Is this Real Life? (A Market vent thread)

[pfreshdude]

Today was just a hoot

SDA+Cull+QMOS

We were down a TM in backroom so I had to do my own morning pulls AGAIN, work them to the floor and also had to backstock them. Still had dairy to do after Freshness Friday

No room in milk cooler for the milk vendor to put his pallet so i had to break down the pallet with Eggs and Meat. Put meat on the meat metro rack and worked out the eggs since we were light on the floor.

Huddle + Freshness Friday + Qmos an entire cart of product- Ya that was a good 30-40 minutes then I took break

C+S truck was never received in so I took care of that...probably the reason the pulls were so big in the diary cooler when they should of been tiny.
C+S was 600+ pieces. Just for reference our Flow truck today was 1700 so it was about a 1/3 of a flow truck. Had to basically help push out Freezer and Produce from that along with backstocking both of those with another TM so we would have green racks to do dairy push.

Steritech came in right in the middle of C+S push so I had to go in the back and make sure to check everything was ok and we had no outdates. Found like 20 boxes between the rooms that had expired product and QMOSed them all and ended up having to dump 2 QMOS bins and a red tub with 3 seperate bags of QMOS on top of it into the compactor.

Pushed out Meat + Bakery items that hadnt got pushed out and made a BCODE for product that needed it so it could be backstocked.

Finally did the order in the limited ammount of time I had...so fun!!!

Half my leadership team would prob find something wrong with market and wonder what I did all this time like i was sitting on my butt all day. I swear they all think its just so easy and there isnt much to do but every day theres way too many tasks and not enough time. I always get condescending tones from a few of the LODs about market even though we are one of the top stores in the group despite how much our store doesnt give a crap about market

 

[indigo25]

The actual interview questions are quite the same.. If they approached YOU about the position you pretty much have the job in the bag, while the interviews are pretty much just a formality. The CTL and lone PA in the department pretty much asked me to apply, and when I did the interview pretty much went the same as a TM interview it will be with the CTL and ETL-SF.

Most of the interview was pretty much what they expect, why its important, etc, etc.

Being a PA is a pretty damn demanding job, I find it hard to think of a non-TL job that demands so much. However, you will NEVER be bored, and have a better grasp and impact on your department than just about anyone else would have in theirs.

Yeah, my CTL said he was developing me to become the second PA which seemed like a good sign. He also is making me market pog person so it seems like he has faith in me. There is one person who has been in market about 6 months longer than me interviewing, and another person who has never worked in market so I'm hoping it goes well. Originally the interview was going to be weeks ago, but then our ETL-SF/GE got hurt and they were hoping she'd come back quickly, but she is still out for at least a month so they said they would just do it anyways. Thanks for your reply, Phish. 🙂

 

[BigEyedPhish]

Yeah, my CTL said he was developing me to become the second PA which seemed like a good sign. He also is making me market pog person so it seems like he has faith in me. There is one person who has been in market about 6 months longer than me interviewing, and another person who has never worked in market so I'm hoping it goes well. Originally the interview was going to be weeks ago, but then our ETL-SF/GE got hurt and they were hoping she'd come back quickly, but she is still out for at least a month so they said they would just do it anyways. Thanks for your reply, Phish. 🙂

I was trained by the PA (who became my friend, and was me and him against the world... all day, everyday) and less so the CTL. I will say that I feel if you become a GOOD PA, you are held back from promotion, as the less management has to pay attention to market (aka, the better job you do), the less they will actually pay attention to you.

That is probably the only fact that sucks. Plus giving up a good PA by making him a TL in say... softlines or something is probably not something most ETLs/STLs would want.. if they can get a good PA I could see why they would want to keep them there.

 

[signingminion]

We never interview for the pa positions, at least not since opening. Which was nice, but it means it's all backroom deals for who gets the job, not a fair fight.

 

[qmosqueen]

We just promoted 2 hardlines TMs to PAs. They interviewed and got the position. Now I have 4 including myself as PAs. Finally enough PAs to do the volume of sales we go through in one week. In one week we get about 44 to 48 pallets of pfresh. Along with about 1600 gallons of milk so now I will be able to see things getting done and keeping the pfresh valley fresh and full.

 

[scbman]

I have come to the conclusion that my STL, and most of my ETL's, don't have any clue of our everyday tasks in market, and worse, don't care to even learn. If I, or any of the PA's try to explain that we're in the middle of back stocking FDC, Auditing the cooler for counts and dates before an order, etc., and don't have time to fill a random out on the end cap immediately, we apparently have "an attitude problem".

