Archived I'm getting close to that point where I just stop caring

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To the OP ( and a lot of the others out there.. )

You might actually be suffering from a general state of burnout, not just too much Target.

( Not to dismiss or diminish anyone's experiences at Target. )

I won't bore you with too many details, but I have been in this business a long time-retail, not Spot-specific-and I suspect a few people here have as well.

So I remember what it was like to work retail pre-recession. Actually, i even remember what it was like to work retail pre-911, let's just say I was a few years in when the movie "Clerks" came out.

I remember when part-timers were smug college students who would look down on people like me and call out every weekend, leaving people like me to clean up after them or figure out if I had the nerve ( or the luxury ) to turn my nose up at the hours.

TBQH, back then, nobody cared if retail people worked holidays, or were underpaid, or overworked-or, maybe it was just that most people didn't really have a REASON to care because " that would never be them ", ... OR .... perhaps thanks to many things-social media, the internet, etc., etc., more people are simply more aware now...

They certainly are aware thank to the economic climate...

Just so you know, I'm not any kinda cheerleader for Target.

What I am trying to say is that retail is...put delicately, NOT for EVERYONE...

And if you are truly this dissatisfied with Spot, I highly recommend you do everything and anything you can within the realm of the law and reason to follow your heart, or your head, or those late-night commercials for medical transcription classes, and get on the road to something better.

Even if you don't get anywhere for awhile, the feeling of making progress can really change a person's life...

( Not like I'd know just yet...too many loose ends to tie up for now )
 
Well I disagree.... Target continues to get worse by the year... Back when I started in 2009, it was a utopia compared to now.

And I heard it was a heck of a lot better years before THAT...
 
Barcode said:
Well I disagree.... Target continues to get worse by the year... Back when I started in 2009, it was a utopia compared to now.

And I heard it was a heck of a lot better years before THAT...
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Fair enough. In the interest of fairness, I wasn't with Spot in 2009, so I can't speak knowledgeably on those days one way or the other the way you could.

And I actually did hear from quite a bit of TMs when I came on board ( 2010 ) that the working environment/culture had taken a hard turn from even a few years prior.

All I'm trying to say is to not fall too hard into the grass is greener trap.There are workplaces out there that people even still think are some kind of workers' utopia, and the cold, hard fact of the matter is that that is not necessarily the case.

But like I said, a lot of things were different then, and I wasn't at Spot then....

That said, unfortunately, the mainstream retail world seems to be pitching headlong into, for lack of a better term " Walmartification ", and there may be only a handful of remedies to that, if any...

And also, hey, what do I know-if you really like that kind of stuff, go for the promotions, get it while you can, and enjoy...but proceed with caution
 
i have been with target almost 13 years and before that other retail stores. It has def. changed and not for the better. I used to feel like I was more than just an employee, but not anymore.
 
Personally I think target would be better with better trained and experienced leaders. So ma y people complain that the e tl's aren't up to par anymore that causes the good Tl's to book it and then the quick promotions from within start for a new batch who are just not ready...all the etls who say this is my first retail job and I've never managed anything outside of school projects and I just graduated yesterday with a bachelors in science or math ... I mean seriously what the crap is target thinking hiring them? Why not find someone with real experience to lead your team and develops a new batch of leaders?
Think of it etls that actually help out on the floor and know what they're doing and hold other leaders accountable. They would give better feedback then you got a little sad at Christmas time so your not reliant and adaptable but please continue to do most of the work while your other team leads spend their entire shift gossiping and talking about how hard they work instead of actually working.....I hate my store I hate how my etl does nothing and so do the other team leads in Softlines....at least my team members work hard
 
most of the employees at our store are losing motivation to do anything more than collect a paycheck. Our store is a Potemkin village for the district and regionals for management, so we rakenon a lot of crap for the frequent visits, in addition to our manager being gone quite often coaching other stores. That leaves us as a rather bitter store, as our hours are so tightly maintained to adhere to budget thwt there are never enough of us to get the job done.

Their only saving grace in this store is the terrible jobs market in the area.
 
