I cannot disclose at length my experience, but avoid the night shift.
Pros
- Will test and improve time and time again your customer service aptitude, time management skills, and related abilities, pushing you to self-improve. - Pay is weekly rather than the all-too-common fortnight-based pay model. - Morning and Evening shifts have a constant full team, to the point where half of said team can leisurely spend time on their phones without impeding customer service and stocking tasks, including management, based on visits taking place outside my scheduled working hours. - Morning and Evening staff other than management are understanding and sympathetic to how hellish the night shift must be, and while they do not go as far as to help stock or maintain the cleanliness of the store they will at the least be apologetic about not finding the time to do so. - Overtime is remunerated, albeit made to be performed without notice.
Cons
I would like before listing this to clarify that this pertains to the location I worked at specifically and does not necessarily convey on the whole of Couche-Tard. Nonetheless, given my experience and that related to me by past and present night shift employees, I must offer this cautionary tale to any whom would consider the post of night clerk. - Most cleaning, stocking, and maintenance is left to the critically under-staffed night crew. - Some inventory is locked in the management office which you have no access to, ensuring a steady turnover of angry customers unable to get their preferred nicotine fix. This despite the fact that your shift is left with the bulk of stocking duties. - Management will disregard any and all complaints and concerns, and will dismiss injury reports if they are not so severe as to keep you from working outright. - You will be "asked" to stay longer at the end of a night shift, invariably, and will be talked down to by management for complaining that the morning crew is not in on time. - You may be reprimanded and berated on the sales floor in full view and earshot of customers nearing the end of your shift, without prior warning. - Unless in writing, take no promise of change to your workplace quality of life seriously. - 30 minutes of your day are taken from your pay regardless of whether you find the luxury of taking said break or not. Keep in mind that you will be working alone in a 24h convenience store at night. - There are no auxiliary / unpaid breaks aside from these 30 minutes. If you are a smoker, you must make the decision to smoke or eat every shift. - Despite the job application asking for your preferred name, if you have the misfortune of a customer you know from the past ever uttering your birth name, expect to be dead-named by everyone, including management, constantly. - If you work the night shift on weekends, you will never find replacement should something come up in your personal life, regardless of importance or advance notice.
