trauma
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I was successful and high performing, but I still had to quit. I couldn’t take it anymore.I was so close to earning a yellow badge— a badge that Amazon employees are awarded after 5 years of service— but I somehow felt that would be a step too far in losing myself to the company. Lots…
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CW: This chapter details a mass shooting threat. Please read with care or skip ahead to Quitting. Another employee posted a threat to shoot up our office. They cited mental health struggles being ignored by HR, and wishing to kill their teammates. They claimed to actively possess a firearm and asked us not to come…
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CW: This chapter deals with workplace emotional abuse, it may be triggering to some. I got a lot of positive feedback from my performance reviews. Lots of people saying I was smart, talented, and a pleasure to work with. But one comment shook me to my core. I didn’t understand. I got a comment saying…
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After years of pushing myself, I remember my exact physical breaking point.It happened shortly before I made the plan to quit. I woke up one morning and I couldn’t get out of bed. My mind said “Go, we have to get to work.” But my body didn’t respond. I felt like I was trapped inside…
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One time, my Chinese ESL co-worker was getting humiliating comments on his code review. The reviewer in question would never speak to a White native English speaker this way1. Nobody deserves this level of humiliation and disrespect in the workplace. “This isn’t proper English and I cannot understand what you were trying to say.” It…
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I know I’ve talked about some genuine cruelty at Amazon, but the paradox is that’s not the majority of workers you’ll find. Most Amazonians are kind and inspiring. They made me want to be a better version of myself. A helpful teammate. A reliable mentor. A friend.I’ll never forget the engineer who pulled me aside…
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Have you ever had a stranger take a picture of you in public then post it online?It happened to me when I worked at Amazon.I was work-walking between meetings, oblivious to how ridiculous work-walking looks to the outside world, when someone snapped a photo of me and posted it on Facebook. “Working walking? Is this…