Stuckinsoftlines said:
Personally I think target would be better with better trained and experienced leaders. So ma y people complain that the e tl's aren't up to par anymore that causes the good Tl's to book it and then the quick promotions from within start for a new batch who are just not ready...all the etls who say this is my first retail job and I've never managed anything outside of school projects and I just graduated yesterday with a bachelors in science or math ... I mean seriously what the crap is target thinking hiring them? Why not find someone with real experience to lead your team and develops a new batch of leaders?
Think of it etls that actually help out on the floor and know what they're doing and hold other leaders accountable. They would give better feedback then you got a little sad at Christmas time so your not reliant and adaptable but please continue to do most of the work while your other team leads spend their entire shift gossiping and talking about how hard they work instead of actually working.....I hate my store I hate how my etl does nothing and so do the other team leads in Softlines....at least my team members work hard
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I wish I could say it was the ETLs that were the issue, its above them, the only thing in my store that changed when everything started going downhill (in all stores from what I can tell on here 1.5-2 years ago) was our STL, from there we have started losing some of our ETLs all of whom at the time of the new STL hire had been with spot for 10+ years, and all but 1 were amazing at their jobs, I do think the new STL is a part of the problem in my store but the root of the problem lies higher up the food chain
 
It's kind of sad this many people feel this way. :/ But I've got to agree though, our store seemed okay then about 6 months ago it's just gone down hill.

We lost a few TL's and ETL and they hired a bunch of new ones and they all drive me nuts. They're all rude and think we don't know how to work our departments. I'm not a new, I know how to push stuff or how to zone! They talk down to us and expect more and more, while hours go down. I don't want to give myself and/or store away, but they've separated us all so there is no more "team" at our store anymore. Then they ask why no one write vibe cards. Maybe because I don't see anyone anymore. -_- Moral is nonexistent at my store anymore.

Oh! I think my favorite thing that happened lately is a cashier got us our first red card late in the afternoon and one of our tl's get on the walkie and go "Better late then never! Lets vibe with our guest and get some more." REALLY?! Better late then never? Wow. I really want to push that damn red card now.


I've thought of looking for another job but my store does work with my school and I'm making okay money for retail around here. I don't want to have to start over at minimum wage again.
 
I've gone from a top performing team member to a team lead who can barely keep his head above water. My team gets their hour's cut in half and I get bitched at for why the truck is not done. Why aren't these end caps built? Why are these departments not zoned? Oh, I don't know maybe because i'm not fucking superman?I can't do this all this by myself... When I started at Target I was looking at it as a possible career for once I graduated from school. With my degree in Accounting I could possibly go into the corporate environment and I even thought retail management would be a fun alternative for a couple of years.


But lately this place is draining every last drop of energy from me. Unrealistic goals ,my direct etl pushing their workload onto me while complaining about the piss poor job that I do i'm just fucking done with this shit hole. I was thinking I would at least stay here for my last two years of school for the tuition reimbursement but for my own mental health i'm going to be putting in my two weeks soon. I'm upset everyday when I clock in and I can't tell my self what's the point of putting in 100% anymore? I don't feel like anything but a number anymore.

Incoherent rambling aside
TLDR

index.php
 
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Raiden said:
I've gone from a top performing team member to a team lead who can barely keep his head above water. My team gets their hour's cut in half and I get bitched at for why the truck is not done. Why aren't these end caps built? Why are these departments not zoned? Oh, I don't know maybe because i'm not fucking superman?I can't do this all this by myself... When I started at Target I was looking at it as a possible career for once I graduated from school. With my degree in Accounting I could possibly go into the corporate environment and I even thought retail management would be a fun alternative for a couple of years.


But lately this place is draining every last drop of energy from me. Unrealistic goals ,my direct etl pushing their workload onto me while complaining about the piss poor job that I do i'm just fucking done with this shit hole. I was thinking I would at least stay here for my last two years of school for the tuition reimbursement but for my own mental health i'm going to be putting in my two weeks soon. I'm upset everyday when I clock in and I can't tell my self what's the point of putting in 100% anymore? I don't feel like anything but a number anymore.

Incoherent rambling aside
TLDR

index.php
Click to expand...

Finish school, first. If you can stepped down from tl, do it. Being a tm, will take the stress off. But, keep the 401k going.
 
My HR ETL told me that unless I have medical issues that prevent me from doing my job, I am unable to step down from being a team lead. Also, we had a sales floor team lead go on academic LOA for a semester. My HR TL told me that it would not be an issue and I would 100% qualify for it. Now, my HR ETL said there is no way I would qualify for it and that was a special case... I'm really trying to make this work but it feels like an abusive relationship. Every time I think Target has changed they lock me out of the house and light my clothes on fire.
 
