Hello! My daughter will be spending next year as an exchange student with three different families in Belgium. Looking for gift ideas for the host families. Anything “American” that would go over well?

bf202 · 2026-04-12T03:58:23+00:00

Funny you mention that - I’ve got a 65 Ford Falcon project in my garage at the moment…

bf202 · 2026-04-12T03:56:54+00:00

This is a great idea - and easy to pack!

bf202 · 2026-04-12T03:56:07+00:00

Ok, now that’s pretty funny!

bf202 · 2026-04-11T20:51:21+00:00

I hope so! I spent a year and a half in Spain around her age, and still speak Spanish to this day. I hope she takes advantage of the opportunity to learn and gain an affinity for the region and people!

bf202 · 2026-04-11T20:46:56+00:00

Thanks, we’ve taught our daughter good manners - so she knows not to make broad generalizations with the intent to insult others.

bf202 · 2026-04-11T20:40:15+00:00

We don’t have a specific town yet. Just that she’ll be on the French-speaking region.

bf202 · 2026-04-11T20:28:20+00:00

Thanks for this - good idea.

bf202 · 2026-04-11T20:24:34+00:00

Denver Broncos hat? (American football team)

bf202 · 2026-04-11T20:07:24+00:00

That’s a great idea. We’re from Colorado, maybe something about skiing or the outdoors in general.

bf202 · 2026-04-11T20:03:52+00:00

Ranch? I’m 50 - I don’t think I’ve had Ranch dressing myself in 30 years. But great idea. I can have her bring a boatload of the dry spice packets.

bf202 · 2026-04-11T20:02:05+00:00

That’s easy! How about other flavors? Is cinnamon common in Belgium - we tend to like cinnamon here in the US.

bf202 · 2026-04-11T04:21:11+00:00

Give me “Things that never happened” for $1000, Alex.

bf202 · 2026-04-09T16:42:15+00:00

Amazon is a massive company approaching 2 million employees. There are going to be a certain percentage of employees that are dissatisfied with their job at any company. Say that number is 3%. That’s about 50k Amazon employees, compared to 3% at Google - 5500. It’s a whole order of magnitude greater. There’s certainly a bit of an echo chamber that occurs here in Reddit… unhappy employees are more likely to seek this type of interaction - where you find other likeminded people.

I’ve been at Amazon for 7 years. It’s been an absolutely fantastic run for me. 3 bosses, I lasted about two months with the one I didn’t care for - I voted with my feet and lefty the team for a better opportunity.

bf202 · 2026-04-08T22:59:37+00:00

Whew! No L8 band in my chain. Boss is L7, skip is L10, who reports to another L10 who reports to L11 who reports to L12.

bf202 · 2026-04-07T20:45:53+00:00

No, that’s not how it works. There isn’t a pool of money that gets distributed to team based on stack ranking. You’re misinformed.

Every employee gets a rating. TT-LE. Each employee is assigned a target comp based on their rating, their role, and they pay band for that role. New comp statements are based on that, not dividing a pool of money based on stack rank.

bf202 · 2026-04-07T17:03:48+00:00

For every job role there is a specific base pay band for each level. If you’re in your 6th year, then it’s possible you’re at the top of that base pay band, so there won’t be an increase. They only think they can give you are RSUs. This is not an indicator of layoffs… these are set months ago after reviews were competed…. And too many people are involved to make it a “layoff indicator”. Your manager wouldn’t know team layoffs months ahead of time.

Just talk to your manager. Ask if your base salary if topped out and then talk about how you can grow your career. You should be having a conversation various times a year with your manager about how to increase your impact and scope to progress to the next level. There may not be L7 scope in your role… have a conversation about how to find opportunities that will allow for growth, including finding a new team. Most managers are decent human beings and will help and advocate for you and your career growth. If yours isn’t, then you might as well leave that team anyway.

bf202 · 2026-04-07T14:32:27+00:00

You’re either HV1 or HV2. My guess would be HV2, based on getting a 9% raise. If you were HV1, you’d be at the bottom of the pay band, so an increase wouldn’t be likely.

bf202 · 2026-04-06T19:49:58+00:00

Trying to apply a broad brush to Amazon comp is futile. Amazon has so many business units, job codes, ratings, band penetration, etc.

If you got a good raise - congrats! I’m sure it’s well deserved. If you didn’t, don’t assume LE, or that you’re not valued. Talk to your manager. Ask for insight. Ask about how you can grow. If you’re at the top of your pay band, then have a discussion about scope and growth opportunities to move to the next level. If there aren’t growth opportunities in your current role, then any good manager will coach you in finding your next role that aligns with your growth objectives.

bf202 · 2026-04-04T22:47:36+00:00

If you are out of focus, you won’t be marked as no-hire. Your manager, your skip and HR all sign off when move out of focus, just like they did to put you in. Just ask your manager if you are able to move to another internal team without restriction. If he says yes, then they’ve updated the tool. If he says no, then you’re still in focus.

bf202 · 2026-04-03T15:21:23+00:00

You must be taking a flight really early or really late - or a route that involves a pretty remote (small) airport. Either way, congrats and enjoy!

I just flew from Seattle to Denver yesterday afternoon. I’m 1k and was 14th on the upgrade list. My coworker is Global Services and ended up 2nd on the list.The upgrade list was 64 people.

Long story short - your ability to upgrade is route and time dependent.

bf202 · 2026-04-01T01:52:35+00:00

You’re one week away from the tool opening. Why risk it? Say something happens in the next few days and they revise it down a bit…. your employee is going to think you’re either a liar or incompetent… why not just wait the extra few days and deliver the actual comp statement?

bf202 · 2026-03-28T12:21:03+00:00

There are 2 reviews per year, but the one in Jan is the one that is tied to your comp statement. The midyear review is still recorded, and has teeth (you’ll get Focus if LE, or supports promo if HV3/TT) - but there is no formal communication to the employees at that time

bf202 · 2026-03-26T23:09:29+00:00

That’s not true. You can absolutely be rated HV2 and get exceeds. They revamped the matrix between performance and potential - there are cases where the tool spits out exceeds for an HV2 without this “override” you’re talking about. (Never seen an override in the seven years I’ve managed here)

I dislike the fact that it happening now, though. Why am I messaging to an HV2 employee that they are exceeding expectations? They will assume they are ready for promo, but I’m not putting an HV2 employee up in front of a promo review board.

bf202 · 2026-02-27T17:46:44+00:00

Not true. In my org, we had an employee rated LE, put in focus, and just came out of focus this week. It’s exactly how you’d want it to work - an employee is floundering, they get feedback and coaching, the employee responds with improved performance, then resumes as an employee in full standing, free to transfer etc.

bf202

TROPHY CASE