Setting up for failure situation/ also racial favoritism

[TheLycan]

Sooooo at the store I am currently working at ive been there for awhile and had left for a year. I recently returned and have noticed alot of difference in the racial aspect of the work environment.
Before I had left for a year I KID YOU NOT I witnessed a upper position woman supervisor (fancy work title position whatever it was) say "Not enough black people work here"
and so i was appalled by hearing such a comment like ok???
So now that I am back and currently working a set schedule for the store. I am very much one of the highly experienced workers in all aspects due to 10+ yrs in retail. Despite having that experience I have NEVER experienced what I am about to post, not that I am being prejudice or anything BUT i do feel that prejudism is being used against anyone that is NOT black and anyone who isnt black is being set up for failure and I am among quite a few workers who feel the same.
SO i have seen some of said workers sleeping in the break room, loafing around, being goofs and not efficient at all, breaking ALL SORTS of rules including safety, dresscode, tardiness, no calls no shows, stealing company time, etc.... and they are getting away with it. but if you are NOT black you get pulled aside and told off.
whats the deal for such a situation like this? its the workers who follow the rules who getting thrown under the bus.
I was deliberately put in a area where I am not exactly the greatest and it was my first time too and within 2 hours pulled into the office for "not being fast enough"
meanwhile the other loafers around just have it their way.
I dont plan on staying with this said store long enough i am pursuing an educational course and will gladly up and leave after i finish.
its disgusting if u ask me how they are being prejudice here. Seeing them gather everyone in a huddle and enforcing some new rule about not using carts but they forget to leave out the detail that the rules exclude anyone thats black.
pardon this talk but thats the sad reality of whats going on here at this store. its like.... very contridictive. NEVER in my amount of years doing retail have I experienced a situation like this.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

are you a closing expert?
Did you get Proper training? Color shouldn’t be the issue. We are supposed to use carts.

 

[KarmaToBurn]

Yeah, I've been unofficially told by a leader that wants me in a certain position that they can't give it to me because I'm not diverse enough. That is actually current corporate policy, they say it numerous times in Target Briefly throughout the week... and here I just want good workers, I don't care who or what they are.

 

[TheLycan]

are you a closing expert?
Did you get Proper training? Color shouldn’t be the issue. We are supposed to use carts.

Im overnight, but no there is a big issue at the moment at the store regarding enforced rules and it seems like only they get the easy pass. I have heard about it going on for the past year but havent seen it for myself until i recently came back and I am seeing this firsthand. I never imagined experiencing such a scenario in the work place. The cart situation is one of MANY other rules being made up by these people trying to set select workers up for failure

 

[TheLycan]

Yeah, I've been unofficially told by a leader that wants me in a certain position that they can't give it to me because I'm not diverse enough. That is actually current corporate policy, they say it numerous times in Target Briefly throughout the week... and here I just want good workers, I don't care who or what they are.

Are u kidding me??? like seriously? that explains alot.

 

[Targetking]

Are u kidding me??? like seriously? that explains alot.

thats a lawsuit waiting to happen.

 

[commiecorvus]

Sooooo at the store I am currently working at ive been there for awhile and had left for a year. I recently returned and have noticed alot of difference in the racial aspect of the work environment.
Before I had left for a year I KID YOU NOT I witnessed a upper position woman supervisor (fancy work title position whatever it was) say "Not enough black people work here"
and so i was appalled by hearing such a comment like ok???
So now that I am back and currently working a set schedule for the store. I am very much one of the highly experienced workers in all aspects due to 10+ yrs in retail. Despite having that experience I have NEVER experienced what I am about to post, not that I am being prejudice or anything BUT i do feel that prejudism is being used against anyone that is NOT black and anyone who isnt black is being set up for failure and I am among quite a few workers who feel the same.
SO i have seen some of said workers sleeping in the break room, loafing around, being goofs and not efficient at all, breaking ALL SORTS of rules including safety, dresscode, tardiness, no calls no shows, stealing company time, etc.... and they are getting away with it. but if you are NOT black you get pulled aside and told off.
whats the deal for such a situation like this? its the workers who follow the rules who getting thrown under the bus.
I was deliberately put in a area where I am not exactly the greatest and it was my first time too and within 2 hours pulled into the office for "not being fast enough"
meanwhile the other loafers around just have it their way.
I dont plan on staying with this said store long enough i am pursuing an educational course and will gladly up and leave after i finish.
its disgusting if u ask me how they are being prejudice here. Seeing them gather everyone in a huddle and enforcing some new rule about not using carts but they forget to leave out the detail that the rules exclude anyone thats black.
pardon this talk but thats the sad reality of whats going on here at this store. its like.... very contridictive. NEVER in my amount of years doing retail have I experienced a situation like this.

