Amazon prefers convicts

Amazon discriminated against me. I was hired with a sign-up bonus and everything seemed great. The next week I showed up to the orientation (dressed correctly with no phone) and everything was smooth sailing except for the fact that the coach that was going over all the policies used me twice as an example in a negative narrative, to which I didn't say anything, but felt very uncomfortable. The female coach (who is black) was telling the class about how amazon has a zero tolerance policy and a black guy sitting next to me asked for some clarification, and she gave him an example. She said, "...you and I can be speaking to each other about something, and he can be offended...", at which point she pointed to me, I'm the white guy sitting next to the dude she is talking to, "...and you and I will not be working for amazon tomorrow." I know that doesn't seem too bad, but it paints me as a bad white guy that just got two black people fired because they were presumably talking about something that I found so offensive that it would have fallen under the "zero tolerance" policy. I didn't say anything.

Then when the class was over, we weren't allowed to leave yet because there was still time on their clock and she allowed people to talk amongst themselves. She started speaking with the same black guy sitting next to me and he began talking about how he voted for Trump and he didn't trust Hillary. Well, the coach shut him down really quick and said that politics was off limits in amazon (which I agree, but didn't say anything), then she began talking to the several people about the legalization of marijuana, and that same black guy spoke up and said, "hey that is political too, so you really shouldn't be talking about that either...". She laughed and agreed but then she brought up the election and said something to the effect that the election had polarized everyone too much and so they were advised to stop people from talking about it so they wouldn't have problems at work, then she looked right at me and pointed to me and said, "...look at this guy, he is just squirming waiting to say something about the election...", at which point I finally did speak and say, "no I wasn't going to say anything about any election". I also kept a straight face, and tone, I absolutely did not want give any impressions that might out me for whom I supported one way or another.

Well, that was on a Monday last week, and I showed up a few days later to start my first shift and they told me that my drug test was expired and I needed to go back and take another test and talk to them, and that was after spending an hour and a half driving to work through the traffic, even though it was only 25 miles. I went back the next morning and they told me that really that shift was full and Amazon just didn't need me anymore, however if I still wanted to work for them, I could now start on XMAS day, but I would only be making 18% less per hour and I would no longer be eligible for that sign-on bonus. Reminds me of the "Grapes of Wrath". I can't help but think that somehow that coach put something in my file that caused them to cut me even though my record is 100% clean. I found out that amazon can get a WOTC credit on employees if those employees have a criminal record and work enough hours. An employee would only need to work 12 weeks (with mandatory OT) for the WOTC credit to max out. I think they dismissed me because they couldn't get that credit from having me on their payroll. If I had a felony, or I was a vet, or someone homeless, they would have kept me.