Archived Just a heads up
- Thread starter Albusmc
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Well, my intentions were to try and help the mindset of some on this site, but it's evident that many of you do not want to change. You need to want to help yourself first. If you want to be miserable everyday at your job, that's on you. I just hope you get more leaders around that will help you guys see how good you have it. Have a great day everyone!
Just for the record...I'm not from corporate. I work store side and I am certainly not stuck in la-la land. I have just seen and experienced many more harsh realities than most of you have seen. I look at the bright side because I know how ugly life can get. I just suggest next time one of you whine about how hard your 5 hour day at the spot was, remember someone just fought and died for you in miserable conditions half way across the world, thousands of miles away from the ones they love.
But don't worry, I'm sure you had a bad day too....
Just for the record...I'm not from corporate. I work store side and I am certainly not stuck in la-la land. I have just seen and experienced many more harsh realities than most of you have seen. I look at the bright side because I know how ugly life can get. I just suggest next time one of you whine about how hard your 5 hour day at the spot was, remember someone just fought and died for you in miserable conditions half way across the world, thousands of miles away from the ones they love.
But don't worry, I'm sure you had a bad day too....
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He is in what I like to call the honeymoon phase. I don't fault him for that. Basically anyone that worked in a target store - from the cart attendant up to STL - has been in the honeymoon phase.
Basically it is the period when people believe spot can do no wrong, spot really cares about them and their life, spot will give them a living wage/hours if they sell their soul to spot, etc.
Some people figure out the truth in a few weeks, some in months, and some in years. Eventually, though, everyone figures out what the real deal is. Give him some more time....
AssetsProtection
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some funny replies on the last page lol. Yeah album, definately say hi to miguel at the next board meeting for me!
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Indeed! Or ffflevel3.
......my God you are thick headed. And ignorant.
We need to work on the culture in our store? They place a large emphasis on how they feel? Bull ****ing ****. You know what our guest surveys have said in the past few months? "Why are there only ever two cashiers at most in the middle of the day? The head cashier was calling for extra help multiple times and each time was told there wasn't anyone available to help. Why?" "I walked around your store multiple times and there didn't seem to be any clerks available to help me." "I wanted to purchase something in your furniture section but there was no one around." "I waited in line for 10 minutes because there was only one cashier at 5:00 at night" "I came into your store for ___ but found the shelves empty" "I asked a clerk for help, and he went into the back and I waited for 10 minutes and he never came back. I later saw him up at the front cashiering." Sure, maybe somethings like the team member should know that if he's helping a guest to not respond to back up, this isn't just a "culture" thing. We haven't had payroll for months, and what a surprise, we've been missing sales by quite a large margin. When we were well staffed, we were blowing out our sales forecasts by about 20-30%. What a coinkydink!
Yes. Yes it does.
There's these things called "headcounts" and when a store meets that, there are no longer any positions available. In some districts, people stay for long periods of time and there aren't any positions available. Yes, someone may get "signed off" for a promotion, but they can be waiting around for that position to open up for a long time. There is a team member at my store that got signed off a year and a half ago, and guess what? They're still a team member. There haven't been any openings for a TL position anywhere in the district. So they are still in our store, getting about 25 hours a week, at the same pay rate. Same with ETL positions. We have a SrTL that has been going for interviews for the past few months, and they keep getting told to wait for a position to open up. STL? We also have an ETL that passed his tests for an STL position LAST CHRISTMAS. STILL. AT. OUR. STORE. So no, there is not a maximum amount of promotions, but there IS a limited amount of positions. And surprise, you don't get the promotion pay and promotion benefits until you are actually IN that position.
I greatly appreciated your failure to comprehend why people may be a little bit disgruntled. You really drove home some poor points. But thank you so much for your time and efforts. You see, we come on this site to talk about our jobs and sometimes how stressful and how much our stores have gone downhill since we've started. My perception is that your goal is to praise and rejoice to the company that barely pays it's employees enough to feed themselves. That's just a shame. Have a wonderful day!
