Archived I'm Outie For Nowie

[sabria]

Hey all, not that I've been super active in awhile, but this place has been a great resource for my time at Spot even when I was just creeping - and especially when I was first starting out.
If you remember my original posts I got hired on as an ETL on a fluke from a job fair booth I stopped at just for fun pretty much at 19 when I had just finished my AAS degree early. I almost quit multiple times as my initial store was a nightmare and I was still in school full time and it was chaos. Breaking down to my DTL and just venting - i thought was going to end with me telling her I was done ended up with me moving stores, getting set up on a better schedule. I finished my BA early too and shortly after promoted to my STL role. In December I was talked to about my interest in a DTL position and initially I said yes but more thoughts of it and I realized - that while I love Spot and the opportunities it has offered me I never intended to move into a career so fast and knew I wanted to finish my MA before I was 25. Today is my 23rd birthday and the time is right! I also never really got to enjoy college - it was always stressful and finding ways to spend little time on campus because I was working so much.


So that said my notice to spot was given last month and my last day is May 31st. I've seen a lot of the good bad and ugly of Spot and leave with no ultimately negative or rose-tinted goggle feelings. Overall I've loved my time here and all the people I've met. There's still a good chance with the connections I've formed that I'll find myself back at Spot in a new role some day but who knows.

For now I'm going to go back to school until I believe spring 2021 to complete a second BA and my MA - and I will be working 15-20 hours a week at most for barely above min wage at a local friends photography studio doing editing/finishing and I couldn't be happier about it! I'm doing absolutely nothing for work or school between my last day at Spot and August though to give myself my first real summer off since I was 16 as I was always taking summer classes in the past.

Happy trails all, I'll still be around and maybe a little more active with all this free time and I'm sure as much as I'm ready to have a break from Spot I'm sure I'll still have some withdrawals which might be satisfied by this place!

 

[TTGOz]

Hey all, not that I've been super active in awhile, but this place has been a great resource for my time at Spot even when I was just creeping - and especially when I was first starting out.
If you remember my original posts I got hired on as an ETL on a fluke from a job fair booth I stopped at just for fun pretty much at 19 when I had just finished my AAS degree early. I almost quit multiple times as my initial store was a nightmare and I was still in school full time and it was chaos. Breaking down to my DTL and just venting - i thought was going to end with me telling her I was done ended up with me moving stores, getting set up on a better schedule. I finished my BA early too and shortly after promoted to my STL role. In December I was talked to about my interest in a DTL position and initially I said yes but more thoughts of it and I realized - that while I love Spot and the opportunities it has offered me I never intended to move into a career so fast and knew I wanted to finish my MA before I was 25. Today is my 23rd birthday and the time is right! I also never really got to enjoy college - it was always stressful and finding ways to spend little time on campus because I was working so much.


So that said my notice to spot was given last month and my last day is May 31st. I've seen a lot of the good bad and ugly of Spot and leave with no ultimately negative or rose-tinted goggle feelings. Overall I've loved my time here and all the people I've met. There's still a good chance with the connections I've formed that I'll find myself back at Spot in a new role some day but who knows.

For now I'm going to go back to school until I believe spring 2021 to complete a second BA and my MA - and I will be working for barely above min wage at a local friends photography studio doing editing/finishing and I couldn't be happier about it! I'm doing absolutely nothing for work or school between my last day at Spot and August though to give myself my first real summer off since I was 16 as I was always taking summer classes in the past.

Happy trails all, I'll still be around and maybe a little more active with all this free time and I'm sure as much as I'm ready to have a break from Spot I'm sure I'll still have some withdrawals which might be satisfied by this place!

I will always value Target as it was the place where I learned to be social, to be a team, and learning how to be professional. I loved my co-workers, my team leader was spotty at best sometimes, but she was great too. If you're ever looking to make more money doing photo finishing you can always start up your own photo finishing services, start a Fiverr gig, etc. I think I might find myself back at Target someday. Good luck!

