Archived Need to vent and possibly get some advice or suggestions

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lifewithtarget

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So basically I've worked at Target for about seven months now. I initially was hired for Sales Floor, was getting overwhelmed with it because they basically just throw people into their shift for the first time and pair you with someone who shows you how to zone and never bothers to explain anything else for that matter. Whatever, I eventually asked to do Cashiering, but I got fed up with it as well, so now I'm doing both.

Lately, our zoning has become really difficult and frustrating. It seems that the mid-day people do not zone anything. I realize Target is a busy store and obviously it is going to get messed up by the time the people who close come in to zone. But, man it is like no one has touched anything. The one person assigned to do hardlines, basically half asses his zoning. He consistently misses big parts of the isle and I realize it does not have to be perfect, but it's clear that either he does not care or he is just not seeing it, I don't even know.

So tonight, four people for Sales Floor called off, and I decided to stay till 11 to help out. By the time we had to wrap up and leave, there were back walls not zoned, I almost didn't finish the isle with granola bars and there were at least 4 or 5 carts of reshop full.

Now, I'm not a leader or anything, but I feel like because mid-day is not helping the zone, it is putting a lot of the heavy duty on us. Because at the end of the day, who gets the blame if it's not zoned or finished, not the mid-day people, it's us. I've progressively gotten better, more efficient and a little bit faster at zoning, I'm far from perfect and I'm not a speed demon by any means because I'm a perfectionist and apparently being that at Target does not work with zoning.

What baffles me is that nothing is being discussed or talked about. The funny thing is I was sitting in the office with my HR waiting for my LOD to change the schedule and we're just chatting. I said "You know it stinks that they don't train us how to do things other than zoning", and she completely agreed with me and I'm like.. exactly.

These people rather find something to yell at us for and "learn it ourselves" versus just I don't know, making sure the person training us shows us.

I'm just annoyed that mid-day must be doing reshop all day and no zoning because it is hell sprinting through the entire hardlines trying to get it all done so I don't get griped at for.

TARGET IS A MASSIVE HEADACHE OMG!
 
It is a domino effect ,I am sure mid day tms feel that they can't do anything but do reshop that closer tms left ,because the only thing the closers did was zone....
 
At my store the HL openers only work on reshop and projects. They also cover electronics break and lunch, 45 minutes off their shift. You also have to take into account that during the day the store is understaffed*, so the HL TM will have to answer calls from other departments, go for backup, help with carry outs, etc.

I used to be very anal about my zoning, but I've kind of let that go.
 
Notice how you said you left without everything being done? The same thing happens to everyone else on every shift, stop trying to place blame and get done what you can.

Corporate is very aware that there aren't enough TMs to come close to 'best practices' so why get upset about unfinished or shoddy work if they don't care? As long as there are ways to manipulate the reports so they look good on paper, corporate & the ETLs only interest is in their bonus at the end of the year.

Show up for work & work you butt off but you can't kill yourself over a job where nobody else cares.
 
yup! this is what happens to us in the backroom almost EVERYDAY! especially on truck days. Our morning backroom team dosent give a f**k whats left behind the line from the flow process by the time they leave. so who has to do it? the day side people, which is me and another guy, and it sucks trying to backstock like 10 flatbeds full of crap with just two people, and pull CAFs and do other projects, and then they complain how WE dont get it done...seriously? you have a morning team of 5+ people and they don't do $hit and take a whole hour just to backstock one vehicle. its BS because we have gotten talked to it a million times about it not getting done, but when i go in during the flow process i see them not doing ANYTHING. its all BS sometimes, thats why when they ask why it isnt done, just say that im only one person, and i dont account and make up for 5+ other peoples slack and laziness.
 
I usually close too and definitely understand where you're coming from. I did open yesterday and do have to say it is difficult to do a mid day zone when you keep getting called for pulls. I think mgmt expects way too much for what tms get paid.
 
Aside from in stocks tm's who are assigned a mid day zone, myself and the electronics tm are the only ones zoning. I try to zone 10-12 aisles in a time consuming area (shampoo, pets, chemicals, body washes/deodorant, towels, candles, etc) and do abandon. It only ends up taking an hour or so out of my day (which is a lot of time when there's lots to be done, but still I try to do it).
 