We need to work on the culture in our store? They place a large emphasis on how they feel? Bull ****ing ****. You know what our guest surveys have said in the past few months? "Why are there only ever two cashiers at most in the middle of the day? The head cashier was calling for extra help multiple times and each time was told there wasn't anyone available to help. Why?" "I walked around your store multiple times and there didn't seem to be any clerks available to help me." "I wanted to purchase something in your furniture section but there was no one around." "I waited in line for 10 minutes because there was only one cashier at 5:00 at night" "I came into your store for ___ but found the shelves empty" "I asked a clerk for help, and he went into the back and I waited for 10 minutes and he never came back. I later saw him up at the front cashiering." Sure, maybe somethings like the team member should know that if he's helping a guest to not respond to back up, this isn't just a "culture" thing. We haven't had payroll for months, and what a surprise, we've been missing sales by quite a large margin. When we were well staffed, we were blowing out our sales forecasts by about 20-30%. What a coinkydink!
Now sit back and relax, because this is where it gets good!!
Yes. Yes it does.
There is NO limited amount of spots of promotions per district. There is a goal to strive for, but NO maximum amount of promotions (whose ignorant now??
There's these things called "headcounts" and when a store meets that, there are no longer any positions available. In some districts, people stay for long periods of time and there aren't any positions available. Yes, someone may get "signed off" for a promotion, but they can be waiting around for that position to open up for a long time. There is a team member at my store that got signed off a year and a half ago, and guess what? They're still a team member. There haven't been any openings for a TL position anywhere in the district. So they are still in our store, getting about 25 hours a week, at the same pay rate. Same with ETL positions. We have a SrTL that has been going for interviews for the past few months, and they keep getting told to wait for a position to open up. STL? We also have an ETL that passed his tests for an STL position LAST CHRISTMAS. STILL. AT. OUR. STORE. So no, there is not a maximum amount of promotions, but there IS a limited amount of positions. And surprise, you don't get the promotion pay and promotion benefits until you are actually IN that position.
I greatly appreciated your failure to comprehend why people may be a little bit disgruntled. You really drove home some poor points. But thank you so much for your time and efforts. You see, we come on this site to talk about our jobs and sometimes how stressful and how much our stores have gone downhill since we've started. My perception is that your goal is to praise and rejoice to the company that barely pays it's employees enough to feed themselves. That's just a shame. Have a wonderful day!
I'm sorry Melvin, I don't believe we've met, but it truly is a pleasure.
Now in regards to my strawman argument...you instantly start off on the wrong foot. I was simply stating what is evident in the majority of posts I have read through. If you would like me to copy and paste examples thought these forums, that will not be an issue. It's a mindset, and a culture. Both of which are toxic. In your case you say that spot deprives the guests the service they have come to expect. Well it's obvious that you need to work on the culture in your store at a minimum. Target makes it a point to place a large emphasis on how our guests feel. I know you've heard of them, guest surveys. They are talked about daily and measured weekly. So for you to make a totally inaccurate statement like you just did really compromises your credibility.
The Speaker of the House "deemed the bill passed" in 2009 and only recently has it been seen as unconsititutional and is finally taking its route through the judicial system the proper way. (just lost more credibility for having no idea what your talking about)
Now sit back and relax, because this is where it gets good!!
There is NO limited amount of spots of promotions per district. There is a goal to strive for, but NO maximum amount of promotions (whose ignorant now??
So Melvin, I greatly appreciated your efforts to sound intelligent and really drive home solid points, however not one thing you said held weight. But thank you so much for your time and efforts. You see, I came on to this site to motivate people and help see things from another perspective. My perception is that your goal is to try to embarrass and speak poorly of the company that feeds you. That's just a shame. Have a great day!
You have seen exactly no posts that claim Target is cutting hours or benefits for its own pleasure. You can easily prove me wrong by providing a link to one.
I hate to get bogged down in the "Obamacare" babble, but the bill was passed in March of 2010. It is tied up in the courts and significant parts of it will not even take effect for years to come. Your claim that it has cost all businesses is, as I already stated, nonsense. That is the typical type of hyperbole that is passed off as intelligent discourse these days.
I no longer work at Target. Like others, I still have an interest in the business and the people who work there, even though I've moved on to a different field for which I went to college.
"There is no limited amount spots of promotions per district." Interesting, so you're saying there is an unlimited number of promotions available per district? Hmmm...so in other words, if there were one hundred go-get-em, peppy, overachieving, FFFing TLs all desiring a promotion to ETL within a district who knocked the proverbial socks off in interviews, Target would find spots for them?
