Managed By A Person With A Disability?

Joined
Oct 26, 2019
Messages
82
Heyo! I’m new to Target but I’ve been in retail for years. Including some management stunts.
In the last few years I’ve gradually lost my hearing, but manage pretty ok with hearing aids.
My goal is to get into leadership, but of course, my hearing loss saps my confidence at times.
Have any of you been lead by someone with a disability? How was it?
 
Hopefully, you told spot about your disability.
Welcome.
 
No, because I can hear pretty much most of the time. It’s situational. Don’t talk to me from behind or cover your mouth when talking because I most likely won’t hear it.
However, I left my last job at a high-end specialty retail store because I had a hard time understanding customers at times. The acoustics were terrible in my department and customers would get impatient with me when I’d ask them to repeat themselves. It was awkward. You say guests are difficult at Target? Try dealing with an entitled snob who gets bent out of shape because I misunderstood what was said. Jeez!
 
In the first store I built I worked with a fellow team lead that had cerebral palsy. He was still able to walk, he could use his walkie and PDT (my device's ancestor). His speech was a bit labored, but still clear enough. He ran electronics and entertainment and the depth and breadth of his knowledge of our products and how they compared with others on the market was staggering. He was great at planning, and in our super freaky store he still maintained green BRLA and his pogs/revisions were on time. Just be upfront about what your challenges are!
 
we have a TM who is quite mentally impaired (His description of himself is “shockingly” impaired). He promoted to GSTL a long time ago and self demoted himself after 2 years in position. If you can do the job and keep making it known you want a shot it is possible. Literally anything is possible in this company
 
I don't have hearing loss, but I do have auditory processing difficulties that manifests very similarly to hearing loss - one of the biggest issues is that if I don't know someone is speaking to me, I don't hear them. Or, my ears hear them, but my brain doesn't, if that makes sense. I have a lot of guests try to get my attention behind me and then get huffy because they think I'm ignoring them. The earpiece for the walkie has helped a lot (I used to have one that was like the original Apple earphones, just awful, and I have a new one that hooks around my ear and basically has a speaker that sits outside my ear, it's much more comfortable). It's doable. I only wish I had an earpiece for the myDevice when I'm answering the phone. I've considered bringing a pair of headphones with an inbuilt mic and using that for calls, but then that takes up both ears...
 
I can so understand what your saying! Hearing loss is way more than just not being able to hear. There are so many nuances related to it. I think I have a hard TIME with audio processing as well. Sometimes it takes me a moment to respond as I process the actual request of me.
Part of the reason why I left my previous retail line was because I felt at s disadvantage regarding being able to service my customer as expected. Too much was lost in conversation.
Can you use the earpiece with the walkie while wearing hearing aids?
 
Can you use the earpiece with the walkie while wearing hearing aids?

If it's the new earpiece that sits outside the ear, I'd think so. Depends on the hearing aid. The earpiece hooks around your ear so it might be a little fiddly if it's sharing space. My co-SETL ordered the earpieces and they sent some of the old style and some of the new style, so I'm not sure it's a guarantee you'd get the right model. I'm in for a bit later today so I can get the model information, I saved the sticker from the box. I can take a picture of the earpiece too.
 
If it's the new earpiece that sits outside the ear, I'd think so. Depends on the hearing aid. The earpiece hooks around your ear so it might be a little fiddly if it's sharing space. My co-SETL ordered the earpieces and they sent some of the old style and some of the new style, so I'm not sure it's a guarantee you'd get the right model. I'm in for a bit later today so I can get the model information, I saved the sticker from the box. I can take a picture of the earpiece too.
The around the ear is actually the old style, earbud type is new... I lost mine and my etl ge ordered some. I hated the earbud one so much I had to go back.
 
Doesn't the earbud look like this but with two pins? I seem to remember a version as well with two wires, which was just... too much wire, I kept getting caught on everything. Amazon.com: Motorola 53863 Earpiece with Microphone: Electronics - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000JCTO/
Yeah something like that. It def had two wires which was super annoying and the clip wasn’t on the mic which was also unbelievably annoying. Not kidding when I say I made it not 10 minutes with it before switching back
 
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