Endemic bad leadership

When I was at Amazon, I worked for an inexperienced director who would lash out when stressed (which was most of the time). I regularly worked nights and weekends (which is considered normal at Amazon). For my director, this was considered necessary, more for displaying loyalty and a willingness to accept unreasonable demands than for actual business needs. He pitted every employee against one another and created more bad feelings than I've ever seen at any other place.

When the flu went through the office (since everyone's immune system was weak due to the stress levels) in my last October there, I was the only one in my division who didn't get sick right away. Most of my coworkers were out for a full week while I held down the fort for all our critical systems. After everyone came back, I had to take a single day off to take care of my son. This was my first vacation day of that year. The next day, my director called me continuously with one "crisis" after another. He raked me over the coals for taking that day off. The day after that, he berated me in front of everyone during a staff meeting for having the wrong priorities.

I soon quit and found a better job. Bad leadership is endemic at Amazon. It results in high costs for former and current employees in terms of health and emotionally well being. I still can't drive past the Amazon office 2 years later without a taste of bitterness overcoming me.