Let's talk about things at work!
That freight shift that never let up
Started with an average truck. Nothing out of the ordinary. But then OGP asked for help, three people called out, and the backroom was a war zone before 9PM. We had overstacked pallets that blocked the aisles, a broken jack battery, and the baler filled before midnight.
At one point, a soda pallet collapsed and rolled cans under every shelf. Took 40 minutes just to clean that up, and right after that I got pulled to backup. Came back and half my freight was gone—restocked by someone in the wrong aisles.
No one was communicating. Claims was short, apparel was behind, and every five minutes it was “hey can you check this real quick?”
By the end of the night I was dizzy, covered in dust, and still had to close out a damaged pallet report. Shift ended. Truck wasn’t done. Just another overnight where survival was the only goal.
... read moreWhen a power outage turns your store into a horror film
Halfway through my shift, the lights flicker, and then bo^m—total blackout. No emergency lights, no announcements, just darkness and dead silence. We stood in the breakroom with our phones as flashlights until someone finally got the generator running.
No registers, no scanners, and no customers willing to leave. People were wandering with carts like it was a haunted maze. One guy even asked if he could check out “manually.”
Eventually, power came back on, but every system had to be reset. Printers froze, handhelds desynced, and it took another hour just to figure out who clocked in or out.
I’ll never forget the look on the team lead’s face when the deli lights flicked back on like a horror movie jump scare.
... read moreFeedback for not ignoring
so yesterday at the end of my shift, I decided that this morning I wouldnt walk past something that needed fixing just because it wasnt my job unless it was obviously more than a small fix. But now I've been given feedback for poor time management even though I was on target with my own tasks. wtf? did I step on someones toes?
... read moreThat moment when your walkie goes off with four departments calling at once
Was stocking OTC today and got called by front end, then OGP, then manager-on-duty, then maintenance—all at once. It’s like my walkie became a DJ mixer. I just stood there blinking, deciding who to disappoint first.
... read moreThe missing pallet that was in plain sight
We were searching for a missing toy pallet for over an hour. Called every department, checked every corner. Turns out it was staged right behind a holiday display the whole time. I walked past it four times.
... read moreJust let us wear real shoes
Steel-toe requirement is fine, but the ones they give us? Feels like walking on bricks for 8 hours. My feet still haven’t forgiven me.
Why are grocery pallets always stacked like Jenga?
I touched one box and the whole thing shifted. Whoever wrapped this wants me to fail. #PalletGames #FreightFun
Cashier drawer didn’t match—again
Had my till off by $1.28 and got pulled aside like I robbed the place. Meanwhile, the machine freezes and skips items all day. #RegisterLife #CashCountStress
The breakroom fridge is a horror movie
There’s something in there that’s been rotting since April. No one’s owned up to it. I opened it and immediately shut it like I saw a ghost. #BreakroomFails #FridgeFunk
Someone left a chicken in automotive
Found a rotisserie chicken in the oil filter section. Still warm. No receipt. Who leaves fully cooked poultry in aisle A23 like that? #WeirdFinds #OnlyAtWalmart
How do we always run out of box cutters?
We start every week with a dozen. By Thursday, they’ve vanished. Either there’s a hidden stash somewhere or the box cutters have legs. #MissingTools #RetailMystery
Coffee makes or breaks my shift
If I don’t get that first cup in before 7AM, the rest of the shift feels 5x longer. Doesn’t even matter if it's gas station coffee. It’s survival juice. #RetailFuel #MorningRoutine
The freezer pallet that soaked everything
Had a frozen pallet come in that clearly sat out too long. Everything on the bottom was thawed and leaking. Boxes were basically mush, and there was a trail of water across half the dock.
We tried to salvage what we could, but the whole thing turned into a mop-up mission. We had freight mixed with water, plastic wrap clinging to everything, and customers already trying to walk down the wet aisle.
Even worse? Nobody marked it for claims until an hour later, so we had to redo inventory and check what actually made it to the floor. That pallet should’ve come with hazard tape. #FrozenMess #BackroomBattles
... read moreWhy is everyone out of gloves again?
Is it flu season? Because every time I go to grab gloves, the box is empty. OGP, bakery, maintenance—everybody’s raiding them. #MissingSupplies #LittleThingsBigImpact
That one shift where everything breaks at once
There’s always that one shift a month where every single thing decides to break at once. Ours was last night. First, the receiving dock wouldn’t lower. Then the baler jammed. Two scanners lost signal, and the cooler temp sensor started blinking red.
The team was already light due to callouts, and no one from management was answering. So now we’ve got four associates doing full unload and zone recovery while dodging leaks, error messages, and cross-department backup calls.
I ended up in the breakroom at 5:30AM eating my lunch in silence, soaked in sweat, shoes wrecked, just staring at the vending machine wondering what job I could pivot into next.