Raiden said:
My HR ETL told me that unless I have medical issues that prevent me from doing my job, I am unable to step down from being a team lead. Also, we had a sales floor team lead go on academic LOA for a semester. My HR TL told me that it would not be an issue and I would 100% qualify for it. Now, my HR ETL said there is no way I would qualify for it and that was a special case... I'm really trying to make this work but it feels like an abusive relationship. Every time I think Target has changed they lock me out of the house and light my clothes on fire.
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Keep on trying, talk to your stl, next.
 
You would think that Target would want to help their TLs finish school. Going on LOA would mean they wouldn't have to pay you, they probably would save your 40 hours each week, and they would be closer to having a(nother) TL with a degree.

The word on the street is that pretty soon my district will no longer hire any TLs or abouve unless they have a degree or are less than a year away from getting one. The only reason I'd even want to be a TL at this point would be for tuition reimbursement. If I had a degree I definitely would pass on a $10/hr TL spot. They might as well require all TMs to have a college degree while they're at it! Seriously Target? Requiring a bachelor's for a job that barely makes minimum wage? Are you crazy?
 
amen! Its getting harder and harder to care when they cant seem to see their expectations are ridiculous.
 
I hope Target is about to hit a tipping point with regards to how close they are shaving the budget. It has become pretty typical at our store to be severely understaffed on Saturdays. Usually 5-6 openers and maybe a dozen or so at night. Last night, during ad takedown, the number of cashier backup calls was ridiculous. And for some of them, the LOD and the GSTM were just calling them out, not helping to respond. Really?

So many bitter people at work these days, covering 2 or 3 extra areas to keep labor down and then losing hours because of budget issues. We lose business because no one is around, so we lose hours. I hope I find another job soon.
 
I've been with Target for over 10 years and have watched the decline. We had more hours when the recession hit and the years that followed than we do now, and the economy is "supposed" to be doing better. My store makes more that it did when I started, but we have less hours and TMs then we did back then.

The thing that really takes the cake though was what the board tried to pass at the annual meeting last year, maybe two years ago. The wording was something like "Any board member can receive a performance bonus not to exceed 400% of their annual pay or $7 million." That was the point when I decided that Target doesn't care about TM, TL, or even ETLs. The company isn't "trickling down" the profits.

I made an off handed prediction the other day that within 5 years Amazon will purchase Target. Tigers direct already did it with CompUsa. Plus, if the internet sales tax bill goes through Amazon might as well have brick and mortar locations.
 
I am quickly reaching that point as well. It makes me wonder why I bother trying so hard to work with integrity and do a good job when I see other TMs in my department slacking off and not getting anything but a slap on the wrist, if that. Clearly, I'm the stupid one. I set the bar so high for myself that now that is what's expected of me from leadership. The slackers can go on being slackers and that's just "how they are."

A couple months ago, I got sick of their bull and told our TL about all the crap they're getting away with. I was tired of covering for them, tired of picking up their slack, tired of sticking my head in the sand. It has done nothing but make them pissed at me and created a toxic work environment. Now they do stupid petty crap like leaving me extra batches to pull or pretending not to hear me when I call over the walkie to ask for help.

I'm going back to school in the fall; I'm hoping to get enough financial aid to maybe cut down my hours a bit (I'm at around 40 a week), both for my academic work and also for my sanity. This will be my third holiday season with Target, and we just barely made it through by the skin of our teeth last year. I'm genuinely scared for how this year will go.
 
aleays be careful about being the performance whistleblower. there will always be a skeleton in your closet.

But I agree, the stores are getting a great deal on us. Think of it this way, for every hour we cover in another department we cover, that's another hour of labor we saved the store. We are working to provide bonuses for the managers and better dividends for the shareholders.
 
i totally agree with being a whistle blower. they claim its a non retaliatory job, but you say anything against their ways...look out! its easier to keep your mouth shut and nod happily than to black list yourself.(don't drink the kool aide)
 
I definitely hit my limit today. I had a chat with my boss about something that made me go" what the hell am I here for then"? I've been with this company a long time and I'll finally seeing the light. Many of my peers are about ready to leave as well. I'm ready for something else.
 
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