Straight to the top

What to do if your pay comes up, say, $90 short. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

About a year ago, a woman named Tara Jones was on paid leave from her job at an Amazon warehouse in Oklahoma. She was a single mom, just gave birth—and she noticed a recurring shortfall in her pay: about $90 dollars out of $540.

Actually, I think “noticed” is among my biggest understatements in the history of this newsletter. She wasn’t one to idly notice. She was counting on the money and she raised heck.

When her boss couldn’t help her—and her boss’s boss and maybe her boss’s boss’s boss—she went straight to the top. She emailed Jeff Bezos directly (he was still CEO at the time, and he can be reached at jeff@amazon.com).

"I'm behind on bills, all because the pay team messed up," she wrote to Bezos, as reported by the New York Times. "I'm crying as I write this email."

Here's what happened next. 

• First, Jones got her personal pay issues resolved. 

• Second, her message to Bezos prompted Amazon to launch an internal investigation. The company found that not only had Jones been underpaid, but …