Comments

109

Good god you people act like you've never read comments on SLOG before. I have read some seriously horrific shit here and if I had a stroke each and every time the way you people have over my comment, I'd be dead and I'm pretty much dead already.

I don't know which is more ridiculous - the outrage from the people who have been reading and commenting on SLOG for a long time or the outrage from the people who created accounts JUST TO COMMENT on a comment that I made. Seriously?

There are millions of real, life threatening, people are literally dying as I type this problems in the world. Nothing happening here is one of them.

My original comment was deleted. But please let us continue ad infinitum. I used to live in Seattle and I no longer live in Seattle. I used to work for Amazon and was fired when I got sick.

When I was out on disability while trying to get a diagnosis, I returned to work and used my badge (which was not activated) and multiple security guards came running to find me like i had committed a crime. I had never in my life experienced anything like it and I had worked in places in New York City that required security post 9/11 that didn't come close to how Amazon ran it's operation in Seattle. I am not making things up, I am describing MY specific experience as a blue badge employee at Amazon (yep the color also matters).

When I got fired from Amazon, it was for going to HR and disclosing my illness (which at the time was actually a misdiagnosis) and my manager failing in getting me to quit. When she could not get me to quit voluntarily, she made up a performance problem (when before she asked me to quit my job, I was getting my job done just fine and I had not had any issues with my productivity or work getting done or negative performance reviews). I was PIP'd (given a performance improvement plan, which is unachievable and the standard MO of Amazon protocol prior to firing someone). When I was fired, I was walked out of the building with an escort, again, like I had committed a crime. Not making up a story, telling you what happened to ME. And to cover their asses further (since it is a violation of federal law to fire someone when they get sick), they eliminated my job and made it two jobs with different job titles (yet doing the exact same work that I had done).

I have a type of motor neuron disease (similar to ALS) so any horrific thing you think I deserve, are wishing upon me, or think will come back on me because of the comment (that's been deleted) that I wrote, I've already gotten worse and it happened long before I wrote that comment.

And one last thing, if any of you believe that what I have said here makes me identifiable to Amazon you are mistaken. If you think they even care about who I am, you are mistaken. You truly have no clue how many people they have done this to, are doing this to, and will continue to do this to as they burn and churn through thousands of people like they have for decades now.

People have literally died while suing Amazon for the mistreatment they experienced while working there and then being fired unjustly and most of the time (in violation of federal law), illegally. But try being someone sick or dying and fighting a company that has an endless supply of lawyers and money, while you try to manage a serious illness and stay alive. I didn't sue because I thought I'd be dead by now and I wasn't going to live out the last days of my life suing Amazon.

The articles written in the New York Times and other publications don't even come close to revealing what really goes on there. You are all free to believe what you want to believe and you will. It's certainly more comfortable and convenient to believe what you want to believe than confront reality.

I won't comment on this thread again, but I SO look forward to all the outrage by future comments I write on other articles. See you then! /s

110

@84 did you miss the part where xina sincerely wished murder on random civilians? I mean, either we're observing obvious jokes or we're not. But whatever, you're a fucking idiot so what's it matter?

111

true seattlites drink 40s a street over from broadway cuz its dark and you wont get picked up by cops! true seattlites go to anime cons with enough cash to make the 3 day pass and thats it, crashing hotel rooms with friends eating ramen out of a coffee maker.

there's a term for this whole "true seattlite" thing. its called gatekeeping. there's a lot of ways to experience seattle and i dont hate on anyone who do it their way, as long as they aren't hurting other people and enjoying themselves.

this article complaining about transplant elitism is ironically elitist itself. fucking garbage.

112

@109 Cool story bro.

113

Amazon paid $0.00 income tax in 2017. Fuck Amazon a million different ways.

114

@109, @84
In other news... a disgruntled ex-employee of Amazon with nothing to lose posted an abhorrent, potentially threatening comment to SLOG. And then they, and other psychos, tried to justify it.

115

@101: “The Stranger's viewpoint is: The only good things about Seattle are weed, gay sex and weirdos.“

That may have something to do with The Stranger’s pool of writers historically consisting of Dan Savage, Charles Mudede, and some number of rando stoners who enjoy having gay sex with weirdos. Now these liberal arts majors have to watch as the math and physics club losers they used to mock make many times as much as they do. That really hurts, and there’s nothing they can do but throw angry, bitter words around.

116

Why does Amazon have such a complex that it can't even let a silly article like these go un- controlled. The article a obviously a fake. LOL no begonias are used for cut flowers. Not at The Market or anywhere else.

117

@109: I am sorry that you went through all that and I'm very sorry you are so ill. I don't doubt your experience; one of my closest friends has been working there, both as a contractor and a blue badge, for many years and your story is in line with what they've witnessed or had been through. So I understand your anger. That being said it's good that your original comment was deleted. It wasn't cool. People acting like you're ready to storm the Spheres, guns blazing, C4 stuffed in the pockets of a fishing vest, are either dumb, or mean spirited, or more likely both, but yeah I hope you might be a little less graphic in the future.

118

@110: Awwww Sporty, did I hit a nerve? Do you need The Real Max to scoot over and make room for you on their fainting couch? You talk a good game but apparently you're a little too delicate for Slog. Maybe you should just stick to playing Words With Friends. xoxo

119

Hey, I loathe the privileged class newbs as much as anyone but not going to Ivar's Salmon House and not taking public transit is how we judge who is a Seattleite? No problem, just checking.

120

@115 - Ah, yes. I remember it well: the big brawny philosophy, linguistics and comparative history of thought majors punching the engineers and chemists until they took the less desirable desks in the reading room. Then those sneering arrogant liberal arts grads swaggered their way out of academe right into what back then were the highest-paying, most glamorous jobs in Seattle - writing for a twice-weekly alt newspaper. You hit the nail right on its tweedily superior head!

