A guest found a phone in shoes today. She gave it to me and I took it to the svc desk. I asked them to make an announcement about finding a phone and they said they couldn't do it. Why the hell not? Luckily the guest returned to shoes and I directed her upfront. Is this corporate policy?
Archived Is this Target store policy?
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RunForACallBox
General Merchandise Expert (Stationery)
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I'm not sure about corporate, but if you say that over the overhead, anyone could just come up and say "hey thats my phone" and its really not theirs. So yeah i would have just told the GS where it was found and what time and hopefully the guest that lost it would go to GS to see if it was turned in. We never announce anything sensitive over the overhead unless it a guest page.
Because it would be too hard for GS to ask "anyone" who showed up at the counter to identify their lost property by telling what TYPE of phone their lost & then to ask the person to prove it's theirs by calling the cell phone# & making sure it RINGS? How many Target shoppers do they think would want to try to steal a phone that has been lost in a store? If the answer is a lot, they don't have much respect for their shoppers.
Sorry but I think Target should make the announcement instead of just hoping the customer.... ooops.... their GUEST.... realizes their phone slipped out of their pocket after they drove away from the store.
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We never announce lost anything over the overhead, except if it has to do with a lost child or missing parent. Speaking of which.. Kids really need to learn their parents name.. We have had lost 5 year olds who say they can't find Mommy. When we ask them what Mommy's name is, all they say is mommy.. We put the team on alert for a Mom or dad who might be looking for a kid, and also alert ap to the situation.. I usually keep them entertained at guest services or food ave until Mom shows up..
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I was always told no overhead pages (save for closing announcements) is a corporate policy. The only time we will break it is if pharmacy is calling someone back to the pharmacy (rare), if the guest throws a serious hissy fit and the LOD caves (even more rare) or if some genius leaves a car door open in the lot and someone reports it to us (oddly more common than the second scenario). But for the last one, it doesn't do any good since the guest never comes to guest service like we ask so we can tell them.
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People are responsible for their own shit
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This. Several times a day I will get someone coming up to guest services to tell me they have lost their phone, keys, hat, sunglasses, whatever. And 9 times out of 10, we don't have the item. But the guest wants me to go on this long complicated journey of helping them find it or going through all of my crap back there when I know it isn't there..and then take their name and number so we can call them when it shows up (notes always thrown away at close because if it hasn't shown up by then, it isn't going to).
It's not that I'm not sympathetic. The day I thought I lost my keys because another TM picked them up on accident really sucked. And I lost the best winter hat ever in the store last winter and I cannot believe it didn't show up in the lost and found. But I don't have the time or energy to hold the hand of every single guest who cannot keep track of their own stuff. Eventually they need to become the responsible adults society expects them to be and hold on to their own stuff, or at the very least, be responsible enough to try to find it on their own.
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Whenever I find keys or a phone I always call it out over the walkie (in case the person asks another TM) and take them to the front desk. I can understand why they wouldn't announce it over the loud speakers. If someone happens to be missing their phone (Especially car keys) they will seek them out.
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We hold phones and keys up at GS in a locked box separate from regular lost and found. But people are surprisingly good about noticing lost phones or keys. The hard part is finding a phone on the floor before someone else swipes it which is sadly common. For things like lost purses, especially if it was in a cart while they were shopping we'll announce it on the walkie and do a small sweep of the area we're working in. Nothing crazy, though.
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My store will call out lost parents/children, headlights on... I think that's it. Sometimes we page guests to the pharmacy I think.
S
sher
Guest
How timely lol. I dropped my debit card today (I went purse free and it slipped out of my pocket at some point). Went right to guest service when I noticed and the guests will too. If they come to someone on the floor the TM should know to tell them to check GS.
Sure I could prove a dropped phone or something is mine, but if you never announce it, there's no chance for crooks to attempt to claim my phone in the first place.
Sure I could prove a dropped phone or something is mine, but if you never announce it, there's no chance for crooks to attempt to claim my phone in the first place.
I realize people are, or should be, responsible, but shit happens. Clearly a person could easily prove their own phone. If not, they aren't getting it back. To me making a simple announcement is no big deal. BUT I don't work svc desk. I'm going to ask my STL, for the hell of it, to see what she says.
S
sher
Guest
I always leave/lose things in target and personally, I prefer it this way. I left ear buds in a locker, left multiple water bottles in reshop carts, lost my debit card yesterday lol, wallet, and probably more stuff. Got em all back. I think I've lost everything important at some point. I haven't lost the phone at target, though.
