A Modest Proposal
- By Mark Mocarski
Neil Lindsay
Vice President, Marketing
Amazon
410 Terry Avenue North
Seattle, Washington 98109
August 25, 2015
Dear Mr. Lindsay:
After reading the August 16th New York Times article about Amazon, I believe I have a lot of what your company desperately needs in an employee. I'm not just a talented and conscientious worker, I also have a soul. And a heart. And I empathize with people.
Which is why I am sending you my resume.
You see, I don't believe the workplace needs to be a test of the survival of the cruelest. I also don't think that just because we live in a competitive capitalist society this means our lives must resemble an episode of Game Of Thrones.
Here's some of what I've learned about life: It's short. It goes by fast. And nothing lasts—not even multinational corporations. Also, and maybe most importantly, I've learned that when you come right down to it, all the hours and days and years busting one's anus chasing whatever success is supposed to mean in this country doesn't mean anything if you don't have family and friends and love in your life and good memories and—this is crucial—if you haven't made this world a better place than how you found it.
There are a lot of ways to achieve excellence without becoming the sweatshop of the digital age. I know I've been able to do some really neat things without losing my humanity nor respect for my fellow workers in the process.
Quite frankly it sounds to me like Amazon has lost its way. And that is why you need more employees like me.
I'm an advertising copywriter. I imagine Amazon could use help with writing content, as they call it these days.
Here is my online portfolio: http://markmocarski.com I hope you like it. Other people have.
But I should let you know that writing ads is not the be-all and end-all of my existence. I don't measure my value and personal worth by it. It's really more of a means toward achieving other ends. Like having spare cash to go to the race track. I love horse racing. (I hope you've had the chance to get away from Amazon and spend time at Emerald Downs. I've been there. It's a great spot.)
I also like to cut away from work at a reasonable hour and have a drink. Few things in this life are as rewarding as a beer at the end of a work day. It usually beats everything else that has come before it. If you haven't tried it recently, you should. Invite some of your harried co-workers to join you.
With so much grief and hardship in the world today—from the degradation of the environment to gun violence to racism to the enormous disparity in wealth to drug addiction and the spread of terrorism—the least we can ask for is to surround our lives with people we respect and admire and whose company we enjoy. And that includes the people we spend so much of our time working with and for. At least that's my belief. And if you agree, call me up and hire me to write an ad for you.
Sincerely,
Mark Mocarski
P.S. So I've told you how I can help Amazon. While I have your attention, I'd like to suggest ways that Amazon can help me.
First, can Amazon please end our country's endless wars in the Middle East? Being the most powerful retailer in the entire world, your company I'm sure can do something. I and 315 million Americans and about a billion people in the Middle East would really appreciate this.
Second, can you get this country to adopt a single-payer universal healthcare system just like every other civilized nation on earth? Our healthcare system is grossly overpriced and massively inefficient. It is literally as well as figuratively killing us. In a word, it's insane. Yet there is nothing the average person can do about this because our politicians and policy makers don't listen to the 99%. But they do listen to companies like Amazon. They always respond to the demands of our biggest corporations. So can you get Amazon to get Washington to institute a single-payer healthcare system for all the rest of us? As much as I like the idea of Amazon being able to deliver a stick of deodorant to my house by drone, I much prefer if I can have a single-payer healthcare system. That's what I really need most. Thanks.
Mark Mocarski lives in Metro Washington, D.C. with his brother and two cats. Which explains everything.
