I think I read too much! They say that ignorance is bliss but, if you read, you inevitably discover things which you would rather not know. One of my guilty pleasures is ordering stuff online, enjoying the anticipation of waiting for it to arrive, and then having the pleasure of opening the parcel. But that simple pleasure has been taken away from me, all because I was browsing an article about some of the best new book releases in Australia this year.
One recommended book is a graphic novel (comic) written (?) by a Melbourne man who worked for a time at the Amazon warehouse. He was a 'picker', the bloke who goes around collecting the items which Mr Christie from Longford in Tasmania has ordered and delivers them to dispatch for packing. It seems to be an horrendous job, with persistent harassment from the supervisors to work faster and a constantly pinging timer to hurry him along. He claims he walked 30 km in a day and had no time to even go to the toilet. The pressure to keep working was so bad, he bought a urine bottle (from Amazon) to strap to his leg so he didn't have to make toilet breaks.
Every time I order from Amazon now I will think of the poor pickers with their persistently-pinging timers, stumbling along in their steel-capped boots, bursting to go to the toilet but scared of losing their jobs. I know, I know, I should buy local: it's not like that in Kmart!
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