Archived How bad is Backroom?

[WannaBePerm]

So I originally got hired as Plano for a remodeling at my store I just finished 3 days of training at a different store a few days ago..

Well today I called to ask for my schedule and I was told that they are switching me to backroom and giving me three days of training but this time at my store.

1. Is it really bad as people tend to make it seem? (Like this one guy said 4 people quit within their first month of backroom at different store they hired for remodeling)

2. She said she wasn't sure if was overnight or am, if turns out to be am can I refused it without getting in trouble because my main form of transport is bus? (and sure as hell don't run at 4 am)

3. Did I do something bad that they felt they needed to put in backroom instead of Plano?

4.Any advice?

Thanks in advance....

 

[asidius]

Backroom isn't bad. It's what you make of it. You need to be able to handle working alone and unsupervised, and be somewhat physically fit. Sure there are bad days in the backroom, but those are in every workcenter.

Backroom is split into dayside (while the store is open) and early morning/overnight. They have 2 different roles. If you're early morning/overnight, you'll be helping with the autofill and backstocking the truck. If you're day side, you'll be pulling batches, grabbing items for guests, backstocking, and preparing for the early morning team the following day.

If you were hired on as Plano to begin with, wouldn't you be early am anyway? The Plano team typically comes in @ 4am, same as flow and early backroom.

 

[Kartman]

You need to be able to handle working alone and unsupervised

That's what I love about FA and CA.

Leave me the hell alone!

 

[ColonelAngus]

Backroom isn't bad. It's what you make of it. You need to be able to handle working alone and unsupervised, and be somewhat physically fit. Sure there are bad days in the backroom, but those are in every workcenter.

Backroom is split into dayside (while the store is open) and early morning/overnight. They have 2 different roles. If you're early morning/overnight, you'll be helping with the autofill and backstocking the truck. If you're day side, you'll be pulling batches, grabbing items for guests, backstocking, and preparing for the early morning team the following day.

If you were hired on as Plano to begin with, wouldn't you be early am anyway? The Plano team typically comes in @ 4am, same as flow and early backroom.

the only downside to the backroom is if/when you have to do the freezer pulls or dairy pulls. also, I can't speak for other stores but if your backroom is horribly understaffed or if you're working with slow TM's then you're pretty much f*cked.

 

[SFSFun]

1. Backroom isn't bad at all. It would take some truly terrible leaders and organization to cause a bunch of people to quit.

2. If they hired you specifically for the remodel, you should still be overnight. If not, you need to tell them why you can only work overnight and that you won't be working there at all otherwise.

3. No. Needs change all the time.

4. Try to keep a positive attitude, have fun, and laugh off anything negative.

If you were hired on as Plano to begin with, wouldn't you be early am anyway? The Plano team typically comes in @ 4am, same as flow and early backroom

Remodel team works overnight.

 

[Gororules]

A lot of the people we've hired for backroom have quit. I'd say in the last year we hired on 5 new guys who stayed and about 15 who quit. But honestly I think our manager is just terrible at picking out people who are willing to work, most of the people who quit are just upset that they're expected to lift stuff.

Backroom is physical labor at its peak. I'm mildly out of shape and I sweat like a pig within 5 minutes of my shift, but as long as you just keep working and try your hardest you'll be fine. The most important thing about backroom is to stay in good graces with your COWORKERS. The Managers don't matter, most of them hate me and can deal with it, but if your co workers don't like you, your job will suck. As long as they have your back and you all work well together backroom is actually quite fun =)

If they said "Backroom" they should most likely be talking about afternoons. Flow team is considered morning but at my store at least our "Backroom" shifts are from around 11am-11pm which works pretty well for me usually unless I close, because I take the bus as well.

 

[Backroomgirl]

Backroom is the best! Learn everything you can about the stockroom and keep busy. Your days will fly by, no guests to bother with and usually no one breathing down your neck. Backroom = fun and games, hiding out and yes a lot of work but a thousand times better than sales floor or cashier!!
I worked plano for two years, but backroom is my home.

If you are brand new to target most likely they switched you only because of store needs not because you did anything wrong.

 

[ClarkKent]

Backroom is the best place to work. We typically have each other's backs and get along great. We always help each other cover shifts and make sure we set each other up for a good mid or close. The only problem I'm currently having are the leaders who make it difficult to work.

 

[Gororules]

The only problem with backroom is the lack of workers! At my store we have JUST enough people to cover shifts, so it's hard to get someone to take your shift since everyone seems to be working every day XD

 

[Havok]

The only people who quit backroom are people who can't handle a physically demanding job or people who found a better job with more hours. Backroom is the best place to be in Target.

 

[BackroomAlpha]

Backroom is by far the most physical job within target. It takes Alot of dedication and hard work to master. It's the most intricate and detailed and has a lot of development potential. If you are detail oriented and fast it's the place for you to be. Although at our store there's probably a 2 week learning curve as apposed to a month or 2 for flow TMs because it's so important and tough to maintain a good score.

