I actually don't fancy this sport or hobby. You just have to pay attention the "feral" pigeons running about in the cities. Many of them have exactly one crippled leg, where their band originally was. After the pigeon doesn't return home, this thing cuts into the leg over time and in a slow and painful process the leg falls off...
One thing that struck me watching that was that the timer counted down from 15 to 0.
Since "gamification" is so popular amongst management and business theory these days, I was surprised it didn't go the other way and count up, which would mean the worker gets a time to try to beat in the next pickup.
Don't get me wrong: it would still be unbearably grim. Maybe even more so.
Who knows -- maybe Amazon has tried both methods and has stacks of data that shows counting down is better for productivity, all in neat SQL tables and thrown up on PowerPoint slides.
I've worked for a company that did those types of things and I found it awful. On top of the work, you had to negotiate strained, forced, Corporate Fun. After 10 hours working, the last thing I wanted was to be told by the company that was exploiting me that I should smile and be grateful and give it my all in the Company Nintendo Wii Bowling Tournament.
> The work may be mndane and shitty, but slogging through with friends makes it a million times better.
You make it sound like school and as though the workers are children. People don't want to be infantilized at work. They want to feel as though they are valuable -- that the work they are doing has some impact in the world -- and they want to be compensated fairly for it.
Well I wasn't suggesting they were to be infantilized. I was suggesting there jobs aren't worth very much and certainly aren't fun, and that the company can offer ways to make life better that aren't costly.
If someone wants to feel their work is valuable, the should probably find some work that is valuable.
Btw, I didn't suggest the company sponser or track any of this.
Every single card I flipped over had "Stuff you'll need: a Google account" and an early step that was "Sign in."
Google is on a real push lately to get people to stay signed into its services all the time. This, to me, feels like another pair of hands helping in that push.
