Archived How do I deal with new hires?

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recently my store hired a bunch of new people for softlines. Many of them are young and dumb. Younger than I am. and the amount of attitude and disrespect they give those of us who have been here longer than them is surreal. They try to tell others who have been here longer than them what to do and it’s realllllly starting to piss me off. Most of my shifts I work with them and I try to not listen to them as much as I can but they are just so annoying and pushy it’s incredibly hard to ignore them. It’s nothing so bad that I need to take it to HR, it’s just rude and disrespectful behavior. Talking shit behind my and others’ backs, bossing around when they obviously know nothing, being lazy, and not caring. At the end of the day I know I’m doing my job 200% correctly and I’ve been told I do an amazing job, I’m not sure why these KIDS bother me so much, but they do. Does any one have any advice as to how to deal with them? Should I just ignore more intensely? I need serious advice.
 
Talk to your TL, if you have a TL that you can trust. Most of them are just as tired of smart ass kids you are, and they are in a position to do something about it, especially for the under 90 days crowd. 😁 Can’t say how things are post Modernization, but when I was at Spot the last thing I wanted was some arrogant clueless newbie ticking off the veteran TMs...
 
If the thought of going to HR has crossed your mind there’s probably a reason for it. There have been times TMs have come to me to vent, but after more than a couple of venting sessions it’s clearly a problem.. I always tell them I’ll talk to my ETL about it and they know I never give any names so they’re okay with it. My ETL will make sure that the TLs and ETL over the affected TM has more than a drive-by STU. They will make sure that the Leaders have huddles for the affected areas and go over expectations with everyone. They’ll call out the negative behavior without calling any TM out, they’ll go over where everyone is to be during their shift, they’ll remind their Team to go to them and not just vent but say, hey I’m having a problem. I’m sure that last one is just to keep HR out of their business lol. But ultimately you have to be your biggest advocate. When the kids start with you just grab your walkie and ask for your Leader and go talk to them. Eventually the squeaky will will get the grease, I promise!
 
recently my store hired a bunch of new people for softlines. Many of them are young and dumb. Younger than I am. and the amount of attitude and disrespect they give those of us who have been here longer than them is surreal. They try to tell others who have been here longer than them what to do and it’s realllllly starting to piss me off. Most of my shifts I work with them and I try to not listen to them as much as I can but they are just so annoying and pushy it’s incredibly hard to ignore them. It’s nothing so bad that I need to take it to HR, it’s just rude and disrespectful behavior. Talking shit behind my and others’ backs, bossing around when they obviously know nothing, being lazy, and not caring. At the end of the day I know I’m doing my job 200% correctly and I’ve been told I do an amazing job, I’m not sure why these KIDS bother me so much, but they do. Does any one have any advice as to how to deal with them? Should I just ignore more intensely? I need serious advice.
This should be a wake up call for you, seniority, experience and knowledge don’t mean shit at Target.
These young a dumb new TMs probably make the same as you or the same as someone whose been at the store for a decade.
They most likely won’t do the job right and still keep their job for a long time.
Here you are fuming over them and their attitude, when at the end of the day Target sees you and the new TMs as same .
 
i usually walk away and say going to the bathroom.... gets a break from them at least.
 
I talk to new team members about their lives, goals, etc. Most young people want the world to know they don't want to be Target employees for long. Lol, which makes sense. I try to not watch them learn. It can be painful unless I am literally asked to train. I wait to be asked if they need help.

It's all about ego.
 
This should be a wake up call for you, seniority, experience and knowledge don’t mean shit at Target.

Here you are fuming over them and their attitude, when at the end of the day Target sees you and the new TMs as same .

Bingo.

Target doesn’t value your experience whatsoever. Their attitude is simply, anyone can push/zone.
 
This should be a wake up call for you, seniority, experience and knowledge don’t mean shit at Target.
These young a dumb new TMs probably make the same as you or the same as someone whose been at the store for a decade.
They most likely won’t do the job right and still keep their job for a long time.
Here you are fuming over them and their attitude, when at the end of the day Target sees you and the new TMs as same .
I don’t mean to be rude but I asked for advice on how to deal with it, I didn’t ask for you to spew your increasing anger @ target on my thread. Yeah sure Targét sucks whatever I’m sure everyone knows that by now, but that isn’t what I asked for or cared about. I solely asked for the best way to handle the situation I am in.
 
Ignore the shyt outta them and even disrespect them but turning down whatever they request. If they never lend a hand for you why would you?
 
