Archived Offered GSA

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soliloquy said:
Hey all,

I was offered the jump to GSA from cashier in just a few months of working as a cashier, and I took it. I was told we'd discuss all the details in a few days as the ball gets rolling, but I figured I'd ask a few questions here to get a heads-up.

1. I guess my question is, especially to current/former GSA's, how did you handle your front-end? For example, were you relaxed, or were you the "get it done/do it now", balls to the wall, some people afraid of you GSA? I pass no judgement on either, and good on you for whatever worked.

For me, I'm thankfully friendly with practically the entire front-end for my relaxed yet to the point attitude, with the exception of a few new cashiers that I haven't familiarized myself with. With that said, I'm hoping the front-end will respect me, as I don't plan on changing my attitude and pretending to be someone I'm not just because I moved up a step. I want to stay close to my team, because they're the main reason I was able to get through a shift sometimes.

2. Do you get trained at another location 100%, or is there a chance you'll train at your own? I remember right around when I started working, a TM from a different store was training at ours to be a GSA at their original store.

3. The GSA's at my store cover pretty much everything as far as the front-end goes if it needs backup (photo, Starbucks, Guest Service), so I imagine I'll be trained at these locations to the bare minimum so I could act as backup?

4. What is your honest experience on being a current/former GSA?

I guess that's about it for now.
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1) As a GSA, you're basically always going to be at least a little bit stressed. I don't let my team see my stress, i just turn it into a high energy "lets be amazing and meet our goals" attitude. So really I'm a balls to the wall get everything done GSA, but i drive that with positivity and high energy because I've found that doing so works pretty well with my team. So my team is moderately afraid of me because they know I have high expectations for them, but not in a way that lowers morale.

2) I've GSA'd at two stores now, both of which (along with every other store I've heard of) do in-house GSA training. I know we've talked about sending new GSA's out, but it's not required so that's up to your ETL-GE and GSTL.

3) All stores are different. You will most likely have to learn the basics of each workcenter depending on your store volume. And you ABSOLUTELY need to know everything about guest services, because those are the types of questions you're going to be answering all day long. My first store (a low volume store), I had to be trained in everything. My current store (a high volume store), the only call I respond to is the photo button if our photo TM is on break. Food ave, guest service, carts, I either pull a cashier or pull someone from the floor. I don't even remember how to do food ave anymore, to be honest.

4) I like it. I've been doing GSA for around two years. The hardest thing for me was managing my stress levels. The front end is like a box, and it's so easy to get caught up in little things and stress yourself out... Eventually I learned how to take a step back and let myself go with the flow. Something else that can be difficult is managing team members, as a team member. You aren't a TL so you can't coach, but you're still expected to lead your team and think/work like a TL. Every store does this a little differently, so make sure you're on the same page as your GSTL when it comes to performance management. Overall it's a pretty fun job, it gives you some great experiences and pushes you past your limits.

Not to mention, if you're ever applying to move upwards with target or applying for a new job all-together, the GSA position can look really nice on a resume if you explain it well.
 
soliloquy said:
So something weird happened today. Before I left, one of my GSTLs called me into the office, and then one of my ETLs walked in. My GSTL congratulated me, but kept using the word if (i.e. if you get the position...) when talking to me and offering future help for the position. This is confusing me now because I'm not sure whether or not I'm a GSA, which my other ETL made it seem like when talking about pay raise, how I'd be training in-store, etc. My GSTL didn't mention an interview or anything either.

Above all, I wish my management was a bit more straightforward with this so I kind of knew what was going on.
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your GSTL kept saying if as a formality. It's a weird political "you haven't officially gotten the job yet so we can't announce it but you're basically going to so we're gonna say if just to keep it official" kind of a thing.
 
paidtosmile said:
your GSTL kept saying if as a formality. It's a weird political "you haven't officially gotten the job yet so we can't announce it but you're basically going to so we're gonna say if just to keep it official" kind of a thing.
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Yep, they did this to me as well when I hadn't interviewed and wasn't keyed for the GSA position yet, but was still doing GSA shifts 5 days a week and pretty much knew I had it. They would constantly say things like "Great job today. You really stepped it up covering for GSA today (and the last 4 days). If you get the position, we'll be excited to have you a part of leadership." They absolutely refused to stop saying I was merely "covering" GSA until I was finally keyed for it.
 
Flabbergasted said:
Yep, they did this to me as well when I hadn't interviewed and wasn't keyed for the GSA position yet, but was still doing GSA shifts 5 days a week and pretty much knew I had it. They would constantly say things like "Great job today. You really stepped it up covering for GSA today (and the last 4 days). If you get the position, we'll be excited to have you a part of leadership." They absolutely refused to stop saying I was merely "covering" GSA until I was finally keyed for it.
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I had a completely different experience. There was a glitch in the system when I was promoted, and my ETL-GE gave me her number and pin to use the registers until I was keyed as a GSA. I just used her numbers for everything for about a week when on register, except when doing redcards. My entire store leadership team treated me as management from the moment it was announced in the store emails and huddle. Everyone from the DTL down to the TL's came to me as if I were on their level.
 