They basically think all we have to do is zone and put reshop up all day, and if the zone isn't perfect we have been "working without a sense of urgency". One of my PA's was once told to skip his morning cull so he could push leftover truck in another area smh

 

[pfreshdude]

I have come to the conclusion that my STL, and most of my ETL's, don't have any clue of our everyday tasks in market, and worse, don't care to even learn. If I, or any of the PA's try to explain that we're in the middle of back stocking FDC, Auditing the cooler for counts and dates before an order, etc., and don't have time to fill a random out on the end cap immediately, we apparently have "an attitude problem".

They basically think all we have to do is zone and put reshop up all day, and if the zone isn't perfect we have been "working without a sense of urgency". One of my PA's was once told to skip his morning cull so he could push leftover truck in another area smh

I know that feeling..sigh...At least when my Leaders ask me to do something they are understanding that I will get to it in a somewhat urgent manner if I am doing something else at the moment and dont hassle me about it as long as it gets done.

I have a feeling not that many people have one clue what we do and think its just a grand party over in market where we just do a couple pulls, reshop and zone while chatting it up with guests....mhhmm sure..thats all I do 🙂

Today I had to zone D block which is the home and furniture isles during huddle for 20-30 minutes
Had to backstock all my morning pulls so C+S push would have all the green racks ready to go
Printed and put away the POGs that were coming up so Vendors would know what week to bring in extra product if needed.
Pushed out Vendor Bread that is left to fill the floor since some of our shelf space can only hold 2 loaves of bread and gets empty quick
Took a full endcap of Nestle Water and pushed it to the empty location on the backwall and then pushed out 2 flats of Vendor Water that was supposed to be set Sunday morning but the rep never showed up
Talked to my Frito Vendor about setting up shippers for the super bowl back in Seasonal
Helped push Produce and backstocked produce and all the dairy C+S push backstock
Grabbed carts for the front end since everyone else was busy apparently
Pushed out fresh meat, bakery, and a little bit of freezer
Filled out vendor survey
Processed QMOS from C+S truck

I mean just look at my day. And I will get shit from the Plano TMs when they do the dairy transition about how the shelves arent cleaned..its like..when the HECK do I have TIME to do that when I constantly have to basically be a C+S push member, and backstock my morning pulls almost every single time I open plus the other numerous tasks that always pop up. Lately ive had to even pull my own morning pulls, push them out, and backstock them...all by myself

 

[pfreshdude]

So on the newest schedule the opener is 6am-1pm. The closer is 4:30-8:30. So lets see.....Just a tad over 70 hours for the entire week for market. And for our C+S push we have 3 people monday, 2 wedensday, and 4 Friday. We have to put BCODEs on any full boxes and backstock everything too.

We usually have around 500 pieces of push Fridays....Our flow trucks are between 1600-2000 now. It would basically be the equivalent of pushing a 1600 truck with 13 people or a 2000 truck with 16 people

They have said the C+S team is too slow and wonder why everything doesnt get pushed in time...well...I would love to see them push a 2000 piece truck with 16 people and clock out when they are actually scheduled til. Also, our C+S push is now after the flow push, so there is not 100% productivity and they are slightly less productive after having just pushed a flow truck. We used to push C+S on opposite days of flow

 

[signingminion]

New schedule had my c&s his in logistics not consumables...whole new can of worms is coming if they think I'm helping with their push cause if where I'm scheduled...

 

[pfreshdude]

New schedule had my c&s his in logistics not consumables...whole new can of worms is coming if they think I'm helping with their push cause if where I'm scheduled...

I typically have to help for 2-3 hours on Monday and Friday. Combine that with having to pull my own morning pulls, push all the morning pulls and backstocking all of it, it takes time out of my days.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

I typically have to help for 2-3 hours on Monday and Friday. Combine that with having to pull my own morning pulls, push all the morning pulls and backstocking all of it, it takes time out of my days.

We are starting to Set, Batch, Pull, and Backstock all our Market Salesplans now at my store... looool

 

[compostguy]

I was scheduled for 40 hours initially this week, but my CTL told me he had to shave off two hours from my Sunday schedule -- instead of 10:30am-7:15pm shift, just come in from 12:30pm-7:15pm. Fine. Finished my Saturday ad take down shift at 11:15pm and went to bed around 1am. Around 7:30am Sunday morning, I get a call from HR telling me not to come in at all! So I went from an 8-hour shift to nothing. Okay, Sunday's weather is nice, I'm not that upset.