Honestly, I remind myself that I am not an ETL or TL. My responsibility is to train them, but not to ensure the person is doing the work (and not playing on their phone, taking long breaks, “shopping “ on the clock.) If I feel the person is Over the Top in goofing off, I make a comment to an ETL or TL. Otherwise, I keep my mouth shut and my head down and do *my* job.

I am not the *work police.*.

Good luck. I have come to terms that some team members just don’t give a damn.
 
Honestly, I remind myself that I am not an ETL or TL. My responsibility is to train them, but not to ensure the person is doing the work (and not playing on their phone, taking long breaks, “shopping “ on the clock.) If I feel the person is Over the Top in goofing off, I make a comment to an ETL or TL. Otherwise, I keep my mouth shut and my head down and do *my* job.

I am not the *work police.*.

Good luck. I have come to terms that some team members just don’t give a damn.
Amen. We have some folks who tattle constantly. What works for me is to focus on my job and stay out of the gossip.
 
Honestly, I remind myself that I am not an ETL or TL. My responsibility is to train them, but not to ensure the person is doing the work (and not playing on their phone, taking long breaks, “shopping “ on the clock.) If I feel the person is Over the Top in goofing off, I make a comment to an ETL or TL. Otherwise, I keep my mouth shut and my head down and do *my* job.

I am not the *work police.*.

Good luck. I have come to terms that some team members just don’t give a damn.
Yes, all of this.
 
recently my store hired a bunch of new people for softlines. Many of them are young and dumb. Younger than I am. and the amount of attitude and disrespect they give those of us who have been here longer than them is surreal. They try to tell others who have been here longer than them what to do and it’s realllllly starting to piss me off. Most of my shifts I work with them and I try to not listen to them as much as I can but they are just so annoying and pushy it’s incredibly hard to ignore them. It’s nothing so bad that I need to take it to HR, it’s just rude and disrespectful behavior. Talking shit behind my and others’ backs, bossing around when they obviously know nothing, being lazy, and not caring. At the end of the day I know I’m doing my job 200% correctly and I’ve been told I do an amazing job, I’m not sure why these KIDS bother me so much, but they do. Does any one have any advice as to how to deal with them? Should I just ignore more intensely? I need serious advice.

Truthfully, I read some but not all of the replies. Your post reeks of ego and entitlement. If the problem you have is with everyone (all new hires), then the problem is -you-.

I would venture that you know -nothing- about any of these people aside from your assumption that they are dumb based on their age. Maybe you could try to work with them a bit instead of ignoring them? I don't work with you personally but based off of the tone of your post I would assume they probably don't like you, I wouldn't either. People (in general) don't get a job to be lazy and not care.

The best employee isn't the one that does the best work. It's the one who helps everyone else do their best work. Your individual contribution means nothing if the goal isn't accomplished. You will encounter young people at every job. I would be willing to bet that if your initial response wasn't "ugh new people" and instead "hi im soandso, let me know if you need help, ill check in every so often", they would probably be much more approachable. Your attitude has created an "us vs them" mentality and at this point it probably isn't going away.

If you can't find ways to integrate with the younger generation, then get out of retail. They aren't going away.
 
We depend on these noobs to teach us to do things the new way and remind us to stop if we start doing things efficiently. The future is theirs
All our noobs know how to push, that's it. They aren't even register trained.

Did you forget the sarcasm font? 😅
 
I don’t mean to be rude but I asked for advice on how to deal with it, I didn’t ask for you to spew your increasing anger @ target on my thread. Yeah sure Targét sucks whatever I’m sure everyone knows that by now, but that isn’t what I asked for or cared about. I solely asked for the best way to handle the situation I am in.
I actually love Target, it pays my bills, handsomely.
Advice, ok, punch in ,do your job to best of ability and punch out.
 
recently my store hired a bunch of new people for softlines. Many of them are young and dumb. Younger than I am. and the amount of attitude and disrespect they give those of us who have been here longer than them is surreal. They try to tell others who have been here longer than them what to do and it’s realllllly starting to piss me off. Most of my shifts I work with them and I try to not listen to them as much as I can but they are just so annoying and pushy it’s incredibly hard to ignore them. It’s nothing so bad that I need to take it to HR, it’s just rude and disrespectful behavior. Talking shit behind my and others’ backs, bossing around when they obviously know nothing, being lazy, and not caring. At the end of the day I know I’m doing my job 200% correctly and I’ve been told I do an amazing job, I’m not sure why these KIDS bother me so much, but they do. Does any one have any advice as to how to deal with them? Should I just ignore more intensely? I need serious advice.
I can tell pretty much right away who are the good ones and who are the bad ones.
I try to help all of them at first because they don't get enough training. I pretty much trained myself and I remembered how much that sucked.
Because they get hired together they usually have their own click. And that's good.
The ones that are slackers and lazy, I just ignore them as best I can. And believe me it's so hard! But I'm not their boss. I do my job and thats all I worry about.
I don't let know one boss me around at work unless your my boss.
 
