It was the Orwellian man, they have the most bizarre work culture I've experienced. Career Amazon workers are often ex-military because the way they put prioritize and competition and self sacrifice is similar to the marines. I worked in the Pick department for 4 months, 12$ and hour, full time through a clandestine "temp agency" basically so they did not have to provide benefits. I only met one other person really because communication was discouraged, it detracted from productivity which they are obsessed with. Overall they offer a non-skilled person a livable wage, but it's pretty tiring and soul sucking. I'll write an article about it this week and post it here in the comments!