He texts employees

[LittleMiss]

Sooooo we have a etl that I hate so much . He is rude , mumbles stuff under his breath and has favorites . The part that pisses me off is that he treats his favorites well. He laughs with them , speaks nicely , and texts / hangs out with them. I just want to be treated equal . How hard is it to speak nicely to me when I ask if I can do go backs when it's slow ? Or just speak to me in the same tone of voice . I work hard . He only seems to want to be friendly with the pretty girls ( he's gay so I know that's not what it is ) . I just want to stop feeling uncomfortable. They also have a group chat ! The etl and his friends . I can't help but think That they are making fun of me should I get over it ? What should I do?

 

[Planosss]

Try being more pretty?

what i mean is dress for the job you want , not the job you have..?

 

[rd123]

I think there is not much for you to do . It’s their choice whom to be friendly with or not . Best thing to do is ignoring “etl and his friends thing”. But I do agree that it would feel good to have a friendly Etl . Some people can get away with less work and more hours bcoz they are friends or favorites of leads . I have seen that at my store . Feels bad when you have to work hard to get those hours and they get it to huddle together talking about sports or how bad one’s cooking went!! Again only thing to do is Ignore !

 

[Zxy123456]

You say he hangs out with them, do you mean outside of work? If he is out with non team leads outside of work that is a big no no and I would consider telling HR. If he’s just hanging out with them at work not much you can do.

 

[happygoth]

Extremely unprofessional. Leaders should not be "friends" with their TMs. The optics are bad and can lead to favoritism, and it breeds resentment from the TMs who aren't part of the inner circle.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Document all events. Any off the clock texts about spot, do a punch correction.

 

[Far from newbie]

Favoritism is not fair and certainly not nice for the non-favorites. Human nature is what it is - it’s a shame the ETL can’t shelve that and be professional. If it was really uncomfortable working conditions I would request to change depts if possible to avoid the situation. I doubt any confrontation would make matters any different - may even make things worse.

 

[60SecondsRemaining]

You say he hangs out with them, do you mean outside of work? If he is out with non team leads outside of work that is a big no no and I would consider telling HR. If he’s just hanging out with them at work not much you can do.

Assuming he's an hourly lead, unless something has changed since I left, there's nothing preventing an hourly team lead from hanging out with an hourly team member unless he enters into a relationship with them. Exempt vs Non-Exempt status is the determining factor.

That being said if it's his direct subordinates then it is also really unprofessional - HR won't really give a shit, but like @happygoth said, it's shit optics and a morale crusher.

 

[KarmaToBurn]

Welcome to Target... if you're not in the clique you're not worth shit... even if the store flounders without you. But after 10 years I know they'll be out long before I will...

 

[KarmaToBurn]

You say he hangs out with them, do you mean outside of work? If he is out with non team leads outside of work that is a big no no and I would consider telling HR. If he’s just hanging out with them at work not much you can do.

Damn, I wanna work at your store. I've never had an HR that was on the side of the TMs....

 

[Zxy123456]

Assuming he's an hourly lead, unless something has changed since I left, there's nothing preventing an hourly team lead from hanging out with an hourly team member unless he enters into a relationship with them. Exempt vs Non-Exempt status is the determining factor.

That being said if it's his direct subordinates then it is also really unprofessional - HR won't really give a shit, but like @happygoth said, it's shit optics and a morale crusher.

I’ve always been told any lead hourly or not can’t hang with non leads outside of work unless it’s a volunteer event. Hourly team leads have a say in reviews wouldn’t be fair if they were friends and hung out with there team outside of work. Maybe rules have changed I don’t know.

 

[Captain Orca]

Line up your mustard and salad dressing nicely. Sling the Fresh Step and do a good job. Take your 15s. Enjoy your 30s. Be punctual, professional and courteous and fuck the rest of the bullshit.

 

[60SecondsRemaining]

I’ve always been told any lead hourly or not can’t hang with non leads outside of work unless it’s a volunteer event. Hourly team leads have a say in reviews wouldn’t be fair if they were friends and hung out with there team outside of work. Maybe rules have changed I don’t know.

You are also probably also told not to discuss your pay.

Which is also bullshit because you can write it on a sandwich board and wear it around the store if you want.

Unless something has drastically changed the only written requirement for non-exempt employees is this line which was written in every employee handbook in Perpetuum for every year I was there, so much so that I can recall it:

If any workers begin a dating relationship or become relatives, partners, or members of the same household and if one party is in a supervisory position then that person is required to inform management and HR of the relationship.

 

[NotCynicalYet]

The ethics catch-all is still there even if it's "legal" to hang out with your tms. It's subjective, no hard rules. I keep it at arm's length, no more than a very occasional lunch with no work talk. My HR advised that even that could end up being a problem under certain circumstances.