Yeah, this is rough. I used to try to be very helpful, welcoming, offer advice and tips. Now though? I just keep my head down, do my job, leave. The newbies don't seem to care if I'm helpful or welcoming, they spurn tips offered from someone with more experience so I've stopped offering. I'm polite, but that's it. Sometimes they last, more often they don't. (Now, if they ask for help with something and ask good questions and seem like they really do want to learn, I'm way more willing to be as helpful as I can be. But.... seems like that never happens.)
If TLs ask for feedback, provide factual feedback free of your opinions. So it's "Newbie X pushed half of a Z-rack and assisted a handful of guests, but was chatting with TM Y for at least 20 minutes besides taking a very long break." Not "Newbie X is a disrespectful jerk who knows nothing."
If TLs don't ask for feedback, I wouldn't offer any unless it's to report something particularly egregious, like rude behavior toward a guest or setting aside high-demand product for their own purchase.
As to their trying to boss you around, I'd just say that I'm doing what I was told and that TL will need to tell me different. Or I'd walkie my TL, go to a different channel and say, "Newbie X tells me that I'm supposed to be doing ___ but I thought you said ___ so I'm just checking in to confirm that I'm on track?" Do it right while the new TM is standing there; bet it won't happen again.
 
"The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers. "

That quote describes the kids today to a T, but it was said nearly 2500 years ago by Socrates, which should tell you how long kids have been like this.

Edit: Also Baby Boomers said the same about my generation, Gen X, and it was said to Gen Y, of course it's being said about Millennials.

If a kid has half a brain then they can skate through high school fairly easily, and high school encourages socializing, as that is part of learning and surviving in an adult world. That experience is completely opposite of the adult world, but the kids don't know that. That takes brain maturity to understand it, and experience to learn it.

I talk really, really bad about kids a lot, but I know that in ⅔-¾ cases the problem is me, as the kids are doing something developmentally appropriate and even developmentally necessary for future growth. The same applies to the older kids, the ones in high school. They need to socialize so they can navigate an adult world and they don't yet have had the experience or the brain development to work on the theoretical to understand that work is a whole different ballgame. You pretty much have to endure until they learn those lessons.

And to be fair, sometimes the kids aren't the root of the problem. My husband is a manager at a different retail store. They don't hire minors, 18 and up. He hears again and again, often the workers but sometimes the helicopter parent that comes in to defend their flesh and blood, the parents tell the kid to get a job, and then tell the kid to call out when the parents need a babysitter for a younger sibling or other frivolous reason, or tell the kid to not do part of the job because it's beneath them/parents' interpretation they aren't paid for that. That kind of influence at home, it's hard for a near adult child to realize that Mommy and Daddy are wrong and that slacking and calling out really do have job consequences.
 
Yeah, this is rough. I used to try to be very helpful, welcoming, offer advice and tips. Now though? I just keep my head down, do my job, leave. The newbies don't seem to care if I'm helpful or welcoming, they spurn tips offered from someone with more experience so I've stopped offering. I'm polite, but that's it. Sometimes they last, more often they don't. (Now, if they ask for help with something and ask good questions and seem like they really do want to learn, I'm way more willing to be as helpful as I can be. But.... seems like that never happens.)
If TLs ask for feedback, provide factual feedback free of your opinions. So it's "Newbie X pushed half of a Z-rack and assisted a handful of guests, but was chatting with TM Y for at least 20 minutes besides taking a very long break." Not "Newbie X is a disrespectful jerk who knows nothing."
If TLs don't ask for feedback, I wouldn't offer any unless it's to report something particularly egregious, like rude behavior toward a guest or setting aside high-demand product for their own purchase.
As to their trying to boss you around, I'd just say that I'm doing what I was told and that TL will need to tell me different. Or I'd walkie my TL, go to a different channel and say, "Newbie X tells me that I'm supposed to be doing ___ but I thought you said ___ so I'm just checking in to confirm that I'm on track?" Do it right while the new TM is standing there; bet it won't happen again.
This is so bizarre to me because I was looking for any advice or help I could get when I started (still do) and was grateful for it. I definitely wasn't screwing around or chatting it up when trying to learn the best way to do the job.
 
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