Officially fired today.

[OneGoodEar]

I think it's not so much about remarking on the performance of Brad but rather calling a disabled worker an idiot. It's sort of like a racist remark.

 

[Captain Orca]

I've seen a couple fistfights between TMs in my time. It does happen. Not often.

We had a young woman working in Style, nice kid. Her spouse/girlfriend came into her dept to visit. One of the flow assholes (young guy) pinched her friend on the ass and made a rather off color remark. Style girl told STL, asshole was fired on the spot.

 

[DC Diva]

And true to Targets overly accommodating processes, Brad will continue to make the receiving process difficult for anyone unlucky enough to have to work with him. If the TL was back there helping, they should intervened on behalf of TM before this got ugly, especially if Brad was being counter productive to the teamwork process that unloads require. But it sounds like TL was afraid to correct Brad, which again speaks volumes to how Target wants to be seen as all-inclusive, regardless of one’s actual abilities. And the fallout is always someone other than the individual receiving accommodations.

 

[Captain Orca]

Fucked up without a police record = instant job offer. Blue hair, piercings and tats? = any position you want.

 

[Him]

A true leader knows how to course correct in all situations. They are human and do miss the mark from time to time. @purplenurple i hope you are better equipped in any given situation for your journey. As for “Brad”, until someone actually communicates effectively in a way that “Brad” understands, he will always think his way of doing things is correct.

 

[jackandcat]

And true to Targets overly accommodating processes, Brad will continue to make the receiving process difficult for anyone unlucky enough to have to work with him. If the TL was back there helping, they should intervened on behalf of TM before this got ugly, especially if Brad was being counter productive to the teamwork process that unloads require. But it sounds like TL was afraid to correct Brad, which again speaks volumes to how Target wants to be seen as all-inclusive, regardless of one’s actual abilities. And the fallout is always someone other than the individual receiving accommodations.

Sadly, the lack of suitable training and supportive types of on-the-job-guidance for Brad could result in safety hazards, as well as quality-control problems. More likely than not, Brad is capable of performing the essential functions of this job competently. The problem here is without the training and giving the TL permission to provide useful feedback for Brad during the first few weeks in this new work department, Target risks other problems. The TL has seen the risks of trying to provide feedback to the TM: they've seen other TLs thrown under the bus for actually trying to provide basic supervisory guidance to a special-needs staff member. So the TL avoids the problem. They don't want to risk getting scapegoated by their ETL, HR or the SD.

I have seen a few similar situations where TLs are discouraged from, or very reluctant to, providing supervisory guidance out of fear of retaliation. This can make it more difficult for other TMs who work with Brad, and it ultimately cheats Brad out of the ability to develop the knowledge and expertise to correctly carry out his job duties. In short: this is the bigotry of low expectations.

I have seen situations where special-needs TMs who are "treated with kid gloves" end up being pushed out of Target precisely because they are unsuccessful at some aspects of their job functions, a scenario which would probably NOT have occurred had the special-needs TM been offered the respect of receiving normal training on their job functions and procedures and normal, courteous supervisory guidance and feedback in order to flourish in the job and reap the self-respect and self-esteem benefits associated with "a job well done". Thankfully, many special-needs TMs are successful at Target, but what OP has described is a scenario which is truly unfortunate for all concerned, all out of misguided assumptions. Very sad indeed.

To OP, kind regards to you as you move on to a new workplace. Don't give up.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

And true to Targets overly accommodating processes, Brad will continue to make the receiving process difficult for anyone unlucky enough to have to work with him. If the TL was back there helping, they should intervened on behalf of TM before this got ugly, especially if Brad was being counter productive to the teamwork process that unloads require. But it sounds like TL was afraid to correct Brad, which again speaks volumes to how Target wants to be seen as all-inclusive, regardless of one’s actual abilities. And the fallout is always someone other than the individual receiving accommodations.

I've worked in different situations with people who require accommodations, and those employees can do wonderful work if they're in positions to which they're well suited and properly trained. Huge problems arise, for everyone, when that doesn't happen. The person requiring accommodation is perhaps the one most negatively affected because, in addition to being blamed (not always wrongly) for the problems, they aren't helped in any way to do better. The fallout can be really bad, like for the OP who lost their job, if leadership doesn't actually step up and LEAD. The problems aren't fixed; the person needing accommodation is maybe moved around to something else for which they aren't suited or trained and the cycle continues. Everybody loses.

 

[Captain Orca]

Biggest problem I had as a trainer (for a year) was many new hires didn't focus and were addicted to their phones. Most had the capacity but many didn't have the fuel and drive to learn. It was frustrating.

 

[Florida Dawg]

It sucks you got fired but it’s a blessing in disguise. Target sucks as a company and always protects the soft asses and suck ups. You’ll find something better hopefully. Target isn’t a place to have a career anyways especially how the last few years have been.

 

[jackandcat]

It sucks you got fired but it’s a blessing in disguise. Target sucks as a company and always protects the soft asses and suck ups. You’ll find something better hopefully. Target isn’t a place to have a career anyways especially how the last few years have been.

