“It’s incredibly efficient,” Guendelsberger said of Amazon’s single-day and day-of delivery. “But it really leaves no room for human weakness whatsoever — any way in which humans deviate from ideal robot workers. And unless something changes, I don’t see why that wouldn’t spread from Amazon to everywhere.”

As a picker at Amazon, Guendelsberger said she was at first intrigued by the sheer vastness of the warehouse, with its “endless” shelves. It didn’t take long for those initial impressions to wear off, however. After training sessions during her first two weeks, she said, “I was so tired at the end of the day that I would just go to bed at that instant.”

Guendelsberger said that she sustained a repetitive stress injury in her elbow from the job — which she still deals with today — and that she was surprised to find vending machines with painkillers.