Archived Feel like I'm burning out.

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Hi guys, I'm mostly a lurker around the boards, but I have some feelings I need to get off my chest, and I feel as you all are the only ones who would understand.
I've been at Target for about 9 months, and I'm a shoe brand TM. At first, I enjoyed it and got a ton of compliments on all the improvements I made and how great of a job I was doing holding shoes together (which was previously a disaster area for our store.) However, lately I have been feeling extremely unhappy and burned out. I feel as though my night time zoners don't care, flow team shoves shoes anywhere despite me complaining numerous times, and I am expected to do too much without enough time. I constantly have to do redo other people's work and have no time to do my own. It stresses me out and I feel as though I am likely to quit any time now. I take my job seriously and always strive to make my department look great, but with my abysmal pay and all the responsibilities in the world, everything is getting to me lately. From the slobs that we call guests, my lack of time, lack of help from anyone-- I just feel as if I can't do it anymore. I don't think it's fair to myself, and I have medical issues (that get bad with stress) that have been acting up insanely for the past few weeks now. If absolutely necessary to stress myself out this way, I think I could at least be working somewhere that doesn't pay an insulting wage.

Any other TMs feel this way? And what did you do to get over the feelings, or get through the days? Or is my resignation date only a matter of time?
 
Sorry to say but what you are saying resonates around this board.
Far to many people face these problems in one form or another.
The not getting paid enough and having too much work with not nearly enough time to do it in is systemic to Spot.
You care about doing a good job so I guess the all important question is can you climb over this wall or will you pack up and move on.
I don't have an answer on that one.
 
it's difficult, especially if you care (or have ocd). lazy tm and guests start to drive you insane. just try to remember, you get paid the same per hour as the lazy tm (theoretically, of course), and get paid the same per hour no matter what you do for target, whether it's shoes or carts or fetching lunch for the etls. and try to remember that they don't pay you anything once you walk out that door, so don't work for free by worrying. partner with your leader at the beginning of your shift and find out what's going on for the day. always partner before leaving with the same leader. and if you don't get done, tough for target. they're not crying over it, and you shouldn't be either.

also, take your breaks far away from walkies and even the breakroom. walk outside, go to your car, just get away every time. it literally took my "i care" breaking to realize that it wasn't the end of the world if i got done with my mountain of "to do"s. if you get them done, they're just gonna add more. look around into other work centers or another line of work if the stress is too serious. they think that you're a cog, you're replaceable, and they're right. but unfortunately for them, they have yet to realize that they're just as replaceable. your talents may be a better fit elsewhere, and it may be something that quenches your spiritual soul. just keep looking if you need to, and keep your head up!
 
it's difficult, especially if you care (or have ocd). lazy tm and guests start to drive you insane. just try to remember, you get paid the same per hour as the lazy tm (theoretically, of course), and get paid the same per hour no matter what you do for target, whether it's shoes or carts or fetching lunch for the etls. and try to remember that they don't pay you anything once you walk out that door, so don't work for free by worrying. partner with your leader at the beginning of your shift and find out what's going on for the day. always partner before leaving with the same leader. and if you don't get done, tough for target. they're not crying over it, and you shouldn't be either.

also, take your breaks far away from walkies and even the breakroom. walk outside, go to your car, just get away every time. it literally took my "i care" breaking to realize that it wasn't the end of the world if i got done with my mountain of "to do"s. if you get them done, they're just gonna add more. look around into other work centers or another line of work if the stress is too serious. they think that you're a cog, you're replaceable, and they're right. but unfortunately for them, they have yet to realize that they're just as replaceable. your talents may be a better fit elsewhere, and it may be something that quenches your spiritual soul. just keep looking if you need to, and keep your head up!

I try to remember that, but I have a certain work ethic and I don't want to be lumped with those that are lazy. But I guess you're right, to them (leadership) it doesn't matter. They're not impressed if I do more and they probably also don't care. And yes it really does drive me crazy. It's ridiculous to me that I can zone to planogram, come back after a day off and it's as if a tornado hit my dept. It's insane how lazy some of my fellow tms are. It almost makes me want to cry knowing I have brand duties but if I neglect my zone it will only spiral further into chaos.
 
We signing specialists, er team members D: feel this everyday, do this, help the truck, do a revision, set a pog, why arent overheads done? Store xyz already has all theres up whats the deal, wheres my backer paper, did you see this header? Why are you doing overheads we are behibd because im such an ass kisser i wont tell the etls we cant set everything in one day, stop trying to make the fixture room brand, why arent overheads done? You need to organize your signing, why are you organizing your signing we need help. Thats how my life has been lately lol
 
Talk to your leadership about it. Nothing could come of it, which is likely, but at least you made an effort to change things. If not, take some time off, or try to focus your positive energy elsewhere in your life. If you feel like you're not making any progress with your work situation, it's foolish to focus all your time and energy into it.

Don't let it stress you out, look out for number 1.
 
I used to be like this. Than I figured whats the point. I just do what I can, know im doing all I can, and am satisfied with what I do and can get done. Unless you are really looking to be promoted does it really matter what they think? As bad as shoes is at my store, market is just as bad, especially with them cutting our hours from 8-8 now. 12 hours of market between opener and closer now =(. And they expect us to do above and beyond what pfresh SHOULD be doing.
 
Look for a better job, and get as far as possible away from this company. Target does not reward a strong work ethic; it exploits it. If you go the extra mile, target management will hold you to that baseline level of performance. You will never see a promotion, you will never see a substantial raise, you will never see tangible health benefits. You will never see anything except for morons expecting you to sacrifice your social life and your health to serve them.

