Overnight means you wear every hat

I’ve worked overnight for three years now, and I don’t think people outside of third shift really understand what we deal with. There’s no management around most nights, so if something breaks, leaks, crashes, or catches fire (yes, it’s happened), we’re the ones solving it.

Last night, the baler jammed, two trucks showed up early, one of the new guys fainted from heat, and our power blipped twice—resetting every handheld in the store. We had half a grocery truck left on the floor and four pallets from GM still untouched because half the overnight crew didn’t show up.

So we split up and just made it work. We rotated zones, sent someone to handle the fainting situation, kept answering the walkie like we weren’t losing it inside, and kept pushing. No one sees that part in the morning. All they see is “why isn’t this section zoned?”

Overnight crew is part stocker, part janitor, part medic, part security. And most days, we don’t even get a nod of appreciation. We just get to clock in the next night and do it all again.