An Amazon warehouse worker is going viral on TikTok after listing the various reasons why she doesn’t like her job.
Monica Barajas (@_princessmay_23) didn’t say how long she’s worked for the multinational e-commerce company, but has dedicated several of her TikTok videos to showing viewers what she does on a daily basis.
In a more recent, two-minute clip, Barajas recorded herself packaging items while she ticked off the reasons why “I don’t like working at Amazon.”
As of Tuesday, Barajas’s clip had amassed more than 1.7 million views.
What’s wrong with working at Amazon?
For one, Barajas said the warehouse jobs themselves are monotonous. “You do the same [expletive] over and over again for three months.” She also said that workers are watched over fairly closely and only get seven-minute restroom breaks.
“And the bathroom is a three-minute walk there and back,” Barajas said. “Like, what the [expletive] do I do if I need to [expletive]?”
Relatedly, Barajas said that Amazon closely monitors workers’ productivity and is able to see “how many boxes we do in an hour.” Because of this, Barjas said that when workers mess something up, it’s easily traceable. Most of Barajas’s complaints, in fact, centered around the fact that warehouse employees are kept on a tight rein.
The worker said, for instance, that she has to walk through metal detectors to get in and out of the warehouse and has to register when she comes and goes “so they know what time you got in and out.”
“You can’t lie about what time you go there,” Barajas said.
Otherwise, some of the worker’s complaints might’ve been more specific to her Amazon warehouse. She said that there’s little-to-no people with seniority at her job, as there’s only one manager to oversee 30 people. And she said that the tape machine used to help close packages is constantly messing up.
In addition, Barajas said that she doesn’t trust her co-workers but is forced to engage with them through activities such as group stretching.
“Like, worry about your bills, hunny, not what I be doing,” Barajas said of her colleagues.
Amazon workers register complaints with their jobs
Barajas certainly isn’t the first Amazon worker to say that her job is far from perfect. In other social media posts, her colleagues have similarly grumbled about the work they do.
In one post, from November, an Amazon employee who works in a robot-assisted facility said he feared he could get hurt by the machines. The same month, another employee said that she and her colleagues were asked to work an extra hour amid the recent Daylight Savings time change and staged a walkout in protest.
Amazon’s treatment of employees has long been a topic of conversation. The company has made headlines for union-busting and trying to silence workers who speak out against poor working conditions.
But other workers have said that there are some benefits to working for the company. In a 2022 post in the r/AmazonFC subreddit, one user asked what the “positives” are for working at Amazon. Commenters noted, at the time, that Amazon apparently offers good healthcare benefits and that workers receive weekly paychecks. Another redditor said that workers get a decent amount of exercise from the daily manual labor tasks.
“TBH more positives than negatives in my book,” one worker on the subreddit thread. “Negatives are just monotonous as [expletive] and zero respect from management.”
And according to Indeed, warehouse employees often earn between $9-27.25 per hour, depending on their job and seniority. It said that the average employee makes nearly $18 per hour, which is 13% above the national average.
Do Amazon workers get to use the bathroom?
Yes, but there have been logged complaints of them being under so much pressure that they have to pee in bottles. According to Reddit, there isn’t a policy preventing bathroom breaks and regular stops are common for warehouse workers.
However, many warehouse workers report that using the bathroom can trigger “idle” time. So in theory, a long bathroom break gets tracked and can negatively impact the worker.
Commenters refuse to offer sympathy
Because of the many supposed perks associated with working at Amazon, several commenters found it hard to take pity on Barajas’ situation.
“People who complain about working at Amazon just don’t wanna work plain and simple,” one man said. “It’s easy bruh.”
“I’m a teacher, get zero minutes to go the bathroom,” another wrote. “Amazon looks pretty good.”
“People be complaining about Amazon when it tops every other job like fast food and retail work,” a third viewer added.
Other fellow Amazon employees appeared to agree with the redditor. Many said that the job is monotonous, but ultimately worth it.
“You just gotta scan something every 5 mins,” one woman said. “Worked at Amazon for 5 years. [Expletive] a breeze. I came to realize people who complain about Amazon just don’t have good work ethic.”
@_princessmay_23 I prefer Night Shift any Day 💯 #amazon #warehouse #nightshift #flex #fyp #viralvideo #cons #work ♬ original sound – MonicaBarajas23
“I’ve been doing it for 27 years,” another worker added.
“It’s soo easy. I been with Amazon for 9yrs,” a third employee wrote. “I just come to work, do the work, and leave. Simple. It’s easy.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Barajas via TikTok comment and to Amazon by email.
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