Come Monday morning, the Flow TL lets me in to the store and asks why the freezer CAFs weren't pushed. HELLLOOOO -- I was scheduled to work Sunday and I was taken off the schedule! Before I could get back to the freezers to see what the Flow TL was talking about, C+S arrives. Flow team / backroom apparently had 6 call outs this morning (why didn't they call out Sunday 😛), so I had to grab a pallet jack and help unload the truck. When I finally brought over the frozen pallets over to the freezer, I got a good look -- an unfinished pallet from last Friday's C+S PLUS at least 7 CAFs. *SMH*

I had to pull out a flatbed of bakery items (which I had planned to push Sunday before my unexpected day off) to the floor just to make room for the two frozen pallets -- they managed to squeeze in.

After the C+S unload, did a quick check of the endcaps then help push a dry market CAF (flatbed, mind you) because nobody pushed Sunday because they cut hours/payroll.

When my CTL finally came in (he had to cut his hours, too, so he came in an hour later than usual), we hit up the dry market pallet (bananas, tomatoes, onions, potatoes, mangos, avocados, etc.). Then we broke down the first of two produce pallets. Got enough product out there in time for the 9am fresh and full LOD sales walk, but the LOD kept asking if U was full. Um, no, because we started C+S push late, and we hadn't even got to meat/eggs or dairy yet -- tough, says LOD, we'll do the walk later. *SMH*

We bring out the second produce pallet when the Flow TL asks the CTL to do a smart huddle to get the dairy pallets done. So we had to bring the produce pallet (as well as the produce metro rack) back to the cooler and bring out the first (of three) dairy pallets. We also brought out any dairy autofills (at least 1 full metro and 3 three-tiers) for the lucky first few who showed up early/on-time to the smart huddle to push first. To make matters worse, one of the dairy pallets had the meat pallet on top, so we had to move that one to the side and get to the other two first. The first pallet was done, and I had to take my lunch break before I hit my 5th hour.

When I returned from lunch, only one person was left pushing dairy. My CTL was called away to a TL meeting with the STL, so I helped the one guy pushing dairy. However, that's when I kept getting called for guest first -- five times, if I remembered correctly. So I was little help to the lone dairy pusher -- he had to walkie me to let me know he had to clock out and that he left what little dairy push was left on the pallet (which was still sitting on the floor). Thankfully my CTL got back from his lunch, and we knocked out the rest of that dairy pallet.

We finally got the second produce pallet out, but I was constantly called up for backup cashier -- apparently the lone HL TM had just gone to lunch, so I was the only available team member. So I went back and forth from market to the front lanes for the next 90 minutes. My CTL and I managed to knock out the 2nd produce pallet, but very little else.

So the incoming PA was left with a meat/egg pallet on top of a specialty milk pallet and two frozen pallets. Flow TL said his team would work on the frozen pallets Tuesday. My goal tomorrow is to repush the produce push from today then backstock everything (so long as I don't get interrupted). End rant.

 

[signingminion]

I wish we actually did the 9am and 4pm walks...

 

[pfreshdude]

I wish we actually did the 9am and 4pm walks...

Ill be honest...they are kind of a waste of time..The LODs dont really care about it..at least in my store and its just a waste of time I could spend doing something else since they want to always go through everything step by step with me. We havent done it in a while actually. Nobody has time to do it. When I did ask them to do it sometimes it would be up to an hour before they made their way over there

 

[indigo25]

Ill be honest...they are kind of a waste of time..The LODs dont really care about it..at least in my store and its just a waste of time I could spend doing something else since they want to always go through everything step by step with me. We havent done it in a while actually. Nobody has time to do it. When I did ask them to do it sometimes it would be up to an hour before they made their way over there

The only time an LOD makes it over quickly when I call for a walk is our SR-TL who has only been at the store for two months. The rest often say "Oh, I'll be there in just a minute." Meanwhile, I'm trying to get other stuff done but still keep it looking nice for if they ever show up.

 

[signingminion]

Ill be honest...they are kind of a waste of time..The LODs dont really care about it..at least in my store and its just a waste of time I could spend doing something else since they want to always go through everything step by step with me. We havent done it in a while actually. Nobody has time to do it. When I did ask them to do it sometimes it would be up to an hour before they made their way over there

We've never walked with the lod. Back when we did them they just came down to grab something for their break and poked around a bit. But if there were holes and we weren't actively out filling they called us to task. Now it's only if I call then down to look at the state of the floor do they notice the huge gaps or lack of accurate push.

