On The Job at Sam's Club

The beginning of my experience of working at Sam's Club followed the same strange path the recruiting phase followed. It was mentioned to me last week during all the attempts to get started that the orientation would probably be on Tuesday at 2 PM. Well, 1:30 came and went and there still was no word from them. I called Shawna, the Personnel Manager, at 1:40 PM and asked for an update. She first indicated that she was waiting on the drug test results and that the background check was received on Monday and was OK. She started to ask if I could attend an orientation at another store location on Wednesday (today) when she suddenly said it would be OK if I could make it to the Club for the 2 PM orientation. Really. It is at least a half hour drive to Sam's Club from home but, fortunately, I was ready and expecting to go.

I made it at 2:15 PM and they weren't ready to start the orientation. There were three other new hires that were waiting for the session to begin which finally happened at 2:35. It was an interesting and informative session that lasted until 10 PM last night. We completed all the paperwork for new employees, went over all the corporate culture, benefits and programs, and ended with a tour of the store. The time went fast, and I commented to Josie when I finally got home at 10:30 last night that I wished I had joined this company 20 years ago. The benefits are among the best in any corporation and the company is very employee oriented. I will go into those benefits at another time, as there are many.

I didn't get a chance to take many photos, but I did get this one of the break area which reminded me of the break areas at Amazon.com where we worked for two seasons:

There aren't many employees on break at 9 PM at night. The area is very clean and complete with free coffee and beverages of all kinds and the lockers are available to any employee that wants one.

I have the day off today and begin my regular schedule on Thursday. As expected, I will work a lot of the hours that most of the employees don't want - weekends and late afternoons. That's OK though, It amounts to 4 days a week and, right now, between 24-30 hours. That is just right.

My goal of getting into their system was successful. After 6 months, any employee is eligible to transfer to any Sam's Club or Walmart in the U.S., Canada or Mexico. Shawna told us about a woman who works at this Sam's Club for 6 months of the year, and the other six months at a Walmart in Ames, IA where her children live. I signed on to work as a temporary, part-time employee, but I have the opportunity to work as a full time employee.

I'm looking forward to the start of this new chapter in our life's journey...