No job security

I started at Amazon when they first opened where I live. I loved my job. I was second fastest packer on my shift. Did I always love it? No, but that's normal. 

I was going to get my knee fixed. I need a knee replacement after I dislocated it real bad when I was a kid. They never fixed it so now at 34 I was going to need a knee replacement.

I was fired that following year literally weeks before my year mark. I was waiting to clock in from lunch when I realized I need something out of the safety machine so I ran over to machine. I started to fiddle with it then the guy next to me is trying to hurry me along because he needed something too. I got frazzled and handed him my badge to clock me in so I could finish what I was getting and get going. We were being a team, helping each other out. After I got what I needed, I went to stand up and thought nothing of it for the whole week. 

I came in the following Sunday. After lunch, they pulled me aside and start asking me about it. At first I had no clue whet the hell they were talking about. They told me they had me on tape letting another person touch my badge and finally I remembered so I told them what happened. They suspended me that night so they could investigate (lol), which is bull. They were going to fire me regardless. At the time, I did not know I was being fired for violating a security policy. At the time I thought the only security policy was don't let people in building but it turns out no one is allowed to touch your badge. At the time I thought I was being fired for stealing time, which is stupid. I was standing right there the next day 4 in the afternoon. Mind you, the wait till 4 in the afternoon to fire me means I had been up for 24 hours with worry. They call and tell me I'm fired.

The hr lady was so understanding that I didn't remember this policy. I mean it had been a year since I had heard about it but her empathy did not mean crap when it came to saving my job. Today I'm trying to get unemployment which I will have to fight to get. I just got my i denied later which interesting enough says I was fired for letting some one use my badge to clock me in which is different then the hr lady telling me I was fired for letting him touch my badge so which one is it amazon? don't clock someone in or don't touch someone's badge? they are not the same thing. Furthermore I was not in the bathroom or in the break room. I was standing right next to the time clock. In addition to being fired I am blacklisted by Amazon and any other jobs that work with Amazon. 

Also the day after my misconduct, I applied for restriction on my knee. I was not trying not to work. I wanted to work, but just wanted to stay away from high impact things because I have no cartilage in my knee. It starts to really hurt when you're on it for 10 hours. I was not trying to violate their stupid policy. I didn't know and it pisses me off. I was a good worker who made a mistake and because of that I'll have to wait even longer to fix my knee and I'll never be able to work for them again but some jerk who goes -upt can. 

Bull crap. I can honestly say I did not remember signing this policy. For one because of my id, if it's a document, 9 times out of 10, I don't read it or if I do read it, I don't understand it but that does not matter to them. They don't care that I already had a hard time finding a job that I can do with an id. Now I have to look for a job with an id and an even worse knee and now a black mark on my job record. Also I think anyone would forget a policy when it's been a freaking year since they heard about it. 

Amazon sucks. It's not because of all the hours you work or work/life balance. All that is great. It's job security that is the problem. This is nonsense. People get three write ups for rates in the span of a month. I personally got wrote up twice for a path I don't usually work under in a span of two weeks and you can't fight them write ups. You have to eat it. The only time you can appeal is when you're being fired and in order for you to win, you have to prove there were times they let it slide. Good luck on that but truly this place needs a union. Great benefits don't mean crap if you don't have job security.