I left months ago after 20 years. I come here to see if anything has changed. Nothing has. Nothing will. Run while you can folks. There is better out there. To those still there, I wish you all luck.
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The pay at Sam's is minimal! I know people that have been there for nearly 20 years and barely make $25 an hour! You call that decent?
Thank you for all the support. To those wondering how I found a job that paid similarly, I didn’t. I took a decent pay cut to start a job in a totally different environment outside of retail and it was the best thing I have ever done. I am appreciated, I’m not stressed every day and night, and I see my family a whole lot more. The loss of pay was made up by the gains in my peace of mind.
Lacyscallousedknees you have captured exactly why the long timers leave. But in your scenario I would try to last three years while living in a van down by the river with as little living expenses as possible. I would then move on with enough money to afford a low paying part time job in which I could cruise. And by the way I noticed that while I clean said out house I do not get the benefit of a hazmat suit...
So say you're making $400,000 a year cleaning the basement of an outhouse 12 hours a day. Once a day they pour muriatic acid on your head to try to hold the stench in check. This is a very busy outhouse in an area where the temperature outside routinely reaches 100 degrees and the outhouse averages 250 uses per day. That number can double or triple during holidays. It is near a bar zone and copious amounts of various assorted bodily fluids rain down on you almost constantly. The basement of the outhouse is inspected daily by a manager who expects the floor to be clean enough to eat off of at any given moment. He threatens and shouts and gives your poor performance reviews because, no matter how hard you try, the floor of the outhouse is never clean enough to suit your manager. Now suppose you receive a job offer that provides a clean, air conditioned, pleasant environment where you are treated like a human being and your work is appreciated. The benefits are better, and your supervisor understands that life happens and that you will occasionally miss work due to other demands on your time from your family and health situations that might arise. The pay? A 70% cut.
What would you do?
Really, most long timers I know just complain a lot and are staying at Sam's because no other job is willing to pay them the same as Sam's for an unskilled labor position.
More or even equal money is not always part of the equation when long timers leave. Yes money is a necessary that needs considering but there is one thing that is above all else at the forefront of the mind when a long timer leaves Sam's. A leaving long timer has spent many years saying yes to every whim of management. Extra duties , longer hours and changed schedules have been taken in stride. At some point though all of the "extra" a person does becomes understood as the abuse it is. At some point a long timer can no longer stomach the insane stress that is Sam's club. At some point that long timer realizes they are going to break if they keep saying yes. At some point they leave. At some point they find relief. At some point they rediscover joy. At some point they find peace. Personal survival is at the forefront of the mind of a long timer who leaves Sam's.
You must have been making pretty good after 20 years. What did you find that paid that well?
Glad to hear you are happier after you left. I'm a 15, going on 16, year associate. I've put out multiple applications elsewhere. As soon as I hear back from somewhere that's agreeable on terms after the interview, I'm gone.
This company is a husk of its former self.
glad to see you have moved on with your life, which is clearly rich and fulfilled.
I left 2.5 weeks ago after 30 plus years.. Dont know where life is taking me but I have a plan to start with.. It could easily change or morph into a different plan but I cut the cord and am glad I did...