Sometimes TLs may be pressured by others in other workcentres. ASANTS, but it is the case in my store. I work at an A+ (high volume) store and I've heard team members from other stores (transfers from 0ut-of-state or lower volume stores in town) saying that our store has an unusual amount of pressure to zone extremely accurately and interact with every guest more than usual, and that the TLs are "mean/demanding" although I would't agree 100%.
On the other hand, though, on challenging nights we have a "team" competition between Hardlines and Softlines and the winner gets to pick the snack for the team at the end of the night (usually cookies gets chosen and it's great because I close often) and the TLs joke about who will win and have their zones completed and go-backs returned first.
Anyway, I would recommend letting your TL know how you feel. They might not know what they're doing and how it may be hurting morale on their team, which will look bad on them at the end of the day, not necessarily the team member(s). I've noticed TLs act strangely different to team members they don't know well, as well. Once the TL begins to know the team member and trust them more, they stop watching and leading them so much because they know they can count on them to complete tasks. I've seen these effects first-hand from the time I started until now. At one point the ETL who hired me mentioned that I was so quiet and serious that it was awkward to work with me at first, but now that they've gotten to know me and that I'm not as serious as I seem, it's completely changed the way they think of me.
Edit: Softlines TM just posted (see image) on FB