Target is by no means the lousiest employer in America. I've personally worked in a couple of workplaces where the scapegoating, malicious gossip and "back stabbing" were much worse.

For reasons we'll never fully know, the leaders of OP's former workgroup at Target -- who created the initial incident that completely demoralized their hard-working TMs -- don't seem to be worthy of their fat paychecks. Here's hoping OP thrives, tangible success and job satisfaction is the best form of revenge.

 

[FlowTeamChick]

It sucks you got fired but it’s a blessing in disguise. Target sucks as a company and always protects the soft asses and suck ups. You’ll find something better hopefully. Target isn’t a place to have a career anyways especially how the last few years have been.

Agree this is true for the OP. Also agree with @jackandcat that it's not the worst place to work. So much depends on the store's leadership. My store was a pretty good place to work at different times; when I had a horrible TL it was a pretty bad situation. Now with an awful SD it's bad again. But there were some good stretches. Not sure I'll get another one though.

 

[Not My Name]

My feelings on this situation aside which was clearly mishandled by the team member and team leader, since when do team leaders have the ability to fire people on the spot? lol

 

[Black Sheep 214]

My feelings on this situation aside which was clearly mishandled by the team member and team leader, since when do team leaders have the ability to fire people on the spot? lol

They don’t. When I was at Spot a TL couldn’t even send someone home without the ETL’s permission, and I think the ETL had to have HR or the SD’s o.k., too.

 

[Ringwraith917]

Normally they wouldn't but I think OP was on final warning.

 

[Sarahdyl]

If you've seen my prior posts, then you know that my store has had its share of drama and conflict since Q4. Ever since, I think my SD has been serious about some of the big changes coming and it's basically started with performancing out some TM's here on flow and inbound. I wasn't one of them, but our one remaining guy who usually threw the trailer was one of them and he got replaced by a very socially awkward guy who usually worked evenings and mostly just collected carts and walked the sales floor to check spill stations. We'll just call him "Brad." Inbound got stuck with him after his availability changed and the front end couldn't accommodate these changes.

My introduction to Brad was two weeks ago when I got into receiving to start the unload and he was shoving anything and everything down the line. I'm the pacesetter and I usually load flats with diapers and storage. Brad had sent a whole bunch of diapers down to the end of the lane and I politely told him that diapers and storage had to stay at the front bay of the line so I could collect them for the flats. He didn't say anything, but he just stared at me with these big confused eyes. I asked him if he understood what I was saying, but he just kept staring. My TL even had to pull me aside and tell me that Brad had "mental idiosyncrasies" and that we just had to be patient with him. Now the good news is that I really only had to deal with Brad during the unloads. The bad news is that the hour-and-a-half to two hours of unloading is just enough of him as is. One big qualm is that he was always coming in a half hour earlier than the rest of the team to help the TL prepare the line and by the time I would get there, he'd already sent a bunch of my diapers and storage down the line, despite my several times of telling him to not do that. And then during the unload, he'd almost never put all boxes on the line with the labels facing up, so I'd often have to halt the momentum of the unload by stopping to flip the boxes right side up. And there was one time last week when the TL put me in charge of using the electric pallet jack to grab a water PIPO and I couldn't grab it because Brad was just standing in front of the PIPO, blocking my path. I asked him to move, but he just stood there and stared at me with those confused eyes of his. He was just standing there like the world's dumbest a deer in headlights and it reached a point where I honked the horn at him and my TL chewed me out for that. And since I'd been on corrective action since the Holidays, the TL would occasionally remind me of being on thin ice.

But it all came to a head today when I went to receiving and of course, Brad was sending all of my stuff down the line. And one of them was one of those massive Sterilite boxes that would require a team lift. I had to run over to the line and physically grab the box while yelling at Brad to let me get it. But he kept trying to shove it down the line and it turned to an ugly display of me and him damn near wrestling over the box while I screamed at the top of my lungs for him to stop. I was somehow able to get Brad to let up, but then he started pacing receiving while fidgeting with his hands and repeating "I have to do this, I have to do this" over and over again. And that was my first time ever hearing him talk. And during the unload, Brad was doing his usual of sending boxes down the line with their labels not visible. I was in a plenty bad mood at that point and I shouted at Brad "Labels up, you fucking idiot!" And it was chaos from then on. Brad, this grown man who I had heard was in his early 30's, started wailing and bawling at the top of his lungs. And the TL was also throwing with Brad and he seemed to think that I was yelling at him. So receiving was filled with the sounds of both Brad's bawling and the TL yelling at me to leave the store and never come back. I figured that I was on borrowed time as is, so I just left and went home. So that's six years at Target coming to an end just like that.

#teambrad Never make the mistake of assuming people with disabilities are going to understand you. You had an opportunity to CONSTRUCTIVELY and KINDLY show and teach and you chose violence. Taking a fee minutes to show and explain will get you a lot farther than a bad attitude ever will. You need patience and kindness, that wasn't it. See ya.

 

[OneGoodEar]

People like Brad usually have a job coach. I don't know exactly how it's done but talking to his job coach may have brought better results.