And somehow the store still opened on time, as if nothing happened. #RetailStorm #OneOfThoseShifts
... read moreThe mystery of the missing scanner
I swear I left the Zebra on the back counter. Gone 10 minutes and it vanished. Spent 20 more looking for it while trying not to admit I lost it again. Found it behind the printer. #ZebraFails #ToolHunt
... read moreOvernight shifts that go sideways fast
I don’t know what it is, but overnight shifts seem to go from calm to chaos in five minutes flat. Tonight started easy—light freight, decent crew. Then one callout. Then another.
Suddenly it’s four of us covering everything. The freezer pull was delayed, bins were overstuffed, and OGP showed up asking for help because they were behind too. I ended up doing chemicals, pet food, and helping claims by 3AM.
And of course, that’s when we realize the baler’s jammed, two jacks are dead, and one of the newer associates accidentally stocked half a pallet in the wrong aisle. By morning, we were wiped. Store looked halfway decent though, somehow.
It’s the magic of retail. Panic teamwork and controlled chaos. #OvernightCrew #RetailRealities
... read moreWhy are we always short on carts?
Cart crew is out there doing laps and it’s still not enough. Customers take them into the lot, to the gas station, halfway down the street. We need GPS trackers on these things. #CartCrewStruggles #ParkingLotLife
... read moreThe truck that arrived early and nobody was ready
We had a truck roll in a full hour early and the team was nowhere near prepped. Half of us were still finishing up backstock, and the other half were in the middle of grocery pull. Suddenly we’re scrambling to get the dock cleared, jack batteries swapped, and pallets moved out of the way while the driver’s already waiting.
It was one of those moments where leadership just looked at us like, “Let’s move!” but with no real plan. The dock became chaos instantly. Three jacks dead. One pallet collapsed. A soda pallet was so badly wrapped it practically poured onto the floor.
And just like that, a quiet start to shift turned into three hours of full-blown scramble. No prep, no warning, and we still had to recover by morning. I don’t even remember half the shift—just remember being soaked in sweat and hearing the backup alarm of a jack in my dreams. #FreightRush #UnplannedChaos
... read moreCan we talk about freezer doors
Why are the freezer doors always fogged up or broken? Customers slam them like they’re trying to break out of a vault, and the handle’s hanging on for dear life. Maintenance just says “we’ve reported it.” For six months. #FrozenAisleFights #StoreWearAndTear
... read moreWhen the walkies just stop working
Ours cut out for like 15 minutes yesterday and everyone was just wandering around trying to guess where to go. You don’t realize how much we rely on them until they go silent. #TechTroubles #CommunicationDown
... read moreWhen overnight freight meets no-show staffing
Came in tonight expecting the usual overnight truck. Decent size, manageable with a full team. Except half the team didn’t show up. I mean literally half. No call, no show. It was just me, one other associate, and a team lead who was already tied up with claims.
We had to unload the entire truck ourselves. Grocery, chemicals, pet food—didn’t matter, it all had to move. Walkie calls kept asking for help in other departments, and we had to keep saying, “We’ve got no one left.”
Freight was so heavy we had to move pallets in pieces because the power jacks were down for maintenance. There’s nothing like pulling half a pallet by hand at 3AM. Management came in later like, “Hey, how’s it looking back here?” Like we weren’t drowning in boxes.
It’s wild how stores can still open and look semi-put-together when it feels like everything was one step from collapsing overnight. Shoutout to anyone who’s been there. You know.
... read moreThe never-ending self-checkout shift
You know those shifts where you get stuck on self-checkout and you just know it’s going to be a long day? That was me today. First hour was steady, no problem. Then the rush hit and it didn’t stop for the next five hours.
Machines kept flagging, bags weren’t scanning, and I had at least three customers trying to scan 50+ items each with no patience. Meanwhile, the OGP orders were piling up, and every other minute I’m called to clear a flashing light. The worst is when people get mad like I broke the scanner on purpose.
What really hits though is when you’re flying between machines, helping three people at once, and someone still says, “Can we get more help over here?” Like, buddy, I am the help. I’m the entire team right now.
By the time I clocked out, my legs were s^ot and I could still hear the beeping in my head. Self-checkout days hit different.
... read moreThe day the freight truck was four hours late
You ever prep your whole shift around a truck arriving at a specific time, and then it just… doesn’t? That was me today. I clocked in ready to unload, team was set, dock was cleared, baler was empty, everything ready to go. Truck was supposed to be there at 2PM. It showed up at 6PM.
By that time, most of the team was already reassigned. We had managers asking why we were “just standing around,” even though our entire plan was built around that truck. When it finally showed, the pallets were a mess, half were leaning, and the paperwork didn’t match.
So now, it’s scramble mode. We’re unloading as fast as possible, but also being told to jump to backup and OGP pulls. Two of us ended up unloading most of the truck by ourselves. Finished the shift with half the truck still sitting in the backroom, knowing it’ll still be there waiting in the morning. Some shifts just don’t let you win.
... read more