Probably because they do the software stuff right, but a huge number of their employees are schlepping boxes in warehouses, or doing customer service?
Anyway, it's not an especially big deal to me that they would fire someone for taking too many sick days right before Christmas. If they disclose this to employees beforehand, they're likely to weed out people who tend to take sick days, whether for legitimate reasons or not.
I've also heard from software people that it isn't a good place to work. In fact, I've only heard it from software people. I haven't talked to or read blog posts from anyone who's worked in their warehouses.
Depends on where you are. "Front-facing" teams (e.g. site front-end and whatnot) tend to have a lot of sleepless nights when things blow up and a fix is immediately needed.
Software guys in the "back" tend to not live such a stressful existence, since there's far more time leeway for fixing things.
