Please tell me that what happened to me today isn't the norm across Target stores

[graciebarra81]

I tell this story of what happened to me today trying to keep myself composed, as I am still trembling with anger. Here are the details.

I began my Target career 3 weeks ago. During that time, I have grown to like it quite a bit and have even considered continuing on to make it a career. After my shift this past Saturday night, I was called by my father with the news that my mother, who had been locked in a year and a half long battle with stomach cancer, had finally lost the battle and passed away After a considerable time crying together on the phone, we hung up and I immediately called the team leader on duty at Target. I explained to him the situation, and I let him know that I was scheduled to work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday of next week. I let the team leader know that I would greatly appreciate being given 3 days off to grieve with my family. I explained to him that I did not want to take a great deal of time off, and that working would occupy my mind, and I asked permission to return next Thursday (today.) He said "That is absolutely no problem, and I am so sorry for your loss. Take whatever time you need, and if you need more than the 3 days, just call and let us know. I will take care of everything with HR and let them know, just go and be with your family and don't worry about anything."

And that's exactly what I did. I took the past 3 days off to grieve with my family, and then I showed up for my shift today. Upon arriving at work, our ETL of HR asked if he could speak to me in his office, to which I replied "sure." I assumed that this would be a conversation to let me know that Target supports me and to let them know any support I may need in dealing with the loss of my mother. Instead, as I sit down, the HR guy says "We really need to talk. You are still on your 90 days, and your attendance is just really bad." To which I replied "Excuse me? What are you talking about? I have showed up for every single one of my shifts and have never been late or clocked out late. There must be some kind of mistake?" He says "You have missed 3 shifts this week. That is grounds for termination."

Me: "Are you not aware of what happened with me this week? My mother passed away last Saturday. I called and spoke to (team leader) and he approved 3 days off this week. He also informed me that he would let you know and take care of everything so that I could be with my family."

HR: "Yeah, I haven't heard anything."

Me: "I'm very sorry you were not informed. I honestly did everything on my end to ensure that I communicated properly. I spoke to the team leader on duty. I am not sure why he did not speak to you."

HR: "I will check in with him, but this is still a big problem. You are only on your third week and you already taking all this time off? It doesn't look good."

Me: "Um, my mother passed away. What should I have done? Ask her to not die until after my 90 days are up?"

HR: "Well, as of right now, it is documented as calling in sick. If you can provide me some proof of what happened, then we can change the status of that."

Me: "I can't believe that I am hearing. You have no place working in HR. You're lucky I don't come across that desk right now. How dare you."

He started to tell me that I was being let go but I stormed out and did not give him the opportunity.

Please tell me that what I experienced today is an isolated incident and not rampant across Target as an organization. This is inexcusable treatment of employees.

 

[Times Up]

I'm sorry about the loss of your mother.

 

[graciebarra81]

I'm sorry about the loss of your mother.

Thank you for being a decent human being and not asking me for proof first.

 

[xNightStockerx]

I'm sorry for your loss.
A fellow co workers mother pass away recently. Hes been with the company for years.
And frankly Target treated him like shit. Barely gave him 2 days off. We're so uncaring. There was no communication as to when the days off would be. It was just awful.
It really made me think about my future with Target.

 

[Far from newbie]

i am so sorry for your loss and For the terrible treatment you received from your HR .
The conversation with him should have been strictly to understand why you were out. In his defense he wasn't told, nevertheless, he should not have accused you of lying.
You are within your rights to fight to remain an employee if that's what you want , but damn, i wouldn't think so, and would totally support you for never stepping foot in there again.
After you calm down you could contact the HRBP (your HR’s district boss) about possibly being placed in ANOTHER Target rather than settle for a wrongful termination.
They wouldn’t like to hear about this if they weren’t contacted about getting it fixed. Wrongful terminations are bad for Target PR.

 

[Black Sheep 214]

Condolences on the loss of your mom. These days Spot does seem to have a lot of leaders like your ETL-HR who apparently operate without hearts or brains. Sorry you ran into one of them and that they treated you so poorly.

 

[seasonaldude]

Definitely call HRBP. The way you were treated is unacceptable. And, sorry for your loss.

 

[graciebarra81]

Thank you everyone for your responses so far. It is good to see that there are actual human beings with compassion who work at target. I was questioning this after what happened to me today.

 

[commiecorvus]

My deepest condolences for your loss.

As @seasonaldude said, get in touch with the district HR or contact the Hotline.
This is not a good look for Spot and they will back down.

 

[ShortTM]

In the event that anyone needs to contact HRBP, how do we get their contact info? I would imagine if they are being contacted we wouldn't want to ask leadership at our store for the phone/email

 

[CsideMaster]

I’m so sorry for your loss and for the absolutely unacceptable treatment you received. I would follow everyone’s advice so far, call HRBP and inform them of what happened, exactly as you told it here. I wish you luck in the future with whatever you end up doing. My condolences once again.

 

[oath2order]

Me: "I can't believe that I am hearing. You have no place working in HR. You're lucky I don't come across that desk right now. How dare you."

You're lucky to still have a job at all after threatening to assault an employee.

