Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
then open in external browser
and click "Open in External Browser" 
If there’s one thing Amazon is notorious for, it’s making life difficult for its employees. More and more workers are airing their grievances about the inhumane working conditions, punishing quotas, and unbelievable behavior by management.
This time, the company decided to lure new staff with significant signing benefits, only to reveal that it’s just another false promise. Redditor FlabertoDimmadome made a post on the Anti Work subreddit about how their brother was recently fired just one day before his $3000 hiring bonus.
The thread quickly went viral by striking a nerve with hundreds of employees who started sharing their own experiences. Bored Panda has collected some illuminating and troubling stories where people shed light on toxic practices by the companies they worked for. Scroll down to see what they’re all about and tell us what you think about them in the comments!
This Redditor recently shared how Amazon fired their brother right before his expected hiring bonus
Image credits: Adrian Sulyok (not the actual photo)
Image credits: FlabertoDimmadome
The story inspired others to share their own similar experiences
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Brian Bennett 3 years ago
I know it would be terrible for you but all just walk out ! We did this years ago! it took a few months but we a won union contract!
Brivid 3 years ago
This is also why everyone should buy your stuff locally in town if you can. Even if it costs a dollar or two more. Amazon is very convenient but it is not worth the cost of losing local jobs and businesses, all that money leaving your local economy and going to a billionaire.
Load More Replies...
Memere 3 years ago (edited)
This happened to me at a job back in the days of newspaper 'help wanted' ads. I was promised a raise & full benefits after 90 days. I worked hard at the job - reorganized & restocked all the product literature, caught up the backlog of data entry (client info, vendor info, etc), and even worked up quotes to clients that became confirmed orders. 5 days before the 90 days was up, they let me go. The business was family owned, parents + 2 sons, and 2 other employees who were not family members. I watched the ads for the next year and sure enough, every 90 days, my old position was posted. They were total scammers.
Dina Anastasakos 3 years ago
This is how that a*****e Bezos can afford to go to space. And why he can build mega yaghts.
Carmen Garcia 3 years ago
What a horrible company! And they put these fake commercials on TV about how great they are. I do not buy from Amazon. They're s**t.
Insanity Wolf 3 years ago
Not defending Amazon, but seeing in how this is illegal for FT employees. They can terminate seasonal employees pretty much whenever, but he was promoted so that doesn't make sense. Also there's paperwork you have to fill out for when you get terminated. That way if any physical ailment pops up amazon is off the hook. So he wouldn't have just looked at his account one day and it just been deleted. Amazon is not great. However most of the people that worked there were not great either because it's the only place that literally hires anyone. So more than not people get smoked from something they did, but because it's amazon they blame them.
Bayou Billy 3 years ago
Investigation has shown everything you said to be not backed up by evidence. In fact most evidence points to Amazon being the bad actor in almost every incident ever made public... So no... I'm going to go with the people who studied and did in depth undercover to expose them... Not some Amazon shill... Not great indeed... Single worst employer in North America....
Load More Replies...
Billy Ramos 3 years ago
I've been working for Amazon for a hot minute, in 2 different states. I keep hearing all this c**p about them, but this is the best company I've ever worked for, and my coworkers agree. I've gotten both sign on bonuses, they are very accommodating when I had an ovarian cyst, and when my car broke down and I was struggling to get to work they let me go in the negative on UPT because they knew what the problem was. I am very picky on the places I work, because most places are ran like a dictatorship. Amazon, though? Not even close. I'm starting to not believe these articles talking about how horrible it is to work there. I've only ever seen it in articles, and I've yet to see any proof. As someone who actively works there, it's the best place I've ever been.
Casey Payne 3 years ago
This is not trend and it is not isolated to Amazon or tech in general. Late 2007 doing data entry for a company to meet their end of year quota. We got it done a week ahead of schedule. While we were celebrating in the breakroom, they disabled all of our logins. Once that was done, they told us verbally we weren't going to be hired but Merry Christmas anyway. They let us collect our things without security escort so that was classy of them. Instant karma got them in the end, sort of. They were a niche market dinosaurs clutching their patented products as they were being run over by technical innovation. They didn't last more than 3 years after that. Sadly, their toxic managerial style lives on and on in monsters.
Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
Other retailers do this as well. Home Depot and JOANN are notorious for this practice.
RELATED:
#2
Donna Clanclan 3 years ago
Interviewed at a place and was told I had a waiting period to get HC. Told them I understood, couldn't accept any kind of wait, and thanked them for the interview. They got mad that I ended the interview instead of tried to negotiate.
