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“Help Me Please PMP Staff Are Evil“
An anonymous note found in a make-up advent calendar ordered from amazon.co.uk, posted on facebook and reported in the Daily Mirror, Sun and other UK newspaper websites.
Photograph of note shown above.
It’s the beginning of December. Christmas is coming. A British dad has ordered an Advent Calendar for his 13 year-old daughter – April – from Amazon. It was supposed to come with a ‘love from mum and dad’ note. But it came with a note from someone else too. That note was written by hand on the gift invoice. It said ‘Help me please PMP staff are evil’. PMP was an employment agency that Amazon used to source temporary warehouse staff, especially at peak times of year like the lead-up to Christmas. April found it and showed it to her Mum, Kim. They had no idea who PMP were. But Kim posted it on facebook, tagging Amazon, asking for an explanation. Amazon replied quite quickly, but so did her facebook friends. Importantly for us, the story about the note reached British newspaper journalists who made it a festive news feature. The version in the Daily Mirror was linked to a recent exposé by its journalists of appalling pay and working conditions at Amazon warehouses. This ‘Help me’ note could link an otherwise distant working conditions story to the lives of consumers on the receiving end of Amazon’s cheap and conveniently-delivered goods. While there was some discussion on social media, the comments section on the Daily Mail’s version of the story was where things hotted up. Was this a fake story? Was it posted on facebook by Kim to gain 15 minutes of fame for her and her daughter? Was it made up by the journalists for some festive clicks? Was it unethical? Should Kim have posted it online when the information on the invoice could easily have identified the writer? Could that person have been sacked? What kind of ‘help’ did they want? Was Amazon warehouse work really that bad? Yes, said the Daily Mirror exposé, and the commenters who said they had experience working in these places. What impacts did this story have? If any? And on whom? ‘Help Me Please PMP Staff Are Evil’ is one of many real and fake messages sent – accidentally and deliberately – by workers to consumers, showing them the labour that’s helped to produce (and deliver!) their things, and often asking for help. Click ‘message from worker‘ above to see the other examples on our site. Each one works out differently. So what happens when one of these ‘Help!’ notes is sent, received and made public? Follow the message! Read and find out.
Page reference: Ian Cook et al (2026) Help Me Please PMP Staff Are Evil. followthethings.com/help-me-please-pmp-staff-are-evil.shtml (last accessed <insert date here>)
Estimated reading time: 27 minutes.
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