 

[Brewhaha]

I mean just look at my day. And I will get shit from the Plano TMs when they do the dairy transition about how the shelves arent cleaned..its like..when the HECK do I have TIME to do that when I constantly have to basically be a C+S push member, and backstock my morning pulls almost every single time I open plus the other numerous tasks that always pop up. Lately ive had to even pull my own morning pulls, push them out, and backstock them...all by myself

Did the plano team at least pull and push the new products or did they leaving everything empty?

I have come to the conclusion that my STL, and most of my ETL's, don't have any clue of our everyday tasks in market, and worse, don't care to even learn. If I, or any of the PA's try to explain that we're in the middle of back stocking FDC, Auditing the cooler for counts and dates before an order, etc., and don't have time to fill a random out on the end cap immediately, we apparently have "an attitude problem".

They basically think all we have to do is zone and put reshop up all day, and if the zone isn't perfect we have been "working without a sense of urgency". One of my PA's was once told to skip his morning cull so he could push leftover truck in another area smh

I am a PA at my store and have been for a few years now. I feel the same way with management (ETLs and TLs). We havent been fully clean in our coolers from the trucks since October. With the packed coolers, it takes a lot longer to do the BR SDA, audit the backroom coolers, pull product for endcaps, and store old endcap product. Management knows about the coolers and there is a lack of action.


Like many of you, we have to zone some of dry market along with the p fresh closing routines of cleaning, culling, zoning open air, and zoning the coolers and freezers. It is impossible to have a good zone in p fresh while having to worry about zoning dry. It is like my STL doesnt think pfresh does anything.

 

[BigEyedPhish]

Did the plano team at least pull and push the new products or did they leaving everything empty?



I am a PA at my store and have been for a few years now. I feel the same way with management (ETLs and TLs). We havent been fully clean in our coolers from the trucks since October. With the packed coolers, it takes a lot longer to do the BR SDA, audit the backroom coolers, pull product for endcaps, and store old endcap product. Management knows about the coolers and there is a lack of action.


Like many of you, we have to zone some of dry market along with the p fresh closing routines of cleaning, culling, zoning open air, and zoning the coolers and freezers. It is impossible to have a good zone in p fresh while having to worry about zoning dry. It is like my STL doesnt think pfresh does anything.

I notice this all start to happen when Market-BPs went the way of the wind.

 

[Brewhaha]

hypothetical scenario for p fresh area

Lets say the plano team set a transition in p fresh and they didnt pull nor push any new product to the floor thus leaving a bunch of empty locations on the sales floor. To make matters worse, you knew we had the new product because you saw it located in the backroom

What would you do if you saw a bunch of out after a transition?

Also, should us in p fresh (mainly the PAs and CTLs) be responsible for pulling and filling what the plano team didnt?

 

[Produce Queen]

hypothetical scenario for p fresh area

Lets say the plano team set a transition in p fresh and they didnt pull nor push any new product to the floor thus leaving a bunch of empty locations on the sales floor. To make matters worse, you knew we had the new product because you saw it located in the backroom

What would you do if you saw a bunch of out after a transition?

Also, should us in p fresh (mainly the PAs and CTLs) be responsible for pulling and filling what the plano team didnt?

I would talk to the PLANO TL about it. Their job is to set and FILL, not half-ass it. They are also supposed to research it after setting and filling. You've got a legitimate beef with this.

 

[qmosqueen]

How can they fill if it hasn't been back stocked yet.

 

[targetflowslave]

Did anyone else's sour cream and cottage cheese take over one of the milk doors?

 

[Produce Queen]

Did anyone else's sour cream and cottage cheese take over one of the milk doors?

Yep. Guests can actually find it now.

 

[qmosqueen]

Yes it was suppose too here. My CTL said we sell way too much milk sbout 200 gallons per day. So we condensed the meals to go past the fresh meat aisle down to 1 four foot section and put the cottage cheese sour cream hellavua good dip there and tied the pog to that aisle G15.

 

[Brewhaha]

I would talk to the PLANO TL about it. Their job is to set and FILL, not half-ass it. They are also supposed to research it after setting and filling. You've got a legitimate beef with this.

Like many of your pfresh backrooms, our dairy cooler has been packed lately. So maybe this was their reason for not pulling. Then, per Target structure, the packed cooler falls on the ETL LOG who is also in charge of plano.

But if you worked pfresh and dairy transition wasnt set, would you have pulled whatever you could have instead of doing other cafs or some minor cleaning?

Did anyone else's sour cream and cottage cheese take over one of the milk doors?

It looks that way. I dont get how they can take away an entire door of Market Pantry 2%. My store has a Starbucks so the reduction of a milk door sucks. But at least guests can find the cottage cheese & sour cream.