So, you seem like a nice young person but I'm sure I'm going to regret this but WTF.
/me drops the needle on Vouden-Ascend and cranks up the volume, and pours a Guinness.
"You want one? This might take a bit."

So you were at the store for a while, left and recently came back, right?
But there seems to be something different about the place now?
A racial element you say?
You even heard one of the TLs or ETLs say something on the side about there not being enough black employees.
You don't mention what the context of the conversation was so we really don't know if that meant for their being able to find dates or put together a decent basketball team but whatever.
But you have noticed a number of people goofing off.
And you seem to think that the black people get away with it while the white people don't.
And this disgusts you especially when new rules about not using carts are made but the rules exclude... anyone who is black.
And you are absolutely convinced that is exactly what is going on in your store. 100%.
And it might be, I'm not there.

However, I also see you work overnight which is a pretty small window into the store as a whole.
You may be seeing a situation that is happening on one team, which while I grant you is bad, isn't indicative of the store as a whole.
How much of the store do you see overall?
When I was a signing ninja, I was all over the place from one end to the other morning to late afternoon.
I got to see all aspects of what was going on and I realized that a lot of my perspective from the days when I worked flow was pretty damned tiny.

You getting assigned to an area you aren't good at isn't a conspiracy, it means you got the short end of the stick.
I have big fat hands, with tremors from nerve damage, and getting assigned anything in makeup was a horror for me.
I dropped more than I shelved.
I hated it more than anything but I worked it when I got assigned and tried to come up with ways of doing it better.

As to the people fucking off, sleeping, etc.
About half the flow crew were Hispanic and worked 3 or 4 jobs to pay the stupidly high rents in NJ.
Some of the them would fall asleep on break and we would have to go find them in the corners of the steel to wake them up.
Nobody worked harder but they were literally killing themselves to survive.
You might want to take some of that into consideration as well.

We had a former gang member who left suddenly without telling anyone because his kid got sick.
When they said they were going to fire him he laughed, "I jumped out of the 18th Street Set, so I could be with my kids. You got nothing to say to me."
I tried to explain to the HR lady that she needed to stop treating the TM like children since many of them had seen shit that she had no idea of.
That might have been part of the reason she decided to get rid of me what she took over as boss.

I'm not trying to say that you didn't have the experiences you say you did.
Like I said, I wasn't there.
However, I suspect that if you take a wider look you might find some interesting things in the corners that you didn't realize were there.

Soundtrack to read this by.

 

[TheLycan]

So, you seem like a nice young person but I'm sure I'm going to regret this but WTF.
/me drops the needle on Vouden-Ascend and cranks up the volume, and pours a Guinness.
"You want one? This might take a bit."

So you were at the store for a while, left and recently came back, right?
But there seems to be something different about the place now?
A racial element you say?
You even heard one of the TLs or ETLs say something on the side about there not being enough black employees.
You don't mention what the context of the conversation was so we really don't know if that meant for their being able to find dates or put together a decent basketball team but whatever.
But you have noticed a number of people goofing off.
And you seem to think that the black people get away with it while the white people don't.
And this disgusts you especially when new rules about not using carts are made but the rules exclude... anyone who is black.
And you are absolutely convinced that is exactly what is going on in your store. 100%.
And it might be, I'm not there.

However, I also see you work overnight which is a pretty small window into the store as a whole.
You may be seeing a situation that is happening on one team, which while I grant you is bad, isn't indicative of the store as a whole.
How much of the store do you see overall?
When I was a signing ninja, I was all over the place from one end to the other morning to late afternoon.
I got to see all aspects of what was going on and I realized that a lot of my perspective from the days when I worked flow was pretty damned tiny.

You getting assigned to an area you aren't good at isn't a conspiracy, it means you got the short end of the stick.
I have big fat hands, with tremors from nerve damage, and getting assigned anything in makeup was a horror for me.
I dropped more than I shelved.
I hated it more than anything but I worked it when I got assigned and tried to come up with ways of doing it better.

As to the people fucking off, sleeping, etc.
About half the flow crew were Hispanic and worked 3 or 4 jobs to pay the stupidly high rents in NJ.
Some of the them would fall asleep on break and we would have to go find them in the corners of the steel to wake them up.
Nobody worked harder but they were literally killing themselves to survive.
You might want to take some of that into consideration as well.

