Archived Ex ETL AMA (ask me anything)

Status
Not open for further replies.
What was your routine for dealing with very mad guests that were very mean and if at all gave you some f-bombs or just very very pissy altogether?
 
How does stores deal with TMs who would possible want to do"organizing" work?
 
1350751443437.jpg
 
Well damn.

Thanks for answering that. Most honesty I've seen from any ETL.
 
Do you all just blindly abide buy what ever comes down from corporate? No matter how ridiculous? It always seems like some new bs is being rolled out and crammed down everyone's throat and etls and stl never stand up for their teams.. Just drink the koolaid and shut the hell up, is it really the status quo? Did you ever as a group or individually say this or that is stupid and wont work?
 
Have you ever seen really great TMs not get TL promotions because of high school BS or did they actually have integrity?
 
MrTaskMule said:
Have you ever seen really great TMs not get TL promotions because of high school BS or did they actually have integrity?
Click to expand...

I saw one not get it because he didn't and he left the company. I fought so hard for him and my 2nd store and they could care less. Dude went to Walmart and got equivalent of ETL and now a STL at a Walmart. So ya.
 
daninnj said:
What did you major in college?
How did seasoned ETLs, TLs, and TMs (talking about older, less likely to have a degree, etc) view you or other out-of-college ETLs when you first started? Did higher-paid, older, long-term ETLs seemingly get the boot as younger ones came in?
Tell me about a time when... (jk! :D)
Did you witness any ETL meltdowns? Do explain!
Any other stories?

Good luck wherever you are now! You are one of the good guys!
Click to expand...

I majored in Marketing. LOL College.
Those older ETL's actually took me under their wing. Maybe it was my personality, or the fact I wanted to learn. Some didn't like some of hte really peppy type that never worked or would dare think about getting carts, but its a diff work force. Im young and never feel entitled.
Nah, I never saw "room being made" for new ETL's by firing old ones. Our district was at any time easily 8-9 etl's understaffed throughout the entire 5 years. Not once did i know a store was fully staffed with ETL's
Saw numerous ETL meltdowns. Had an ETL snap on a tm and hold them back. More tm meltdowns, but ya too many too name.

i'll try and put some stories oin tonight
 
Jackswastedlife99 said:
Thanks for answering my question about the bonuses. Finally some honesty and communication from an ex ETL. Sad that it's that way.

Another question, are the annual reviews rigged? When I say rigged, I mean are stores really only able to give out so many good scores even when some TMs are deserving of good scores but get screwed and get bad scores? And do ETLs ever use their own personal feelings and grudges/vendettas when doing the annual reviews?
For example, if you make your ETL mad, will they take it out on your annual review? That is what seemed like the case last year for me. However, I'm probably a basket case in the eyes of certain ETLs at my store. I've had ETLs threaten to make me a cashier or only schedule me 2 or 3 days when I voiced my complaints and concerns. ETLs can be huge bullies and that pisses me off big time.
Click to expand...

First, yes.. now they are. You can only have so many of each kind in your store, etc. Even goes for ETL's. Not to mention, an ETL or TL cannot control 75% of what they are reviewed on for numbers. Most stores fake their numbers in Feb/March to have high 4.0/3.9s etc and just slack rest of year. If you suck off the bat when #s restart. Goodnight.
Never had an ETL I know of take out a vendetta I guess. I mean if someone got a bad review, they deserved it.
 
Super said:
What was your routine for dealing with very mad guests that were very mean and if at all gave you some f-bombs or just very very pissy altogether?
Click to expand...
Once someone dropped an F bomb. I immediately said, say it one more time and I am calling the cops. Most people shut down there. Had some continue and I'd call the cops. I'd explain I am not going to deal with someone that isn't being an adult and acting like a child. Had couple guests once sit on my service desk and wouldn't leave and harassed other guests.
They left in handcuffs over a 10$ dvd they wanted to return
 
bab5crusade said:
How does stores deal with TMs who would possible want to do"organizing" work?
Click to expand...
Never had to deal with this so can't offer much insight. Took a training on it, but never first hand. I can tell you though, if serious, Target takes that shit serious and will like put all stores on code red to watch out for it, etc.
 
Going with the Flow said:
Do you all just blindly abide buy what ever comes down from corporate? No matter how ridiculous? It always seems like some new bs is being rolled out and crammed down everyone's throat and etls and stl never stand up for their teams.. Just drink the koolaid and shut the hell up, is it really the status quo? Did you ever as a group or individually say this or that is stupid and wont work?
Click to expand...

Yes, there really is no choice. When I spoke up about things wrong with my STL that were clear to every ETL and team members, I was singled out. Again, quite sad. But ya, I often had STL's that were like this is gonna suck, but we have to roll it out. Obviously if it gets enough push back after a while it goes away, or some STL's only do certain things for visits and train ETL's to talk like they do it, but ya all bout the koolaid unfortunately.

In my chat session with my DTL and ETL peers aka who is disgruntled and fired next, I let loose on a bunch of things regarding some processes and changes I wanted to make but wasn't back by STL. Ya, that didn't go over well. DTL's are very loyal to STL's
 
researchr said:
What are the ETL's told about the lack of hours and how tm's are supposed to get stuff done when there aren't enough of them?
Click to expand...

This is something I hated to do come end of month and told welp every work center has to cut 100 hours. Oh really, cause even if we do, punch corrections will hit and still F us.


We were basically told this is what we get, figure it out. Granted a couple STL's knew it was a team job to get it done and just pushed some simple things to the side and not every thing got done, but nothing too imp.

I mean the fact of the matter is, any retail business you work in, the hours will be scarce unless you are a manager or assistant. Walmart, Target, Best Buy, Kohls, Bed Bath Beyond. It's a fact that its the most controllable expense and people sitting in an office say, oh sure we'll just rename everything and titles and re word all core roles.

