Goodbye Target!

D

dannyy315

Joined
Dec 23, 2014
Messages
4,838
I just put my 2 weeks in today. Almost 11 years, it somehow felt long and like it flew by at the same time. New job is almost official, it's just a matter of negotiating salary at this point. June 10th is my first day. Hours will be Monday-Friday 8am-3:30pm, with lots of holidays off since I'll be working for a school district.

Things I'll miss:
- (most) of my team members
- decent benefits (dental is great)
- discount (10% and 20% wellness)
- with one exception, all of my team leaders didn't micromanage me and I could focus on my section

Things I won't miss:
- understaffed/overwhelmed (especially on weekends)
- no weekends off
- no AC in the summer
- hot wheels collectors
- groups of teenagers acting foolish in sporting goods

Overall, I didn't love it or hate it, but I think my experience was okay. But I'm excited to move on to greener pastures. It's sad to see lots of long time users here quitting lately, but it's a sign of the times. 3 other closing experts at my store plan on quitting after the summer too.
 
Congrats Celebrate GIF by Sesame Street
 
Thanks everyone. I've been trying to quit for a while, but I've been waiting for the right opportunity. I have an information systems major, and I was able to find a civil service IS job for a school district, with opportunities for promotions after 1 year.
 
happygoth said:
Don't be a stranger Dannyy! Best of luck to you!
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I will continue checking in. I'll always have a soft spot for Target, it was my first job out of high school, and interacting with customers has help me conquer some of my anxiety and shyness. Retail's also taught me a lot of about how not to act like an asshole with some of the things I've put up with. I always say it, everyone should be forced to work at least one week in retail in the 4th quarter.
 
dannyy315 said:
I just put my 2 weeks in today. Almost 11 years, it somehow felt long and like it flew by at the same time. New job is almost official, it's just a matter of negotiating salary at this point. June 10th is my first day. Hours will be Monday-Friday 8am-3:30pm, with lots of holidays off since I'll be working for a school district.

Things I'll miss:
- (most) of my team members
- decent benefits (dental is great)
- discount (10% and 20% wellness)
- with one exception, all of my team leaders didn't micromanage me and I could focus on my section

Things I won't miss:
- understaffed/overwhelmed (especially on weekends)
- no weekends off
- no AC in the summer
- hot wheels collectors
- groups of teenagers acting foolish in sporting goods

Overall, I didn't love it or hate it, but I think my experience was okay. But I'm excited to move on to greener pastures. It's sad to see lots of long time users here quitting lately, but it's a sign of the times. 3 other closing experts at my store plan on quitting after the summer too.
Click to expand...
Yeah a lot of 20 year team members are always leaving the company one way or another. 😂
 
OneGoodEar said:
Yeah a lot of 20 year team members are always leaving the company one way or another. 😂
Click to expand...
Once all the loyal team members leave is when Target really starts to go down the tubes. They say employees in retail are replaceable, but eventually no one's going to continue working. I've never seen new employee turnover so bad. Customer service will suffer as a result and people will stop shopping at Target.
 
dannyy315 said:
Once all the loyal team members leave is when Target really starts to go down the tubes. They say employees in retail are replaceable, but eventually no one's going to continue working. I've never seen new employee turnover so bad. Customer service will suffer as a result and people will stop shopping at Target.
Click to expand...
Eh, one thing I've noticed about Target is the very high turnover, going all the way to SD. We had a lot of turnover at Sears for sure, but it seemed like there were more long-time employees there. I don't get the sense that Target needs loyal, been-here-forever Team Members to function.

I've been here six years, and in that time we've had four SDs and four HR-ETLs, and it's pretty much the same story for every other TL and ETL position. In Style there are only two TMs who've been here longer than I have. I can only think of a handful of TMs in other departments that have been here since I first started.
 
happygoth said:
Eh, one thing I've noticed about Target is the very high turnover, going all the way to SD. We had a lot of turnover at Sears for sure, but it seemed like there were more long-time employees there. I don't get the sense that Target needs loyal, been-here-forever Team Members to function.

