My experience? The Wednesday before Thanksgiving is usually pretty rough - especially toward the evening hours. It will be one of the busiest grocery shopping days of the year. Most, if not all, of the registers will be staffed for a big chunk of the day and even with three or so courtesy clerks on lot duty at a time, keeping up with carts will be next to, if not, impossible at times. Orders will be big for the most part. A lot of people will wait until Wednesday to shop because they will want the freshest foods possible from produce, bakery and meat market.
You're a courtesy clerk, so be especially careful while outside because the parking lot will be jammed and hectic.
Crazy. Last year me and a friend stayed on lot all day for 8 hours just by ourselves and kept the lot cleared the entire day. It was pretty fun. But the stores are going to be crazy.
Lines will be a chaotic mess. You'll have lines to go into lines that you think are for the register but are actually to get around the people standing in line to get into a line to check out.
Carts will be non existent outside yet you will be expected to perform miracles by customer, employees and management alike
Lunchtimes you'll get, but breaks will be a battle. When I was a courtesy I kept being denied break. So what I did when I was on lot, I snuck my break in. They never found out because it was too busy.
*warning* if you are bagging, then good luck with getting your breaks
When stepping away to take your break be prepared to be stopped by customers to ask to find non existent items. You will get 5-6 at a time some of the time.
Checkers will ask you to bag this "one order" on your way to the breakroom, then go on your break, only to find that after you've done so your made to wait until lines get down. Lines will stretch all the way down. My advice? Stop for NO ONE. When it's your break, walk QUICKLY to the breakroom to take your break. Not outside because irate customers will yell if you yel them you are on break and they're are no carts
It never fails you get questions when going by someone else's department. I don't know jack about meat department, very little about frozen food. Naturally when you need help during those busiest of days, the clerks are nowhere to be found (probably being hounded by another customer or seven)
