Archived Entertainment Specialist/Brand Team Member question about position. Help Please

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A couple of months ago our store received a new STL and there were some major changes. Our previous STL wasn't the best, but they definitely had the experience to keep the store running well, get good scores, and keep every team member happy. I've been an entertainment brand team member since the position was actually a specialist position. During the transition from specialist to brand, I kept my paygrade and some of the perks that came with it, such as rotating weekends off. Everything was fine until the new STL started as well as the new HR. It first started 2 months ago when they took away my rotating weekends away and instead had me work every weekend, then I started getting scheduled different shifts then normal, such as closing during the week or working some evening shift. Before this, I had been scheduled early in the mornings to get my workload done for the week which included all my revisions, doing research, and just maintaining the department. Now, I pretty much do reshops and zone, reshops and zone. My revisions have been given to a team leader to do, which aren't always done correctly and sometimes not done at all, but instead tied and saved for the following week. In addition to this, I come to learn that they have me scheduled after opening time on Tuesdays now and they have someone from flow to do my new release now. It is assumed that they know how to do New Release, but they actually do not know how to do them at all. It seems like they have taken everything away that came with that position now. My question is, can they really do this? and what's the point of having the position if the person in that position is doing the same thing as an electronics team member who just does reshops, zone, and ring up guests?
 
It honestly sounds like they're trying to declare you as redundant. I would talk to your HR about this but honestly with the removal of specialists your just a team member in the eyes of your leadership. Is your Team Lead aware of this situation? Have they talked to their ETL about this?
 
My team leader is aware of all of this. They've kind of given up on everything. My team leader used to do the schedule for us before and now they took that away from them as well. My TL doesn't even know whats going in their electronics department. HR just started doing our schedules without telling my TL. I would bring the issue to my HR's attention, however our HR isn't really approachable. To top it all off, I would go to my hardlines etl, but they are really new and is still learning everything.
 
My team leader is aware of all of this. They've kind of given up on everything. My team leader used to do the schedule for us before and now they took that away from them as well. My TL doesn't even know whats going in their electronics department. HR just started doing our schedules without telling my TL. I would bring the issue to my HR's attention, however our HR isn't really approachable. To top it all off, I would go to my hardlines etl, but they are really new and is still learning everything.

Here is the deal.... and I said this back when the specialist position was eliminated.

Back when the position was eliminated, they promised all the specs they would get to keep their hours/pay/etc.... all that was changing was the title.

Look back on this forum, tons of people bought all of that cr**. I said that as soon as new ETLs moved in (new hires... who don't even know what a specialist was) they would drop that sh** immediately.

This is what is happening to you. Your old leadership was around when the specialist position existed. New leadership has no freaking clue what a "specialist" is anymore. Therefore, that agreement that you would keep your hours/etc? It means nothing to them. You are just another TM.

Sad truth is - you're done. They have officially handed your work over to other TMs. You will no longer have you hours/work. You are just another TM as far as the new leaders at your store are concerned.
 
Damn! Lol! Yeah, I've been looking on these forums for a couple of years and have seen whats been going on. I guess it hadn't really effected me until the new STL came in. I'm just wondering what I can do at this point. Im thinking of going straight to my STL and having a talk with them to see what can be done. I could be wrong though, but don't you still have to apply for that position? If so, why have someone apply for a position that they will never do? Just to have on paper? And if that's the case, couldn't that be challenged with the STL?
 
The position is to exist, despite my feeling that Plano can just take it over it's the only position left that even takes care of that department (Electronics has too much pressure on it to stay in their department half the time...assuming it's a team that is even half useful) and typically you need someone there that gives a damn to take care of it and make sure odd issues are resolved.

If your ETL and TL are not working on this to keep you in there for AT LEAST your Tune in Tuesday revisions, then you should try and have a sit down with your HR and, hopefully, STL to discuss how your role increases sales. Entertainment does not actually make money for Target as far as margins are concerned. But the consistent quality of ensuring new releases are ready for guests is an important draw for them.

Of course, your STL may just be aware of something for 2013 and that position and department is just going to be gutted. it just seems inevitable at this point. It's a high shortage area with very, very small margins. And with the advent of a digital market and people finally transitioning over, the reign of physical media may finally begin to die. Or something.
 
