN1ut20 (the whole clip is good, but skip to ~1:55 for the reference if you're short on time)
I personally enjoyed Nathalie's take, and I think she accomplished the purpose of a Slog post, which is creating a frothy, raging comments section.

73

FYI, there is a 100% chance that they are misreporting her income. They are counting her stock grant as ANNUAL income, but there's no way that she's getting 145K in RSUs every year. That would make RSUs more than 60% of her income. For comparison, RSUs are less than 10% of my compensation package. Quick guess, her real income is between 130K and 140K, assuming her grant vests over 4-5 years (and her bonus base in 10%). And that's much more inline with compensation for a young-ish PM.

74

@66 & @68: Spoken like truly pathetic card carrying, MAGA hat wearing fools desperate to spread mass hysteria. Take a fucking chill pill, the both of you.
@69 Lissa: Thank you and bless you.

75

If the Stranger publishes one more lazy-ass clickbait anti-Amazon agitprop article, i’m going to show up to their offices and systematically lick all of the doorknobs. Yes Dan Savage, consider this a credible threat.

76

@69 @74 I truly enjoy how you have zero issue not taking Xina's post seriously but are both zerochill that anyone objects to it (including the totally reasonable @68 who ain't even all that bothered). What are y'all really about?

78

She sounds happy.
What a monster.

79

She makes $95k base which is nothing to sneeze at but not exactly Paul Allen money. The rest is RSUs which she may or may not actually get depending on how long she works at Amazon.

80

I happened to read this for some reason. Pretty sure a perky/perfect Amazon created character would not maintain that perkiness by taking half an Aderall every morning. Also how would this be good PR for a company that is getting constant flak for paying most of their employees who do not work at HQ starvation wages?

@73 She said that the stock tripled since she started her job. Has Amazon stock tripled in 3-4 years? If so, I guess it makes sense.

81

Amazon? Really??

More likely Facebook. Really.

82

Yeah, they're over reporting her salary if it's really that much tied up in stock, which she may or may not be able to collect. And at Amazon, it's basically a grind to stay there long enough for your stock to vest... and then you leave to go work at Microsoft, which is actually a sane company nowadays. (And way, way more progressive; go figure.)

83

A Product Manager that leaves work at 5pm? We should all live like this, but I'm afraid this all reads as cobbled together as the photo they ran with the article.

84

@76: Did ya miss the part where @66 said they had contacted the police Sporty? Kiiiiiiinda an overreaction.

I mean our choices are that The Real Max didn't actually contact the police and is ironically matching xina's taste for melodrama, in which case they're going to need a case of Windex for that glass house they live in
Or
The Real Max actually did contact the police over xina's comment (of which, you will note, I stated my disapproval)
In which case they are being hysterical and should probably consider investing in a fainting couch.

As for our Franklin his nervous nature is pretty well documented. One assumes he must purchase his sal volatile in bulk.

85

I overheard some dude at Captain Black's talking about how he legally changed his last name to dotcom and it make me want to barf. I miss old Capitol Hill damnit. I wouldn't have asuch against amazon if they didn't move in down the fucking street.

86

@74: Waves at Auntie :)

87

This is an Amazon shill (i.e., marketing) piece. Not to be taken seriously.

These types of things show up in blog comments and social media, clearly the product of Amazon PR. Hell, they appear on all kinds of sites, including some I visit to connect with others who share my hobby. The forums on these were littered with Alexa promos a short time ago posing as posts by site users. They were clearly marketing pieces and whomever created them didn't have enough neurons in his or her brain to realize that you can't use the identical wording in posts on forums across several related Web sites. Makes the fact that your an Amazon shill as subtle as a swollen nose.

I always call out BS whenever I see this shit. This kind of stealth marketing just totally pisses me off and makes me more than ever never want to be a customer of Amazon or any of its products or services.

88

Good grief, I hope that goofy idiot didn't really call the cops. They're already so horrifically overburdened with actual threats and legitimately crazy people and this is the absolute last piece of imbecilic nonsense they need to be addressing. I also hope he doesn't ever go onto the reddit or craigslist forums, lest he should be calling the cops approximately 3,000 times a day.

89

This person seems to be pretty much what I know about tech workers at amazon.

90

@66 good for you. I made no such threat, I expressed a wish, and I don't live in or anywhere near Seattle, so good luck with that! I am sure it made you feel good and yet it accomplishes exactly nothing. Cheers!

91

@66 it wasn't even a wish, it was the emotional reaction i had after reading the story. so, again, good on you for calling the police about a thought I had in my head in another city in another state, far away from Amazon and all of the assholes who work there.

