Archived Anyone worked for a "prick", but kinda miss some of their methods

[Him]

This goes out to people who has been with Spot longer than a "Hiccup". I know we all had that person in Leadership, that makes you say "Man why are they like that?" Now that they are no longer with your store, (Promotion, Quit or fired), you're like "I kinda miss when so and so DID so and so. Share Your Stories please.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

We have lost some many good folks. It makes me sad

 

[Ringwraith917]

I haven't really come across much leadership that was both asinine/rude and effective. If they're an asshat, it's because they're doing a bad job and are about to lose said job, and stressed out. Effective people tend to be confident and if not super friendly, at least not offputting.

 

[sprinklesontop]

At my former company..... one of my first interactions w/ a District Business Partner left me w/ a unfavorable opinion of the DBP. I thought she was a complete and total bitch. However.... over the course of time; I found myself learning a great deal from this person. I found myself "listening" to her in group settings because she had such a "global business perspective". I found myself reaching out to her when I needed solutions to business issues. Eventually she left the company (via reduction in force); and I was saddened. However, we have recently reconnected.... and interestingly enough, she offered me a position at her new company. ( Hmmmm..... sprinkles is pondering her career options.)

 

[NPC]

Yeah. Nothing too drastic, but we had an ETL who was big on playing favorites. He wasn't very subtle about it either. The only thing I liked about him was he just seemed to have infinite knowledge on everything Target. So if something was broken, guarantee he'd be the only one who knows how to fix it. It's nice to have someone like that in the store. But I appreciate ETLs who are more equally involved with the team, outside the people they're close to.

 

[soyaxo]

Our old ETL-SF. She is the store manager of a different store across the street now. Which is kinda ironic, but good!

 

[jenna]

Nope. Good riddance.

 

[Him]

2 things I used to like about my old ETL LOG. 1 was he would see something that honestly just taking up space, he would throw it away. 2 was he would allow ppl to work sometimes even if not scheduled. Granted that hurt payroll but the results compensated. He came off at times like a “dick” and VERY “cocky” though.

 

[Aredhel]

Long before Spot I had a boss who repeated -“Do you have a plan for that?” Damn it was annoying. He was also right. I became a planner. And it worked.
Edit. And I caught myself saying the same damn thing...

 

[can't touch this]

our old softlines TL was a snotty bitch but she kept her gaggle of chatty cathys much too busy to do much chatting (probably afraid for their lives) and the softlines breakout never took more than an hour with her around. She quit and now Target is paying them to text and gossip all morning, MUST BE NICE LOL

 

[monkeyman90]

we had an stl who drove good results but in a way we lost a ton of etls, people just knew they were going to get yelled at for an hour for something out of their control. we got a young stl and we abused the shit out of him. we didn't care about a lot. a lot of the we're behind and it's blown up would have been problem solved and fixed earlier or never allowed to get to that point.

 

[redeye58]

Had an ETL who played TMs off each other to keep everyone off balance.
In a perverse sort of way it taught us not to depend on others to get things done, that it was up to us to pick up the slack.
Also employed the policy that whatever one TM did to f**k up Steritech, EVERYONE on the team suffered for it.
Despised him greatly altho it got results.
Never any recognition no matter how well we did.
Did not say goodbye nor sign the card when he left.

 

[Planosss]

We have lost some many good folks. It makes me sad

Our store is losing a few top notch leaders this months. The store is anxious to say the least. They are truly the best at what they do, and above all they are decent, kind humans!

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

At my former company..... one of my first interactions w/ a District Business Partner left me w/ a unfavorable opinion of the DBP. I thought she was a complete and total bitch. However.... over the course of time; I found myself learning a great deal from this person. I found myself "listening" to her in group settings because she had such a "global business perspective". I found myself reaching out to her when I needed solutions to business issues. Eventually she left the company (via reduction in force); and I was saddened. However, we have recently reconnected.... and interestingly enough, she offered me a position at her new company. ( Hmmmm..... sprinkles is pondering her career options.)

You might want to follow up with it.

 

[Him]

Great Stories everyone. Never realized how many "Unique" People we've worked for!! Please keep the stories going!! I'm sure we're all gaining insight to help us not only with Spot but life after Spot as well!!

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

My very first ETL (Mike) was really by the book, best practice always and visit ready anytime. He treated everyone exactly the same, no favorites. A lot of people thought he was a total prick. To be honest he was the toughest STL I have worked for ( I have had 8) But he is the one I respected the most.. I learned how to prioritize, how to lead for results and empowerment, that good enough never is and there is always an answer to any problem. There was never a payroll dump because of an expected visit (jet or otherwise) He recognized with a sincere thank you face to face often in his office. He delivered recognition with as much importance as coachings. I use that to this day. I really think that too many STLs and ETLs want to be your buddy or your prison guard.

 

[BullseyeBlues]

My first ETL-GE scared the living daylights out of me. Even after my 90 days were up I was paranoid she was gonna fire me over not being fast enough when zoning (while also deep zoning) or not knowing how to do something that should have been obvious. However, I wouldn’t know how to print signs, print labels, PTM an aisle, properly deep zone, or create batches if it weren’t for her. I think she was especially hard on me because she saw potential and didn’t want that to go to waste. She has influenced the pace and quality level of my zoning from what she taught me at the start of my time with Spot. Last I heard, she was VML for another store in the district and loving it because her degree had more to do with merchandizing than running the salesfloor. I’ve talked to her on a couple occasions and she was glad to hear I still teach people how to use the dinosaurs if they need to drop a big label batch, just the same way she taught me.

 

[SFSFun]

My first ETL-Log was completely useless as a leader, terrible at giving instructions on how to do what needed to be done, and an all-around unpleasant person...but he handed out hours like candy and he did not recognize any authority higher than himself.

When I first started on flow, the truck was an all-day event, starting at 6am and often running past 3pm. It was not uncommon for TMs to have to leave by 8 or 9am on Saturday to cut OT. And when the holidays came, he brought the team in overnight and handed out OT to anyone who wanted it.

Some days I wondered if he had something on the STL that allowed him to get away with the unlimited payroll and no consequences for not finishing trucks.