Employment Update

4 min read

Deviation Actions

Jezendar's avatar
By
Published:
656 Views
I've got some news to share: I've finally managed to get a job again! Specifically, I've been hired as a cart pusher at Walmart. It's not exactly the greatest of jobs, but this is pretty much what I was doing at my last workplace, so it's something I'm used to at least. I have worked three days thus far, and... well, things haven't exactly gone smoothly. Here's the breakdown:

Jan 21st & 23rd - Technically, I've worked five days, not three. However, these first two days were limited to orientation and taking CBLs (That means "computer-based learning." It's how Walmart teaches the safety regulations and such things.) As such, I'm not really counting them as true workdays (despite getting paid for them) because I didn't actually do what I was hired for during these two days.

Jan 24th - My first true day at work, and it rains all day. And the temperature is in the low 30's, so near-freezing rain basically. And while it's not pouring at least, the rain does continue for the entire day. So by the time I get home, I'm soaking wet and pretty cold.

Jan 25th - Day two on the job. The sun is out this time, and while it is still cold out, it's not unreasonably so. (One should expect cold temperatures in winter anyways.) The problem would be the customers: quite simply, there's an unusually large number of them, which of course creates an unusually large amount of work. I figure that some of these customers are people that would normally have shopped on Saturday, but stayed home because of the weather. And chances are, some of them shopped today because of the problem detailed next.

Jan 26th - Day three, and easily the worst of the three. I'm already feeling pretty tired after the past two days, and there's a massive blizzard forecast to hit the area that night (and all of the next day), so the number of customers shopping is enormous! Even when I arrived at 8 AM, there's half-a-dozen people already in each line at the registers. And while the full force of the storm does indeed hit after dark, the snow nonetheless started falling by 10 AM. We eventually end up with three people out in the parking lot, as even two working together couldn't keep up with all the customers.

These three shifts, and the problems that occurred during them, were quite unpleasant all total, and left me both completely exhausted and rather achy. However, there is an important point to make about them: none of these problems were directly work-related. (Indeed, they were all weather-related, which would be a potential problem for any outdoors job.) The problems which caused me to leave my last job weren't created by the weather, but by those managers and co-workers that were refusing to do their jobs. And I have yet to see any evidence of that problem existing here; indeed, the other two people I've seen working outside have been quite focused on their own work. No goofing off, no hiding around the corner to smoke, no leaving trash in collected carriages...

Anyway, while this may not be a perfect job, it does nonetheless look like a pretty nice workplace. Eventually, I'll likely want to start up the job searching process again, to find something more stable/better paying (and likely indoors), but I feel this is a good place to stay while I get my finances back in order. Indeed, despite the hardships of the past three days, I feel a lot less stressed out than I have for some time. As I re-acclimate to working (part of my problems admittedly is being out of shape after five months of unemployment), I'll finally have a real amount of energy to devote towards my often-mentioned projects. So we should finally be at the point where I stop saying, "I'm planning to do these things" and actually start doing them. And having three of the next four days off (today included) certainly won't hurt in that regard.

Now I'm just hoping we don't lose power. That blizzard isn't done yet...
© 2015 - 2024 Jezendar
Comments1
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
phallen1's avatar
No such thing as bad work.  Good on you for getting the job, and I hope it all works out well.

I spent five years pushing carts & checking groceries at a local chain.  It made its mark on me, taught me a lot.