Archived <rant> I'm so upset - even though I shouldn't be.

[WailFin]

I'm technically a seasonal flow member, but I'm on the schedule for next week when we go back to 4-9.

I'm not sure if it's the same in others stores, but for ours, if you're not a fan of doing a certain area, such as backroom or soft lines, and you request NOT to be put there, they'll pretty much listen to you, and will choose a different area for you.

I am female, so they tried to push me to soft lines, but I really wasn't a fan. Everything being in disarray, not having a location, and being surrounded by other females who only complain about girly things? Not my cup of tea.

So I requested to not be put into soft lines when I first started, both to my TL and my ETL. They both said that I wouldn't be stuck in soft lines. I also said that if they needed me in soft lines, I would go, but I wouldn't stay past seasonal if that's where I was going to be long-term. Again, they said I wouldn't be stuck in soft lines.

Everything has been good! I've barely been in soft lines, and chem and C&D have become my babies. I love my job at Target.

Until last night/today. I got asked to go over to soft lines, so I agreed, and the minute I went over there, it was "you're going to learn how to do carriages and breakouts, because you're replacing her." I found my TL, mentioned about how I had asked previously that if I was going to be kept on past seasonal to not be in soft lines, he got all angry and pissed off, so now at the end of next week I'm done.

Why I'm pissed off? The earliest I've ever left was 6 hours into my shift, and that was because I was sent to the hospital because I was vomiting, a result of bronchitis.

On double truck days I've stayed for twelve hours, and most times I'll stay for ten hours. Every week I've been there so far, I've hit the 40 hour cap and have been sent home early Friday morning. Yet the other seasonal person who my TL "fought" to keep? Has never stayed past his scheduled 10-2, even though it's been requested EVERY shift to take a half and stay til 6 at least, and it's not like he has another job or anything, he just wants to go play video games.

But nope, I'm the one who gets let go. Just ugh. I really loved working there.

 

[tgtfla]

It sounds like you are a really good fit for the flow team . Flow tl is a very tough job and you may have approached him at a bad time near the beginning of the shift when people were calling out or just after reading that email from the stl telling him to zone the store,do the 20 carts of go backs or send 4 people to help the plano team , talk to him again and explain exactly as you have here , leaving out the bits about other tms.If he liked you enough to ask you to stay he may relent , I would do so as soon as possible before paperwork is processed . Target can't afford to loose people that actually like working there . Good luck and happy new year.

 

[signingminion]

Welcome to the real target. Are you willing to suck it up for a couple month till summer hires trickle in? Then we don't need you. In reality cross-training is something they look for, and if you won't then it's just as easy to cut you out.

 

[Retail Girl]

Welcome to the real target. Are you willing to suck it up for a couple month till summer hires trickle in? Then we don't need you. In reality cross-training is something they look for, and if you won't then it's just as easy to cut you out.

Yep. They want people who will be flexible and work where they are needed. They want people with the attitude who will suck it up and do things they might not necessarily want to do for the betterment of the process/team. Those are two of the things they look for in deciding who to hire and keep. Since you don't fit that, then they don't have room for you, unfortunately.

 

[Ringwraith917]

You haven't been "let go". You're deciding to quit. Guess what, NOBODY likes softlines. It's a pain in the ass but somebody has to do it. You could try to talk to your TL again. It might help. Otherwise follow through on your statement when you were hired on, that if you would be offered a permanent position only in softlines you would turn it down. Good luck finding another job hiring right now.

 

[Noiinteam]

I'm a flow softlines tm. I don't get why most people hate softlines. As a flow tm I have an assigned area that is my responsibility. No one but me pushes that area, I know exactly where everything is, cause I put it there. Right now I don't push to adjacencies. Our STL realizes we don't have time, but you still gave a general idea where us goes. I enjoy it because I own my area. When I'm done I push the hardliners side. If softlines is a small push, I'll work hardlines. I would suggest you give it a try.

 

[commiecorvus]

Needs of the store and all that.
It's tough when you have a good worker who is stubborn about where they will and won't work but that kind of thing makes it impossible to manage.
Other people see it and figure they should be able to tell you where they will work, too.
It's one thing to take into account peoples requests because you want happy employees and want them them to work hard.
It's another to have them dictate how things are done when they don't know the big picture.

 

[signingminion]

I'm a flow softlines tm. I don't get why most people hate softlines. As a flow tm I have an assigned area that is my responsibility. No one but me pushes that area, I know exactly where everything is, cause I put it there. Right now I don't push to adjacencies. Our STL realizes we don't have time, but you still gave a general idea where us goes. I enjoy it because I own my area. When I'm done I push the hardliners side. If softlines is a small push, I'll work hardlines. I would suggest you give it a try.

