Archived How much do you care at Target?

[Guest]

Thank you for your honesty.

And here's some honesty for me. When I go to Target, I'm not there for the guests or anyone else. I'm there for my own survival. I am there so I work enough hours to pay my rent and bills. Money(not a lot of money to be honest but it's sweatshop work so expectations should be low). Plain and simple and nothing else.

And more honesty. I want a job in which there's more to it than just the paycheck. I want to be able to feel something good and positive from doing work. And not have feelings of hate, failure, disappointment, bitterness, and resentment.

 

[commiecorvus]

I didn't always like working restaurants but it was decent work work and I was good at it.
I was a chef and ran kitchens but I started washing dishes.
Hell, my first job was running around behind a chef picking up the stuff he threw on the floor because the kitchen he was working in was so small if he didn't need it, he'd just toss it.
I've been yelled at, had cabbages thrown at me, pans shoved in my face, seriously chefs take classes in how to be the worst possible kind of asshole.
But I loved the work, no matter how hot, sweaty, and miserable it was.
I got second degree burns up my right arm and cut myself down to the bone.
I have so many scars it's like a patchwork quilt on my hands.
Then my hands started going numb every morning, like chunks of wood all the way to my elbow, and by the end of the day my hand would tremble so bad I couldn't hold a knife.
My ring and middle fingers on both hands developed what is known as trigger finger, where once they are bent over you have to push them back up because they are locked in place.
I had to have carpel tunnel surgery and surgery for the trigger finger.
I could never work in the business I'd been doing for 20 years, ever again.

Moral to the story, tl;dr You can have something you are really good at ripped right out from under you with no warning at all so appreciate even the crappy work.

 

[NPC]

Thank you for your honesty.

And here's some honesty for me. When I go to Target, I'm not there for the guests or anyone else. I'm there for my own survival. I am there so I work enough hours to pay my rent and bills. Money(not a lot of money to be honest but it's sweatshop work so expectations should be low). Plain and simple and nothing else.

Fine. If that's all you're there for, then why are you upset you're getting such a shitty experience?

And more honesty. I want a job in which there's more to it than just the paycheck. I want to be able to feel something good and positive from doing work. And not have feelings of hate, failure, disappointment, bitterness, and resentment.

I think you're always going to be plagued with those feelings.

 

[Guest]

Not really upset. To be honest, I've come to realize that I work at a shitty Target store. I know haters think I'm trolling or lying or making it worse than it is but I challenge anyone to work at my store for a week and tell me how you feel. It's not management or the workers. The store just sucks. It's always been like that. I mean I can say that it has gotten significantly worse every year. When I first started at Target, the store operated a lot differently and looked nice and things got done. Now it's the opposite. We're always behind on everything and are always playing catch up. I also think the location of the store plays a factor. We are in the part of town where the good side and bad side meet. A highway bridge is the divider. West of the highway, you have the fancy uppity clean side. East of the highway, you have the shitty dangerous dirty side with me. Yes, I'm white and I live on the side with the rest of the poor white people and minorities. I hear gunshots at least 2 or 3 times a week at my apartment complex. There are a lot of Target stores in the area that are in the good parts of the neighborhood.
My opinion of Target would probably be different if I worked at a different Target. But I have been dealt the cards I've been dealt and there are no more cards in the deck. Just have to weather the storm and hopefully get out of sweatshop work for good.

 

[brizzy93]

Just answer this and be honest like your life depends on it.


Who on this planet, likes working in retail, fast food, or at a restaurant? Who? Who gets joy from serving people and doing jobs that most people avoid?

I do what needs to be done aka the bare minimum. If I have time to do other things, then I will but if there is a ton of back stock left when I leave, then there is a ton of back stock left. Nothing I can do about it.

I sadly do not have mystical or supernatural abilities. I can't control, change, or manipulate time.

I actually leave work in a good mood most days. I like interacting with guests. Retail has really helped my social anxiety issues. And I'm glad for that.

 

[Redzee]

Damn straight, brother.

Better than digging ditches, to say the least!

Think medical waste disposal technician.

 

[Kartman]

I do believe they are called furnace operators.

