I've mentioned
before
that I work at a Walmart store.
I work very hard at my Walmart workplace.
I had a day,
on Easter Sunday,
that was a little more stressful than usual.
I'm very glad to have a job,
and the bosses treat me well,
in general.
I'm not writing this
as a way of saying
I can't take it any more.
That's not what I'm saying.
Rather,
I want to make two points:
One point is simply to let you see
the inner workings,
what really happens
within the largest private company in the world,
Walmart.
By the way,
my disclaimer
is that I only see a tiny part of the company,
and I don't speak for Walmart.
My second point
is that I feel,
deep down,
the overpopulation of humans on this planet;
I feel it,
deep down,
in my Walmart workplace.
Too many customers are pouring in.
This is not sustainable.
I can feel it,
deep down.
I punched in,
with my name badge,
at 2:08 PM,
eight minutes late.
I walked down the back hallway,
and saw Assistant Manager Paul,
who asked me to help him with a very large,
awkward swingset,
that had been returned.
It was in the way,
and had fallen off the pallet jack.
It took us more than three tries to get it
positioned,
anglewise,
on the pallet jack,
so we could move it around,
move it out of the way.
Then,
he asked me to move two pallets of special order items
down the back hallway,
to a spot in front of the vending machines.
One of my 400 co-workers
was getting a snack,
and asked me if I would be leaving access
to the machines.....
With so many wokers,
it's very hard,
at times,
just to stay out of each other's way.
(Yet we need more workers.
The workload is crushing.)
Paul then sent me to help clear the "dance floor,"
as we call it
(the big room used to sort freight
as it comes off the trucks).
There was about 30 pallets of freight
on the dance floor
(a pallet is a platform,
about four foot
by five foot
by six to eight inches high,
made of sturdy wood
or plastic,
with "feet"
in the center
and the sides
running lengthwise,
with two big gaps
for pallet jacks
and fork lifts,
to raise it and move it around,
with all the freight on it).
Two of us worked steadily,
moving the pallets of freight
off the dance floor,
into another area,
between two tall fixtures
that are full of yet more excess freight.
All the freight on these 30 pallets,
by the way,
is items that came in
within the last few days or so,
but had not yet been "worked,"
that is,
no one had yet found time
to see if these items would fit on the shelves,
and,
if not,
mark them as overstock,
to be placed in those massive fixtures
I mentioned.
We need more workers,
we are getting behind.
Anyway,
I was in a good mood,
chatting with my co-worker
about music,
telling him,
for example,
that my favorite John Lennon song,
by far,
is Watching the Wheels,
from the Double Fantasy album.
Anyway.
After we cleared the dance floor,
we brought in three stacks of pallets,
to be used to sort incoming items onto.
By then it was 4:PM,
time for my first break.
After my break,
Paul said,
"How long a break did you take?"
It's supposed to be 15 minutes,
but if I use the restroom,
sit down and eat some cheese and crackers,
take some vitamin pills,
and use the restroom again,
it takes a little longer than fifteen minutes,
altogether.
Anyway,
I joined the unloading crew,
as I often do.
I was told to sort the break packs.
Break packs are re-usable boxes,
about 25" long
by 18" wide
by 20" tall,
that collapse flat
when not in use.
We usually get in
about forty of them.
On this day,
we only got in about ten.
Sorting the break packs is tedious,
though,
no matter how many we get.
Each break pack that comes in,
most of them,
have a mix of items
that go to various departments.
I sorted the items into the folowing departments:
pharmacy,
health and beauty aids,
cosmetics,
infants,
arts and crafts,
party supplies,
stationery,
chemicals,
housewares,
domestics (towels)
hanging apparel,
non-hanging apparel,
automotive,
toys,
and maybe one or two I've forgotten.
This work is hard work,
physically,
and hard brain work.
Third shift gripes
if we sort it wrong,
because they are forced to wolk a long ways
to get the item where it belongs.
Anyway,
after the truck was unloaded
(the rest of the crew had to place larger cases
of items
on 28 pallets,
for 28 departments,
stacking it carefully),
after the truck as done,
I took my meal break,
from about 6:13
to 7:26,
an hour and 13 minutes.
Paul said,
get a cart,
and take out housewares,
meaning
put it on the shelves,
if it will fit.
I went back to the dance floor,
and got mixed up,
and started loading domestics
on a pallet jack,
not housewares.
(That's probably not a mistake that would
get me in trouble. It all needs to go out.)
It took me
five or ten minutes to load it all,
plus time to answer a question form a newbie.
Then I rolled it out to the sales floor,
and worked on domestics for
about a half hour.
I went to the front men's room,
and when I came out,
Ryan asked me to put up returns.
By this time,
it was after 8:Pm,
and,
subtracting time for my last break,
I had less than three hours
to work.
I had about two hours of work on the cart of domestics.
There was well over one hour's worth of returns
in the return cart Ryan wanted me to work.
I started working returns,
because third shift
is especially assigned
to the new freight,
so they might be able to work
that cart of domestics.
But they get angry
if they are expected to put up returns
that have piled up on second shift,
my shift,
even though
it is common for first shift,
in some departments
to be so busy with certain first shift projects,
that they fail to put up returns
that have built up on first shift.
We need more workers.
Anyway,
When working returns,
I always start with the largest items,
because I never get everything put away,
so at least all I leave
is some small items,
that don't take up so much space
up at customer service.
So,
I rooled the returns cart
in the housewares area,
and grabbed the biggest item
and put it on the shelf.
It was a nice set of stainless steel cookware,
similar to the one I use in my kitchen.
It costs about $78.
Mine was $60,
on clearance,
about three years ago,
after my wife,
Pam
died.
I got rid of all my other cookware.
I only like stainless steel for cooking.
Anyway,
I grabbed the next two biggest items,
and I walked to the next area,
to put them up,
and I heard a big crash.
A new assistant manager,
Jamal,
had bumped into a display of picnic coolers,
and they came crashing down.
For the next half hour,
I helped Jamal with his project,
moving forty pound double bags of charcoal,
restacking them twice,
once to get the stack narrow,
to transport it,
and a second time to spread,
and make room for more....
As I was rolling an empty display bin
that had had Easter items in it,
as I rolled the empty bin to the back,
I was asked if I could mix paint.
I've been trained,
and I've done it a few times,
but at that moment,
because of the time crunch on the domestics,
no,
the time crunch on the returns,
and the time and energy
spent on the charcoal,
I was so tired,
and feeling so stressed from the seemingly
incessant
task switching,
task switching....
It turned out that Cliff
was taking care of the paint customer.
Thank you Cliff.
As I rolled the empty bin to the back,
high level Manager,
Mark,
asked how the returns were coming.
I told him I just got started,
I had been helping Jamal,
and it was after 9:PM,
time for my last break.
During that break,
I wrote in my little 77 cent notebook
the outline for this diary.
When I got off my break,
I had to help Jamal a little more,
and I struggled to put up as much returns as I could.
The day before,
I had left a cart
with the plastic tubs
with returns for
domestics,
housewares,
and furniture.
The cart was still there,
24 hours later,
I put up a few larger items off that cart,
the largets items off that day's cart,
and then I sorted from that day's cart
into the three tubs,
and rolled the big cart up to customer service.
Pam,
the third shift Customer Service Manager,
saw it as I rolled it up,
and said,
"Really?"
I explained this was what was left over
from two days,
after I'd put up the largest items,
and it's after 11:PM,
and I'm very tired,
and I need to go home.
Pam likes me,
She smiled.
I punched out and went home.
Thanks for reading.