Archived (Hi)gh Alert

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This is why I'm glad I'm backroom. I'll give a head nod and the rare "hi", but definitely not going out of my way to greet every guest. I'll let cashier's and salesfloor do that
 
I've coached 4 Backroom tms for walking past guest. . Your position doesn't matter. Your a target team member wearing red and khaki on the floor.
You're a shitty TL then. If Backroom is on the floor then we are probably doing a timed tasked. I'm not going to open myself up to go on a wild goose chase finding entire BTS items for guest who are too lazy to do I themselves. Especially when I'm probably doing a flex, sts, guest pull, SFS or trying to backstock or set the line for the truck
 
You're a shitty TL then. If Backroom is on the floor then we are probably doing a timed tasked. I'm not going to open myself up to go on a wild goose chase finding entire BTS items for guest who are too lazy to do I themselves. Especially when I'm probably doing a flex, sts, guest pull, SFS or trying to backstock or set the line for the truck
You can say 'hello' and if they ask for something call for a nearby team member to help. Not too difficult.
 
You can say 'hello' and if they ask for something call for a nearby team member to help. Not too difficult.
That's even worse. While I hate my co-workers I'm not going to shove work on to them if it's something i could do. Even my shitty management would allow that.

If a guest stops me on the floor I can't just call another tm on the walkie to take over
 
I'm also an extreme introvert, and yeah, the job is mentally exhausting. I could never be a cashier on a regular basis. I don't go by a scripted "Hi", which helps. I have several greetings and I say whatever pops in mind, making it mentally more comfortable for me. "Hey." "How you doing?" "Looking for something special?" "You enjoying the weather?/Man, that rain is something else." (When folding graphic tees.) "You know, I never dreamed that Mario Brothers would still be a thing when I got my first Nintendo." (When the guest is touching an item) "You know, I've been eyeing that dress/shirt for myself." or "I've heard that dress/shirt is very comfortable." "I love that shirt you have on." Things like that. I also decompress by finding an out of the way place where guests come by less often to zone for ten minutes or so whenever I need the mental batteries recharged. I limit my radius to whoever will comfortably hear me if I talk in a socially acceptable loud voice.
 
You're a shitty TL then. If Backroom is on the floor then we are probably doing a timed tasked. I'm not going to open myself up to go on a wild goose chase finding entire BTS items for guest who are too lazy to do I themselves. Especially when I'm probably doing a flex, sts, guest pull, SFS or trying to backstock or set the line for the truck
If my regional director can stop in the middle of a visit, you sure as heck can. Guests are the #1 priority of anyone on the clock in the store at that moment. Reaching out to any expert is suggested when you are stopped in unfamiliar territory. Trust me I'd rather get them foisted off onto me than pissed of they were brushed off or given incorrect info by a tm with a shitty attitude.
 
If my regional director can stop in the middle of a visit, you sure as heck can. Guests are the #1 priority of anyone on the clock in the store at that moment. Reaching out to any expert is suggested when you are stopped in unfamiliar territory. Trust me I'd rather get them foisted off onto me than pissed of they were brushed off or given incorrect info by a tm with a shitty attitude.
Your RD probably does nothing but discuss lunch plans. Of course they want to look good infront of the store team. Tell them to hope on the unload or backstock the freezer. Then we'll see how much time they have
 
Mine is more "Hi, you finding everything all right?"
Funniest thing was when a guest was looking for a TM as I was walking thru in my SB apron & hat.
They turned to me, then mini-let down as they said "Oh....Starbucks. THEY won't know where anything is."
I was tempted but thought 'screw it' & continued with my task.
 
You're a shitty TL then. If Backroom is on the floor then we are probably doing a timed tasked. I'm not going to open myself up to go on a wild goose chase finding entire BTS items for guest who are too lazy to do I themselves. Especially when I'm probably doing a flex, sts, guest pull, SFS or trying to backstock or set the line for the truck

I've done all that and still say hi.. It takes 2 seconds and 99% of the guest just say hi back. In an 8 hour shift I probably tell 4-6 guest where the most asked for items is and maybe one guest where I have to search the target app.
 
I've done all that and still say hi.. It takes 2 seconds and 99% of the guest just say hi back. In an 8 hour shift I probably tell 4-6 guest where the most asked for items is and maybe one guest where I have to search the target app.
As a BRTL you should know you have one smaller teams in the store. Coaching over something as stupid as not saying high is signs of a bad leader. As a BRTM I can tell you we are mostly thinking about getting our shit done, like which pallet should we BS next or what time does UPS to help them with SFS. BR isn't as guest orientated as SF and treating them as if they are is just going to cause resentment

Our of all the BRTL shit you have to do, do you have nothing better to do than coach the few people who are running around up and down ladders doing physical work that they missed saying high to a guest?

Glad my store actually works differently on this front. Most people apply to the br to avoid this nonsense
 
As a BRTL you should know you have one smaller teams in the store. Coaching over something as stupid as not saying high is signs of a bad leader. As a BRTM I can tell you we are mostly thinking about getting our shit done, like which pallet should we BS next or what time does UPS to help them with SFS. BR isn't as guest orientated as SF and treating them as if they are is just going to cause resentment

Our of all the BRTL shit you have to do, do you have nothing better to do than coach the few people who are running around up and down ladders doing physical work that they missed saying high to a guest?