The position is to exist, despite my feeling that Plano can just take it over it's the only position left that even takes care of that department (Electronics has too much pressure on it to stay in their department half the time...assuming it's a team that is even half useful) and typically you need someone there that gives a damn to take care of it and make sure odd issues are resolved.

If your ETL and TL are not working on this to keep you in there for AT LEAST your Tune in Tuesday revisions, then you should try and have a sit down with your HR and, hopefully, STL to discuss how your role increases sales. Entertainment does not actually make money for Target as far as margins are concerned. But the consistent quality of ensuring new releases are ready for guests is an important draw for them.

Of course, your STL may just be aware of something for 2013 and that position and department is just going to be gutted. it just seems inevitable at this point. It's a high shortage area with very, very small margins. And with the advent of a digital market and people finally transitioning over, the reign of physical media may finally begin to die. Or something.

Yeah, I see how the department has been getting and it just bothers the hell out of me. I actually put the time and effort to maintain the department and make it my own. Everything just seems so damn sloppy now. So is there something for 2013 that is going to do away with mmb or something? I kind of doubt that, considering the amount of blu rays people buy.
 
I doubt it too, Target seems to be the only major retailer left even trying to keep an entertainment department. The writings are on the wall though, and the department has been shrinking over the years.
 
Damn! Lol! Yeah, I've been looking on these forums for a couple of years and have seen whats been going on. I guess it hadn't really effected me until the new STL came in. I'm just wondering what I can do at this point. Im thinking of going straight to my STL and having a talk with them to see what can be done. I could be wrong though, but don't you still have to apply for that position? If so, why have someone apply for a position that they will never do? Just to have on paper? And if that's the case, couldn't that be challenged with the STL?

I would just let it go at this point, and honestly your best bet is to work on promoting to TL down the line.

If it makes you feel better, MMB is on the way out the door anyway. No, not tomorrow, or next week, or next month, or even next year.... but it is on the way out the door. Optical discs are about to go the way of the floppy disc, and it will be here before you know it.... possibly as early as 2015.

Think about it this way, Apple doesn't even include DVD drives in most of their machines anymore. They just pulled them from the iMac, and they are half way done removing them from MacBooks. Apple never even had blu-ray in their machines.... they skipped that entirely and are completely removing optical now.

Even many new PCs are shipping without DVD/Blu-Ray drives unless custom built. And the new version of Windows 8? It does not even support DVD playback out of the box anymore! You have to go online and buy DVD playback software to watch DVDs on the new version of windows.

Most movies are now digital streams on Amazon, Netflix, iTunes store, etc.

Anyway, long story short, MMB at Target is going to be history soon.
 
Thanks. I guess I've been pretty comfy in my position. I'm gonna give one last try with the Stl and if I don't get what I want, I guess I'll try for team leader if they can work around my school schedule. That is if there are any positions at the moment.
 
Thanks. I guess I've been pretty comfy in my position. I'm gonna give one last try with the Stl and if I don't get what I want, I guess I'll try for team leader if they can work around my school schedule. That is if there are any positions at the moment.

Oh well then don't even try. Seriously, 99% of stores won't let a TL have anything other than open availability.

Best thing to do? Enjoy the extra time off and put your efforts towards finishing you degree sooner.
 
I feel your pain, I was there. I have since moved to a new specialty team and am applying for a TL opening when it gets posted. I cringe every time I go past entertainment, aisles set wrong, whole sides of a round about empty, no books ever mentioned on tune in tuesday. Won't go into the gory details, but when I was given the chance to move and keep my pay I didn't look back. Although when bounceback happens, I'll have an evil smirk on. :laugh2:
 
If management doesn't want you taking ownership of MMB, look for a new challenge to take! GSA, Cosmetics, Bike Builder, etc.
 
since you are going to school. talk to your tl about working on the "important" days for mmb. if you become a tl, your upper mgt may not be too flexible around your school schedule.
 
It's sad because mmb and cosmetics are the two sections that really need consistent, tender, loving care.
It's one of the great examples of where Spot went into a tailspin and lost any sense of what made it different from Uncle Wally.

Sorry to hear that you have been relegated to TM but it's not a big surprise.
Just be glad you got to last as long as you did.
 