I had a guest who insisted that the cart attendant help her look through EVERY cart to try and find her phone she left in her cart the previous day. Lady... its long gone by now.
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One: Target makes it a general policy to try and avoid overhead speaker usage. It's less noisy and frankly better for all of us. This is not hard set like people think, but most leaders will stay on the side of caution on this one.
Two: It is a huge potential waste of time (in the long run) to spend labor and announce a missing item that may have been sitting there for a while with no one to claim it. Just log it, and after thirty days toss it properly. if the item is so important then the guest will call for it.
Two: It is a huge potential waste of time (in the long run) to spend labor and announce a missing item that may have been sitting there for a while with no one to claim it. Just log it, and after thirty days toss it properly. if the item is so important then the guest will call for it.
Sorry but I have to disagree with Target's thinking here.
If they can announce a customer left their car lights on, they could also announce when a customer lost a valuable item in their store.
There's a difference between being asked to search FOR something a customer reports missing & simply announcing that something has already been turned into GS.
Brick & mortar stores are struggling to keep customers since online shopping has taken a huge chunk of shoppers out of the stores. Retail must go out of its way to find ways to IMPRESS the customers who do walk in the door. They are already willing to allow customers to barter for prices & use expired coupons then why wouldn't they go an extra step and show how CONCERNED they are for their customer's well being while shopping in their store? Things like this make a person happy to be taken care of in a human way. It's not about a customer's personal responsibility - it's about showing common courtesy & going that extra step to set yourself apart from the rest of the big box stores.
If they can announce a customer left their car lights on, they could also announce when a customer lost a valuable item in their store.
There's a difference between being asked to search FOR something a customer reports missing & simply announcing that something has already been turned into GS.
Brick & mortar stores are struggling to keep customers since online shopping has taken a huge chunk of shoppers out of the stores. Retail must go out of its way to find ways to IMPRESS the customers who do walk in the door. They are already willing to allow customers to barter for prices & use expired coupons then why wouldn't they go an extra step and show how CONCERNED they are for their customer's well being while shopping in their store? Things like this make a person happy to be taken care of in a human way. It's not about a customer's personal responsibility - it's about showing common courtesy & going that extra step to set yourself apart from the rest of the big box stores.
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It's not really a lack of compassion. It's for the same reason we don't call code yellows over the loudspeaker. There will always be people looking to take advantage of situations and not announcing those situations is more or less mitigating potential damage.
redeye58
Hasta Ba Rista, Baby!
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When iPhones became the hot thing, we had a method for folks claiming a phone.
We kept it in the drawer out of sight; they had to describe it down to the case/cover & then they had to dial the number to make it ring (using the desk phone).
We never announced it overhead but there would be chatter over the walkies.
We kept it in the drawer out of sight; they had to describe it down to the case/cover & then they had to dial the number to make it ring (using the desk phone).
We never announced it overhead but there would be chatter over the walkies.
oath2order
Scary Socialist
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My store does overheads for a guest missing another guest. Not like a kid who came to the fitting room and lost their parents, just any guest. We do it for cars, TMs not responding on walkie, the pharmacy calls for guests, and huddles.
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I really wish they would just give pharmacy the ability to page our own guests back....we have a FRO who cannot pronounce names to save her life, even though we've told her EXACTLY how to say it.
60SecondsRemaining
Former SrTL - Replen
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My RX has access. Dial 52 on the phone.
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Our pharmacy also has access.
We page people to the service desk regularly. We only do it by name though.
ie. If someone turns in a purse/wallet to me I check it for ID, and will have the operator page that person to the service desk, but the page won't mention a lost purse or wallet.
ie. If someone turns in a purse/wallet to me I check it for ID, and will have the operator page that person to the service desk, but the page won't mention a lost purse or wallet.
buliSBI
Former Team Member
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I believe it was a corp thing. The rumor was a series of people would come in and say a car left their lights on. Guest Service would make the announcement. However, when the guest went out to check their car, they would get jumped or mugged. So the overhead was never to be used again unless for closing announcements or emergencies.
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They told us it's "against corporate policy," which I think is BS, especially when there's nobody actually covering the phones. We don't make a habit of paging people so I honestly don't see what the issue is. We usually end up just calling the people on their cells if we have it on file. Thanks for the info
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