FrontEndFirecracker said:
I had a completely different experience. There was a glitch in the system when I was promoted, and my ETL-GE gave me her number and pin to use the registers until I was keyed as a GSA. I just used her numbers for everything for about a week when on register, except when doing redcards. My entire store leadership team treated me as management from the moment it was announced in the store emails and huddle. Everyone from the DTL down to the TL's came to me as if I were on their level.
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You are in a good store and a good district. Cherish it.

Some days I feel so unappreciated by my store's leadership that I want to just walk out. What stops me is my team/cashiers, who do appreciate me. They are good people, and the only thing keeping me sane some days. OP: Bond with your team.
 
Top Dollar said:
You are in a good store and a good district. Cherish it.

Some days I feel so unappreciated by my store's leadership that I want to just walk out. What stops me is my team/cashiers, who do appreciate me. They are good people, and the only thing keeping me sane some days. OP: Bond with your team.
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Agreed, cherish it if you're in a store where you're GSA and they respect you and treat you like genuine management.

In most stores, you're management when it's convenient for them or they expect you to do something, but they're quick to remind you of your TM status just as soon as they need to.
 
Well, I see "training" all over the schedule, with a shift earlier than all of my rest for an opener, so I imagine the ball is certainly starting to finally roll. I was beginning to get a little worried as my leaders weren't really saying too much to me, but I didn't want to bring it up too much and seem annoying, so I just let it flow.

Anyway, how do you think they'll react when I tell them I'm going to go to school and my schedule needs to change? I have a GSA at my work that's full-time at college and she's still GSA, so I hope they'll be alright with that. Not sure, though. My ETL asked me when the offer was made, and I said I'd be starting school likely in September, so it shouldn't be a big surprise, but I doubt they expect it really.
 
Okay, well, here's my update.

So far, I really like it a lot for misc. reasons and my team respects me minus one person, but it is what it is. I'm just hoping this isn't like it was with cashier, i.e. I loved it at first and started to dread it later on.
 
soliloquy said:
Well, I see "training" all over the schedule, with a shift earlier than all of my rest for an opener, so I imagine the ball is certainly starting to finally roll. I was beginning to get a little worried as my leaders weren't really saying too much to me, but I didn't want to bring it up too much and seem annoying, so I just let it flow.

Anyway, how do you think they'll react when I tell them I'm going to go to school and my schedule needs to change? I have a GSA at my work that's full-time at college and she's still GSA, so I hope they'll be alright with that. Not sure, though. My ETL asked me when the offer was made, and I said I'd be starting school likely in September, so it shouldn't be a big surprise, but I doubt they expect it really.
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Well ASANTS, but my store is very flexible in terms of workable days. My ETL-HR is awesome, and she basically just said that I could work whatever days I'm available, even if it's only a few days a week which is perfect for me.
 
Side question: Why do I have lots of shifts for my old position on the schedule? Is that regular? I'm not really complaining, it's just that it seems odd to flip-flop constantly from a manager position to a regular TM position. I mean, wouldn't that confuse the ever-living shit out of your co-workers?
 
Well, GSA's are only there to fill GSTL shifts that the TL's can't fill. So if all the shifts are filled up, you will go to C/O!, service desk, and/or cashier.
 
GSAs usually don't do GSA all the time. Sometimes you get cashier, Food Ave. (if you're trained there), service desk, or Cash Office. It depends on where you're needed. The good news is you keep your GSA pay rate and supervisor numbers no matter where you're scheduled.
 
whenever we are fully staffed for GSTL/GSA I could end up being scheduled for cash office, service desk, cashier, sales floor, fitting room, Pricing, or Plano. As I am trained in all of those and will get scheduled where I am needed. Though right now we are short 2 GSA's so all my shifts are GSA shifts for the time being.
 
I'm scheduled as GSA/GSTL probably about 2/3 of my shifts, but that's just because of I'm only available one weekday and the timing of it only really lets me work as the closing service desk TM.
 
redeye58 said:
For the couple years I was GSA, every shift I had was GSA.
The others rotated 2-3 shifts in other areas (photo, SD, cashier, etc) but I was always GSA.
Probably why I burned out.
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My store used to staff the bare minimum for front-end leadership, 1 GSTL and 2 GSAs. It meant that both GSAs would get nothing but GSA shifts. Every couple of months they'd get a random few hours at the service desk but that's it. Otherwise, 5 days a week of 7-hour GSA shifts. Now that's what I call burn out.
 
Flabbergasted said:
GSAs usually don't do GSA all the time. Sometimes you get cashier, Food Ave. (if you're trained there), service desk, or Cash Office. It depends on where you're needed. The good news is you keep your GSA pay rate and supervisor numbers no matter where you're scheduled.
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ASANTS.

4/5 my shifts were GSA most the time (especially during Q4, sometimes all 5 were GSA). I only got 1 cash office shift a week, and it was split with cashiering (4 hours CO, 4 hours cash). We had another TM who did Cash Office most days of the week. We were a ~45 location store though, so CO Process took a bit longer.
 
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