Archived Cashiers and salesfloor TMs, what do you wish you could tell the GSTL/GSA at your store?

[Doglover89]

To speedweave!!! And if leaving the front lanes, leave cashiers with at least one walkie. Follow the break schedule and don't say "LOD, imma go eat my lunch and leave doglover my walkie" when we're crazy busy.

 

[Zone]

Please stop explaining things to me like I'm an idiot. You know damn well I've been at this store for 9 years. I've looked at the cashier speed charts and I'm running circles around you and your favorite pets.

 

[HardlinesGuy]

I wouldn't say we think the whole store revolves around us, but as GSTLs and GSAs we are responsible for the guest in the store having a great guest experience. Part of that includes calling for backup when there are lines. Now, we never have more than one of us on at a time, but when we do you bet your butt one of us is on the lanes backing up (something I made sure of when I came back to the role this past winter). Only time that doesn't happen is when it is so crazy busy that we need two of us to respond to calls (and with SCO and the service desk on opposite sides of the checklanes that happens more often than you would think).



I agree with the BOB and LISA bit. But when it comes to bogus returns its a tough call. You know it is bogus, but as a service desk TM you can't accuse someone of stealing so you're only option is to accept the return if the system lets you. I've had consistent conversations with my ETL-AP on this very matter. Return fraud is pretty rampant where I am so there's always that sticky wicket you get yourself into (do I accept it or don't I, do I get AP involved, that sort of thing). 99% of the time I take it and them immediately give the reprinted receipt to AP to investigate (which is what our ETL-AP says to do in that situation).

We're getting the counterfeit scanners this week so we;ll see how that goes!

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to stereotype all the hard workers at the front end. I think I just got stuck with a crappy team 😛 Just as a little clarification, my GS team will sit around texting and playing on their phones while the service desk is empty, but the lanes are full, and cry for backup without offering any help, and when I say obvious fake returns, I mean people trying to return stuff that still has merchandise protection on it. It's pretty ridiculous in my opinion.

 

[thetargetman]

I do.

well that's good! 🙂

 

[Wave Ballerino]

Please defend the cause on behalf of the cashiers who are mercilessly tormented by the threat of asking for more %&#@ing red cards. Push back against the DTLs who insist they should be pushed onto guests more. It is extremely degrading to hassle them with it, and I feel other cashiers are being very badly treated by being forced to push them so hard. Send feedback to higher than DTL if necessary, and if you don't know how to do that figure out a way to do it because that metric has either got to stop being measured, or be measured in a different way -- such as whether a purchase was made with an existing red card, so that those transaction won't count against or will be added to the total of transactions.

 

[Wave Ballerino]

And one from backroom, when you stock candy and you bring back empty boxes, please if you have access to the bailer please put the empties in it.. Not leave a cart by said bailer..

In defense of this, many times our bailer is shut off in the compressed position, so cashiers who bring them back don't have any choice, and I'll come back later and notice that a grumpy backroom person encounters the cart when the bailer press is back up, thinking the person just left a cart there while it was up. I personally would not recommend anyone not-trained on the specifics of the bailer to have anything to do with it, even if they're technically allowed or supposed to :-/

Another suggestion is to assign the task of guest-scanner station repair to someone else. There is little reason at all that the GSA/GSTL should be assigned this duty, because it requires going out onto the SF where that person should not be. The process for mailing the guest scanner and calling the hotline is a lengthy process especially if you've never done it before, and not at all suited for your position's duties, and the lack of repair of these impacts the speed of flow team by a huge factor. A different TL or another specific TM should be tasked with it, because it seems completely inappropriate for the GSA/GSTL to be assigned to it.

 

[jenna]

In defense of this, many times our bailer is shut off in the compressed position, so cashiers who bring them back don't have any choice, and I'll come back later and notice that a grumpy backroom person encounters the cart when the bailer press is back up, thinking the person just left a cart there while it was up. I personally would not recommend anyone not-trained on the specifics of the bailer to have anything to do with it, even if they're technically allowed or supposed to :-/

I just ask for help when the baler is compressed.

 

[Zone]

I spend far too much time arguing with my GSTLs and ETLs in my day-dreaming...

You're interpreting the data from your metric incorrectly.

30% of total transactions paid with a REDcard does not equal 30% of guests in the area with a REDcard.

All that metric tells you is that 30% of the total transactions in a given time-frame were paid for with a REDcard. That's it.

Do not assume that every guest with a REDcard will, 100% of the time, come shopping at Target. (People do shop elsewhere)
Do not assume that every guest with a REDcard will, 100% of the time, use it when checking out. (People are trying to pay it off. Little money in linked debit account)

 

[Bosch]

In defense of this, many times our bailer is shut off in the compressed position, so cashiers who bring them back don't have any choice, and I'll come back later and notice that a grumpy backroom person encounters the cart when the bailer press is back up, thinking the person just left a cart there while it was up. I personally would not recommend anyone not-trained on the specifics of the bailer to have anything to do with it, even if they're technically allowed or supposed to :-/

.

