Those of us who aren’t paying rent to live under a rock have come to know, some way or another, that a job at Amazon is far from perfect. From peeing in bottles to working under constant watch, few sit through the recruitment advertisements promising a “low-key” work environment at one of the thousands of warehouse locations and genuinely believe it. To add insult to injury, many drivers are now being requested to dance in front of customers’ doorbell cameras when they drop off their delivery, and to decline puts their job at risk.
According to Guardian writer Arwa Mahdawi, a recent TikTok trend is responsible. Creators use the special notes section on the app (typically reserved for explaining where to put the package or how to alert that it’s arrived) to instruct their delivery drivers to do specific dances so that the customer can then put the footage on TikTok. The official Amazon account took to the trend very quickly, and started using the platform to repost doorbell camera footage of drivers, dead-eyed and exhausted, cycling through half-hearted renditions of famous dances on strangers’ porches for a better driver score.
Their participation, however, is far from voluntary- declining these requests risks a bad review or the AI review system that monitors their behavior (yes, really) assigning them a bad score, both of which could result in termination. Drivers dance because their jobs are on the line- and understandably, some feel degraded.
One driver from upstate new York said all of these requests are via the app, always by someone with a remotely operated ring camera- had he received the request in person instead of the app, he said he would’ve “smacked the shit out of them.”
The trend is appropriately being described as dystopian, and although the comment sections of these TikToks show people voicing their discomfort with the trend, the creators defend themselves just as ardently. User @its.just.leah shot back at one angry commentor, “they don’t have to dance if they don’t want to.”
According to an anonymous delivery owner interviewed in the parent Vice article, this is very far from true- failing to comply with each and every customer request can and will effect the drivers’ performance metrics, even if the customer never makes a formal complaint.
I can't believe that drivers' ratings can be lowered or that Amazon can actually punish drivers for not dancing. These Amazon drivers are working tirelessly to deliver our packages in a timely manner, so it is sad that they are being forced in a way to do dances for other people. It should be their choice whether to dance or not, and as long as they do their job without any additional problems, they should not get a negative rating or be punished in any way.
I had never heard of the issue, but when you said"To add insult to injury, many drivers are now being requested to dance in front of customers’ doorbell cameras when they drop off their delivery, and to decline puts their job at risk," that really struck a chord with me. The fact that people with a job, which appears to be difficult as it is, are forced to dance in front of these people's door when dropping off food is disgusting. Amazon needs to fix their employee policies if they want to sustain as a company, but more importantly they should adjust it to be good people.
This trend is an abuse of power on the part of Amazon customers. Demanding that underpaid, overworked delivery drivers dance for people is insane. It is even more absurd that Amazon can reprimand those who do not comply. Hopefully with the growing worker movement within Amazon conditions can improve for the better.
I have heard so many horrible stories from Amazon employees. I had a friend who used to work in an Amazon warehouse make some extra cash, and she quit after 2 shifts because of how terrible it was. They treat all their employees as replaceable and act like "big brother" watching over them constantly. I have never seen this trend personally, but I do not doubt it for a second.
As much as the drivers' jobs are on the line, I think the organization does not have to degrade them. It worsens by reposting such footage. And employees do not have to engage in involuntary activities. Organizations can give scores to employees based on other criteria and not dancing; one can relate it to "dystopia."