While you were all resting safely in your beds early Monday morning, I was on my way to the Essex town of Tilbury, to take a look at an Amazon “fulfilment” centre. These are, essentially, what they say on the tin – the massive warehouses where Amazon holds the products you see on their site, turns them into packages to be sent out to customers. I and 14 other journalists were to take part in a tour and presentation, presumably intended to show us that Amazon aren’t actually an evil tech firm that runs their staff around like they’re bionic horses, but, in fact, a charming, lovely little company that cares about each and every employee.
I thought I’d find an overly manicured work environment filled with obsessively cheery staff loudly singing the praises of their benevolent overlords. Instead, I walked into what felt like the most boring, paranoid episode of Silicon Valley there has ever been. What I expected to be a glitzy, modern, fast-streamed experience was, instead, an obstacle course of office horrors, from birthday interviews to expensive “benefits” to decor that would not be out of place inside a correctional facility.
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