*Go ahead, admit it. The fact that Amazon, the giant retailer that appears to be aiming for world takeover, employs dogs is news to you, right? It’s news to me, too.
Good news. Because in case you didn’t know it, I love dogs and now, I love Amazon even more.
Why? Because of them, doggies don’t have to be depressed because they are at home, alone, for 8 hours while their human is at work. In Seattle, according to the Amazon blog, humans share their work space with at least 6,000 dogs every day.
If you don’t just love this idea, something is wrong with you!
If I could take our dogs — Pebbles (Pit-Rhodesian Ridge-back mix) and Bam Bam (Pit-American Stafford mix) to work with me each day they’d be over the moon happy!
And the Amazon staff owe this particular perk to a four-legged dude named Rufus. In the early days of the company the dog was brought to the office by a husband and wife team, and the employees fell in love with the dog.
And Rufus quickly proved himself useful in the office, allowing humans to help him click on some of the website links. The dog has since passed away, but he definitely reached iconic status.
Amazon states that there are photos of Rufus around the 8.1 million square foot campus and he even has a building named after him.
Amazon installed a doggie deck for pets to run around on the 17th floor. And what would pee-time be like with a fire hydrant? Doggie won’t have to know because Amazon had a fake fire hydrant put in. There is also dog relief areas and water stations. Additionally, the company offers a leash-free dog park where pups can play on rocks and other structures.
And get this: on Halloween there’s an event called Barktoberfest, and the pups get to dress up, along with their human. Costumes are said to range from John Snow to unicorns.
Now, everyone in the corporate world has a supervisor right? So no doubt you’re wondering who the dogs report to at the office. That person is none other than Lara Hirschfield, Amazon’s “Woof Pack” Manager.
“Dogs in the workplace is an unexpected mechanism for connection,” says Hirschfield. “I see Amazonians meeting each other in our lobbies or elevators every day because of their dogs.”
See? She gets it! I love this. I hope it spreads to other offices; even if its just for a day!
Watch these employee dogs at work (and play) below.
#bringyourdogtoworkday