I have two very dedicated and happy sl flow tms. One baby hardlines, the other regular softlines for breakout, etc. They only work other areas after they finish their area. I've done baby hardlines in a shift I picked up for the double truck. I'd do it again. But I left softlines years ago because it's not my cup of tea unless it had to be.

 

[WailFin]

It sounds like you are a really good fit for the flow team . Flow tl is a very tough job and you may have approached him at a bad time near the beginning of the shift when people were calling out or just after reading that email from the stl telling him to zone the store,do the 20 carts of go backs or send 4 people to help the plano team , talk to him again and explain exactly as you have here , leaving out the bits about other tms.If he liked you enough to ask you to stay he may relent , I would do so as soon as possible before paperwork is processed . Target can't afford to loose people that actually like working there . Good luck and happy new year.

Thank you, you too!

 

[WailFin]

Welcome to the real target. Are you willing to suck it up for a couple month till summer hires trickle in? Then we don't need you. In reality cross-training is something they look for, and if you won't then it's just as easy to cut you out.

I really don't know. I was in soft lines solid for about a week and I hated it. They want me to be trained for breakouts and carriages, which takes four hours just to breakout!

Since they've told me that, I've also learned there are two other people who want to do softlines, but they're not being put over there.

 

[WailFin]

Yep. They want people who will be flexible and work where they are needed. They want people with the attitude who will suck it up and do things they might not necessarily want to do for the betterment of the process/team. Those are two of the things they look for in deciding who to hire and keep. Since you don't fit that, then they don't have room for you, unfortunately.

I really hate that though. Sure, let's let her (myself leave) and instead we'll keep the guy who works eight hours a week and doesn't show up for his other two shifts. Just ugh. I'm pissed off.

Once I cool down, I'm sure I'll be okay.

 

[WailFin]

You haven't been "let go". You're deciding to quit. Guess what, NOBODY likes softlines. It's a pain in the ass but somebody has to do it. You could try to talk to your TL again. It might help. Otherwise follow through on your statement when you were hired on, that if you would be offered a permanent position only in softlines you would turn it down. Good luck finding another job hiring right now.

Is it quitting when I don't need to give them a notice? I was basically told because I'm seasonal I just won't be on the schedule anymore, and I don't have to give a notice.

Everyone that's over there likes it, plus there's two others who like it and want to be over there.

I should be okay with the other job thing, whenever I moved here and applied for jobs I had other job offers, so I'll see if they're still hiring.

 

[WailFin]

I'm a flow softlines tm. I don't get why most people hate softlines. As a flow tm I have an assigned area that is my responsibility. No one but me pushes that area, I know exactly where everything is, cause I put it there. Right now I don't push to adjacencies. Our STL realizes we don't have time, but you still gave a general idea where us goes. I enjoy it because I own my area. When I'm done I push the hardliners side. If softlines is a small push, I'll work hardlines. I would suggest you give it a try.

They want me to do the carriages, which isn't just one assigned area, it's the entire softlines area. That's what the usual girl who does carriages said when I was first over there, but then she stated that dayside likes to reorganize things, so nothing is ever where she puts it.

 

[WailFin]

Needs of the store and all that.
It's tough when you have a good worker who is stubborn about where they will and won't work but that kind of thing makes it impossible to manage.
Other people see it and figure they should be able to tell you where they will work, too.
It's one thing to take into account peoples requests because you want happy employees and want them them to work hard.
It's another to have them dictate how things are done when they don't know the big picture.

I get that, I do! I feel like it'd be different if I said I'd only do HBA, or something like that, but that wasn't it. Out of all of the work centers I gave them ONE that I didn't want to do if I was going to be kept past seasonal. Being on the schedule for next week made me super happy, only to find out they wanted me for softlines.

 

[jadzia]

I really don't know. I was in soft lines solid for about a week and I hated it. They want me to be trained for breakouts and carriages, which takes four hours just to breakout!

Since they've told me that, I've also learned there are two other people who want to do softlines, but they're not being put over there.

As others have said, needs of the store. They know you are a hard worker and want to have you trained to do multiple things. Sometimes that means doing things you won't always like. If you can't be flexible and you're only willing to do the things you like, you're going to get cut. It's the same thing in any job honestly. If you're constantly telling your bosses "no I don't like that" when they're giving you an opportunity/asking you to do something new, you won't be liked anymore. Sucks, but you're not the boss, they are. End of story.

