What I Learned About Billionaires at Jeff Bezos’s Private Retreat

It really is funny the attitudes of those with powerful wealth. It's as if they're not human at all. I'm not saying all people are like this but the majority of them have stepped on human beings so much to get to the top they're probably just a lifeless shell.

Here is my favorite Bezos-is-a-broken-horrible-human ditty to share. I’m going to keep telling it until someone does a story about it. I can’t believe no one has yet, tbh. Around the same time Makenzie started getting good press for her philanthropic donations, Jeff decided to open a chain of tuition-free, Montessori preschools. The mission of Bezos Academy was to bring quality pre k education to underserved communities. It sounded like an exciting, possibly groundbreaking concept. However a peek behind the curtains tells a different story. From the start the folks at headquarters were making insane amounts of money and were led by a former Amazon exec/Bezos buddy with zero background in education. Applying Amazon Day 1 approach to ECE is nuts. One thing they did right was hire experienced Montessori educators to design, implement and coach. Most left despite compensation that is unheard of in ECE. The mission that folks signed up for was a facade. Around the time Trump started his second term the cracks really started to show. They did away with before and after care. They stopped using high quality food and instead opted to enroll in CACFP, the federal food program that reimburses for meals but also uses a model that isn’t in line with a Montessori model. They also used to offer take-home meals for families and nixed that. They did away with DEI. They quietly reworded their mission. Now they are shifting from a one lead/two AT model with 18 children to one lead/one AT and as many kids as allowed per licensing. They’ve done away with Asst Head of Schools if schools have less than 5 classes. They had been focusing on opening schools in WA, but now they are only opening in red states. They are actually closing schools in WA now, one of those being a two-way Spanish/English school. The last school they opened in WA actually displaced a special education program in a public school, which was extremely upsetting and controversial in that community. They also have shifted their focus/resources to product development and are working on launching a “Bezos Box” (I’m sure it’ll be available on Amazon) which is a kit filled with Montessori-inspired materials intended to prepare your child for school. Opening these schools could have had such an amazing impact and there are some passionate educators at the school level trying to do amazing work, but as things keep shifting and the mission unclear, it’s getting harder. People are frustrated and morale is low. Another fun thing they do is pay teachers and assistants close to what they should be paid as educators, but only give 9 sick days and 3 personal time and no vacation days. The rule is you have to plan out the personal days 90 days in advance. They do get a month off paid in the summer, but if you have some sort of important family event like a wedding and it happens during the year you essentially risk losing your job if it requires taking time off. With only 9 sick days and the ability to only roll over 5 days each year (11 month school year) makes it very difficult for any human who spends their day with little germ factories and even worse is someone is a single parent because once those days are used up you will get a PIP for taking more than your allowed sick days—even if you offer to take days without pay. When you see that headquarters gets more generous time off and has the ability to work remotely and they have a literal bar in the office, plus kayaks to use if they’re stressed during the day, it’s more than a little stomach turning. Bezos Academy is a great example of why we can’t look to billionaires to save us. The end.

Jeff in vivo “I am getting a shakedown,” and then is whisked away.

I wonder how many famous people then infected with hand foot and mouth? It’s super contagious

That is probably the first time someone who wasn't on his payroll had an honest interaction with Bezos and told him he was at fault in someway, and he had no concept of how to even interact in that situation because he has lost his humanity.

This doesn’t surprise me one bit, the super rich cannot compute needs of any sort because they are post need. I once had a brief interaction with Peter Jones off UK Dragon’s Den years ago, it was so brief but so revealing. I was cheffing in Chelsea in a swanky area. Came out of a 17 hour shift *desperate* for a cigarette, before realising I had lost my lighter. A smoker without a lighter has the eyes of a hawk when it comes to identifying other smokers who may be able to help out and behold I saw someone smoking outside a very posh private club over the road. Score! I headed over and it was Peter Jones off Dragon’s Den, didn’t care that he was famous, just treated him like any other smoker in the world and asked him for a light. He looked confused before responding “I’m sorry but it’s in my pocket”, I couldn’t believe that his pocket was too far too reach for a lighter for another person, so I gave the most WTF look possible. He begrudging reached into his jacket pocket handed me a totally normal clipper lighter and I lit up, thanked him and walked off. This interaction is etched into my mind. It was so impossibly stupid and devoid of even the most basic empathy and camaraderie, smokers give each other lights as default, it’s one of the things I miss having quit actually. But yeah the super rich have long lost any ability to think about outside themselves and this guy is to Bezos what I am to him.