Kymberli Benton 3 years ago
My mother in law fired 1 week before her retirement she worked there almost 25 years I would get attorney but she said she doesn't have money for all that I explained any good attot
#3
Laura Edwards 3 years ago
Go to labor and industries, they will help him get his pay. The law is 72 hours after your last shift.
Mad Mar 3 years ago
Hired Ft at ocean state job in sept. Worked ass off through holidays on evening shift cashier. Day after Xmas couldn't clock in. Was deleted from system. Had been promised continuously to be promoted to a front end mgr. But let go say after Xmas. They still have same people working there slaving away. Making promises. When I see that mgr who made promises to me I just give her the finger if I'm shopping that store. She knows she f****d me over. For metrics.
Carmen Garcia 3 years ago (edited)
I hope he's contacting the state labor dept if they're holding his check. He can file suit against them. F Amazon.
Sue User 3 years ago
Acting like this is WHY they are a multi billion dollar company. It's not about inovation anymore, it's about taking advantage of employees, suppliers and customers.
Load More Replies...
In just a few days, FlabertoDimmadome’s post amassed more than 41k upvotes and 2k comments full of people’s dissatisfaction with how they or their loved ones were being treated by different businesses. Like thinking you were a part-time worker and finding out HR lied to you and internally hired you as seasonal. Or being promised a permanent position only to learn your employer never intended to go through with it.
No wonder people are getting fed up with senseless and upsetting measures some companies take just to save money. A survey by the global organizational consulting firm Korn Ferry revealed that 94 percent of retailers are struggling to fill empty positions, even though nearly a third say they have implemented referral programs, and 29 percent offer sign-on bonuses.
#4
Seabeast 3 years ago
It's this company. https://www.nasdaq.com/market-activity/stocks/veee/news-headlines
Load More Replies...
#5
A Head 3 years ago
Yeah, I had to look that up. Apparently it's: A water spider is a Lean production personnel role centered around timely and accurate stock replenishment. The water spider team member is similar to a mobile Kanban system that refills the production line with the required materials to maintain a steady flow. The person filling a water spider position needs to have a good understanding of the process, excellent communication skills, and has got to follow the standards of each process stage.
Load More Replies...
Fergus Corgi 3 years ago
Something similar happened to me. They wouldn't accept recordings of him saying inappropriate stuff because "he didn't consent to being recorded". One of them was a voicemail he left on my phone so that's bs. They wouldn't accept any of my witnesses either. They claimed they were all my friends & therefore biased. Most of them I had only met briefly once or twice & a couple I had never even spoken to. Apparently I'm friends with the whole town. Ridiculous.
Amanda Hunter 3 years ago
All to often the women who were the victims of sexual harassment are fired, not the perpitrator.
Oogiebogieaugiedaddy 3 years ago
Oh my gosh. I went to work at Amazon and I was a water spider. At the facility I worked at you go to the metal carts loaded with packages, scan the ticket to see which dock you have to pull like a water buffalo and drop at the numbered dock. Ten hours a day. I have an app that counts miles walked, 12 hours one day. F****d my knees up. I quit. Most jobs are brutal.
"Retail hiring is intensely competitive today, and to win the war for talent, companies must create a positive employer brand that is genuine and consistent for all employees," retail expert Craig Rowley said. "Right now in the U.S. there are an inordinate amount of job openings overall, so retailers have to be creative in how they attract and retain talent."
However, genuineness and consistency seem to be the things firms mentioned in this post truly lack. Plus, as we see from the thread, sometimes signing bonuses look good only on paper since companies might think of sneaky tricks to make employees' lives even more challenging.
#6
Earl Blueberry 3 years ago
Who the hell calls and says that to a long tenured employee? "Your vacation is permanent???" What an animal...
Linn Shonta 3 years ago
Prime Pay does this too!! However since they are a payroll company for small businesses, the Crona virus made short work out of that & company had to close a number of their branches!! Couldn’t happen to a better place!! Gotta love Karma! 😂😂😂😂😉
Load More Replies...
#8
poiplescales 3 years ago
Good on whoever gave you the heads ups and smart of you to figure out how to make them give you your vacation.
Jeff Bezos’ online retail giant, Amazon, has been mentioned countless times not only in the comments but also in the headlines. Susan Harker, Amazon’s top recruiter told the New York Times that "this is a company that strives to do really big, innovative, groundbreaking things, and those things aren’t easy." You see, "when you’re shooting for the moon, the nature of the work is really challenging. For some people, it doesn’t work."
Well, "for some" is quite an understatement. Amazon chews through the average worker in eight months, journalist Steven Greenhouse wrote. "That’s an unmistakable sign that Amazon’s jobs are unpleasant, to put it kindly, and that many Amazon workers quickly realize they hate working there because of the stress, breakneck pace, constant monitoring and minimal rest breaks," he added.