I have great respect for individuals with strong work ethics. I have absolutely no respect for people that take advantage of said ethic. Pressing on and letting said people use you compromises that ethic. Do not let them do that. You must draw the line somewhere.
 
Look for a better job, and get as far as possible away from this company. Target does not reward a strong work ethic; it exploits it. If you go the extra mile, target management will hold you to that baseline level of performance. You will never see a promotion, you will never see a substantial raise, you will never see tangible health benefits. You will never see anything except for morons expecting you to sacrifice your social life and your health to serve them.

I have great respect for individuals with strong work ethics. I have absolutely no respect for people that take advantage of said ethic. Pressing on and letting said people use you compromises that ethic. Do not let them do that. You must draw the line somewhere.

You sir worded it pretty damn well.
 
To be clear, Target isn't the ONLY company that does this, they ALL do. Until society gets educated and learns why the previous generation did so well (UNIONS!) nothing will improve for the average employee. That is the solution to the every job that pays less than 50,000$/year, UNIONIZE, period.
Look for a better job, and get as far as possible away from this company. Target does not reward a strong work ethic; it exploits it. If you go the extra mile, target management will hold you to that baseline level of performance. You will never see a promotion, you will never see a substantial raise, you will never see tangible health benefits. You will never see anything except for morons expecting you to sacrifice your social life and your health to serve them.

I have great respect for individuals with strong work ethics. I have absolutely no respect for people that take advantage of said ethic. Pressing on and letting said people use you compromises that ethic. Do not let them do that. You must draw the line somewhere.

You sir worded it pretty damn well.
 
I'm glad I'm not the only one feeling this way. I'm coming up on my year and I want to rip my hair out at times. .
 
I felt the same way after being in PFresh for almost a year. Thank goodness I was able to get out of there and into a department I actually enjoy.
 
I felt the same way after being in PFresh for almost a year. Thank goodness I was able to get out of there and into a department I actually enjoy.

What department is that? I actually enjoy Pfresh alot, apart from zoning, I think its the best workcenter but thats just me =)
 
Yep I feel you and I know several TM at my store that have have had it with the cut hrs, other things going on etc..... Chewie you said it best!
 
I felt the same way after being in PFresh for almost a year. Thank goodness I was able to get out of there and into a department I actually enjoy.

What department is that? I actually enjoy Pfresh alot, apart from zoning, I think its the best workcenter but thats just me =)

ME TOO PFRESHDUDE! I was so burnt out before I got moved over to PFresh. But now as long as it's not my closing weekend I'm generally having a blast over there.

As far as the OP goes, talk to your store leadership. Start a dialogue with them, don't wait for them to ask you how things are going. Be realistic with your expectations and they'll probably be able to get you some kind of support.
 
Look for a better job, and get as far as possible away from this company. Target does not reward a strong work ethic; it exploits it. If you go the extra mile, target management will hold you to that baseline level of performance. You will never see a promotion, you will never see a substantial raise, you will never see tangible health benefits. You will never see anything except for morons expecting you to sacrifice your social life and your health to serve them.

I have great respect for individuals with strong work ethics. I have absolutely no respect for people that take advantage of said ethic. Pressing on and letting said people use you compromises that ethic. Do not let them do that. You must draw the line somewhere.

It depends on the person I suppose... I was a TM in a red focus store for YEARS and definitely felt the burnout (honestly I don't want to put anyone down, but probably worse than most people here!) I wasn't even interested in getting promoted because the store was just so frustrating! Suddenly, new STL and leadership team (old ones moved on to other jobs) and suddenly I am a TL along with many of my peers who were strong performers too (while the TLs who caused the issues in the first place began leaving too)...

Why am I glad I stuck it out? It has nothing to do with the promotion or money itself, but I realized that this experience is invaluable! I fixed a ton at that store in a positive way and was a part of the leadership team that took the worst store in the group into a top 10 ranking store! That is something not many people can speak to, and it takes not just a good work ethic, but outstanding ethic to be able to survive it!

If I followed this advice, I would be at another job probably working an easy job... but I have grown WAY more as a leader because of what I went through! Often, when bad situations arise, people will run from it... but those situations are the ones you will learn most from, and you will handle those types of situations better and better as you experience them! Just my opinion...
 
I felt the same way after being in PFresh for almost a year. Thank goodness I was able to get out of there and into a department I actually enjoy.

What department is that? I actually enjoy Pfresh alot, apart from zoning, I think its the best workcenter but thats just me =)

I should have said workcenter. I'm in Plano/Signing now, and I love it. The first time I was trained how to set a Sales Plan I was hooked! I love the required attention to detail, the early mornings and overnights without guests slowing you down, and the fact that you're on your own in signing, but have help when you need it. If you're getting burned out where you are, talk to your ETLs about cross-training! I'm so glad I did.
 
i totally feel you, me and another team member are the only 2 people who pretty much run our backroom, we do all the stuff that needs to be done, we do all the special projects for up coming visits, me and him put in 110% everyday, and its only one of us each day, so all the tasks are done by one person each day...yes it is very

stressful when you have to carry on other peoples slack and bull$hit on your shoulders, especially when no one helps you, i know how this feels, i experience it everyday, even when i was the flow teams cardboard person... the best thing you can do is to just do what you can and explain to them why some things CANT be done.

you seem like an excellent team member likethewind, so they most likely put alot more on your shoulders because they think you can get it done, but your only one person, and your only human, you shouldnt feel bad if something dosent get done, especially if your picking up someone elses $hit.

most importantly, just remember that target isnt a place worth stressing about, i dont get paid enough and you dont get paid enough to go home and be pissed off about a job that dosent pay you enough for the amount we put in
 
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