 

[BackroomAlpha]

The last new TM we hired was hired to be the opener. He turned out to be very detailed and thorough but was slow. ETL moved him to morning in truck days so we could "develop" him. I've been working on his speed for months with slight improvement but he's still not matched up to par but it's good enough in other areas to keep around (he improves location accuracy) so we use him a lot. But as far as his speed for example it would take our TL or me 45 min to pull 30 batches of research as apposed to him almost 3 hours.

 

[qmosqueen]

Slow ass TMs seem to go hand in hand here at target We have about 7 TMs on flow and 3 backroom TMs that are so slow they bring down the other TMs.
Once you see your co worker working slow for the same pay it doesn't motivate you at all.

 

[ColonelAngus]

Backroom is physical labor at its peak. I'm mildly out of shape and I sweat like a pig within 5 minutes of my shift, but as long as you just keep working and try your hardest you'll be fine. The most important thing about backroom is to stay in good graces with your COWORKERS. The Managers don't matter, most of them hate me and can deal with it, but if your co workers don't like you, your job will suck. As long as they have your back and you all work well together backroom is actually quite fun =)

Slow ass TMs seem to go hand in hand here at target We have about 7 TMs on flow and 3 backroom TMs that are so slow they bring down the other TMs.
Once you see your co worker working slow for the same pay it doesn't motivate you at all.

agreed on both counts. If you work with efficient TM's then it makes your job easier because you're all on the same page. BUT, there are always those few TM's that just don't get it and are slow as hell, which in turn leads to resentment. It really brings morale down when you know they're making the same as you but you're doing twice the amount of work. Target exploits that too, meaning, they'll constantly ask you to do more while others do less. I'm at a point where I simply cannot work with TM's who drag their feet, show up late or call in repeatedly. There are those few newer TM's that do ask a lot of questions and try to understand how backroom works, and those are the ones i'll gladly help out.

 

[ColonelAngus]

Dayside backroom is a really sweet gig until they start cutting hours. Then when shit doesn't get finished because your team isn't even given half as many hours as usual, they start implying that you're all just being lazy. Then the only way to keep your hours up is to alternate closing shifts and opening shifts every day and you're always exhausted cause you don't even get a chance to sleep. And you spend all your shifts in the freezer because nobody else on overnight or dayside will even touch pfresh. Then the pfresh team gets pissed because the labels on the boxes don't match the quantity inside because produce and meat are measured by weight and they make you open every single box, pull out every item and count it, then write the accurate numbers on the box, turning a 60 minute job into a 6 hour job. Then overnight gets pissed because you didn't finish all the backstock THEY left over from the night before and the sales floor team is throwing a fit because you pulled too much for them to push and this whole time you're catching this guy and that guy and him and her all standing around chatting while you're breaking your back drenched in sweat trying to run around the store getting flexible fulfillment orders done on time during the 4 hour cafs while you only have 1 other team member scheduled (assuming he didn't call out, which seems to be an almost daily occurrence on your team) and you better not ask the LOD for help because one ETL will tell you they don't have anybody backroom certified to help you and another ETL will tell you that you should be able to get it done on your own anyways and what do you mean you can't pull 3 hours of price change and set the line and backstock 30 vehicles in an hour are you even trying???

I think it's important to note, as you already mentioned, that when HR cuts hours it effects everything. shit won't get done and dayside and overnights will be at each other's throats for not finishing up work. At our store the dayside backroom is woefully understaffed, but so is overnights who take on a ton of freight. At the end of the day it's hard for me to blame dayside or overnights because I know both simply lack the bodies to get stuff done.

 

[ColonelAngus]

HOWEVER, a lot of it comes down to laziness. When I first started at Target, I had an amazing team made up of 8 outstanding team members. After a year of getting screwed over by corporate, 6 of the 8 team members had quit and been replaced by slow assholes that didn't even work at 30% of our pace. Yet the useless people on the team got just as many hours or more than our rock solid veterans because Target doesn't want to pay benefits. After a while, even the great team members lose morale. How are you supposed to pour your heart and soul into a company that won't even give you enough hours to pay rent?

I understand where you're coming from but you can't realistically expect Target of all places to give all workers full time hours. If they don't meet their monthly sales quota this means there isn't enough money to pay people, hence the cuts. Not disagreeing with you but that's the way it is. My experience has been that the veteran workers are the ones that get their full 40. The slower new workers do not. Also, I can't expect new workers to be fast.....just ain't gonna happen. some will gradually become more efficient at their job, but others will not. that's life.

 

[Kartman]

Mmmmmmmmm... I think I'll stay away from any backroom training. I kinda thought I might like it because they all seem to be left alone AND it's the coolest part of the building, but after reading all of this...

 

[ColonelAngus]

My experience with years of retail showed me that if somebody doesn't start out good, there's a 99% chance they're never going to turn into a good worker. It's not like the job is complicated, so it really just boils down to personal work ethic in the end. When I first started at Target, most of us got close to 40 hours a week. In the end, even our best workers were averaging 25. When I approached my TL and ETL about cross-training, they told me hours were so messed up that they couldn't even spare the training hours to get me on carts or a register.

