I've had similar situations going on at my store. Our seasonal TM's on Hardlines were scheduled to train with people that quit a while ago, and were basically given a myDevice and walkie and left to wander the store aimlessly. After I found them and found out they were pretty much on their own having been told basically nothing, I decided to tell them to shadow me for a while and show them how things work. LOD was a bit annoyed the zone wasn't totally finished by the end of the night, but ended up apologizing to ME after finding out I ended up becoming the trainer without being told. I honestly didn't mind training them, it was kind of fun. The only thing that pissed me off was the fact that the situation happened the way it did; with them being thrown out to the floor with no training and no actual trainer.
Actually, I'm sort of that TM in Hardlines but without the person training me well, but my time has been strange to say the least. I had very little actual training in anything, and when I ask a question, I get multiple answers even from the same person. Tonight, some of my TMs somewhat nicely got on me about the speed of my zone. I will admit that I was trying to make it too perfect for the time constraints, and I'll admit that I've struggled to really pick up "zoning" as Target sees it coming from a retail background where zoning was the biggest priority. Here's the thing, though... I initially started off zoning like this until I picked up that speed was more important. That is, until one of my TLs saw me zone and told me I needed to make the zone look better, pull ALL items forward, and ensure it's in the correct location for every item there. I was fine with that because that's what I was used to so I went back to it, but apparently, I "have struggled with the zone" the past few nights after working multiple massive closing shifts with a fever without complaints.
Now, I'm sure it's got something to do with the fact that everyone has been working constantly and are tired and stressed, but I feel like this is just a continuation of being set up for failure. They've already lost my training course folder twice! I may actually have to do it again! My checkstand training? A girl randomly said "Oh! I want to train someone" and then I was on the lane for the next 5 hours with little help. Another cashier always laughs about how they throw me to the wolves on register giving me the ones that hardly work and don't have bags or whatever else. Hardlines training? Done by one of the TLs who put in their two weeks to follow around 10 other people out of Hardlines. In fact, until two weeks later, I didn't have a clue what to do and when to do it until I asked someone simply "Dude, how do I know what to do when I come in" to which he explained it in 2 seconds. That didn't stop them from sticking me solely in seasonal for a major part of my "training period" only to send me on the floor after without having familiarized myself with what is a absolutely massive store. As for the zoning situation, I've been basically given hell, along with another new TM in Hardlines is new as well, regardless of what I do. We never have enough MyDevices, walkies, and sometimes even box cutters so it was a struggle to get everything out quickly enough, but now it's gotten a bit better. I did call in once, right when the store opened for a shift 8 hours later, and guess what? LOD forgets to document it, and I have to prove that I didn't NCNS to keep from being termed. I'm just worried I'm being judged for all of this with 2/3 of my 90 days up (was hired non-seasonal to offset departures).
The worst part? Everyone knows how little we've been trained and how high the workload's been. ETLs have openly said "Yeah, but there's no reason you should be dealing with this still so new. It's sad how little we have to help you guys out." That doesn't mean they'll keep me around, though. I'm just starting to worry that even though I'm picking it up and always try to get the biggest pulls and abandons out really quickly and focus on guests, the situation may lead to me being let go. I've never been coached or anything else, and yet, I'm worried because I'm starting to think that's a bad thing. Every time someone's talked to me or told me how to do something without any runaround or vagueness, I immediately get it done as I did with my zone tonight, which ended up great after some advice from a fellow TM. The problem is that because we've been trained so little and had to learn everything on my own even while asking questions a lot, I feel like the fact that I have to find out where I need to do better from my fellow TMs who know that I'm working hard means that the TLs and ETLs have probably taken issues with these things for much longer. I've gotten several compliments, including from the STL, and had a couple of the ETLs start being progressively more nice and friendly with me lately, but I just can help but feel like I won't have performed well enough to be kept after the 90 since 40-50 of those were during a mass exodus that allowed little to no room for falling behind.
I just don't understand how we're expected to achieve these goals when we've had so little in the way of training and even staff to get comfortable with the position. I've heard that it used to be different from multiple people but we got shafted. Maybe that's just bitterness with the new way things are going, but it's disheartening to have to be concerned for your employment when you're out there doing everything humanly possible to get it all done. I may end up being fine, and it's possibly just me frustrated by the fact that I've been told to zone the opposite way of how I was zoning only to change and it happen again. I just feel like I'm just destined to fail due to the amount of silly things that have happened, all very much beyond my control for the most part.