I've been here six years, and in that time we've had four SDs and four HR-ETLs, and it's pretty much the same story for every other TL and ETL position. In Style there are only two TMs who've been here longer than I have. I can only think of a handful of TMs in other departments that have been here since I first started.
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Turnover itself isn't going to kill Target. But now the issue we have is long time employees are quitting, and those roles aren't being filled in. I don't know if they're intentionally not filling the roles to save payroll or if no one is applying, but either way, customer service is going downhill as a result. It used to be normal in Hardlines to 10-12 people, with 2 people in each main section. It used to be easy to find someone to ask for help. Now, my store has had 3, 4 if we're lucky, closing experts each night. And we've been getting complaints.

If it's a matter of not enough people applying with the availability target needs, corporate needs to step in and increase the starting wage of the store. There is clearly competition in the work force, lots of job openings in the area with better pay and a better work life balance. The fact I've been trying to get a proper 9 to 5 job with good benefits for years and finally broke through should say something. I guess I can credit that to getting my MBA and working with a job coach, but my resume is pretty bare bones besides Target.

Anyway, I'm rambling now. I wish Target the best of luck in the future and I hope they change their ways, but I'm not too optimistic.
 
Last edited:
10-12 people for recovery in hardlines. I remember that. Three to four people were usually found in softlines. When I left it was down to one or two.

It was taking a toll on long time recovery team members, too. I remember one guy who had HBA a long time was given other areas to handle. He quit not too long after that.

I remember reading from some of the users here who thought it was great that Target cut down the team leads. With the lack of help, I wonder if they still think that's a great decision.

Some people complain about self checkout because they are taking away jobs. How about the disappearance of sales floor help, which provides the bulk of the back-up cashiers.
 
OneGoodEar said:
10-12 people for recovery in hardlines. I remember that. Three to four people were usually found in softlines. When I left it was down to one or two.

It was taking a toll on long time recovery team members, too. I remember one guy who had HBA a long time was given other areas to handle. He quit not too long after that.

I remember reading from some of the users here who thought it was great that Target cut down the team leads. With the lack of help, I wonder if they still think that's a great decision.

Some people complain about self checkout because they are taking away jobs. How about the disappearance of sales floor help, which provides the bulk of the back-up cashiers.
Click to expand...
It's so sad. I remember it used to be common to have one person zoning baby, one person zoning seasonal, and 2 people in tech. Now, one person has to zone baby and seasonal and cover tech during breaks because they never have more than one person there.
 
dannyy315 said:
It's so sad. I remember it used to be common to have one person zoning baby, one person zoning seasonal, and 2 people in tech. Now, one person has to zone baby and seasonal and cover tech during breaks because they never have more than one person there.
Click to expand...
Our store at one time had dedicated back hours for particular TMs.

That meant during a certain hour you couldn't be on break and/or lunch then.

Then again half our store doesn't know how to cashier because they are too lazy to train them.
 
OneGoodEar said:
10-12 people for recovery in hardlines. I remember that. Three to four people were usually found in softlines. When I left it was down to one or two.

It was taking a toll on long time recovery team members, too. I remember one guy who had HBA a long time was given other areas to handle. He quit not too long after that.

I remember reading from some of the users here who thought it was great that Target cut down the team leads. With the lack of help, I wonder if they still think that's a great decision.

Some people complain about self checkout because they are taking away jobs. How about the disappearance of sales floor help, which provides the bulk of the back-up cashiers.
Click to expand...
Floor coverage is a problem for sure. Standards have slipped a lot in the 6 years I've been here. It sucks in some ways but in other ways it doesn't, because with expectations lowered it does put less pressure on TMs, at least in Style. With how hard we get shopped and the little coverage we have, there's no way we are looking good at closing every night.

I was alone two nights last week. Even when I have help, that's only one more section dealt with. I can only do so much.. No one's pushing themselves above and beyond - for what? To have it trashed again in a half hour?

Attendance problems are not being dealt with. I'm not going to run myself ragged because the same people call out again and again and nothing is addressed. It is frustrating, but I just remind myself that I'm one person and I'm not the boss, so...🤷‍♀️
 
I'll be honest, I haven't stepped foot in Target since my last day. Not a vendetta or anything against them, it's just the reason I ever bought anything from them in the first place was the discount. But I have a good affordable grocery store near my new office, and I signed up for Amazon Prime. I don't know if I'll ever have a reason to go back.
 

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