121

@xina

The posters here defending amazon are disgusting. It's also sickening that they have no empathy over what you went through there. this is why i think seattle is a lost cause. the people here are the lowest of the low, though perhaps san fran and sv are just as bad.

These people are so stupid to think amazon is good for any city. for anything they add, they take away ten things and everyone of us has to subsidize that company.

Fortunately there are dark days ahead for most of the tech world and amazon. i can not wait until all these people find themselves unemployed and/or forced to take huge pay cuts. that day is coming sooner than we know. NOTE TO EVERYONE WORKING IN TECH: If you haven't saved enough money to comfortably retire in next five years, you are going to find yourself financially fucked real soon. These salaries disparities are not going to last. Laugh now, call me in five years or most likely sooner. I'm thinking 2021.

I just want to say, I'm really sorry you had to go through that experience while dealing with an illness. But it does say a lot about you that you were able to push through it.

122

@120: I promise @121 is not a sock puppet of mine (I have none) posted just to make you look stupid.

You do not need the help.

123

@122 - Uh oh, looks like I lost you as I so frequently do, so let me give you the picture book version.

WRITERS FOR THE STRANGER NEVER MADE A LOT OF MONEY. THEY NEVER MOCKED LOSERS. THEY ARE THEMSELVES “LOSERS.” ALWAYS WERE. ALWAYS WILL BE.

You want to blame petty resentment for any critique of Amazonians, fine - just make sense when you do it. Here are some arguments to try on for size:

“They’re just butthurt all their friends can’t afford apartments anymore.”

“They’re just angry the cost of living makes it harder to make a living in their chosen profession.”

“They’re just upset that traditionally black neighborhoods are being relentlessly whitewahsed through gentrification.”

“They simply hate the way our free market creates a more equitable city, where even someone working a service job can buy a house, afford helathcare, and save for retirement.”

“They have an irrational dislike of itinerant dilettantes who contribute nothing to the city as they move from one high-paying job to the next.”

124

@123: I don't know if I've told you seanat, but your comments bring me great joy.

125

@123: “WRITERS FOR THE STRANGER NEVER MADE A LOT OF MONEY.”

I NEVER CLAIMED THAT THEY DID.

“Here are some arguments to try on for size:”

For someone who follows me from thread to thread to thread in a stalker-like fashion, you sure have huge problems understanding what I write. I’ve already used variants on both of your first two examples. (I just didn’t phrase them in ways sympathetic to whining, which perhaps explains why you missed my points.)

@124: What attributes do you like best? The witless, smugly self-satisfied sense of moral superiority, unsupported by evidence? The way he just keeps going in his unshakable certainty he is right, no matter how wrong I show him to be? Or is it the same sneering condescension you lavished @118 upon Sportlandia @110, for his crime of having agreed with you? Do tell.

126

@76: I could ask you the exact same question, Sporty. Your point?
@86 Lissa; Waves, hugs, and VW beeps coming right back atcha! :)
@109 xina: I'm really sorry about your illness, illegal firing, and what you have gone through with Amazon. They're an overgrown giant to definitely boycott.
@110: ...said the idiot troll, further proving you so often have no point, Sporty.

127

@84 Lissa (re Sporty): You caught that, too, about The Real Max's (@66) reporting xina(@11) to the SPD. Interesting that we haven't heard any more from The Real Max in a while. Did the SPD arrest him for making a phony phone call?

128

@60 & @61: Oh fuck off, you pathetic bots. You hate women only because you're afraid of us, that's your problem. Go take a nice circle jerk and chill out.

129

@124 - Thank you, Lissa!

@125 - Bitter, bitter! Fee fees hurt because nobody ever says how much they like YOUR comments? I wonder why... Hmmm, it’s a thinker!!

130

@125: I think we all agree xina's comment was over the line. Where the quibble comes in is characterizing it as a legit threat of violence that deserved a call to the police. The Real Max, Franklin and our dear Sporty have all behaved like so many pearl clutching blue hairs who are obviously much to delicate of constitution to handle an inappropriate and melodramatic comment on a blog post. Calling the cops was a ridiculous over reaction and I'm not going to be shy about saying so. :)

131

@103- The techie buses have nothing to do with our transit service getting worse (not sure that your claim is accurate - I actually think that service has been added in recent years). If anything, they reduce the demand on the existing system. Would you rather have 100s of Facebook/Amazon/whatever tech company employees trying to drive through SLU?

The problem is that people here won't pay for the transit that a real city ought to have. The light rail system is a start but we're all going to be dead before it is really a useful system. We need to make real investments in transit and we need to do it fast.

Also, a strict "no piss-scented wino" policy might go a long way towards getting regular people to ride the bus again. Getting rid of the downtown free ride zone was a pain in the ass if you work downtown but at least it reduced the rolling shelter/asylum quality that the buses had taken on. The Sound Transit buses, that are generally used by commuters who have jobs and are toilet-trained, are a world of difference.

132

250 k isn't that much anymore.

But 25 k is a crime.

133

Wow. Just wow. It might surprise the author that some of us whose families live off Amazon salaries are over 45, love their jobs, have kids who ride the Metro to public school, and are heavily involved in the Seattle community as volunteers. Watch your stereotypes, Stranger, and please, speak for yourselves. I've lived here since 1995 and don't appreciate the characterization as a hater of young people who decided to come here and try something new. Good for them. One of the valuable roles big cities play in society is an opportunity for 20-somethings to experience a new part of the country and learn about themselves and what they want out of life. Maybe if we're nice to these young people, some will stay and make families here, pay taxes, give to charities, and become established, contributing members of the community.


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