I agree with you about one's work ethic - if they suck from the get go then they'll likely continue to suck. I think each store operates differently as well, so some Target stores will allocate more hours to workers and others will not. Part of the problem lies with the ability of the TL's to motivate the TM's so that everyone's working together. Our backroom workers are constantly dropping like flies and our store struggles to find replacements. In short, good workers are in short supply and I know for a fact that our store will hire anyone that walks through the doors, even if they suck. If Target refuses to invest in their workers and motivate them to do well then it's a wasted effort for everyone. It seems it's usually the folks at Target corporate that don't have a clue, since they're the ones making the decisions to cut hours.

 

[callmetaylor]

The most important thing about backroom is to stay in good graces with your COWORKERS. The Managers don't matter, most of them hate me and can deal with it, but if your co workers don't like you, your job will suck. As long as they have your back and you all work well together backroom is actually quite fun =)

THIS! I couldn't possibly agree more. When I was on Flow I saw my TL/ETL throughout most of my shift. Now that I'm backroom I see my ETL (we don't have a BRTL) for a combined total of maybe 10-15min a day, most of which is spent just giving the run-down of how things have gone that day/where problems popped up/etc. We're hardly ever told what to do- we just have our routine down and do that.

It kind of seems like backroom is where the responsible TMs in my store go...like, once you've proven that you're a self-motivating/hard-working TM, you can be trusted in the BR, because you will have a ton of unsupervised time. There have been times where I've worked by myself in the back for 3-4hrs, never seeing another person. I've shown up, worked a shift, and only said a quick "hi/bye" and "flex is clear" to the LOD all day. I can only imagine the crap some of our Flow TMs would do if they were given 3-4hrs of unsupervised time on the job since they can't even seem to do their job when they are supervised! So don't look at backroom as a punishment- look at it as a good indication that you've earned their trust/respect.

BR is its own microcosm. You'll probably feel somewhat detached from the rest of the store, but you'll get to know your fellow BRTMs really well and if your store is anything like mine you'll fit together really well...BR tends to attract a certain "type" of person. That being said, there can be a lot of tension if you're a selfish/lazy TM. In my store we have 2 openers and we tag-team the morning autofills. If you're in this situation DO NOT leave all of the crappy batches for the other person. We've got TMs who refuse to do freezer/cooler pulls, or heavy stuff like CHEM/FURN...those are the ones you dread working with. There are crappy tasks that are unavoidable, so be reasonable- split it up and don't complain and you'll be fine!


Having worked backroom for the last 8 months or so (got hired as Flow a year ago) I truly cannot imagine working anywhere else in the store. I would hate it! I love the controlled environment of the backroom. I love the total lack of micromanaging that goes on. It's not a bad gig

Plus, it has the added benefit of basically acting as a gym membership! Lots of ladders and heavy boxes!

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

True! You get paid to workout.

 

[asidius]

Take warning that backroom can be super boring. Pulling CAFs is fun (I especially find it fun trying to beat the pull goal timer) alone but backstocking will make you want to fall asleep pretty quickly. I don't know how you 4am'ers do it! If you ever get stuck with a closing shift, you'll be backstocking the majority of it and staring at that clock.

 

[tgtguy]

All in all its not bad. Like someone else said you HAVE to be able to work unsupervised and be self motivated. I love it !

 

[Gororules]

I've become known as the guy who LIKES to pull coolers. I overheat very easily so a good 5-10 minutes in the coolers feels amazing to me, It's when they need someone to backstock for hours that I don't raise my hand B-)

 

[BigEyedPhish]

I have filled in for backroom, and it did nothing, but bore the living hell out of me.....

Although half of it was back stocking a full 3-tier of cosmestics that was completely mixed together.... After that, never again... I have worked a lot of jobs in Target and so far I think the most intricate/detail oriented (non-TL) job (in Logistics) I think I have come across is Signing Specialist, at least at my store, I think to be considered "fully trained" it literally takes a year of transitions to get a good grasp. Not to mention how every TL/ETL wants something, and each something is different. I am looked at as the SAP Captain/MySupport guy for my store, and this extends past just logistics to sales floor, AP, front-end etc...

its bullshit, and ironically openly known, quite frankly.

 

[BackroomAlpha]

@callmetaylor nice! Perfect execution of explanation. Slow TMs cause problems, we've got 3 very slow and unknowledgeable TMs in the back who like to take their time with everything. What takes me and our TL or veteran 30 min to do takes them almost 2 hours. Yesterday one of our newer guys had 22 research batches, started pulling them at 10:30am and still had 8 in the gun around 3 when I left. Instocks needs all of their batches pulled and set on the line by noon as they leave at 12:30. I imagine BTS is gonna be tough for me and a couple others because we pull all the weight. Yesterday I backstocked, Chem, pet, paper, toy1,2,3,HIPA, seasonal,sprt,grc1, grc2, grc3, Dom, bath, plug, plastic, home, furn, candy, bev, lockup all while one TM left early and didnt backstock anything and another backstocked softlines and HBO. I generally always do 80% of the truck backstock on my own and if I didn't step up it wouldn't get done.