From an ex-Amabot writing in Motherboard (found via a university press employee):
"The worst floors were the ones dominated by engineers. I regularly saw people bring their laptops into the bathroom, where they would sit on the toilet and write code. (I’ve never seen anyone clean their laptop after leaving the bathroom.)
“Engineers would talk to each other through stalls.
“On many occasions, I heard people take phone calls while mid-business. It was hard to tell if someone was groaning because it was difficult to code or difficult to poop.
“Another Amazon colleague once joked that this gave new meaning to the word ‘deploy.’"
What’s next? Will Amazon reward staffers with new-style cubicles with potties, so they needn’t take bathroom breaks? And what about Jeff Bezos? A innovative corporate throne for him to sit on—one with a monitor and keyboard handy?
That’s my imagination. The bathroom story starring the engineers is real life, if we’re to believe Motherboard. I can’t say if the ex-Amabot—at least self-identified as an alum—is telling the truth.
Like the university press guy, however, I wish this stuff could show up just in the Onion. Why has American work life reached the point where we can’t automatically dismiss these stories as lies?
(Paragraphing changed for readability.)
Bathroom stories. When Lyndon Johnson was a mere congressional aide, he ran the office for a mostly absentee (golfing) congressmen, and when he needed to crap, he brought his subordinate aides into the bathroom to take dictation – just to show them who was the boss. If they didn’t like it, they could find a new job; of course, it was the Depression, and job were a little hard to find. Johnson was a hard driven man who expected absolute loyalty and commitment – at any personal expense – to his those under him. Yes, Johnson was a major league prick, and he could bend men to his will to make them do what he said to do.
I have no idea how fanciful, exaggerated, or true the bathroom stories are. But in any case, Johnson MADE people do it before Bezos.
@Greg: You’re so, so right about LBJ. I’ll spare TeleRead community members the gross details here, but if they want the full poop, they can check out a passage in Character in Chief: The Personality and Character of Current and Past Presidents, by John M. Berecz.