92

The Stranger continues to publish articles attacking Amazon, tech workers, and tech workers at Amazon.

Then it wonders why tech workers at Amazon won’t join The Stranger’s self-proclaimed community.

The Stranger just doesn’t understand.

Shorter:

Hey, Strangers: This Article Is Why You’re Considered Cranky and Irrelevant By A Growing Majority Of Seattle’s Readers.

93

Oh and one more thing for those concerned about a thought I had in my head (the comment it was written in has been removed from this thread), Amazon's office are locked down tighter than a gulag at all times (that's part of what the badges are for - but have a badge that isn't activated or try to use your badge to enter an area you don't belong and security guards (multiple) are dispatched to find you (and if need be, remove you). And when they fire employees they physically remove them from the building with an escort. Now back in the day the security guards and escorts removing fired employees weren't armed, but if had to guess, they are now. I assure you all of the people working at Amazon (in Seattle anyway, I can't speak for warehouses) are safer than government employees in D.C. You can all calm yourselves.

94

@ 90 So you freely admit that you wish that hundreds of innocent people are murdered in a mass shooting. Glad you cleared that up.

Oh but wait, now its just a "thought" because you claim you don't live in Seattle + keycards + something about gulags w/ armed guards? Sure thing ace.

Since you claim that this was just a passing thought you had, how about we dig a little deeper into your comment history? on July 23rd, you said the following on a SLOG post:

"Tell me why I should give a shit about any motherfucker who wears a MAGA hat in public and gets it ripped off his or her head. Maybe we should start evening the score and murdering them instead." -Xina

Is that direct enough for you? It seems to me you have a pattern of making threats of physical violence. Or was this just another one of your passing lulz thoughts? You are emotionally unstable, and should seek professional help.

95

94:Speaking of overreacting: Maybe you should think about why you think it's appropriate to bother the police about an hyperbolic comment on a blog post. xina's comment has been deleted. Let it go.

96

@Xina

"my head in another city in another state, far away from Amazon and all of the assholes who work there."

So how do you know they're assholes if you don't live here?

Better get your meds adjusted sugartits.

97

Call a "woman" with a penis a man on Slog?

Banned!

Wish for mass murder at Amazon like @Xina did?

A-ok!

98

“mazon's office are locked down tighter than a gulag”.

As someone who visits their buildings often, and not an employee, that’s total horseshit. Amazon is no different than MSFT, Starbucks or any other large company I’ve visited in Seattle in terms of security.

Security guards with guns? Again, never seen them and I’ve spent a shit ton of time in their buildings.

So the short and the long of it Xina is you’re both a mental midget and toxically angry. I advise therapy. Lots of it.

99

Why y'all feeding this Xina troll? You new?

@80. Glass door door median comp for an Amazon PM is $119,000. That put my estimate a lot closer than what's reported. But even if she has stock that gained value, you wouldn't call that comp. Comp is the vest value of the share. If it's worth more than that when you get it, it's unrealized gain. And if it's worth more than that when you sell it, it's capital gains. In any event. A $50K grant (over 4 years) for a $95K salary would still be a pretty heavily weighted on the stock side. Still almost 12%. There's a lot we will never know about her comp plan without asking her, but there's no way her offer letter said $145K in stock every year! That would be WAY off the average.

100

@99 Did you read it? She said she gets that much in stock 'grants'. I don't know what 'grants' means exactly, but sounds different than options. If she got a certain number of shares, handed over outright, semi-annually, and the stock price tripled since she started (which it has, in 4 years), that would mean the initial 'grants' were worth considerably less. Roughly 35K on top of her salary maybe? A bit dubious that this was all made up. As mentioned, I highly doubt if this was some Amazon PR stunt they would have their model employee mention popping half an Aderall every morning and also it would not be at all good PR to be publicizing the fact that mid-level functionaries at HQ were making over 10 times as much as the poor slobs slaving in their warehouses.

101

One thing that really jumps out to me about this article, and about the general narrative tone at The Stranger, is how much "Seattle sucks and I'm fucking miserable" is the only legitimate way to experience this city.

Basically The Stranger's viewpoint is: The only good things about Seattle are weed, gay sex and weirdos. If you genuinely enjoy anything else you are transplant garbage.

So how dare this Amazon lady enjoy Pike Place Market! Doesn't she know it's a stinking tourist hellhole? The market sucks! Get with the program, transplant!

How dare she enjoy the sunshine! Doesn't she know that a few weeks ago we had a bunch of smoke? Seattle summer weather sucks! Get with the program, transplant!