 

[soyaxo]

Congratulations! Good to hear from you again. I also grew up with Spot. (18 years old - 21) and it’s a great place to start, but I also feel like school will be more worthwhile in the long run.

 

[BoxCutter]

Good luck and all the best, @sabria!

 

[Black Sheep 214]

Congrats and Good Luck!

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Good luck!

 

[Times Up]

Good luck!

 

[Yetive]

Have fun!

 

[commiecorvus]

 

[Tarshitsucks]

Good luck hopefully all will work out in the end for you!!!!

 

[Fix It]

You’re already an STL at 22 with a shot at DTL in the future and you’re turning that down because you didn’t join art club or go to dorm parties? DTL has more responsibility at an easier work load at a ridiculous amount of money.

You’re out of your damn mind.

If you can conquer that much power at Spot that quickly then you jump to the next branch or jump to another company. You’re making a foolish decision.

 

[SitSpotSit]

@Fix It But I could see wanting to do something else. OP sounds like an absolute beast and will do well at life with or without Target.

19 was probably too young for an ETL and 22 was super way young for an STL. Great money but so much responsibility for such an inexperienced stage of life. Obviously OP crushed it and that is admirable. Leveling up to DTL is an incredible opportunity for one so young. But, at 23 with a whole life ahead and unmet goals this is a good time to bail out with excellent credentials for a resume.

Good luck @sabria!!

 

[Times Up]

@Fix It , OP kinda fell into working at Spot on a whim, it didn't appear to be her chosen career path. Hopefully she saved a good chunk of $$ during this time and bankrolled her 401k so she can follow her bliss.

 

[sabria]

You’re already an STL at 22 with a shot at DTL in the future and you’re turning that down because you didn’t join art club or go to dorm parties? DTL has more responsibility at an easier work load at a ridiculous amount of money.

You’re out of your damn mind.

If you can conquer that much power at Spot that quickly then you jump to the next branch or jump to another company. You’re making a foolish decision.

You only live once and more importantly to me you're only young once. It's not even really the party scene of college, I'm not a big party person but I will go out for special occasions. I will enjoy various clubs though and yep art is one of them even though none of my classes will be art related lol. I'm ready to relax a bit this summer and do some traveling. I'm ready to a couple pretty low stress years (compared to my life the last few years). Basically do what I thought I was going to do right after high school. The difference is I'm a LOT more financially stable and happy than I probably would of been. I feel pretty confident about my future thanks to my time/success at Spot. I DO feel it's likely I'll be back at Spot down the road.

I know it probably sounds really cliche but I really want to be able to "find myself" and enjoy what's left of my early 20's as more of a "kid" than the adult I felt like I've had to be. For example it has been hard to take more than a week off at a time during my time at Spot, not that I didn't have vacation but taking off as an ETL/STL in a high demand store for more than a couple days at a time is tough planning and sometimes impossible.
I'm a Finnish native (dad from US, mom Finnish, born in Finland, mom moved here when I was 4 to be with my dad full time) and I have a lot of family there. I used to make it there once a year with my mom. I've been there once the last 3 year and the one time I went I had to leave 2 days before my mom did because I couldn't be away from work that long. Now my grandparents there are both poor health, I have cousins with big graduations next year. This is just one example of many of why I justified leaving at this point.

In my 3 years alone here I've had a lot of my ETL's quit who were great ETL's but just to find a better work-life balance and take pay cuts to be happier. Will I make what I make now at my next career position? Maybe not, but if I'm happier getting up to go to work every day then it's worth it in my opinion.

@PassinTime Correct I never meant to jump into a career the way I did. I was motivated and driven for an early graduation to start a career but I still had full intentions of finishing college in a traditional way. My time at Spot definitely gave me a large amount of financial security for the present and future and I feel it has definitely only positively impacted me for the long haul.

Thanks all for the well wishes!