Archived Going out with class - Quitting Target in style

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Ok - I thought this would be a good thread to talk about great people that have left Target for something better who left with class and dignity. (kind of the opposite of the other thread) It is always fun to talk about the people who crazy and quit, but anyone have any experiences with people who Target really should have regretted losing?

I have a few that I remember over my years with Target, but one guy comes to mind about 3 or 4 years ago.

I was still an electronics TM back then. I will never forget this TM who started with me. He was about 20 years old and I later had found out tried to kill him self a few months before getting hired at Target. He had been committed to a mental hospital. Basically his life was really messed up, and he was gay and apparently never was able to make any friends that accepted him. He had gone from job to job and never lasted more than a few weeks.

We all thought he was a weirdo at first, and most people at the store figured he would be a horrible TM that quit or got termed after a while.

So anyway I remember training him. He had never really held down a job before so he really didn't know what he was doing, and I could tell was really struggling to keep up. I figured he probably wouldn't make it either, but he kept telling me this was the job he was going to make work.

So a few months later he was running circles around every TM in the store. I am not kidding when I say that during 4th quarter he was able to zone toys AND electronics by him self and have a green zone by the time the lights went out. (I am not kidding, I don't know how he did it but it was a perfect zone night and night) He ran around the store helping everyone else out all the time. Eventually he started to figure things out that even people who had been there 10 years didn't know. In just a few months time he was cross trained in every part of the store and could handle everything like the best TMs we had.

So by the time his first year was up he made it to electronics specialist. He kicked ass and had those departments consistently green.

A year later he made it to GSTL and turned the front lanes from red to green. Literally he ran circles around the other GSTLs. In fact, he actually spent 50% of his time helping out on the floor. He was literally the only GSTL our store ever had that was a GSTL and still worked the sales floor as a sales floor TL. (this was back before GSAs were around too)

Eventually they moved him just to regular sales floor TM, and he literally was over about 6 departments and kept them all green.

It wasn't just that he did his job, but he was cool to every TM too. He never talked down to any TM. On holidays he gave the electronics TM gift cards out of his own money. (and I mean serious gift cards, like $40 each) I even heard that sometimes when TMs quit/got termed he would go over to their house and ask if he could help them out in some way.

Eventually we got the worst STL our store ever had. One day in the middle of a huddle our STL told him that he would never make Sr TL because Target couldn't afford to have a manager being seen by guests with scars all on his arms. (referring to the knife scars he had on his arms from when he tried to commit suicide) It was way out of line, and the next day he put in his two weeks.

You could tell he hated every day coming in to work those two weeks, but he quit the right way.

I will never forget on his last day I was standing at guest services and a TM asked him "So since today is your last day I bet you will finally take it easy, huh?" and he said "Nope. I came in doing my best, and I'm going to leave that way"

He ended up knocking out every single end cap his department had that week. (I am talking about 25 end caps) He also left a five page note for the two specialists (MMB and electronics) telling them where the departments stood, all the plans he had for coming weeks, tricks he learned to do well, etc so that they wouldn't be screwed over until a new TL came in.

He was with the company about 4 or 5 years. Interestingly, after he left tons of sales floor scores went red and it literally took months before things started to go green again. He made that big of an impact.

Anyway - it was a class act all the way. Last I heard he went to college and he now works for a construction company as some kind of vice president. So things turned out well for him.
 
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I could not have held it together like that. If my old STL ever said that to me.... I'd have left the store in handcuffs.
 
Great story. Hey folks, Target is not your god, there are better jobs out there if you have a bad leadership team. Go for it!
 
Wow, did the STL have no sense of decency!!!

I would imagine he wasn't the only to quit after that comment, if he were my TL/peer I would probably have followed him out the door!
 
I have know a lot of fantastic tms,tls,etls and stls since I started with Target,sadly I have also known a lot of the opposite,the company is not a better place as a result of loosing so many great people over the years but I know that a lot of us are better people for having worked with and known them.
 
That STL should have had some calls to the Integrity Hotline made about him and then the TM should have called a lawyer.

The STL was way out of line and should have been made to answer for his comments.
 
That STL should have had some calls to the Integrity Hotline made about him and then the TM should have called a lawyer.

The STL was way out of line and should have been made to answer for his comments.

Couldn't that be considered harassment? It's been over a year since my orientation, but I feel like I heard or read something about Target having a very strict anti-harassment policy.
 
Wow, did the STL have no sense of decency!!!

I would imagine he wasn't the only to quit after that comment, if he were my TL/peer I would probably have followed him out the door!

If any manager at any job I ever had make any comment like that in relation to the scars on my own arms, I'd walk out and never show my face in that place again.
 
Couldn't that be considered harassment? It's been over a year since my orientation, but I feel like I heard or read something about Target having a very strict anti-harassment policy.

Yes. I definently see it as harassment. There's nothing that made it ok for that STL to call out that TM like that.
 
Stories like this always remind me just how strong people are.
I raise a glass to the GSTL, his strength and courage is amazing.
I don't know how he didn't punch the STL out or at the very least threaten to sue.
He is a better man than I.
 
Stories like this always remind me just how strong people are.
I raise a glass to the GSTL, his strength and courage is amazing.
I don't know how he didn't punch the STL out or at the very least threaten to sue.
He is a better man than I.

I tend to give a death glare enough to scare hardened criminals if anyone said anything to me like that STL did...
Once you've seen my stare, you know you done f*cked up.
 
That's stl should be fired. I think this story just proves the gstl wasn't going to let what he had been through hold him back and good for him.

We had one tl be told he was never going to get srtl because of his attitude problem, basically he called the etls out on things but it's not what you say it's how you say it. He did a lot for the store but then he found a better job and put his two weeks in telling only hr and 2 other guys and left. The stl asked where he was a week later because he and some of the etl staff didn't realize he left they thought he was on vacation....
 
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