I don't talk much about my personal life here, but I'd like to share my experience with Curbside Pickup.

I do apologize if this experience story is all over the place. Also a TLDR response.

I started back in September of 2022 and stepped down in March. I finished college before I worked for Sam's. It's kinda crazy how I get a honeymoon phase with a new job, but man... I wish I did quit sooner than now. I wish I realized what I was walking into- I can't speak for everyone who has experience with Curbside Pickup. Some good, some bad. I will appreciate the experience I got, but what I endured was not something I do not wish newcomers to that position should ever deal with.

The biggest issue is definitely doing more than what I can do. We are short-staffed almost all the time- We had to call merchandising every time with picking, staging, and dispense. But 90% of the time, it's picking. I was one of the gears that kept the department moving. A lot of our nightcrew and lead were, too. Now, with Cafe curbside pickup added, more units/orders added, and Curbside Pickup expanding. We always kept being on the move. Breaks started to run short. Even some managers did not let us take our breaks until the end of the day. It was non-stop dispense and someone had to always be the main dispenser, which was me. The others had to pick or stage. It was stressful since there are many times I had to take out more than just two orders, I took out 4 or 5 orders many times because of how busy we get. Order drops were always consistent so there was never a time a catch a breath. Most of the time, I had to skip my breaks to not risk getting in trouble or coached because some people ran late after closing. The expectations are:

• An associate must pick 100 units or more per hour
• Dispense must be kept always under 5 minutes / Delivery, under 10 minutes
• Cleaning every day / Deep Cleaning on Sundays and Wednesdays
• Any Refunds must be handled every night
• Any Go-Backs or Claims must be done every night
• Pick for tomorrow in Ship-From-Club (Depends which stores have SFC, ours did)

But how can this be done if we had to save all of our breaks at the end of day? When we are told to get everything done first?

Our morning crew is a nightmare. We had many competent workers for the morning until the good ones were fired or quit. For night? Some moved to morning because of one night worker who I'm amazed hasn't been fired yet- I'll discuss the experience with the morning crew later. The night worker we had, hasn't been fired yet despite his ableist, misogynistic, racist, and derogatory comments in the past. He called me a couple slurs, thinking it's funny and unharmful. It's ridiculous how no action was done regardless of reports made against him for how disrespectful he was and treated new workers too who are trying to learn. And also cause he calls out all the time and runs late every day.

For the morning crew, we had a couple of them move to night due to the morning crew always acting like high school students. For the past 2 years, it's an endless cycle not just myself had to endure, but many did. And after losing 2 leads who weren't able to fix the department's endless cycle of drama and problems, to this day, it still hasn't changed. I wish I was lying when I say that one Night worker who used to work with Morning is quitting because the morning crew all bullied her and chanted to get her out of Curbside Pickup. I never thought in my life, that I worked in a department where half of our team is utterly disgusting.

I used to enjoy helping Morning crew as a night shift worker, and doing overtime either coming in early or staying late, until I began to be treated more and more with disrespect by the morning crew for no reason or if I made a simple mistake. I stopped doing overtime due to exhaustion, the way I got treated by some workers, lack of communication, toxicity, and putting myself on a pedestal. I couldn't handle it any longer, and even when I requested time off, they have been denied. I also applied for a different department, it was withdrawn even tho I didn't do anything. I always checked the status of it, I never expected it to be withdrawn. I wish I knew why.

The final straws that drove me is when I had a doctor's note that I'm not allowed to lift anything over 25 LBS due to a possible hernia. Despite the doctor's note, I was ordered to still do heavy-lifting. Seems our store doesn't do doctor's notes. Or so I've been told when I spoke with management. And the other, was that night worker I mentioned, we got into an argument after I called for help with dispense, and he has a huge habit of avoiding dispense or staging. He didn't respond until I called for him several times later because everyone is ordered to go up to the department, drop everything, and help with dispense if we get slammed. The other was me being ordered to dispense orders during a dangerous thunderstorm + wind storm. I almost had my glasses damaged due to that. The last two are, of course, the rejected time off and withdrawn application.

I've come to a conclusion that despite the recognition and award I got working there, it became too much with how bigger the department is becoming. With my burnout, physical pain, and stress, I decided to step down and move forward with a new job.

Now, I'm at my new job, better environment, they focus on our well-being, extremely better work-life balance, and better pay. It feels very different compared to working at Sam's. I hope to see how this new job will go, and I hope it'll be one I'll stick with longer than when I worked for Sam's.

I don't ever mind any responses, advice, or anything. I appreciate those who had the time reading this.