How dare she traverse Seattle from the comfort of an Uber or a BMW! Doesn't she know that REAL Seattle is the public transit, which is of course a tight-packed piss-soaked hobo arena and absolutely fucking miserable? Getting around Seattle sucks! Get with the program, transplant!

Hey Amazonians, THIS IS WHY WE HATE YOU!

And of course, at certain points Nathalie just runs out of real things to criticize and starts pulling shit out of her ass. Like how this Amazonian can't be a real Seattle foodie because she's never been to Ivar's Salmon House. Or mocking her for thinking $80 is "thrifty" when if Nathalie knew how to read she'd have noticed that the $80 is an example of a "splurge" earned by the aforementioned thriftiness. P.S. Nathalie, the self-proclaimed expert on Seattle, is actually a Californian transplant!

It's ok though. If The Stranger hired intelligent writers they'd have to pay them more than sub-minimum wage and be out of business. We all know The Stranger is just mud before swine. I wonder what racist trash Mudede has written today, or what unqualified pseudorevolutionary moron they're endorsing on the cover? Don't miss the ten thousand weed and sex ads in the back! That's the real Seattle, not this perfectly nice woman with her sushi and boba. And how dare you think otherwise.

102

I love that phrase - "some people live here, others just work here". Sure, it is the white people who live in Seattle. The non-white people, no matter what they do, they just work here, they would never belong.

Signed,
a brown man

103

TRANSIT <-- this is the topic that should be the focus of this rant. Seattle was so proud of our transit - our egalitarian, green, socially conscious ideals were on fire ...

“A developed country is not a place where the poor have cars. It's where the rich use public transportation.” ― Gustavo Petro

That was then. And now? Now we sit at bus stops waiting & watching as 2, 3, 4 private tech company buses pass us. They serve the techies while our public service is cut. We lose bus routes; we have longer waits - and yes, we even suffer dirtier buses. Metro cannot 'justify' more service; they point to less need. The techies, even they might even be neighbors, live in their own world. They pass us with no random conversations; they don't join our communities, don't mingle in common areas. They live way up in the ether, oblivious in the good life. They don't know our history - our fights to make the Seattle be the city they say they love. They don't know how much work we have expected of each other to maintain the community - the commons - for all. They have no commitment to future generations.

Maybe they just don't care. After all, if they suck everything out of Seattle, they can just move on and do the same in some other "perfect city".

104

@100 A stock grant means an RSU. It's possible that [A] she works for Amazon and [B] her stock earnings have made her a decent amount of money, but that's not her income.

And like I said, I have a really hard time believe that the 145K in stock quoted is an annual figure. That's just a ridic heavy weight of stock. Her total annual compensation should be:

base salary + (bonus base*multipliers) + (stock grants/years to vest)

So maybe she's doing super, super well for herself. But even if grants/years to vest managed to be equal to 145K (still hard to believe), most of that isn't compensation. It's cap gains. I.e. Amazon did not write her an offer letter for 240K annually. So earning wise she's no different than anyone else who's held onto Amazon stock for 3 or 4 years.

106

"I make a lot of money, but I try to live like I don’t... I walk to Pike Place Market and have lunch at Sushi Kashiba. $80."- Excellent job of leaving out the entire middle of the quote, which happens to appear in your keyboard mashings.

107

A few things are happening with the hate. First, Amazon is kind of bullshit work compared to say someone working on a cure for cancer. Folks can forgive a $250,000 salary for the latter, but if your job is mostly marketing and greasing the positive hedonic treadmill of society – it feels icky to anyone that isn’t a complete cheerleader to unending economic growth and all the consequences that come along for the ride.

On the other hand, nostalgia is not necessarily about how things were “better” back then, it’s also that we were younger back then and we miss that feeling. There is a part of me that is very, “kids these days…when I was there age I had twenty roommates, worked four jobs, and Starbucks cost 25 cents.. damn their handbags and avocado toast.” The kids these days will feel the same kind of nostalgia when they are approaching middle-age but they’ll definitely be saddled with more economic and environmental problems to deal with, so I suppose we should take it easy on them.

The reason I think this gets so much airplay though is that a lot of folks still in town kind of hate the change, but are also benefitting from the change (stock rally, home values, salary cost of living increases) – so there is this uncomfortable feeling, a feeling that causes you to read and respond to the comments. The folks that cry “jealousy” are those that will become more empathetic again (or for the first time depending on their age) when we have the next recession so take that sentiment with a huge grain of salt.

108

Apparently she also brings bulletproof protection with her to concerts in the form of a $150 convertible stadium seat /bulletproof vest. I'm guessing its the cover me seat that KIRO did a story on a few months ago.


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