We had a former gang member who left suddenly without telling anyone because his kid got sick.
When they said they were going to fire him he laughed, "I jumped out of the 18th Street Set, so I could be with my kids. You got nothing to say to me."
I tried to explain to the HR lady that she needed to stop treating the TM like children since many of them had seen shit that she had no idea of.
That might have been part of the reason she decided to get rid of me what she took over as boss.

I'm not trying to say that you didn't have the experiences you say you did.
Like I said, I wasn't there.
However, I suspect that if you take a wider look you might find some interesting things in the corners that you didn't realize were there.

Soundtrack to read this by.

There are a few problems though.
I am not the only 1 who feels this way.
The context of that said quote regarding not enough black people was exactly that... "there are not enough black people working here"

I guess it's easy to dismiss these claims as it is hard to believe something like this can happen.
Just know that it's just not justifiable for what I've seen and currently experiencing.
The logic I am seeing at this store is very very poor. It is what it is, I dont plan on staying in my state within the next yr I'm planning on leaving. These miserable prejudice people can keep their store and do as they want. I just find it amusing and annoying to say the least. Asses hanging out, favoritism with well... again ykno wat I mean.
I'm a very very open minded person and see alot from different angles so trust me I wouldnt be posting this here otherwise. I've done this field for 10 plus yrs and it's the first time I am seeing such a situation, hence why I thought I'd seek some insight. It really is pathetic to be honest.
Anyhow jus wonder if anyones had similar stories.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

There are a few problems though.
I am not the only 1 who feels this way.
The context of that said quote regarding not enough black people was exactly that... "there are not enough black people working here"

I guess it's easy to dismiss these claims as it is hard to believe something like this can happen.
Just know that it's just not justifiable for what I've seen and currently experiencing.
The logic I am seeing at this store is very very poor. It is what it is, I dont plan on staying in my state within the next yr I'm planning on leaving. These miserable prejudice people can keep their store and do as they want. I just find it amusing and annoying to say the least. Asses hanging out, favoritism with well... again ykno wat I mean.
I'm a very very open minded person and see alot from different angles so trust me I wouldnt be posting this here otherwise. I've done this field for 10 plus yrs and it's the first time I am seeing such a situation, hence why I thought I'd seek some insight. It really is pathetic to be honest.
Anyhow jus wonder if anyones had similar stories.

Document all events & talk to your sd about your concerns.

 

[IhateOPmodel]

I have been told by ETLs that we are to hire all people of color if they apply at my store, unless they present huge red flags during the interview process. I work in a store that is only 1% diverse and in an area that is less than 15% diverse.

 

[TheLycan]

I have been told by ETLs that we are to hire all people of color if they apply at my store, unless they present huge red flags during the interview process. I work in a store that is only 1% diverse and in an area that is less than 15% diverse.

I just cant believe this is even a damn topic its sad

 

[Avocadioo]

I'm a very very open minded person and see alot from different angles so trust me I wouldnt be posting this here otherwise.

Open it more. Try a different perspective.

 

[TheLycan]

Open it more. Try a different perspective.

There is no different perspective when you are a very open minded person. There is prejudism going on in the work place and that shouldn't be tolerated. Prejudism is not a one way street. There is such a thing as being prejudice against other races besides the one. This topic is disgusting to even talk about as is.
This experience didnt happen overnight, it's an accumulation of events over the past 2 or so years.
I'm done with retail after this.

 

[TheLycan]

There is no justifying the things I've seen.

 

[KirbyKirbs]

I really think we need a more diverse CEO.... Target could really use the touch of a black woman. I'm being serious. I'm not a fan of Brian's Target. Everything is blah.....beige housewares, boring artwork, prairie dresses, and street walker clothes.

 

[can't touch this]

CEOs aren’t people

 

[happygoth]

I really think we need a more diverse CEO.... Target could really use the touch of a black woman. I'm being serious. I'm not a fan of Brian's Target. Everything is blah.....beige housewares, boring artwork, prairie dresses, and street walker clothes.

I like a lot of our home decor, but holy hell most of our dresses are hideous. There are some cute-ish Wild Fable ones but you have to be a twig to wear them.

 

[Tacopie]

Have you been living under a pallet of paper towels?? This is Target goal to do better in our future for a more diverse community. We are stepping up and it’s about time. It’s acceptance no matter if you have pink hair and a bull ring in your forehead, black, white, gray, red or just a straight laced leave it to beaver Target wants them. Now 51% of our suppliers are black, lgbt veterans or disabled. Yes we are hiring mostly black people in our store also. The last 5 hires were black. So now out of our 100 employees I think maybe 7 are black. I bet the same in your store. In my eyes they are not even close to equal But Target is making an effort. I Do not believe people are sleeping on the job and stealing time unless it’s your AP That’s sleeping. I know my AP does not miss a beat. Your job would be way less stressful without worrying about everyone else’s preformance. Having 10 plus years experience is actually not a pro it’s a con since the entire system has changed and everyone across the board had to relearn the new process. Get you some tissues and dry those tears.