 

[WailFin]

I have two very dedicated and happy sl flow tms. One baby hardlines, the other regular softlines for breakout, etc. They only work other areas after they finish their area. I've done baby hardlines in a shift I picked up for the double truck. I'd do it again. But I left softlines years ago because it's not my cup of tea unless it had to be.

I don't mind the baby portion! But that doesn't take too long, and then I'm in the rest of softlines that again, doesn't make any sense to me.

Baby has areas for each of its things that you can easily find and push, because it's set up like the rest of the store.

 

[tgtguy]

Sounds like you are a great tm...you just happen to not like softlines. Nothing wrong with that at all. I will backstock softlines all day long with no complaints but if I had to push it I would go crazy! Hopefully, you can work something out with your flow tl and or etl/log and push in a different area.

 

[PassinTime]

See if you can work something out with your TL. Maybe work SL until they can find someone who would enjoy it more. Any manager with half a brain isn't going to put someone in a position that they don't enjoy. A person is more likely to work harder and be more efficient in a position that they enjoy. A competent/effective manager should understand this and use it to his/her benefit.

It's in Target's best interest to keep a TM in a position in which the TM is flourishing.

You aren't being inflexible, you know what you like, nothing wrong with that. Why would you want to go into a job every day if you don't enjoy it...it's certainly not the stellar salary or awesome compensation package?

Reality is that retail management considers it's workers as expendable. And for nine bucks an hour, you should consider an entry level retail position the same: expendable. If Target can't work with you, find another company that will.

 

[mrknownothing]

I don't get why most people hate softlines.

Because some of us are too hardlines-minded and cannot understand softlines. In hardlines, if you don't know where an item belongs, you can scan it to find the location and the locations are easy to find (because they're in aisles that are in numerical order). In softlines, the majority of merchandise isn't located, and even the located merchandise (i.e. tables) is difficult to find because the fixtures aren't in any particular order).

 

[Noiinteam]

Our male flow tms would rather stick glass in their eye, than do softlines. Once in a blue moon they will push baby food or diapers.

 

[Noiinteam]

They want me to do the carriages, which isn't just one assigned area, it's the entire softlines area. That's what the usual girl who does carriages said when I was first over there, but then she stated that dayside likes to reorganize things, so nothing is ever where she puts it.

Yes we all do the breakout. We have about 21 carts and 7 z racks. Each person takes their carts for their area. I guess your store does it differently. My Etl told me another store in our district asked how we did softlines. The other store did not have assigned areas and it was not working that well. Owning your area makes it easy peasy to help with ff and sfs

 

[WailFin]

See if you can work something out with your TL. Maybe work SL until they can find someone who would enjoy it more. Any manager with half a brain isn't going to put someone in a position that they don't enjoy. A person is more likely to work harder and be more efficient in a position that they enjoy. A competent/effective manager should understand this and use it to his/her benefit.

It's in Target's best interest to keep a TM in a position in which the TM is flourishing.

You aren't being inflexible, you know what you like, nothing wrong with that. Why would you want to go into a job every day if you don't enjoy it...it's certainly not the stellar salary or awesome compensation package?

Reality is that retail management considers it's workers as expendable. And for nine bucks an hour, you should consider an entry level retail position the same: expendable. If Target can't work with you, find another company that will.

That's what I've been thinking, too! I know that if I'm put in softlines, my work is going to suffer. It'd be one thing if they just let me do the baby area like they were previously, when I was put over there randomly, but to be trained for the breakouts? That sounds like I'm going to be perma-over there.

I wouldn't be upset if I was only getting 9$, but we get 11.75$ an hour.

 

[WailFin]

Our male flow tms would rather stick glass in their eye, than do softlines. Once in a blue moon they will push baby food or diapers.

I know of a couple males on our team who wouldn't mind doing softlines, but because Target is apparently sexist, the females are stuck going over there.

It'd be different if I wasn't able to lift anything, and I was a weakling, but I'm really not. I can bowl chem no problem, and do the C+D book cases and everything no problem.

 

[Jill of All Trades]

Target is sexist as hell, or at least mine is. No men are ever asked to do softlines, and no women are ever asked to do carts. I had to stop our GSTL from asking a male cashier who was over 60 and had back problems to go get carts when no less than three able-bodied college-aged women were also working. "Oh, I didn't even think of asking Jane!" she said.

 

[jenna]

Honestly, I don't blame you for not wanting to do softlines freight. Doing breakout for softlines can suck. Sorting, detrashing, stocking (zoning!) - it's a lot more work than opening a case of cereal and stocking the shelf.