Why I said if they have access. In our case, it's a lazy TM.

 

[stockboy]

Be available for cashiers....at my store the gstls always disappear whenever a cashier needs assistance. luckily i have a walkie when i back up....would be screwed without it

 

[BullseyeBabe]

This information is invaluable and I'll use it wisely, I promise. Our cashiers work so incredibly hard and we have great cart attendants too. The best part if my job is the people I work with. I'm still loving my job. I'm a people pleaser anyway so getting paid to try to make people happy is a good fit for me.

 

[TallAPGuy]

Would you like to go get a drink sometime? Oh, that's not what you meant? Er, nevermind then.

And GSTL above up and moved to China to study abroad. :/

 

[pellinore]

At our store, the GSA/TL has little break cards that you pick up at the end of your shift and turn in at the end. Breaks and lunches are scheduled on it and you put it on your register. This is really helpful and then everyone knows exactly when to go on break/lunch.

Some of our front end leadership will put this information on a post-it note...then when you arrive for your shift you just grab the paper w/ your register number and breaks and lunch are listed.

Me...I am terrible at remembering times because each shift has different times...so I started writing on my hand (with a Sharpie!!) when my "next" break/lunch/break was scheduled. People kept asking me if I'd gotten a "new tattoo"......no, I just can't remember my times for breaks!

Now, even with the little post-it notes, my front end leadership will remind me that "you go on your break in 10 minutes..." and then I know to watch the clock.
I am good at a lot of things, but remembering these times.....well, even if my life depended on knowing this information on a shift to shift basis, I'd be dead before the end of the first day!!

 

[mrknownothing]

Some of our front end leadership will put this information on a post-it note...then when you arrive for your shift you just grab the paper w/ your register number and breaks and lunch are listed.

Me...I am terrible at remembering times because each shift has different times...so I started writing on my hand (with a Sharpie!!) when my "next" break/lunch/break was scheduled. People kept asking me if I'd gotten a "new tattoo"......no, I just can't remember my times for breaks!

Now, even with the little post-it notes, my front end leadership will remind me that "you go on your break in 10 minutes..." and then I know to watch the clock.
I am good at a lot of things, but remembering these times.....well, even if my life depended on knowing this information on a shift to shift basis, I'd be dead before the end of the first day!!

When I was a cashier, I would check in with the GSTL/GSA at the beginning of my shift and ask for my break times, then I'd write them on a piece of receipt paper and keep it at my register so I'd know when to go on break.

 

[Catfish Rita]

Hmmmm I wish cashiers would be responsible for their own breaks; we dismiss cashiers for breaks where I'm from!

 

[redcardmachine]

Give me my breaks on time or close to it. And be organized of closing if you haven't started / haven't done much closing of the lanes I'm not going to feel bad and stay past 11 if I wasn't scheduled to.

 

[LUR99]

Yes, please make sure your cashiers get their breaks, not just the unpaid meal break.

 

[shortstuffishere]

Please schedule two cashiers to close! That way one cashier can stay at the register and the other can start the closing routine. It's much easier and everything gets done sooner.

 

[Xanatos]

Please schedule two cashiers to close! That way one cashier can stay at the register and the other can start the closing routine. It's much easier and everything gets done sooner.

The GSTL doesn't write the cashier schedule. And even if they did, they still can't control how much payroll they get to use.

 

[HRZone]

The GSTL doesn't write the cashier schedule. And even if they did, they still can't control how much payroll they get to use.

Depends, our GSTL is a senior team lead and does LOD shifts. He writes our cashier schedule.

 

[shortstuffishere]

The GSTL doesn't write the cashier schedule. And even if they did, they still can't control how much payroll they get to use.

Mine does have a say.

 

[Coqui]

Mine does have a say.

That doesn't mean they control payroll, not even the ETLs or STLs control the amount of payroll the store gets.

 

[shortstuffishere]

That doesn't mean they control payroll, not even the ETLs or STLs control the amount of payroll the store gets.

True

 

[sher]

Some of the gstls/gsas in my store have this habit of not pausing after they call for backup so no one can respond, but they're all upping the urgency in the calls.

Gstl: I need a tm for backup!

Me: *reaches for walkie, starts walking, puts finger on button*

Gstl: team I need a response for backup! Who's coming up for backup!? I need a response!

Sometimes I wonder Do they... Know how the walkies work?

 

[SalesFloorSylph]

Understand that while the sales floor can defect things, we don't always have time to do so. If I'm scheduled to work electronics or the fitting room a certain day then I really can't be too far away from the phone or the call button at all so I can't always process the defectives. We had one GSTL that always got an attitude every time she was expected to do more than just stand at the desk and play with her phone and incidents like these were the worst.