Archived Discrimination and scare tactics regarding Red Cards

[neverchangingview]

I have a question I hope someone can answer.

The talk around the store lately is that the TLs are saying that we are now mandated to ask every single guest for Redcards because a guest could sue for discrimination if we asked another guest and not them.

It sounds completely made up to me.

The most I've been able to find out regarding this supposed "law" is that some other stores in our district have been telling their TMs the same thing. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this at all? The search terms are too specific to turn up any meaningful Google results regarding such laws, so I'm looking for your opinions or experiences.

Regardless of this "law", I'm just sick and tired of the leadership in my store using scare tactics to motivate people. If it isn't this, it's "we could go out of business", or "it doesn't look very good for you." The intimidation, the lies, and the scare tactics sicken me and have me completely disillusioned. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, right?

 

[redeye58]

Wouldn't surprise me but, yeh....pretty pathetic.

 

[Gulfcoast]

I haven't heard anything about discrimination suits. When I started a year ago the rule of thumb at my store was, "if they're spending more than thirty bucks, ask".

Now we're getting told from every direction "ask everyone, conversion is in the shitter". Hard for my store though, we have a 22% penetration rate, and the second highest redcard sales volume in our district, only behind our Super in one of the biggest growth areas of the city.

I could see them possibly being worried about fair access, but not discrimination.

 

[IHeartCarts]

rofl

 

[commiecorvus]

As far as I can tell from searching the net, neither Target or any other retail store have faced a suit for not asking every customer.
Now if it was just a call to corporate and the ETLs have been blowing it out of proportion that wouldn't surprise me at all.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money...edit-cards-apr-creditcardscom-rates/13690033/

 

[PugMuffin]

Leadership at my store says it's now the law to inform every customer (guest) about any savings opportunity that a store offers. I saw a paper lying on the desk in TMSC regarding this. It makes sense, I guess. A guest could say "You offered savings for this guest, but not for me. You must be discriminating." I've been looking for more info regarding this since it rolled out about a month or two ago, but haven't been able to find anything outside of what the ETLs say.

 

[IHeartCarts]

They would have to prove they were discriminating in the court of law against a multi billion dollar corporation. Good luck.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Bs, IMO.

 

[commiecorvus]

Shame we don's live in England, they are passing laws protecting customers concerning some of this stuff.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...banned-using-hard-sell-tactics-customers.html

I'm wondering if it's a one state situation, where one state passed the law so now it's the rule for all of Target.
I'm trying to find it, started with California but didn't find it there.

 

[whippingboy]

Stupid!

 

[neverchangingview]

I'm used to them breathing down my neck telling me to ask every single guest, but I think these lies just reaffirm my belief that my TL's are horrible leaders.

 

[RedDog]

That would be BS. For such a lawsuit one would have show a pattern of discrimination. For example if they sent 50 people of different racial backgrounds and found that people of a certain race were never asked and the others were and that Target in some way influenced those cashiers to not ask people of a certain racial background then you might have grounds for a lawsuit.

 

[Retail Girl]

I haven't heard anything about discrimination suits. When I started a year ago the rule of thumb at my store was, "if they're spending more than thirty bucks, ask".

Now we're getting told from every direction "ask everyone, conversion is in the shitter". Hard for my store though, we have a 22% penetration rate, and the second highest redcard sales volume in our district, only behind our Super in one of the biggest growth areas of the city.

I could see them possibly being worried about fair access, but not discrimination.

22% penetration rate isn't high. Ours is close to 30%, but we can usually get green or very close. We have one store in the district over 40%. Now that would make me cry.

 

[Retail Girl]

That said, they've been pushing the, "we have to ask everyone or we will be sued" bull crap for a couple of months now. I think it just makes them look silly. The more they spread on the lies and the unrealistic goals, the more I tune them out.

 

[CIHYFS]

I have a question I hope someone can answer.

The talk around the store lately is that the TLs are saying that we are now mandated to ask every single guest for Redcards because a guest could sue for discrimination if we asked another guest and not them.

It sounds completely made up to me.

The most I've been able to find out regarding this supposed "law" is that some other stores in our district have been telling their TMs the same thing. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this at all? The search terms are too specific to turn up any meaningful Google results regarding such laws, so I'm looking for your opinions or experiences.

Regardless of this "law", I'm just sick and tired of the leadership in my store using scare tactics to motivate people. If it isn't this, it's "we could go out of business", or "it doesn't look very good for you." The intimidation, the lies, and the scare tactics sicken me and have me completely disillusioned. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, right?

We were told it was the "Fair Lending Laws" that required we ask every guest. I don't buy it and most of the cashiers don't buy it. But regardless, it is in everyone's core roles to talk about the REDcards with the guests. So we should be doing it for that reason... Key word being "should"

 

[commiecorvus]

I have a question I hope someone can answer.

