You’re making it seem as if the workers were getting the same bonuses as Jeff Bezos himself.

Amazon raised its minimum wage for its US workers ONLY. But let’s say that, hypothetically, making $15/hour is a liveable and decent wage in a country like the United States; what about the labour workers who are being taken advantage of and paid insufficient wages overseas and are subject to very poor working conditions and abuse? But since you’re referring to US employees, let’s talk about that instead.

It’s all smoke and mirrors. The pay raise was STRICTLY for PR because they were being pressured by politicians and the public, and because of whispers of employee unionization, NOT because they gave much of a shit about anyone. Benefits have been significantly decreased and so many hurdles and obstacles have been set in place that it’s become near impossible for many of the workers to meet the requirements in order to be entitled to and claim said benefits.

But since you believe that Amazon has a utopic code of ethics when it comes to the treatment of their employees; what about contract workers? Are you aware that they get ABSOLUTELY NO BENEFITS and are the most at-risk people working for Amazon in the US?

Monthly bonuses and RSUs; GONE. This means some workers will be taking home less on a monthly basis. By doing so, this puts the company in a good position to recruit about 100,000 temporary (contract) workers for the holiday season. And since those workers aren’t eligible for benefits of any kind, that means Amazon gets to line its pockets even more.

“In addition, because it’s no longer incentive-based, the compensation will be more immediate and predictable,”. Straight from the horse’s mouth. Do you know how disgusting this business practice is? Imagine having worked for Amazon as a warehouse worker for 5 years and now you aren’t entitled to incentives and are basically making the exact same amount as someone who started yesterday. A slap in the face. I’m sure a long-time worker is offended and frustrated at the fact that they’ll only be getting a very small $1 raise compared to newly hired workers who will be getting a pay bump of 40%. With this new $15/hour wage, the work conditions will be getting worse and Amazon is expecting to have a record year, so you know they’ll be working those warehouse workers to the bone.

I have nothing against a company growing rapidly and exponentially, that’s kind of how capitalism works, but I do have a problem with large corporations taking advantage of their labour employees when they have the means to provide better working conditions and better wages. I find it so digusting that Amazon is making it seem as if they’re having to pinch their very last pennies in their over $1,000,000,000,000 corporation in order to provide the basics for their employees.

Amazon’s business practices are not to be applauded.

You might not like my answer; but read. Read MULTIPLE works. The goal of manipulation is to change people’s perception of you. 

I feel like everyone recommends Ho Tactics and it seems to have been effective. I couldn’t make it past the first chapter though, so I never read it. The works of Robert Greene have great strategy (The Art of Seduction, 48 Laws of Power, 33 Strategies of War) and are a gateway. 

My advice would be to look into Philosophy, Psychology & Sociology which make up Social Engineering (strategy, deception, etc.). To get the ball rolling, here are some works that I recommend in no particular order:

The Prince – Niccolò Machiavelli

The Art of War – Sun Tzu

Hagakure – Yamamoto Tsunetomo

Strategy - B.H. Liddell Hart

On War - Carl von Clauswitz

Influence: Science and Practice (The Psychology of Persuasion) – Robert Cialdini

How to Win Friends & Influence People – Dale Carnegie

Social Engineering: The Art of Human Hacking – Chris Hadnagy

Covert Persuasion: Psychological Tactics and Tricks to Win the Game – Kevin Hogan & James Speakman

Get Anyone to Do Anything: Never Feel Powerless Again – David J. Lieberman

Genghis Khan and the Making of the Modern World - Jack Weatherford

The Art of Worldly Wisdom - Baltasar Gracián y Morales

It’s Not All About Me: The Top Ten Techniques for Building Quick Rapport with Anyone – Robin Dreeke

What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People – Joe Navarro

Telling Lies: Clues to Deceit in the Marketplace, Politics, and Marriage – Paul Ekman

A very important thing before you even get into manipulation is learning how to control yourself and understanding why you think and act the way you do. Here’s some recommendations:

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind – Al Ries & Jack Trout

Thinking, Fast and Slow –  Daniel Kahneman

Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions – Dan Ariely

The Social Animal – David Brooks

The Laws of Human Nature – Robert Greene

Philosophy also plays a major role. I quite enjoy the works, and apply some of the philosophical outlooks of Thucydides, Seneca the Younger, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus, and Zeno of Citium. 

I mostly like the works of stoics and transcendentalists:

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

The Enchiridion of Epictetus by Epictetus

The Republic by Plato

Letters from a Stoic by Seneca The Younger

On the Shortness of Life by Seneca The Younger

Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Psychology & Self-Help:

Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen Covey

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson

Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Miguel Ruiz

Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss

Why Men Love Bitches: From Doormat to Dreamgirl — A Woman’s Guide to Holding Her Own in a Relationship by Sherry Argov (courtesy of @thesecretparamour)

F*ck Him! — Nice Girls Always Finish Single by Brian Keephimattracted (courtesy of @asiansiren)

I’m currently reading Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty by Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson and The Dictators Handbook: Why Bad Behaviour is Amost Always Good Politics by Alastair Smith & Bruce Bueno Mesquita

On my reading list for the next few weeks is:

Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Cass Sunstein & Richard Thaler

The Bottom Billion: Why The Poorest Nations are Failing and What Can Be Done About It by Paul Collier

Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy by Daron Acemoglu & James A. Robinson

Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen

Poor Economics: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty by Abhijit V. Banerjee & Esther Duflo

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

Homo Deus: A Brief Histoy of Tomorrow by Yuval Noah Harari

Most of the books I read aren’t exactly fun and can usually be pretty dry, but I enjoy them because they allow me to expand my understanding and improve objectivity or further support my stance. Many of the viewpoints of many of the works I read I absolutely do not agree with, but I can appreciate differing opinions with evidence and explanation to support an argument.

It Didn't Start with You: How Inherited Family Trauma Shapes Who We Are and How to End the Cycle by Mark Wolynn

The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters by Kate Murphy

The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure by Greg Lukianoff and Jonathan Haidt

Social Finance: Shadow Banking During the Global Financial Crisis by Neil Shenai

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don't Know by Malcolm Gladwell

Skin in the Game: The Hidden Asymmetries in Daily Life by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Traumatic Narcissism: Relational Systems of Subjugation by Daniel Shaw

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You by Dina Nayeri

What Is the What by Dave Eggers

Stop Mugging Grandma: The 'Generation Wars' and Why Boomer Blaming Won't Solve Anything by Jennie Bristow

Trade War: Containers Don't Lie, Navigating the Bluster by Lori Ann LaRocco

White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism by Robin DiAngelo (re-read)

The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau (re-read)