When 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.
Sometimes you’re just moving freight on pure frustration energy.
That’s when you get the sudden boost of “I’ll just do it myself” power.
But then your back reminds you you’re not built like that.
Been there. You just start dragging pallets like you’re in a strongman competition.
And then leadership walks in smiling like, “Great job team.”
Power jacks down? Oh that’s nightmare fuel. Manual pulls in the middle of the night hit different.
Yeah, you feel every step when you’re dragging half a pallet across the dock.
And of course, that’s when you get the heavy detergent pallets too.
Power jack roulette—will it work? Probably not.
No one talks about how scary it is when you can’t find a working jack mid-shift.
One time I pulled a pallet with a jack that locked halfway through. Couldn’t even be mad, just laughed at the pain.
The best part is when you work like that all night, barely survive, and then the morning shift rolls in and says, “Why is this area a mess?”
They don’t know what we survived. The war stories don’t get passed down.
Morning shift really walks in like it’s just another day.
Meanwhile, you’re leaving with your shirt soaked, shoes trashed, and five walkie calls still ringing in your head.
And they still say, “Can you stay a little later?”
Nope. Absolutely not. I’m running straight to my car.
What really gets me is when leadership tells you to “just prioritize” like you can magically skip steps and still finish everything.
Right? Prioritize what? It’s all urgent when half the truck’s still sitting there.
It’s like they expect us to invent time on the spot.
Or they tell you to “do what you can” but still ask why it’s not 100% done.
Prioritizing in Walmart terms just means “do everything with fewer people.”
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Oh man, I’ve done that shift. When the team’s wiped out and the truck still has to move. The grind is real.