A final FYI: If you're going to imply someone is ignorant, try to avoid confusing "whose" with "who's" within that sentence.
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but oh gosh melvin, you have a t-t-t-toxic attitude
maybe you need to get onto red 360 more!
maybe you need to get onto red 360 more!
By the end of my time at Target, the guest comments centered around insufficient numbers of cashiers and a lack of team members on the sales floor. Clearly, it has only gotten worse.
And our grumpy service desk person, but, God help me, some guests honestly deserved her.
but oh gosh melvin, you have a t-t-t-toxic attitude
maybe you need to get onto red 360 more!
The ironic thing is that I think I can honestly say that I gave a superior effort for the entirety of my Target career. I even agree with this gentleman that there are plenty of worse retailers. I worked for one before Target. That doesn't excuse some of Target's practices. Arguing that someone else is shadier than you are is usually a very poor line of defense.
I'm under no illusions about Target's and every other corporations financial obligations. I also believe it is reasonable for a society to require certain responsibilities of corporations with regards to compensation of its employees and working conditions.
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Wow commie...where to start? Saying spot has done "nasty and underhanded" things is a little extreme. I mean it's like you truly believe they are just out to screw their employees over just for the fun of it, or maybe you think it's that evil "big corporate greed!!'" Give me a break! Healthcare skyrocketed several years back. Most health care providers increased the cost of care by as much as 400%! Much of it came out when obamacare passed the senate almost 4 years ago. So when ALL insurance companies raised their costs by such an asinine amount, what do you think the companies did in return!?!? You guessed it, raised the cost to us to compensate for the loss. And believe me this was across the board. At that time I worked for another company, a small privately owned company and we all took the same hit. I was also in the medical field at that time and gained quite a bit of business knowledge about how it was effecting the private sector. Long story short, that was everyone but the govt that got hurt by that situation.
"Expand to Canada by cutting our hours" Hahahaha....ignorance is bliss. Have you reviewed your stores, districts, groups, regions, or companies payroll forecast vs last year? I can answer that for you....no! Hours are tight yes, but all very comparable to the year before. We are all expected to be more productive each year, that's just setting wise business expectations. Canada has nothing to do with our hours. I guarantee the Canadian market is going to do amazing and it was an extremely wise business choice. No rewards in business come without risk.
If all of your TLs have degrees they should push the envelope and strive towards getting promoted if that's what they would like to do. That in no way has anything to do with you"glee" ETLs. In my experience with spot, there is no mold to an ETL. I have seen them in every shape, age, gender, race, and sexual orientation.
Anything else I can help you understand today??
Can we start without the condescension?
I'm willing to apologize for my hyperbole and tendency to assume people are familiar with Spots poor history of treatment of its employees.
I suspect that this post will be tl;dr for most or at the very least easy to misinterpret by fast skimming but I'll do my best to keep it simple.
When I made the comment about the nasty and underhanded methods Spot used against its TM's, I was referring to The methods they used against the store that was trying to organize an union.
A judge agreed that what they did was illegal and told Spot there had to be another vote so they closed the store.
Here is a thread and blog on the subject.
http://www.thebreakroom.org/showthr...nion-election-at-Target?highlight=union+judge
http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/...m_store_closed_ahead_of_unionization_vote.php
As to the cutting of health benefits; lets be honest, the cost of health care and insurance has been a scandal for more than 20 years.
People have been trying to fix the problems with a system that is basically broken.
The POTUS managed to fix a few of the problems but only a few and the continued rising costs have nothing to do with those efforts, they are part of the constant rise that are mapped out over the past.
As someone who has a long term medical issue it would be impossible for me to live without medical insurance and I'm lucky that my wife is in a union with good benefits.
However for the TM's who have to depend Spot for their insurance have been screwed.
The traditional health insurance was cut out completely.
Leaving only what amounts to savings accounts which are offered by my wife's union as side accounts -- backup to the main insurance for things that aren't covered.
What they are not, is insurance.
We have discussed, in many threads, how Target has multiple TM's with children on Medicade (and in some cases food stamps).
There is something wrong when taxpayers get to support Spots ability to pay their TM's peanuts.