So... I can speak to this. I came in for a full shift starting with ad signing. The zone was shoddy... and sitting at the fitting room I had: 4 carts reshop; 1 cart shoes; 1 cart accessories; 1 kid's cart; 1 cart discontinued; 2 z-racks... And there's the ETL going - "make it go away and can you fix the zone when you do rack alignment?". Just realize that everyone has their headaches they have to deal with and we work in order of priority. First, get the ad up. Then do Rack alignment and FIX the dang zone. Then borrow a shovel and start shoveling out the fitting room. Trust me, I worked my butt off today and the last thing that was possible was a midday.

On a side note they used to tell the TMs that zoned closing to DO ALL of their gobacks IN the zone they were assigned rather than bringing them to the fitting room or the front desk. But see, I've worked both sides of this monster. I know when things like "Mother's Day" are happening around SL (and I'm sure HL too) that it's going to be a nightmare for our team just trying to get through a decent zone, forget a "perfect" one. When I was a closer I used to think like you "Why the heck wasn't there a midday?"... now that I'm an opener I can see what they go through and believe me I understand that sometimes it just is not possible. And while I can't speak to your store, our day side not only has the chore of recovering what the night team was unable to finish plus their reshop; we also have sales planners to set, brand issues to fix, and visual adjacencies to work and other demands that we are required to meet. Oh, and let's not forget the constant interruptions of "GUEST FIRST!" all day long from the front lanes. when it's slow, we get a midday done. When it's insane... we're doing the best we can just to keep afloat while making sure the guests are taken care of.

I don't think I've heard of ANY store having ENOUGH team members to cover absolutely everything from reshop to midday to evening recovery to cashiering to the point that there are absolutely no glitches or roll over headaches. (Wouldn't that just be a LOVELY dream store? haha) In the end I guess that's why we're a "team" isn't it? We work together around the clock to cover as much as we possibly can. At the end of the day after you've done all you can do, the only thing left to do is hand it off to the next shift.

And believe me I do understand that when you're a perfectionist part of that is caring. I happen to be a bit of a perfectionist myself along with having a bit of CDO (or OCD if you prefer). I do get frustrated myself at times because I do care and take it to heart; but I also understand that I'm not alone in this. Unfortunately it's an imperfect messed up machine at times and all we really can do is take it one day at a time and let yesterday go.
 
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Thanks guys for all the opinions! Honestly, I wrote this as soon as I got off work, so I probably sounded a little more bitter than I would have if I would of written it now. Some people got the wrong idea:

I'm not trying to put any blame on the mid-day people because I've opened, worked mid-day and closed, so I know how it is. My thoughts stemmed from the fact that there was a team member zoning C & D and within a half hour I had to locate something in C and as I was walking by, he told on the walkie that he had finished and while I realize it doesn't have to be perfect, it was like he touched one or two things and that was it. I just don't like when they actually have time to do it, and they're so unmotivated that they just half ass everything.
 
This is borderline tinfoil hat stuff, but I have to wonder if the recent staffing cuts were done not just to reduce bottom line expenses, but also to give stores a reason to performance out staff that have been with the company for 5+ years; all because 'experienced employees w/ raises cost too much'. Basically, the same **** Circuit City did that caused them to go under. Even if it is physically impossible to get all of the work done, it is still enough of a reason for a state to deny unemployment benefits.

This company really seems like it wants to transition to a model where it can revolve managers and team members out every 6 months so they never have to provide raises, benefits, and keep people from unionizing.
 
You have more than 4 people closing the floor. I just had 2HL + 2SL (one being the operator).

No proper budget = no proper coverage + no proper training
 
The one person assigned to do hardlines, basically half asses his zoning. He consistently misses big parts of the isle and I realize it does not have to be perfect, but it's clear that either he does not care or he is just not seeing it, I don't even know.