The MMB specialist was toast 2 years ago. You did well to last as long as you have. Your best best is to work on excelling in driving attachments in Electronics because that is the business focus in the area. Do that well and then you can tie in MMB as a bonus. Your STL will see the relavence of it then, but the days of a stand alone MMB specialists are gone(It was a great position back in the day when I did it)
 
Almost the exact same thing happened at my store - 2 years ago. You won't like what I say so either stop reading or keep an open mind.

Why should you not have to work evenings or close? Your TL does, your ETL does, other TMs do, what's the reason you shouldn't? How is that fair to others? Why should you get every other weekend off? The weekend is when we make money, the store needs to be staffed and no other TMs get a set rotation like that.

The workload can be completed by anyone, all it takes is training. Have you not trained anyone to do it over the years?
 
I was the Entertainment Team Member/Specialist at my store for three years. I sensed that the company was getting ready to gut the department and I bailed. There was an open position on the Presentation team and I asked about it. My ETL thought it was a great idea since I didn't require much training and he let me move. My advice is use your experience to your advantage and switch departments. Good luck!
 
Good stuff. Yeah, there's just a lot of changes going on at our store right now and definitely not for the best.
 
tnt is very important that must get done if you had a huge release coming out on tuesday and it was expected that many people would be waiting at 8am to purchase it when the store was open and the stuff was not set. your guest would be blowing through the roof to some etl or tl then they would go find u ***** to u why it was not done happens in every store. i do tnt i get 4 hours on monday evening to set the strips move old product backstock and pull the batches i am in charge only of music nr comp and soundtracks nr all of the new releases for movies and movie best sellers. i don't touch the books nr or best sellers plano has 2 people that spend a few days during the week changing out the rest of ent including books. if your hr wont do anything call your dm or corp
 
You see all the work you were doing was under other people's workload. Electronics(you) were doing all the work on Hardlines time. The pogteam should be doing the revisions, pogs and TNT. Instocks should be doing research. if youre doing Any o that then you need to be scheduled under the corresponding work center. You should literally be maintaining, zoning electronics and depending, sales planners.You're the key holder and are suppose to hold knowledge about electronics. So why should they take vital hours that could help improve their store(by zoning) and waste the hours that other teams are given? Maybe you should be asked to be scheduled under those teams so you can continue to do that work..
Not entirely true. Best practice is for the entertainment brand to own research scanning in MMB and the electronics TM is responsible for cameras and case-locked items. TNT has to be set before store open so that wouldn't take away from any of the other Electronics duties.
 
A couple of months ago our store received a new STL and there were some major changes. Our previous STL wasn't the best, but they definitely had the experience to keep the store running well, get good scores, and keep every team member happy. I've been an entertainment brand team member since the position was actually a specialist position. During the transition from specialist to brand, I kept my paygrade and some of the perks that came with it, such as rotating weekends off. Everything was fine until the new STL started as well as the new HR. It first started 2 months ago when they took away my rotating weekends away and instead had me work every weekend, then I started getting scheduled different shifts then normal, such as closing during the week or working some evening shift. Before this, I had been scheduled early in the mornings to get my workload done for the week which included all my revisions, doing research, and just maintaining the department. Now, I pretty much do reshops and zone, reshops and zone. My revisions have been given to a team leader to do, which aren't always done correctly and sometimes not done at all, but instead tied and saved for the following week. In addition to this, I come to learn that they have me scheduled after opening time on Tuesdays now and they have someone from flow to do my new release now. It is assumed that they know how to do New Release, but they actually do not know how to do them at all. It seems like they have taken everything away that came with that position now. My question is, can they really do this? and what's the point of having the position if the person in that position is doing the same thing as an electronics team member who just does reshops, zone, and ring up guests?
Sorry to say that is pretty much company wide. TLs/Specialists were usually given rotating shifts. Make the specialists TMs, then they can schedule them anytime and still expect them to do the same work.
 
I was an entertainment specialist for two years. Of every position I've held at Target, that may have been my favorite.
 
Hmm, well I guess my store is a rarity then. We have an Entertainment Brand TM, who was a former specialist. Very handy to have around, as he is the last TM in our department with override numbers lol. Our other "former Specialist" is now our SFT. Everyone else in the department is an Electronics TM or Sales Floor TM.

Our Entertainment guy does his Monday night revisions, then comes in super early for TNT. That is all scheldued under Sales Floor. The rest of the week he is scheduled in Electronics.
 
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