Just like Trump and the rest of them, they are on almost an exclusive diet of sycophancy. All yes people. People who will eat the corn out of their shit, glaze any imperfection or inconvenience in their day. They are mad. We must take our futures and planet back, together. Unite.💪🏼🌍🖖🏼

Be a normal guy challenge Level: impossible

At least 60% of CEOs and top execs have strong sociopathic tendencies or are complete sociopaths. Not surprised. Worked in corporate offices to learn that early on.

Not surprised to hear this. It may not be the money. Im not sure I can see Bill Gates behaving that way. Hes definitely a tool and thats putting it nicely.

I just read the premise on my Library app. Sounds pretty insane. I’ve never even heard of Teton County. *A revealing look at the intersection of wealth, philanthropy, and conservation Billionaire Wilderness takes you inside the exclusive world of the ultra-wealthy, showing how today's richest people are using the natural environment to solve the existential dilemmas they face. Justin Farrell spent five years in Teton County, Wyoming, the richest county in the United States, and a community where income inequality is the worst in the nation. He conducted hundreds of in-depth interviews, gaining unprecedented access to tech CEOs, Wall Street financiers, oil magnates, and other prominent figures in business and politics. He also talked with the rural poor who live among the ultra-wealthy and often work for them. The result is a penetrating account of the far-reaching consequences of the massive accrual of wealth, and an eye-opening and sometimes troubling portrait of a changing American West where romanticizing rural poverty and conserving nature can be lucrative-socially as well as financially. Weaving unforgettable storytelling with thought-provoking analysis, Billionaire Wilderness reveals how the ultra-wealthy are buying up the land and leveraging one of the most pristine ecosystems in the world to climb even higher on the socioeconomic ladder.*

How many children do the billionnaires r***?

Never heard of that

I was thinking that was referencing Jeff Tweedy and Gaiman, yeah. Sounds like David Letterman and Jose Andres were there too. No idea who the 80s hair metal guy would be. An excellent piece of writing.

Their whole lifestyle is chump change in relation to their wealth.

Case in point: Bezos has a 20ft hedge around his residence that violates code. He just pays a ~12k monthly fine because he wants the hedge.

Nah. They don’t act like humans because of the raging ball of “want” in their stomachs, the endless hunger. I would never be Bezos because, after I had about $20 million in the bank, I would have walked away — enjoyed my life, donated the rest, hung out with my wife and friends. Even now, he could do that. He does not. He has everything and wants more.

Very eloquently put, u/Absurdtittyz

Their souls

It's the perfect microcosm.

Tldr : sociopathes are running the world, in case you were wondering why everything is going to shit.

Same! I thought it was because they were bored, after having every experience and purchasing every cool thing that money can offer. Boredom probably is still a contributor, but the idea that nothing matters to them because they can't really *lose* anything is fascinating.

Probably because it makes it tax deductible

It’s because they are also obsessed with seeming smart. Maybe as Another way to justify the outrageous inequality…’oh they are so smart that’s why they deserve to have so much more than others.’ (Not that it’s actually true…).

Omg I went to a billionaire party once that was just like this lololol. But I went to two others that were just parties. I’ve been to 3 total, so I think 33% of billionaire parties are basically TED talks.

Rich executives still get a boner just from thinking about any Steve Jobs presentation.

So zero?

Yes, and they think the “more” is going to space to start a new civilization, but it’s actually real intimacy they crave but can never have.

Experience with people like Bezos suggests that Lord Acton was too optimistic. Absolute power isn’t required for absolute corruption.

TIL that I’m old enough to consider a movie that’s been our for almost twenty years to be “pretty recent.”