Under pressure, afraid to take bathroom breaks? Inside Amazon’s fast-paced warehouse world

Amazon's immense multi-level warehouse called a fulfillment center in Kent covers more than 850,000 square feet. Much of the facility is highly automated. (Alan Berner/Seattle Times/TNS)

Working at an Amazon warehouse in the UK, James Bloodworth came across a bottle of straw-coloured liquid on a shelf. It looked like pee. 

How could he be sure? “I smelt it,” said the 35-year-old British journalist and author, talking about his new book Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain. It was definitely pee, he said.