Me: "Are you not aware of what happened with me this week? My mother passed away last Saturday. I called and spoke to (team leader) and he approved 3 days off this week. He also informed me that he would let you know and take care of everything so that I could be with my family."

That's not how this works at all. Do they still give out the employee handbook and does it still cover "how to call out"?

 

[Panna Jotts]

My upper management sucks at a lot of things, but not when it comes to familial death. Rest assured, there are a few Targets who employ human beings with empathy. So sorry to hear about your loss, I can't even imagine the grief you're going through.

 

[countingsheep]

I am deeply sorry for your loss. Not as badly ad you but yes similar happened to me. Was told I could take a few days off for my grandfathers passing . Then got coached and written up for two no call no shows. Luckily I had the obituary and glyer from his funeral but still got attitude and rude bheavior from the etls for weeks after.

 

[Far from newbie]

Oath2order,
i thought of those same points too: OP SHOULD have called out AND should NOT have threatened and should not have walked out. However, please have compassion and consider circumstance and state of mind in situation.
I'd give a pass this time.

 

[can't touch this]

My condolences for your loss, OP.

Unfortunately I don't think reinstatement is going to happen. Couple of possibilities here. First is that HRBP will hear that OP said something about "coming across the desk" at him, which they will seize on as a spooky scary THREAT and use that to nix any potential reinstatement.

Second possiblity is that, assuming that's OP's real name and year of birth in their handle, well...I hate to say it but corporate *may* have sent HR a burn notice with OP's name on it, and the absence was just an extremely timely cover story for HR to use. I really hope not but corp does indeed lurk here (and posts too, from what I've seen in the front end thread 👋)

There are better jobs out there anyway. Good luck!

 

[oath2order]

Oath2order,
i thought of those same points too: OP SHOULD have called out AND should NOT have threatened and should not have walked out. However, please have compassion and consider circumstance and state of mind in situation.
I'd give a pass this time.

I mean, the calling out, sure, that's a pass, they're new. I still do want to know if the handbook is actually a thing

I can't give a pass on threatening.

can't touch this brought a good point. I'm concerned that this their actual name.

 

[Far from newbie]

i heard HR say "we have to place an order for the new handbooks" - cause of all the title changes etc.

 

[GoodyNN]

OP called off in the exact manner I was taught at my orientation. As soon as possible, you call in and talk to LOD. That person is then responsible to relay the information to the appropriate leaders. LOD *did* tell OP that they would inform HR, and clearly OP took that at face value. As I would have.

Now, the conversation with HR could have been handled better on both sides. The "Are you not aware" part comes off to me as bordering on an attack, and OP definitely crosses a line with the comment about going over the desk. That part probably makes this situation irreparable, although working with that same ETL-HR after this would probably be highly uncomfortable anyway.

Because the name was ringing bells, I glanced at OPs post history. They've been asking about firing policies and commenting on how their leaders have been upset at their performance practically since day one. I suspect that this hasn't been a good fit and that leaving Target might be the best thing at this point.

By the way, there is a chain of martial arts studios under the Gracie Barra name. I used to live close to one of the studios here in my area, so I never made the assumption that it was OPs actual name. I also think they've referred to themselves as male at one point.

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

This person called in properly. The HR in this case IMO provoked the situation as it was presented. The OPs mother passed. Zero compassion was shown. If the HR was any good, they would have used the seek to understand process. They also would have asked the LOD if they had any information on the situation. They failed miserably.
Call the HRBP. I would not ask for my job back and I would make that perfectly clear. I would tell them what happened and how it was handled. Honestly nothing much will happen but you will have put it on record so to speak. This is the "new" Target. It hasn't always been like this.
I am so sorry for the loss of your mother. The way you were treated is inexcusable. Not everyone who works or worked for Target is a stone cold bitch like this HR. But sadly it is becoming more common. I wish you peace.

 

[oath2order]

This person called in properly.

For the one day, I can agree with. But the TL or whoever answered cannot actually say "sure take these three days off too".

 

[happygoth]

For the one day, I can agree with. But the TL or whoever answered cannot actually say "sure take these three days off too".

I agree, but I can understand why the OP would take them at their word. A follow-up with that TL is in order, and if they dropped the ball then they should have to answer for that.

 

[graciebarra81]

"You're lucky to still have a job at all after threatening to assault an employee."

Consider the circumstances. My mother passed away 4 days ago, and I have a guy sitting in front of me insinuating that I am lying about her death.

Sort of despicable that this is all you came away with after reading my post.

 

[graciebarra81]

Oath2order,
i thought of those same points too: OP SHOULD have called out AND should NOT have threatened and should not have walked out. However, please have compassion and consider circumstance and state of mind in situation.
I'd give a pass this time.

Am I missing something here? Did u miss the part where I called and spoke to a team leader who instructed me to take the days off and that he would take care of everything with HR? The insinutation that any reasonable person would feel the need to do anything more after these assurances is ridiculous.

 

[graciebarra81]

For the one day, I can agree with. But the TL or whoever answered cannot actually say "sure take these three days off too".

Considering that you are a socialist, I would not expect you to make reasonable or intelligible arguments anyway.