 

[redeye58]

Like you Jack, I really liked my early years at spot.
I enjoyed helping people, I like what the company represented & how it treated TMs, what spot did for the community (TCOE, volunteer events).
When people asked me if I liked working for spot, it was always "Hell, yeh!"
There were subtle changes over the years that were irksome but shrugged off as inevitable, however the last five years started showing a harsh edge.
Each little reduction or elimination of things that were worthwhile to TMs was like throwing a handful of pebbles on a meadow; until the grass & flowers - everything that made it nice - were buried.
I still did my job 100% but my heart wasn't in it any more.
Getting up every day knowing that guests didn't give a sh*t about anything more than what they could get away with & being treated like indentured servitude no matter how well you did your job eats away at you & I didn't like what it was doing to me; so I left.
But I still did my best up to the day I walked out for the last time.

 

[unknown]

Like you Jack, I really liked my early years at spot.
I enjoyed helping people, I like what the company represented & how it treated TMs, what spot did for the community (TCOE, volunteer events).
When people asked me if I liked working for spot, it was always "Hell, yeh!"
There were subtle changes over the years that were irksome but shrugged off as inevitable, however the last five years started showing a harsh edge.
Each little reduction or elimination of things that were worthwhile to TMs was like throwing a handful of pebbles on a meadow; until the grass & flowers - everything that made it nice - were buried.
I still did my job 100% but my heart wasn't in it any more.
Getting up every day knowing that guests didn't give a sh*t about anything more than what they could get away with & being treated like indentured servitude no matter how well you did your job eats away at you & I didn't like what it was doing to me; so I left.
But I still did my best up to the day I walked out for the last time.

I like the pebbles and meadow analogy. Exactly how I feel. But you still have people who have drank so much kool ade that it's up to their eyeballs and they can't see the difference. All rose colored glasses for them.

I'll give two examples. It's ridiculous for an etl who has never done signing to tell me I have an hour to get up all the holiday overheads. He has zero basis for this assessment. He hasn't seen the setup or the hours to do it. His sole priority was to make sure the signing was up cause we had district visit and he had pulled me off signing earlier in the week.

And corporates insistence on.pushing redcards. To the point where they are alienating guests. I had a guest tell me the other day that they were sick and tired of getting asked. It's all I could do to not tell them .... Well, either get one or stop shopping here, cause it will only get worse.

 

[Txcpht]

I loved working at Target for my first 13 years. Then I received an unwarranted merely effective review resulting in no raise and I realized that I hated my job. I was allowing Target to suck the life out of me! Coincidentally on that same day my store posted a position for a certified pharmacy tech. My awesome HR team member pointed it out to me, and I realized it was the same as my current pay grade, minus all of the bullshit.

So, I immediately got to work obtaining my ptcb certification and state certification so I could move to pharmacy. My store wouldn't release me for 4 months. Despite this, I gave 100% everyday because that's what my coworkers deserved. I have loved my job since moving to pharmacy. Yes, it's retail, but it's very rewarding to me and I definitely feel like I make a difference.

I don't know what's going to happen with the CVS transition, but I do know one thing. If my job changes and I'm unhappy I will find a new job. Life is too short to work a job that makes you so miserable. You need to do whatever is necessary to change your situation!

Oh yeah, and that raise I didn't receive? I got an extra dollar an hour moving to pharmacy. That was the most satisfying f you to my former ETL 🙂

 

[PinkZinnia]

Once I no longer care, I know it's time for me to start looking elsewhere.

 

[Firefox]

I still care. It seems like I have one of the few good stores. While it has its problems, I've had an overwhelmingly positive experience so far and I find myself giving my full effort to making sure that things run smoothly. Technically, I could have gone straight from the CO and clocked out and headed home; but I knew that seasonal was a mess and that the LOD and my team would appreciate having an extra set of hands.

Even if I wasn't passionate about my job, I'd still give it my best because otherwise I throw my team and the rest of the store under the bus. I feel like if you aren't willing to do everything required of you, you should be replaced with someone who is willing and able to do the job without messing about at the store's expense.

 

[PullMonkey]

I have mixed feelings about it all.

One the one hand, I do enjoy my job. We don't have many BRTMs, so each of us has a good chunk of responsibility to keep things running, and I like that. I like the work and effort I put in every day.

That being said, our management is pretty shitty, and makes things difficult for us. The added stress that brings, I don't like, and kind of sours the entire experience.

That being said, I still put in 110% effort, and feel guilty if I don't pull my weight. People depend on me to ensure things go smoothly, so I continue to be dependable.

