Archived I FINALLY told a gstl how cart attendants are treated

[cartman3030]

I finally kinda snaped and told a gtsl how cart attendants are treated like garbage. Long story short I basically told a gtsl to shove it when she said all I do is get carts and said if I have to quit I will and wont leave a 2 week notice. She also said I neglect my other duties, like oh leaving one salvage or having one paper towel on the ground is neglecting my duties then screw you.

 

[opalitewaves]

Our store is small so I think we only have a few cart attendants only on like Friday through Sunday. I'm always nice to the cart attendants because it is not easy doing that job in the heat and when I have to go get carts I'm sweaty and a but tired. Hopefully your TL's and such can start to treat you with a bit more respect.

 

[Pinballmaster]

Realize this is only their opinion. Until someone works the daily grind they can't appreciate the position or the amount of work involved. At the end of the day is the job worth it to you? If so, I would take some time to cool down and apologize. Shouting matches will get you nowhere. If you aren't valued they will be happy to see you go. In the big scheme of things we're all important, but we're also replaceable. Don't be foolish and loose your job if it's something you enjoy.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Hey @Kartman !

 

[TTGOz]

Good, Cart attendants are often treated like shit. my first quarter four was absolute hell.. it was also my first year. I was a cashier/cart attendant back then and there were zero carts in the parking lot to pull in but zero carts in the store for customers to grab.

Almost immediately first impression from LOD and GSTL is "Why aren't you pulling in carts!?"
It took them two weeks to finally listen to me and the other three cart attendants that there was no carts. All they had to do was walk outside and see. It took them TWO WEEKS. I remember it so distinctively. I had a massive "I told you so" moment with the then Softlines Sr.TL who was LOD and kept accusing me every weekend of being lazy.

Now, goes to say, not all Cart Attendants are treated like shit. I was treated good most of the time until holiday stress got to all of the leaders. I work in Frozen Dairy/Grocery now and still don't look back, but I help out occasionally if they need help because all of the GSTLs know how good I am. Lmao, sometimes they'd catch me hand pushing in 14-16 carts at a time and tell me to stop and not worry about getting so many carts in at once. I prefer massively the cart pusher over hand pushing. To me, hand pushing slowed me down doing only 7-10 carts at a time and made me exhausted. I could do rows of 30-40 carts with the pusher in a little more time and I felt that was so much more worth it. I was a champion.

 

[gsa4lyfe]

In my experience the only time our cart attendants feel overwhelmed or treated poorly is when they don't speak up for themselves. I encourage all my cart attendants to be vocal and learn how to say no. If you already doing a carry out just respond "I'm currently doing one can anyone else grab that?" ..." Oh sorry I'm in the middle of cleaning the bathroom can someone help with that spill?". Communicate. Although you're the designated person for a lot of things doesn't mean you're the only person who can do it.

 

[Kartman]

I could do rows of 30-40 carts with the pusher

That is overloading the pusher and not best practice. The limit is 25.

Your GSTL is a jerk, OP. Realize that and ignore their bullshit.

 

[cartman3030]

I implemented a new policy -- dont speak unless spoken to, oh and when I "If I have to quit I will" the gstl said "we dont want you to quit" um no cunt you just dont want to be down a cart attendant, I should call the hotline and reference the ENTIRE "management" team for unfair treatment. or when the team member survey comes out give 0 for everything

 

[Planosss]

How were you treated unfairly? What exactly do they do to you?

 

[seasonaldude]

I really didn't have an appreciation for the CAs until I did part of their job myself. The new guy they hired that shift NCNS'd and I just happened to be at the guest service desk for other reasons when they ran out of carts. They asked me just to get carts and I stupidly said OK because guests first or whatever. That's not an easy job. Manuevering the carts is hard. Getting guests to stop their cars for you to cross is damn near impossible. I wouldn't want to do that all day while doing a bunch of other crap too.

Respect to the cart attendants.

 

[Kartman]

Cars stop for me. Hell yea they do.

 

[Fix It]

You come off as young and foolish.

 

[Greenie]

A nap. And a Snickers. Maybe not in that order.

I really like 2 out of 3 of our cart attendants. They are solid dudes.

 

[buliSBI]

The cart pusher limit has really nothing to do with overloading the pusher. It was because guests complained about having to wait for a line to enter the store. That's somewhat reasonable and safety reason. My typical lot maneuvering was I would collect going down one lane and come back another picking up 30-40+ carts total, and run it in.
Then they changed it 25 carts or really one well at a time.

The service co. that came to overhaul one of my stores pushers told me that they can actually do 50+ no trouble. They have more power than some of the older drivable pushers. When making the final run to the sidewell, I would get over 50 for one long run.

To the OP:
I would take a breath and calm down for a sec. Calling Hotline on your Mgmt will require documentation of ETLs breaking policy and witnesses to get any headway. Reporting will only get you blackballed from hours. And they will have the target on you to performance out. It would be better solved with aligning the TL with your actual daily tasks & effort and compare that with her expectations.

Yes...Unfortunately some stores treat their CAs as GO-FORs and the lowest cast TM of the store.

I worked everything from Cashier/SD/CA/FA then crosstrained to Hardlines during my Tgt days with some varying experience. Some of my Mgmt Team treated CAs with respect.

However, some didn't. One of my stores(a Super) made CAs, on top of carts,....
were expected to answer every spill call, had to keep an eye on every Backroom door for carts used by Backroom, and push food orders up front to FA/SB & dump grease, maintain the Can/Bottle recycler, breakroom trash...the duties never stopped. With that store, I just kept quite and did my job. And made efforts to get out of CA shifts.

 

[Kartman]

The cart pusher limit has really nothing to do with overloading the pusher.

You are absolutely incorrect. I suggest you share that thinking with your DTL - get some feedback.

 

[EndymeChaser]

Realize this is only their opinion. Until someone works the daily grind they can't appreciate the position or the amount of work involved. At the end of the day is the job worth it to you? If so, I would take some time to cool down and apologize.

Are you insane?! It’s alright for them to treat another TM like shit because they don’t understand their daily grind? Apologize? Good god...