The talk around the store lately is that the TLs are saying that we are now mandated to ask every single guest for Redcards because a guest could sue for discrimination if we asked another guest and not them.

It sounds completely made up to me.

The most I've been able to find out regarding this supposed "law" is that some other stores in our district have been telling their TMs the same thing. Does anyone know if there is any truth to this at all? The search terms are too specific to turn up any meaningful Google results regarding such laws, so I'm looking for your opinions or experiences.

Regardless of this "law", I'm just sick and tired of the leadership in my store using scare tactics to motivate people. If it isn't this, it's "we could go out of business", or "it doesn't look very good for you." The intimidation, the lies, and the scare tactics sicken me and have me completely disillusioned. I know I'm not the only one who feels this way, right?

We were told it was the "Fair Lending Laws" that required we ask every guest. I don't buy it and most of the cashiers don't buy it. But regardless, it is in everyone's core roles to talk about the REDcards with the guests. So we should be doing it for that reason... Key word being "should"

Now if that's the law their using as an excuse they are more full of crap than a Christmas goose.

 

[neverchangingview]

They're convinced that increasing conversion goals to 3.5 will prevent us from becoming the next Kmart. I guess these lies are a part of that whole strategy.

 

[paidtosmile]

22% penetration rate isn't high. Ours is close to 30%, but we can usually get green or very close. We have one store in the district over 40%. Now that would make me cry.

Our penetration rate averages 40%

 

[Kompa]

i "accidentally" read a coaching form for a cashier that was saved to a tsc desktop. she's got coached because she didn't ask a guest who only bought one item of checklane candy about the redcard. it noted that the TM said she didn't because the guest only bought something worth 60 cents. and the gstl told her that it didn't matter, every guest should be informed of the great benefits of the redcard

i mean, that poor guest missed the chance to save %5 on a 60 cent item. how sad =(

 

[Retail Girl]

Next time I see that guest, I'll give them the damn three cents.

 

[Ohnoes]

So we can get in trouble for not asking a guest to sign up for a red card because they can sue for discrimination? I guess we shouldn't ask anyone since that's the only way to be safe. (Imagines the look on the GSTL's face if I said that).

 

[neverchangingview]

This is the first time in 4.5 years I feel as if I'll be fired for my remarks. I'm leaving in a month or so, so I feel as if they see me as expendable.

They can't intimidate me, but today I felt as if they were really trying to do so. They "coached" me because I questioned the existence of the supposed law. When they talked to me (both standing as I sat down - typical Target intimidation tactics) I reaffirmed my belief that fear shouldn't be the motivation behind redcards and that it is a sign of poor leadership. They responded with the typical Target-speak responses and told me I was in the wrong. I made some smart-ass comment along the lines of "I have a month left, so just let me ride it out. I'll tone it down, I'll assimilate, I won't ask any questions." And they said "ok."

This is just such a far cry from the Target I started working for while I was in high-school. I was actually upset about it.

 

[commiecorvus]

This is the first time in 4.5 years I feel as if I'll be fired for my remarks. I'm leaving in a month or so, so I feel as if they see me as expendable.

They can't intimidate me, but today I felt as if they were really trying to do so. They "coached" me because I questioned the existence of the supposed law. When they talked to me (both standing as I sat down - typical Target intimidation tactics) I reaffirmed my belief that fear shouldn't be the motivation behind redcards and that it is a sign of poor leadership. They responded with the typical Target-speak responses and told me I was in the wrong. I made some smart-ass comment along the lines of "I have a month left, so just let me ride it out. I'll tone it down, I'll assimilate, I won't ask any questions." And they said "ok."

This is just such a far cry from the Target I started working for while I was in high-school. I was actually upset about it.

I'm sorry you had to go through that.
It's wrong to bully people, especially employees.
I really hope they back off and leave you alone.

Being honest shouldn't give people carte blanche to harass you.

 

[Gulfcoast]

I haven't heard anything about discrimination suits. When I started a year ago the rule of thumb at my store was, "if they're spending more than thirty bucks, ask".

Now we're getting told from every direction "ask everyone, conversion is in the shitter". Hard for my store though, we have a 22% penetration rate, and the second highest redcard sales volume in our district, only behind our Super in one of the biggest growth areas of the city.

I could see them possibly being worried about fair access, but not discrimination.

22% penetration rate isn't high. Ours is close to 30%, but we can usually get green or very close. We have one store in the district over 40%. Now that would make me cry.

It is for my district. I believe my store is second highest in penetration in the district.

Our district has seen some....issues.

High etl turnover, high tl turnover, ridiculous tm turnover, plummeting conversion, multiple red steritech scores ytd for food ave and Starbucks, dismal BTS scores and overall employee morale being abysmal. Except for our golden child Super, with their twenty five TLs and constant requests to transfer to it.