#9
Alex Lum 3 years ago
Golly, people need to BOYCOTT this scumbag "company." Just stop buying from them but noooo, they're just too lazy to research prices. I have bought a grand total of $30 of stuff from them in my whole life. I don't support evil brands like that. If Hitler ran a retail company, it would be Amazon.
#11
#12
Andy Hinds 3 years ago
4pm to 10am? Who created those work conditions? The Japanese soldiers who forced POWs to build that railway in WW2?
Senoj gaming 89 3 years ago
That's Amazon for ya. They just care about profit. One employee drops dead they'll hire 10 more
Linn Shonta 3 years ago
People really should stop working for Amazon!! No workers, business will go down the tubes or maybe send China the business, they like working this way! 🤷♀️🤷♀️🤦🏼♀️🤫
Load More Replies...According to Greenhouse, the workers continue to endure terrible work conditions, long hours, and terrible requirements all while Jeff Bezos said he is committed to making Amazon "Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work".
"Evidently, Bezos fails to realize that any company whose workers leave after eight months on average is light years from being Earth’s Best Employer. As for being Earth’s Safest Place to Work, Bezos shouldn’t insult workers’ or the public’s intelligence by making such a claim, considering the rate of serious injuries at Amazon’s warehouses in 2020 was nearly twice that at other warehouses across the US."
#13
Brenda 3 years ago
You can get it in writing that if you are let go after a certain time period but before you're getting the bonus, then they still have to pay it. Like you get it after 6mo, but if they let you go after only 5mo, you still get it. It's hard, but people have sued about this and won
pamela nichols 3 years ago
In America you can be fired for any reason with union backing you must be given a reason, they will lie if they really want you out.
rn42 3 years ago
Yeah no. It being "legal" doesn't make it not "for no reason"
Load More Replies...
#16
pamela nichols 3 years ago
Retail sucks and the customers become insane when on the other side of the counter.
#17
Stannous Flouride 3 years ago
There's an excellent alternative for book buying called BetterWorldBooks. A portion of every sale goes to literature programs and book donations to prisons & schools. They're world-wide. I bought several books from the UK through them. Of course none of the owners has a pen¡s-shaped spaceship though.
Chintan Shah 3 years ago
Friend, people these days use Amazon for everything they want to purchase, I haven't bought a book on Amazon in ages. The posts on here are making me seriously reconsider giving my business to Amazon, I think I will buy my items elsewhere
Load More Replies...
Steffen Rehm 3 years ago
I would go further. No Company should be able to grow bigger (in money), then any entire state in the world.
Alex Lum 3 years ago
That's the problem. Too many millennials are addicted to this evil brand like crack.
Samantha 3 years ago
No, the problem is they're the cheapest, most convenient option, and not everyone has the money to pay more elsewhere.
Load More Replies... #18
Jo Choto 3 years ago
Someone is creating a tax burden for you, using your SS#. You need to contact IRS NOW!
BlackestDawn 3 years ago
This is one of the biggest reasons why a country's tax office should send out all relevant info they have during tax season so that we can catch these kinds of things early.
Load More Replies...
Leodavinci 3 years ago
Read an article (many, many years ago) about how this (the same SS number being used by more than one person) was a not-uncommon problem that Social Security was basically just ignoring and not dealing with. Reportedly, the most common reason for it happening was that illegals were using made up SS numbers when applying for jobs, although the article said some numbers were simply assigned (by SS) to multiple people. Never heard about a followup.
#19
Stephen Leifer 3 years ago
Ahh... but fine print you sign always in their favor
Load More Replies... #20
Amy Broderick 3 years ago
Kohl did the same thing to me - but they didn't even have the common decency to tell me I was done. I kept checking the schedule for weeks. I finally talked to the store manager and he told me I was let go. Bastards
#21
Add New Image
What do you think ?
martin734 3 years ago
I'm sorry, but this is more of a USA problem than an Amazon problem. Here in the UK Amazon is seen as a good employer, offering pay and other benefits equal to or better than many other companies. However, as most working conditions such as pay, working hours, breaks, holiday entitlement and sick leave are defined by law, companies simply cannot treat their staff here like they do in the US. I am sure that Amazon is not the only company that takes advantage of the USA's lax or nonexistent employment laws. Most companies will abide by their country's laws in the cheapest way possible and unfortunately the USA makes this very easy by not having many employment laws in the first place.
Monkey Spunk 3 years ago
They're still massive tax avoiders who offshore their profits, meaning it's taxpayers who suffer, want to know why local services and the NHS are suffering? Companies like Amazon and Starbucks.