Part of the problem is answered right here, you have ONE person zoning hardlines, which is not at all uncommon. So this person is zoning through A, gets through part of the hand soap aisle and has an irate guest come to him wanting to know why they can't find anyone to help them with the bike wall. The hardlines team member goes back to help and passes an abandoned hand basket with shampoo, conditioner, and a few styling products in it on the way to the wall then helps the guest at the bike wall for about 10 minutes bringing down multiple bikes for a child to test out. On his way back to his zone he sees the hand basket with hair care and picks it up and is stopped by a guest wanting questions answered about what furniture items are also available on the website since they can't load any into their car, scanning and checking the different items and answering other questions takes another five minutes. Trying to return to his zone he is stopped at the vacuum wall with more questions about vacuum features, losing more time before he finally returns. At this point he has been out of his zone for twenty minutes and he is still carrying a basket of hair care so he goes directly to the hair goods aisle, skipping the remainder of the hand soap and the entire dental aisles. Now the LOD walkies him to ask if he is done with the A block yet and reminds him that he is five minutes late in covering the electronics department lunch but he isn't even half way through this block, so he knows he has to hurry when he gets back to the zone and simply never returns to the missed aisle or parts of aisles that were behind him.

That is also giving the benefit of the doubt that this team member does their best to get their job done efficiently while being fast, fun, and friendly. He also got lucky in that he was never called to back up at the check lanes or pick up any spilled pop corn, but he may be asked to push a CAF when he is done covering electronics. Regardless, the zone isn't a perfect formula that can be followed through to 100% every time.

So tonight, four people for Sales Floor called off, and I decided to stay till 11 to help out. By the time we had to wrap up and leave, there were back walls not zoned, I almost didn't finish the isle with granola bars and there were at least 4 or 5 carts of reshop full.

If you have one person working all mid-day but even closers to allow four to call out, it sounds like some accountability needs to be put into place for those closers. Unfortunately, the group as a whole takes the heat, which is likely what you have been hearing that makes you feel that only the closing team is being blamed. From your example, it sounds like some members of your closing team may have some work ethic issues.


What baffles me is that nothing is being discussed or talked about.

Later on you state that your team is being yelled at, so at least part of it is being discussed. Having an open forum in which everyone says "that team isn't doing their job" really hurts team morale, so that is likely why you don't see that part being discussed, but having a one on one where you voice your concerns to the LOD that works the mid-day may help them understand why you have the concerns you do.

The funny thing is I was sitting in the office with my HR waiting for my LOD to change the schedule and we're just chatting. I said "You know it stinks that they don't train us how to do things other than zoning", and she completely agreed with me and I'm like.. exactly.

I'm not certain if the HR is a team member or an ETL in this case, but while they know a lot about best practices and policies, they don't spend 30, 40, or 50 hours a week on the floor effectively executing logistics and operations while balancing guest service and watching out for AP concerns. They also don't get the chance to do the majority of hands on training and with such a low budget trainers can really only show new team members so much. The group i was hired with was given about 15 training hours per person stretched over two weeks. For most, learning everything they were expected to wasn't the difficulty, it was waiting three or four days between another short shift before you get to do it again while learning more that was the hard part.


TARGET IS A MASSIVE HEADACHE OMG!

You've made it seven months, that's over half a year, so clearly you are doing something right. It can be and obviously is at times frustrating, but by becoming more efficient and capable in your position not only helps yourself and your team as a whole, but can help new team members in their confidence when they feel overwhelmed.

It's really difficult for STLs and ETLs to want to change personal styles, and even harder to change the way the team does things, but different techniques work better or worse for different stores. Smart huddles, mid-day zones, closing zone cut off times, different amounts of team members in different shifts or processes, who does reshop, CAF pushing, and where front end support comes from are all things that vary by store and changing one, some, or many of these can dramatically change the overall store performance. If you feel that you know and understand the way something is done and feel that in your store there would be a way to do it better, let the leadership know your feelings and how and why it would work better. Of course they can say no, but if they see the same problems you are expressing they at least have an idea that there may be an approach they haven't considered yet.
 
This is so such the model that low volume stores are facing now.

Why have an opening salesfloor team, when the former MWF flow team can come in the entire week and work the trucks and provide service to the floor.

Why have 4 GSTLs when you can have 1 GSTL + 3 GSAs.

Why have an ETL-GS when the ETL-Softlines can do the same thing.

When have Specialists when you can have Lvl 1 TM do the same thing just for pennies.

Next thing, Target will axe the cashiers for self checkouts.
 
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