Posts with tag: overnightgrind
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.
... read moreThe overnight snowstorm shift that broke us
Overnight shifts are already rough, but try doing one during a snowstorm. The snow was piling up so fast in the parking lot that by 3AM, customers’ cars were getting stuck. We had like four associates and a team lead outside pushing people out while also trying to manage freight inside.
Inside wasn’t much better. The floors were soaked, footprints everywhere, and the baler jammed right in the middle of it all. On top of that, we had a water leak near the loading dock. It was like every issue wanted to show up at once.
We ended up taking turns with mops and snow shovels all night. When morning hit, we looked like we’d survived a disaster drill. Freight was half-finished, nobody had dry shoes, and customers still expected everything to be business as usual. Overnight in a storm hits different. You just push through.
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