I'm sick

I feel like I’m falling apart, and it’s honestly embarrassing because it’s only been a few weeks. No job has ever drained me this fast. I picked this up as a second gig since my main job at a small design studio has slowed down recently. I’ve been working with clients and juggling multiple responsibilities for years, but I’ve never been this stressed—not even during my time in retail. It started badly from the beginning. They asked about my availability, and I said I needed Saturdays off to match my other job’s schedule. I offered to work evenings, something like 3 PM to midnight. That setup lasted barely a week before they switched me to opening shifts. When I explained I couldn’t do that, their “solution” was to change my days off to Tuesday and Thursday without even asking. When I tried to get an explanation, they had me sit through a pointless meeting that didn’t clarify anything. This past week has been unbearable. I know the holiday season is crazy, but my supervisor makes it so much harder. I’m assigned to the household section, and for three shifts in a row, I was the only one scheduled from late afternoon until closing. Most of my time was spent running between helping customers and putting back returned items, so I couldn’t get to stocking or other tasks. Naturally, I still got reprimanded for not finishing everything. Yesterday was the worst. My lead dropped off about 15 boxes of new stock for a promotional section, gave me the fastest explanation possible, and then disappeared. I didn’t know what I was doing and had to find another manager to help. Even with their assistance, it took over two hours to get through it all. After that, I was told to reorganize a display, pack up items that didn’t belong, and break down the cardboard. Then, of course, another cart of inventory appeared. On top of that, the morning shift had left a mountain of returns for us to deal with. Thankfully, there was one other person scheduled, and they covered the electronics counter while I dealt with everything else. At one point, a shelf collapsed in electronics, scattering everything. I had to step in there to sort it out, and while I was busy, loss prevention came over to scold me for not being in the aisles where customers were waiting. Nobody had even called me for help. Meanwhile, the returns sat untouched until the last minute. Break coverage makes everything worse. We’re expected to alternate covering for each other, which means there are large chunks of time when absolutely nothing gets done. Last night, we didn’t clock out until long after closing because of everything that had piled up. This has been the pattern all week. My supervisor assigns impossible tasks, hides in the office, and then texts us more work from wherever she’s sitting. She only comes out to give us more instructions before disappearing again. I feel like I’m failing so badly at this. The last few nights, I’ve ended up crying home because I’m so overwhelmed. They keep telling us that not finishing everything will get us in trouble, but it feels like an impossible situation. Is it just me? Am I the problem here?