Glad my store actually works differently on this front. Most people apply to the br to avoid this nonsense

Again what your not understanding is the guest doesn't know or care what team you are. I'm not saying to go out to the floor and say hi. But if your walking between stock room or to and from the tsc to say hi... At most (at least in my store) you would walk past 5 guest. We're still coming clean every day. Your just making up excuses.
 
Again what your not understanding is the guest doesn't know or care what team you are. I'm not saying to go out to the floor and say hi. But if your walking between stock room or to and from the tsc to say hi... At most (at least in my store) you would walk past 5 guest. We're still coming clean every day. Your just making up excuses.
Seems like you're trying to fill a petty coaching quota

I heard of stores having them. Yours much be one of them. how sad
 
It was deemed too generic and often elicited a generic response from guests. We are now supposed to be more personable when greeting guests.

Asants, our LODs always answer the phone with CIHYFS
 
I applied to target not too long ago, and i am beginning to wonder if leadership is this anal about guest interaction. My rule of thumb at my previous job, was if the person looked like they clearly needed help, then i initiate the interaction. But if he/she clearly was talking to someone else or did not look like they needed any help, then i leave them be. I do not like to be forced or threatened to help guests, with ASANTS and all.
 
I applied to target not too long ago, and i am beginning to wonder if leadership is this anal about guest interaction. My rule of thumb at my previous job, was if the person looked like they clearly needed help, then i initiate the interaction. But if he/she clearly was talking to someone else or did not look like they needed any help, then i leave them be. I do not like to be forced or threatened to help guests, with ASANTS and all.

Kind of unrelated but that's why I'm a big believer in checking out a scores culture before working there. Some people's stores on here seem anal about petty stuff. I am glad I don't have to record coachings for petty things. Watse of time for the tl to type it and waste of my time to record it in the disciplinary file.
 
I applied to target not too long ago, and i am beginning to wonder if leadership is this anal about guest interaction. My rule of thumb at my previous job, was if the person looked like they clearly needed help, then i initiate the interaction. But if he/she clearly was talking to someone else or did not look like they needed any help, then i leave them be. I do not like to be forced or threatened to help guests, with ASANTS and all.

Just leaving people be is never good. Here's a few different ways to look at it. Someone might think they know what they need, but a couple of questions would reveal that whatever they want won't work. There's upsell opportunities that are being missed by not talking to the guest, which means less money coming in for your paycheck. The guest may genuinely not know about something that is either needed or wanted for what they are doing. The guest may feel ignored and decide to take their business elsewhere where the business is more personable, or online since they will be (not) helped just as much as in the store. The guest may not realize you have something they've been wanting because they came in for something else entirely and the additional item comes up in conversation. The guest may have an issue with your store and once you hear it, you can fix it or find the right people to fix it, so the guest leaves with a good impression.

And finally, which is why I think "social worker" should be included in the operator position, sometimes a person just needs the human connection with another person, and they are going to remember for a very long time how they were treated when they were down.
 
And finally, which is why I think "social worker" should be included in the operator position, sometimes a person just needs the human connection with another person, and they are going to remember for a very long time how they were treated when they were down.

I've been an operator. Most of the questions are dumb. "Yeah I know it's 4pm but do you have anymore NES classics?"
 
There's upsell opportunities that are being missed by not talking to the guest, which means less money coming in for your paycheck. .
The thing is, no one at the grunt level cares about upselling. Your post is a bunch of what ifs. Most people do know what they are looking for and most don't like to be upsold on shit they don't need.

Hell, today an older guest needed help finding hooks to hang her towels. Something that would carry 5 pounds. I took her to the asile and showed her hooks, she picked two, a metal and plastic one and asked me what the difference was between them

I said about 20 bucks.

She gasped and put the metal ones back, thanked me for saving her money and left

I don't really care about helping guest but I sure as hell view them as people in an iffy economy and not a "sales target/monent" or whatever shitty target term we are using right now.
 
There's upselling and there's upselling.

I once admired a guest's tattoo, we talked about it, and that gave an opportunity to talk about a shirt very similar to the tattoo that she didn't know existed and she wanted it when she heard it did. When there's a sale on underwear or socks, I encourage guests looking at those to stock up as those are essential items. Someone was looking at shoes, I happened to have those exact ones on my feet and was able to honestly tell the guest that I have no problem doing an 8 hour shift in them. Talking about Mario Brothers and Duck Hunt has slowed guests down to chat and while they are staying in the area they sometimes see something they would have missed just walking by. I talked about swimming with a guest and it turned out that she was looking for a more modest top than what was easily seen on the aisle and I plucked one straight out that was mostly hidden and she really liked it. I'm always mentioning hooded towels when I'm in baby hardlines because that's an item that is incredibly helpful with a wiggling wet baby but no one thinks about it when they aren't holding said wiggling wet baby. But I don't flood a guest with unrelated item suggestions. That kind of upselling is annoying. I cherry pick, based on what I see about them, what they are holding and what they talk about.

And I'm at the grunt level and I care about more money coming in as a whole. I am fully aware that the guest is the one paying my paycheck. It's an extension of my firm belief that I am the wage payer for any business I use and therefore I can vote with my feet if I feel I'm not getting proper service...and that's not just retail, but any business. I am not afraid to "fire" a doctor if I feel I'm not being treated with respect, and I'm not afraid to challenge a minister since my church donations pay his wage.
 
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