I mean when I told my team, it basically was, look, if you want hours, we do have them. Does it mean you have to work split shifts or more than 5 days. Yes. Does that suck. Absolutely. But when I had people that said their availability was only like 4a-11a or like 8a-4p. I am sorry but my business doesn't operate exactly around those hours. At the end of the day, there is a business to run and you don't need hundreds of people at 8a or 8p.
So yes, people that complained about their availability being the reason they didn't get hours, tough luck, find a new job. To those that truly watned to get cross trained, were open to anything and worked hard, I did everything imaginable to get them hours, get them late, etc.

But in my experience 85% of people that bitched about hours were poor performing tms, had crazy expectations about getting 40 hours and had no availabillty or when you called them in for another call in, they said they couldn't or ask them to stay they couldn't, but were the same that would call in 1-2 times a week.Well then you can go F yourself .lol
 
Why aren't team members that work in the same department/area trained equally? I ask that because I work in backroom day and I am trained on operating the baler, wave, and crown. However, there is one team member that who is also in backroom day but is not trained on operating the baler and crown. I have voiced that concern to ETLs before and they have threatened me and started to tell lies about me. They say "this person is scared to use the crown because they are afraid of making a mess" and "it's not the job of the opener in backroom day to know how to makes bales". When I heard that, I just laughed. Why are you working in backroom day or even in the backroom if you can't operate heavy machinery?

I mainly get annoyed by this because this person's laziness and immaturity make my workload bigger. Is this just a policy at Target or are ETLs just lazy and incompetent when it deals with training team members equally and properly? Why should this person get special treatment? Why is the person allowed to do less?
I also see it as a gender thing because I am a male and the team member is a female. This is 2014. I don't care if you have a vagina or penis. If you can physically do something such as operating a crown or the baler, you have no excuse in my opinion. A woman can make a bale just like a male can. If you can do it, do it.
 
What typically happens when preparing and during a "visit". All I know is at our store we have to regularly work at like 150 percent with these hour cuts, but when District comes in our ETL's seem to expect 250 percent productivity. Every visit I have ever had at my store, they come in, they seem to ignore all our TM's and just talk to the ETL's and the STL even though you might say hello to just be fast friendly and fun. At least at my store. I was just kind of curious what happens behind the curtains. Thanks for all of the information btw.
 
LifeCenterOfTheBullseye said:
I mean when I told my team, it basically was, look, if you want hours, we do have them. Does it mean you have to work split shifts or more than 5 days. Yes. Does that suck. Absolutely. But when I had people that said their availability was only like 4a-11a or like 8a-4p. I am sorry but my business doesn't operate exactly around those hours. At the end of the day, there is a business to run and you don't need hundreds of people at 8a or 8p.
So yes, people that complained about their availability being the reason they didn't get hours, tough luck, find a new job. To those that truly watned to get cross trained, were open to anything and worked hard, I did everything imaginable to get them hours, get them late, etc.

But in my experience 85% of people that bitched about hours were poor performing tms, had crazy expectations about getting 40 hours and had no availabillty or when you called them in for another call in, they said they couldn't or ask them to stay they couldn't, but were the same that would call in 1-2 times a week.Well then you can go F yourself .lol
Click to expand...

I have a life outside of work. If I need to do split shifts to get hours, that's the same as telling me there are no hours available.
 
if you want hours, we do have them. Does it mean you have to work split shifts or more than 5 days. Yes. Does that suck. Absolutely.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but that sounds like you're dangling payroll over their heads saying "you want this? You're going to have to do things for us that you're going to hate yourself for". It's almost like Big Tim decided to get a legit job.

I get requiring people to have a fairly open availability. I can't even begin to count the number of applications I turned down from people who want to work 9-5 M-F. However, requiring split shifts and 6+ day workweeks is a sign that either:
1. Your store is staffed by even bigger asshole ETLs than most of us deal with or
2. Your HR hired a ton of people with very limited availability and you're in a bind.
 
Backroom81 said:
if you want hours, we do have them. Does it mean you have to work split shifts or more than 5 days. Yes. Does that suck. Absolutely.
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but that sounds like you're dangling payroll over their heads saying "you want this? You're going to have to do things for us that you're going to hate yourself for". It's almost like Big Tim decided to get a legit job.

I get requiring people to have a fairly open availability. I can't even begin to count the number of applications I turned down from people who want to work 9-5 M-F. However, requiring split shifts and 6+ day workweeks is a sign that either:
1. Your store is staffed by even bigger asshole ETLs than most of us deal with or
2. Your HR hired a ton of people with very limited availability and you're in a bind.
Click to expand...

I've been scheduled 6 days in one week and then called on my one day off and asked to come in. And STILL didn't hit 40hrs that week. That has happened multiple times. I get the hours whenever I can. Eventually, they are going to stop calling the people that always say no or scheduling people that always bitch and just give the hours to the people that will say yes, show up, and work. I would to. No point in wasting time calling people that always say they wont come in, won't stay, or always ask to leave before shits done even when their availability in open.
 
It's one thing to volunteer to work 6-7 days a week to round out hours, it's another to require it from your team to even be considered eligible for said hours.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

F
ETL requirements
Replies
2
Views
429
Yetive
Yetive
J
ETL H.R. and Team members
Replies
9
Views
1K
Planosss
Planosss
S
Reporting ETL for intimidation?
Replies
7
Views
3K
Zxy123456
Zxy123456
E
Store is overworking me
Replies
11
Views
3K
Captain Orca
C
E
Your Target Work Experience
2
Replies
30
Views
2K
Caliwest
C
Back
Top