whippingboy
Produce Peon
- Joined
- Feb 27, 2014
- Messages
- 521
My last day was two weeks ago and I am much happier in a higher paying position elsewhere. All I can say is, keep looking - it took 13 interviews and 9 tests before this job opened up for me. Never did I know at this time last year I'd be in a new place; wished for it every day, but didn't solidly know until October.
I've worked for Target for seven years and it wasn't bad until two years ago when my Team Lead got fired for "texting employees while off the clock". Little did I know that back then they were hunting for Team Leads to fire because of the credit hack that happened in Dec 2013. I didn't see the hell that was rapidly approaching - that I would be the one taking her spot with zero recognition and compensation, no promotion in sight, and a reduction of 50 - 100 man hours per week. The turnover since then was higher than I'd ever experienced - eleven new employees in less than a two year span, with two of my solid performers getting injured. A Sr. TL was placed "in charge" but because of LOD shifts she was rarely around, and refused to get her hands dirty (a requisite in the produce department). I got fed up when I saw others getting promoted to TL and my leadership telling me I wasn't ready - without telling me specifics I could improve upon.
During that time, our FDC was moved to another location, and at one point we got pushed nearly 800 pieces - our normal shipment is roughly 250. The cooler was stuffed with food, our hours were already cut drastically from the year before and my ETL gave me ZERO support, hands or help on handling that 800 pc. load. I should have known back then that she would never give me help when I needed it. After all, during a Black Friday we had a line of people wrapped around the store that somehow split in the middle - there were arguments and hand wringing and yelling because of guests cutting in front of each other to get to the deals - and she did nothing about it when I told her, she simply turned her back and walked away.
My final "sendoff" (before leadership knew I was quitting) included a string of visits from the uppers/Steritech/health department which included so many callouts that I had to cover every department. Produce was always "green" but other departments failed. I never received credit for assisting those visits, let alone managing my department for it's daily task list on top of those visits. And for some hellish reason the FDC kept pushing more and more food on top of us, not a good thing to see right before Thanksgiving. I would attempt to TPC all of it but a manager would have me get rid of it because the pallets of food on the floor looked cluttered for the rapid fire visits we were having. Staying green in receipt-to-sales was impossible. I'm sure our profitability was in the toilet.
Before all of this, seven people in our store got fired for grand theft. When you read the news articles about it, the media made them out to be conspiratorial criminals who planned on stealing $25,000 worth of goods. In reality, it was expiring bakery goods and chubs of meat that were severely discounted and bought because they would have been thrown out anyway. It had been going on for months, and there were witnesses to the TL authorizing and participating in buying those discounted items as well; but of course, when push came to shove she denied all of it to avoid being thrown under the bus with the rest of them. It took two years for that case to be resolved (no charges were pressed against them) and the lives of everyone involved was wrecked. You'd think that Target would create a rule or best practice to avoid that sort of event from reoccurring, but no.. nothing was said or done. Like many events at our store, it was swept under the rug.
And if you've read or heard about the "walk of shame"... it happened to them.
All of this on top of the many terrible stories of management treating their employees like crap has left a sour taste in my mouth. I miss nothing about Target. I once read somewhere that "one doesn't quit their job, they quit their management" and I feel this is the utmost truth. I hope it improves, though... I feel badly for those I've left behind. In this shitty economy the struggle to find something "better" (not just something "else") is real. Hang in there, and keep the faith.
I have to thank the people that host and monitor this website. Without you I would have known nothing about the real workings of Target. Thank you for speaking the truth, commiserating with the rest of us, and providing a venue for all of us.
I've worked for Target for seven years and it wasn't bad until two years ago when my Team Lead got fired for "texting employees while off the clock". Little did I know that back then they were hunting for Team Leads to fire because of the credit hack that happened in Dec 2013. I didn't see the hell that was rapidly approaching - that I would be the one taking her spot with zero recognition and compensation, no promotion in sight, and a reduction of 50 - 100 man hours per week. The turnover since then was higher than I'd ever experienced - eleven new employees in less than a two year span, with two of my solid performers getting injured. A Sr. TL was placed "in charge" but because of LOD shifts she was rarely around, and refused to get her hands dirty (a requisite in the produce department). I got fed up when I saw others getting promoted to TL and my leadership telling me I wasn't ready - without telling me specifics I could improve upon.
During that time, our FDC was moved to another location, and at one point we got pushed nearly 800 pieces - our normal shipment is roughly 250. The cooler was stuffed with food, our hours were already cut drastically from the year before and my ETL gave me ZERO support, hands or help on handling that 800 pc. load. I should have known back then that she would never give me help when I needed it. After all, during a Black Friday we had a line of people wrapped around the store that somehow split in the middle - there were arguments and hand wringing and yelling because of guests cutting in front of each other to get to the deals - and she did nothing about it when I told her, she simply turned her back and walked away.
My final "sendoff" (before leadership knew I was quitting) included a string of visits from the uppers/Steritech/health department which included so many callouts that I had to cover every department. Produce was always "green" but other departments failed. I never received credit for assisting those visits, let alone managing my department for it's daily task list on top of those visits. And for some hellish reason the FDC kept pushing more and more food on top of us, not a good thing to see right before Thanksgiving. I would attempt to TPC all of it but a manager would have me get rid of it because the pallets of food on the floor looked cluttered for the rapid fire visits we were having. Staying green in receipt-to-sales was impossible. I'm sure our profitability was in the toilet.
Before all of this, seven people in our store got fired for grand theft. When you read the news articles about it, the media made them out to be conspiratorial criminals who planned on stealing $25,000 worth of goods. In reality, it was expiring bakery goods and chubs of meat that were severely discounted and bought because they would have been thrown out anyway. It had been going on for months, and there were witnesses to the TL authorizing and participating in buying those discounted items as well; but of course, when push came to shove she denied all of it to avoid being thrown under the bus with the rest of them. It took two years for that case to be resolved (no charges were pressed against them) and the lives of everyone involved was wrecked. You'd think that Target would create a rule or best practice to avoid that sort of event from reoccurring, but no.. nothing was said or done. Like many events at our store, it was swept under the rug.
And if you've read or heard about the "walk of shame"... it happened to them.
All of this on top of the many terrible stories of management treating their employees like crap has left a sour taste in my mouth. I miss nothing about Target. I once read somewhere that "one doesn't quit their job, they quit their management" and I feel this is the utmost truth. I hope it improves, though... I feel badly for those I've left behind. In this shitty economy the struggle to find something "better" (not just something "else") is real. Hang in there, and keep the faith.
I have to thank the people that host and monitor this website. Without you I would have known nothing about the real workings of Target. Thank you for speaking the truth, commiserating with the rest of us, and providing a venue for all of us.