What I was talking about in the expansion to Canada was the worst kind of hyperbole to make a point, mea culpa.
What I really should have said was ...
Spot should be investing in making Target the main shopping destination of US before it tries dominate other countries.
The shopping destination part is even one of the companies mission statements and dominating another country is very much at the expense of their employees.
They are using the same union busting techniques in Canada that they used here.
If they put that money to good use in our stores, filled the sales floor with people, gave us the hours to accomplish the tasks assigned and help the guests fully and completely, those surveys would be green on a consistent basis.
Last but not least, talking about advancement.
The thing I was getting at is; right now we have a number of new ETL's, as each one introduced themselves they said, "I've been with the company four/five years."
Pretty impressive, eh!
Getting to be a big boss and making all that money so fast?
Well everyone started out as an intern and went straight into being a STL or ETL.
The only ones who didn't are AP but it seems like they are a little more careful about the training for those guys.
All of the cool, smart, hard working, diverse, middle aged, college educated, non glee club TL's have been with the company much longer and don't lack drive in the slightest but I know they are going to be moving on to other (and better jobs) because the chances of their getting promoted are so slim (as my granpa used to say) they could slide down the chimney without getting dirty.
Their are people here who really liked working for the company back in the day which is why they are so disgusted and frustrated now.
Their are people here who because of the economy have to work at a job that is below their skill level but they will still do their very best.
Their are people here who moved on after getting burned one too many times.
And their are people here who are new and really love their jobs.
We don't want to discourage that freshness and innocence but do encourage a bit of a reality check.
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Albumsc--I would like to say that, speaking strictly for myself, I appreciate your point of view and I hope you continue visiting this forum. However, I also hope you pay genuine attention to what you are reading here and don't just dismiss all gripes and complaints as merely bad attitude. One of the things I have learned from reading the posts here is how differently different stores operate. Even if one assumes that only half of what gets posted is true there are a number of stores out there that are quite dysfunctional and have toxic management. I have my share of complaints about Target but mostly I really like my job. It's a good fit for me and I enjoy it but I also work at a good store. Our staffing hours have been cut but not nearly to the degree that others here are dealing with and our current batch of ETLs are hardworking and very involved. I have often heard people who transfer into our store say how impressed they are with how strong our team is as compared to other stores at which they have worked. I don't say this to brag but to highlight my point--what you are experiencing may not be what others are experiencing. Some people do have poisonous attitudes but when you hear the same complaint from many, many people there is probably something to it. No one wanted to hear what Cassandra had to say, but she spoke the truth just the same. You seem to have an attitude of leadership but you appear to be missing an important leadership element. An effective leader listens and evaluates carefully, even to the things they do not wish to hear. This type of leader is actually quite rare and it takes courage to be that kind of leader.
AssetsProtection
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ITT: Walls of text . TLDR. *On break before I go back*
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Yea, sorry bout that.
Trying to cover a lot of ground and all that.
Anyone who has been hanging out here for more than six months can probably skip it, I'm just going back over stuff they will have read already.
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Thanks redeye, I'll take a 20oz quad shot mocha please.
Don't know why I keep trying , I guess the optimist in me believes that one day somebody from Spot will truly wonder why they are having the same problems over and over again and actually read some of these threads with an open mind.
Don't know why I keep trying , I guess the optimist in me believes that one day somebody from Spot will truly wonder why they are having the same problems over and over again and actually read some of these threads with an open mind.
redeye58
Hasta Ba Rista, Baby!
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I guess as long as Gregg keeps the stockholders happy, what we think doesn't matter.
When the guests finally vote with their $$, maybe they'll finally get the message.
Either way, don't insult my intelligence by telling me I should be thankful for what I have. I've been here long enough to remember what Target HAD, what made it a GREAT place to work for & to shop.
When the guests finally vote with their $$, maybe they'll finally get the message.
Either way, don't insult my intelligence by telling me I should be thankful for what I have. I've been here long enough to remember what Target HAD, what made it a GREAT place to work for & to shop.
AssetsProtection
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Haha I would have read it then but on mobile phone its kinda all long and bunched up and I was on break I stopped keeping up with this topic back at page 2 just now seeing where its headed lol.
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