Load More Replies... Jo Choto 3 years ago
I imagine for most non-Americans, none of this makes any sense. The only affordable way to have health insurance in the US is through your job. Trying to buy it privately would cost you 50-75% of your income. Without health insurance, you have to pay for every doctor's visit, test, prescription, etc. yourself, which is many 100s. Also in the USA, you do not automatically get paid days off. Some jobs will make you work a whole year, sometimes two years, before you are entitled to ONE WEEK's vacation. In much of the USA, you can fire someone without any reason. So someone can work many months without health insurance and without vacation, and without a sign-on bonus, and you can be fired before any of those things kick in. Companies are only obligated to provide health insurance if you are full time, so big companies like Walmart and Amazon hire people full time with promises, but then only give them 30 hours a week work, which is not full time, so the benefits never kick in.
David Wong 3 years ago
Its always the us, probably probably the worst labor laws among the developed countries
Load More Replies...
UpQuarkDownQuark 3 years ago
Jeff Bezos is a terrible person, and wouldn’t care if any Amazon employee lived or died. I refuse to use them. I won’t even watch their streaming service. F**k Amazon. F**k Jeff Bezos.
Leeds Lass 3 years ago
The Whole of the working population in America should just NOT go to work for 2 days- to lobby the government to bring in some employment laws, can you imagine - the whole of the USA at a standstill for 2 days?? Only needs for somebody to put the date on at least one social media platform!
Pamela Blue 3 years ago (edited)
I must assume that all these Amazons they're talking about are in the US. Here in Canada, they wouldn't be able to get away with that kind of garbage. We have labour laws that cover EVERY company, whether they're unionized or not, and employers simply cannot just fire you without a damned good reason, and even then there are certain procedures that need to be met.
Felix Feline 3 years ago
U.S. Government Accountability Office: More than 4,000 full-time warehouse workers at Amazon, the e-commerce giant founded by the world's richest man, depend on food stamps to make ends meet in nine states.
martin734 3 years ago
I'm sorry, but this is more of a USA problem than an Amazon problem. Here in the UK Amazon is seen as a good employer, offering pay and other benefits equal to or better than many other companies. However, as most working conditions such as pay, working hours, breaks, holiday entitlement and sick leave are defined by law, companies simply cannot treat their staff here like they do in the US. I am sure that Amazon is not the only company that takes advantage of the USA's lax or nonexistent employment laws. Most companies will abide by their country's laws in the cheapest way possible and unfortunately the USA makes this very easy by not having many employment laws in the first place.
Monkey Spunk 3 years ago
They're still massive tax avoiders who offshore their profits, meaning it's taxpayers who suffer, want to know why local services and the NHS are suffering? Companies like Amazon and Starbucks.
Load More Replies... Jo Choto 3 years ago
I imagine for most non-Americans, none of this makes any sense. The only affordable way to have health insurance in the US is through your job. Trying to buy it privately would cost you 50-75% of your income. Without health insurance, you have to pay for every doctor's visit, test, prescription, etc. yourself, which is many 100s. Also in the USA, you do not automatically get paid days off. Some jobs will make you work a whole year, sometimes two years, before you are entitled to ONE WEEK's vacation. In much of the USA, you can fire someone without any reason. So someone can work many months without health insurance and without vacation, and without a sign-on bonus, and you can be fired before any of those things kick in. Companies are only obligated to provide health insurance if you are full time, so big companies like Walmart and Amazon hire people full time with promises, but then only give them 30 hours a week work, which is not full time, so the benefits never kick in.
David Wong 3 years ago
Its always the us, probably probably the worst labor laws among the developed countries
Load More Replies... UpQuarkDownQuark 3 years ago
Jeff Bezos is a terrible person, and wouldn’t care if any Amazon employee lived or died. I refuse to use them. I won’t even watch their streaming service. F**k Amazon. F**k Jeff Bezos.
Leeds Lass 3 years ago
The Whole of the working population in America should just NOT go to work for 2 days- to lobby the government to bring in some employment laws, can you imagine - the whole of the USA at a standstill for 2 days?? Only needs for somebody to put the date on at least one social media platform!
Pamela Blue 3 years ago (edited)
I must assume that all these Amazons they're talking about are in the US. Here in Canada, they wouldn't be able to get away with that kind of garbage. We have labour laws that cover EVERY company, whether they're unionized or not, and employers simply cannot just fire you without a damned good reason, and even then there are certain procedures that need to be met.
Felix Feline 3 years ago
U.S. Government Accountability Office: More than 4,000 full-time warehouse workers at Amazon, the e-commerce giant founded by the world's richest man, depend on food stamps to make ends meet in nine states.
Related on Bored Panda
