Many layoffs announced and I'm hearing people are receiving email pink slips.

More sign of the New Times???

https://apnews.com/article/microsoft-job-cuts-18fe0c9b8c9ff856e932e075161b1f43

Microsoft is headquartered in Washington state and I'm hearing how terrible that state is with homeless issues and law issues and it's about neck in neck with CA...

I have never been laid off. I have been fired a lot however. That would be awful to lose your job of no fault of your own and then having your life turned upside down trying to find new employment while paying for one's housing, maybe having kids and all of that. Bill Gates in the meantime is sitting on an island somewhere or in his hundred room house.

I guess these people can find jobs somewhere else, since they are skilled, but the technology companies are all based in the West Coast where the cost of living is outrageous.

Yanno, Microsoft has always hired in large numbers when rolling out new versions of software packages, and then laid off once the "crush" was over. I wonder how much of this current lay off is related to Windows 11 becoming established as complete?

The huge difference being that in years past, those laid off from Microsoft could pretty much write their own ticket at other software companies.

With consolidation within the industry these past 25 years, plus the current slow down in the economy, I have to wonder if that lack of options are a big part of the problem vexxing the laid off employees?

A person on another forum posted the layoff info and posted this also:

Amazon coldly began its layoff of 18,000 workers by informing them by EMAIL and cutting off their access to work computers: 'Unfortunately, your role has been eliminated'

Around 18,000 Amazon workers were let go via email in a new round of cuts*

They woke up Wednesday to a note telling them their 'role has been eliminated'

The employees were also cut off from access to their offices and computers*

Layoffs come just after Microsoft announced 10,000 workers were losing jobs

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11655877/Amazon-begins-layoffs-18-000-workers-informing-email.html

Well, isn't it actually good for those of us getting steady checks that a segment of the economy is contracting?

Less buying power generally pushes down prices the last I heard.

Amazon is also eliminating Amazon Smile which donates a portion of your purchases to charity. Only .5% but it added up to $500 million over the years. Amazon claims it isn't really working, which of course is a load of crap.

Funny (well, not really) that Jeff Bozo and Bill Gates push left wing agendas publicly but get antsy when their personal wealth goes under $100 billion.

A person on another forum posted the layoff info and posted this also:

Amazon coldly began its layoff of 18,000 workers by informing them by EMAIL and cutting off their access to work computers: 'Unfortunately, your role has been eliminated'

Around 18,000 Amazon workers were let go via email in a new round of cuts*

They woke up Wednesday to a note telling them their 'role has been eliminated'

The employees were also cut off from access to their offices and computers*

Layoffs come just after Microsoft announced 10,000 workers were losing jobs

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11655877/Amazon-begins-layoffs-18-000-workers-informing-email.html

I for one have preached the absolute evil of Amazon and how utterly awful they treat their workers. I have read some horror stories, of making impossible quotas, not being able to go to the bathroom and using bottles (if their security cameras dont catch them), having a thirty minute lunch break but the warehouse is so vast, by the time you get to the break room, you only have ten minutes to sit down and another ten minutes back to your station. In Illinois last year, workers in an Amazon warehouse were not allowed to evacuate during a severe weather event, a tornado hit the warehouse and several people were killed. I guess one could have left but risked losing their jobs, but there is also security at the doors who search all the workers when they leave after their shift. Guard, I can't search you, you can't leave. Mobile phones are also not allowed by workers on the floor so they couldnt check for weather conditions or call their loved ones.

Their drivers are not Amazon employees but are "contractors" although they drive a vehicle with the erect penis logo on it, their clothes have the erect penis logo on it, and basically running against a clock to make the deliveries and every second is being monitored by camera and a computer. I will admit I do not understand why they do this, but it protects Amazon from liability. If a worker gets stoned driving and runs over a kid in the road, Amazon will say the driver was an independent worker and not their employee, and have an army of lawyers to back that up.

The bastard (excuse my strong language) who owns Amazon has even publically stated that employeees, especially the warehouse level workers should be seperated from employment after three years because after three years, the worker will become "complacant" and no longer a good serf, I mean worker He is also a union buster and uses all kinds of means to keep his workers from organizing. This man is incredibly, incredibly wealthy. I looked up the net worth of the actor Tom Hanks, who has been an A List actor for the past thirty plus years, and the owner of Amazon is worth literally 400 times Tom Hanks. Say "Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks" four hundred times. This will take about seven minutes.

Then he has the unmittigated gall to thank his employees when he launched his d!ck shaped rocket into orbit.

I abhor Amazon and wish people would quit spending money there.

This is a borderline political statement, and as such I can have no hard feelings if a mod decides to delete it. But specific to the economic "cave in" that sensationalists in the media seem to be predicting, I feel it is long overdue.
Our economy has been overly dependent upon the availability of "cheap" borrowed money for too long. And if our government's decision to curb the money supply as a tool to rein in inflation causes some of these overly leveraged companies to curb their enthusiasm....well, I'm all for it.

Burn in heII corporate America, you have been placing the well being of your stockholders ahead of your customers for too long. So I believe that a little bounce back is in order.

I for one have preached the absolute evil of Amazon and how utterly awful they treat their workers. I have read some horror stories, of making impossible quotas, not being able to go to the bathroom and using bottles (if their security cameras dont catch them), having a thirty minute lunch break but the warehouse is so vast, by the time you get to the break room, you only have ten minutes to sit down and another ten minutes back to your station. In Illinois last year, workers in an Amazon warehouse were not allowed to evacuate during a severe weather event, a tornado hit the warehouse and several people were killed. I guess one could have left but risked losing their jobs, but there is also security at the doors who search all the workers when they leave after their shift. Guard, I can't search you, you can't leave. Mobile phones are also not allowed by workers on the floor so they couldnt check for weather conditions or call their loved ones.

Their drivers are not Amazon employees but are "contractors" although they drive a vehicle with the erect penis logo on it, their clothes have the erect penis logo on it, and basically running against a clock to make the deliveries and every second is being monitored by camera and a computer. I will admit I do not understand why they do this, but it protects Amazon from liability. If a worker gets stoned driving and runs over a kid in the road, Amazon will say the driver was an independent worker and not their employee, and have an army of lawyers to back that up.

The bastard (excuse my strong language) who owns Amazon has even publically stated that employeees, especially the warehouse level workers should be seperated from employment after three years because after three years, the worker will become "complacant" and no longer a good serf, I mean worker He is also a union buster and uses all kinds of means to keep his workers from organizing. This man is incredibly, incredibly wealthy. I looked up the net worth of the actor Tom Hanks, who has been an A List actor for the past thirty plus years, and the owner of Amazon is worth literally 400 times Tom Hanks. Say "Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks, Tom Hanks" four hundred times. This will take about seven minutes.

Then he has the unmittigated gall to thank his employees when he launched his d!ck shaped rocket into orbit.

I abhor Amazon and wish people would quit spending money there.

I am one to suupport the little guys, the mom and pop stores per se, and have had a couple unpleasant hacks thru amazon and besides NOT wanting to support the big guys, I help the ebay sellers.

I have known many people who worked for Amazon and they all said it was tough. They have a large turnover. My co-worker, who worked for Amazon, said her daughter works at the facility where a shooting occurred in the parking lot, they had to keep working, then after 15 minutes they were told to leave.