Amazon is an elaborate, interconnected group of contractors and employees, whom Amazon exclusively refers to as “associates.”

I did not like working at Amazon. There are many reasons why. One of two chief things, in retrospect, that got me about Amazon was the commute. Working at Amazon isn’t just working the hours you are scheduled for. It’s the time it takes to get to the warehouse, the time you’re waiting in line from one of the three shuttles that are supposed to come on time to designated parking spots, but rarely do. There are Uber shuttles and further examples of how Amazon, how every large company now I guess, outsources everything instead of bringing or keeping functions in house.

It wasn’t all negative. Working at Amazon was multicultural. You have so many different kinds of people—most joined together in a common attitude of not wanting to be there. Some seem happy to be there. The happiest are the ones who appear to have a sense of community. That was heartening.

The second thing that made me sad was the fact you are constantly reminded how much you are a number, a data point, in a huge and overwhelming structure. Everything, and everyone, had a QR code assigned to them. Spaces on the floor were designated their own codes. It was lowkey fascinating to see this machine of parts and people humming along. You felt as if you were on the ground floor of capitalism itself. It was futuristic, to be sure. More to the point, it was dystopian. I’m not sure that I liked the future it showed me.