 

[FAwasteoftime]

I started a month ago as a Backroom TM and I can say that Target has changed a lot from 8 years ago when I used work at another Target . Targets new motto is more for less , they have pretty much gone the Walmart way in treating their employees like slaves. Most people that say the love their job at Target just don't have the same workload some people have. I am pretty astounded as to the amount of work the backroom dayside team has to pull off , even more now with manuals and that stupid piece of shit flexible waste of time...we are expected to backstock , pull cafs , PUSH!! (this should be done by floor team members , not BR) , pull manuals , and when asked do a bale..all in 4-5 hours. So pretty much your own percepetion of Target comes off as how much work you get daily.

And don't even get me started on location checks and helping out customers , it's amazing how floor team members seem so fucking useless compared to BR team mebers since they don't do fucking shit compared to us and don't bother to learn how to do a location check nor are they trained for it.

Now ,I try my best to get the job done , but when I can't , is because it's too much and I don't really give a shit if I don's get it done. If one day I get coached for it , I am going to let them know how shitty the are.

Fuck it.

 

[PullMonkey]

Basically, I don't work hard for Target. I don't care about Target.
I do this so I feel satisfied in knowing that I did a good job.

 

[Guest]

FAwasteoftime, have you been to my store? Your store sounds like a lot like mine. Are you from Earth-2?

 

[unknown]

No matter what job I do, I'm going to do the best I can.
Even when I knew they were performancing me out and it was inevitable that I was going to be gone no matter what I did, I still worked as hard as I could.
To me it comes down to knowing that I am doing my best and fuck the rest of them.
I just can't half ass my way through things.
If it's going to get done it should be done right.
Which, looking back on it, was part of the problem I had with Spot in the first place.

But yeah, the fact is, if you work hard, study hard, do your best, things will get better.
IT JUST MIGHT TAKE A WHILE.

Your last statement is not a fact. It is a saying that gets repeated as a fact. There might be a correlation between hard work and things getting better. But it is not a certainty.

 

[commiecorvus]

Your last statement is not a fact. It is a saying that gets repeated as a fact. There might be a correlation between hard work and things getting better. But it is not a certainty.

Nothing in life is certain except death.

That being said, I know you won't get anywhere if you don't frelling try.
90% of everything is getting up and being there on time.
9% is pushing as hard as you can, with 1% left over for a mix of luck, skill and brilliance.

If nothing else you will know that you worked hard to learn something and you learned it.
Just the act of learning it is an accomplishment in itself.
That is part of the reason I get so frustrated with people who go to college because they think it will get them the 'good' job.

My grandfather on my mothers side went to college to become an entomologist and became an expert on mosquitoes.
He had no idea if there would be work when he got out of college, he just wanted to learn as much as he could.
He worked full time while he went, selling slides of dissected insects and the tiny knives that he made to do it with, but he went to school for the learning not for what it would get him when he got out.
(Then WW II came along and he got to use that knowledge saving lives in the Pacific where we were losing more soldier to mosquito born diseases than we were to the Japanese.)

I have had things I worked very hard for blow up in my face.
I've had an entire career yanked out from under me.
But the same determination and willingness to work hard and learn for the sake of it has got me through okay.

 

[Retail Girl]

Ok, I wondered what the heck an expert on misquotes would do with life...until I realized you meant mosquitos...and life suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

 

[commiecorvus]

Ok, I wondered what the heck an expert on misquotes would do with life...until I realized you meant mosquitos...and life suddenly made a whole lot more sense.

Thanks for the heads up on that.
One of the drawbacks to writing when I have insomnia.
Though in this day and age an expert on misquotes would come in handy.

 

[Retail Girl]

Thanks for the heads up on that.
One of the drawbacks to writing when I have insomnia.

Nah...I got a chuckle out of it. 🙂

 

[Patty]

I do have a lot of respect for people who keep trying and who appreciate that the value of learning doesn't come from how much money it will ( you think ) earn you.
Keep on trying , keep on hoping , and try to help someone else have a better day.


P.S. you can learn anywhere , anytime. It doesn't require college

 

[commiecorvus]

you can learn anywhere , anytime. It doesn't require college

QTF - I do my best to learn something every day.

I figure if I don't keep learning I might as well be dead.

 

[BullseyeBabe]

I think you might know how much you care if your store was closing. A store near me closed and the team there was broken hearted. My store is in trouble. We are missing sales every day. I'm worried about our fourth quarter. It's too close to Christmas for us to still need to cut hours.

 

[unknown]

My store closed in 2014. We had much better process handling than the store I'm at now. Everything EXCEPT sales was better there.

So, you can care, and try, and want, but if you're store is in a economically bad area, it may not be enough. Nothing as tm we did or could have done would have changed the outcome.