 

[lucidtm]

I think it's every businesses goal to become more diverse. You're overnight and while we did overnight in Q4 we had A LOT of slackers. Remodel overnight doesn't slack because there are leaders all over watching. If your store is a normal overnight store it's not shocking to hear people are getting away with slacking off. Are you 100% positive no one is talking to them? They may be getting coached and you/other TM's just don't know about it. Perhaps leaders are more careful in coaching POC?

It could even be the leader responsible to speaking with "the sleeper" are slacking on that job for fear of what might happen to them? Maybe "the sleeper" works overnights but watched their kids during the days so they get 2-3 hours of sleep. Maybe the LOD told them to take a quick nap because it was unsafe with how tired they were.

There are a lot of variables here. Some you may be aware of but a lot of them I bet you're not. It's okay to feel how you're feeling, I'm sure everyone has been there... in particular POC on a much grander scale.

 

[commiecorvus]

 

[GRC]

Is it really surprising? It's what almost every big company is doing now. Diversity for the sake of diversity, fighting racism with more racism.

 

[NotCynicalYet]

I hesitate to add to the OPs anxiety, but I'll be honest. When a team member who is AA or part of another culturally/ethnically under-repped group has issues and needs performance documented and seems to be on the road to counseling/term, I proceed very carefully and take a partner for everything, because I know our store is trying to increase diversity a little, and there is always the danger of being falsely accused of bias, or of subconsciously harboring bias. Which creates the opposite situation, where people are getting away with a little more than they should. I see this as an unfortunate but necessary condition of getting America where it needs to be w/regard to opportunity, so I don't think it's that wrong. Racism has created a situation in our country where there is no fair way out of it, and certainly no quick way out of it. That's one reason racial discrimination is so destructive, it creates no-win situations that future people have to deal with, unfair situations that have no perfectly fair and clean solution. When it comes to this, Target is trying, and it's a tough balancing act. I have to give the company some credit here.

Are there individuals taking advantage of this dynamic? Fuuuuuuuuuuuck yes. Of course there are, I've seen it and dealt with it. But I don't think it's as common a situation as people fear. If this is what's going on for OP, that stinks. But like others have said, you could be missing something or your perspective could be skewed. Why not talk to HR and air your concerns in a constructive way?

 

[Ringwraith917]

I think you OP are seeing things how they are and we aren't allowed to talk about it because it's such a political hot zone. Target wants more black people working. Period.

Target pledges to increase number of Black employees by 20% as companies are pressured to take action

Companies have faced heightened scrutiny over their record on diversity since the George Floyd protests.

www.cnbc.com

Just saw this article on my news feed and I need to comment on it.

Included in the article is this breakdown of employee diversity: "overall workforce — which includes hourly store employees who stock shelves and check out customers — is more mixed, with 50% made up of White workers, 25% Latino and 15% Black, as the top three groups. "

According the the Kaiser Foundation, the racial makeup of the US in 2018 was: 60% white, 12% black, 18% Hispanic

Blacks are already over-represented among Target employees. Among leadership roles (75% white, 8% black) there is an issue that must be addressed, but to "increase representation of Black employees across its workforce by 20% over the next three years" seems overboard.

This post is a couple of years old so we are now in the depths of this plan and you have seen the change

 

[TheLycan]

@Tacopie
sounds like you would be part of the problem.
I have nothing to cry about but I WILL def rise above those prejudice hypocritical scumbags
..
And whatever you write will notmjustify what I have seen. YES I have seen select team members stealing company time regardless of your belief or not it happened. I know these are just words on a post but the reactions I'm seeing from few such as yourself is self explanatory and says alot of what I can expect with others ignorance and biased opinions. It is what it is.
Pushes me to not care toward the situation. It sucks because for people who actually give a flying fuck about the retail store and the process and try to get better results get the shit end of the stick and especially when petty squabbles over skin color and favoritism toward this situation.. well fuck all that. I know what I see and I'm not blind. i speak for many including certain Leads.
But hey... whatever

 

[TheLycan]

Think I got all the feedback I needed on here. Let's me know how much more ignorance is out there to this kinda topic. I dont care nomore. Soooooo thanks!