Archived presentation

[ptL 567]

i report to ETL-HL. my interactions with her are sporadic or non-existent.. which used to really bother me but now i prefer, unfortunately. i was very frustrated at first due to the fact that she is a very hands-off, figure it out for yourself type of leader.. only getting involved when **** hits the fan and then just "coaching" and by coaching i mean being a d***, not teaching or developing. i struggled with her in a big big way as a new TL at first. at this point, my approach is to accept the reality of the situation and just figure it out by trial and error. i have a brand new stl and i have zero interaction with them thus far.

so, i am of course open to any and all suggestions i have devised some routines that i am proud of but i still have a lot of development opportunities. i came into this company with a boat load of plano experience and zero leadership experience. so you can imagine my struggle. :wacko:

 

[TargetOldTimer]

THIS

A good third of my day is spent going to get stuff for people after I've told them where it is, fixing stuff that people have broken, showing people how to do stuff that they should know by now and putting up stuff that anybody could do if they bothered to pay attention.
Now I don't mind doing all that, I've pretty much written it in as part of my job but than I get drek from ETL's about not completing my workload on time.

<This!!

 

[ptL 567]

same with my signing specialist. poor poor kid. NIR and still innocent and doe-eyed, capable but struggling.. though quickly approaching the point of starting to tell people exactly what's what... i wish i knew how to help her more.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Ck out monthly signing for starters.

 

[MorurDreamcat]

just want to see what other teams are doing..

are your ptl's expected to do 40 hours of sets or scheduled outside the hours?
are your teams expected to push cafs? do huddle projects?
do they set sales planners? pull their own batches?
do they participate in a midday zone?

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
And we have to go up for back up (sometimes up to an hour)
Answer calls
Help guest
watch Electronics breaks, operator breaks, do backroom when they are shorthanded ...

.... and as Dek said ... rinse and repeat.

 

[ptL 567]

Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
And we have to go up for back up (sometimes up to an hour)
Answer calls
Help guest
watch Electronics breaks, operator breaks, do backroom when they are shorthanded ...

.... and as Dek said ... rinse and repeat.

yikes!

 

[stupid rules]

I am not sure what to make of all of these responses.

Some of what you all have reported sounds like lazy bulls*** but to be honest, some if it sounds like the complaints of people who don't necessarily understand what exactly goes into the job. I mean that respectfully. But this is something I struggle with. I require more offstage (planning/organization) time than any single other person in the store, and a lot of people have expressed that it pisses them off and comes off as laziness-- tms and execs alike. On the flip side, however, when i do not get my time for planning, and everything falls apart.. its all "why didnt you take the time to plan things out?"

Give me a break, don't build your position up to be more than it is. Grab your transition manuals, adjacencies, early set notes, whatever else you want, and read that crap on the floor where you're setting, while you're doing that you can communicate it to your team and provide leadership. Oh yeah, some of us know that the company plans out the stuff for us, it's not as hard or time consuming as you make it sound.

i beg, borrow and steal to get my administrative tasks done. as in.. i literally sneak offstage/into my office, and i hide, and as quickly as humanly possible i complete all the work that they apparently think the stapling/mapping fairy completes in the middle of the night while i set pogs all day.

We all do that. Target does not give enough time to complete things 100%, they give enough to get by with. Now with that being said don't act like you're doing some great service, anyone would much rather be off stage sort papers than be out on the floor dealing with idiots. Oh and don't waste time with staples, in-fact, assign it to one of your TMs. They only need to give the stack of SPL to the HLTL (trust me, they would rather you give it to them instead of having to hunt the crap down). They use 1 page if any, if it's not a pegged e/c then wtf do I need a paper for?

or perhaps they think that SPLs, pogs and label strips come in already separated, stapled, with locations on them, organized, doled out to the appropriate TMs/TLs. Or that I can just go into twt and randomly drag and drop things, without giving a thought to wise directions for transitions, clearance aisles.. putting appropriate tms on appropriate tasks, walking transitions with TLs, communicating plans to everyone in the store, then changing them when my plans dont work for them for whatever selfish reason, then changing them again. and again... then post-pogging every set. and doing pre-ties on mondays. and then having to check TWT 8000 times on thursday and friday because so many people are on you can't accomplish anything. and having to look at your ad week and deal with that. and trying to make sure someone's keeping your team on track on your day off. and picking up the pieces when that never happens.

WOW PTLS ARE SO LAZY! I CANT BELIEVE THEY ARENT ON THE FLOOR 8 HOURS A DAY!

Stop with the excuses. Your plans don't work with them because of their selfish reasons? GTFO! That statement reminds me of one of our old PTL's. They would try to work weeks in advance, expect us to drop everything and work to their schedule, because we had nothing else to do. Some of your statements are BS, most of the instructions are given to you by the company and PTL/POG tries to make it more than it is - trust me, I do it too so I can sneak extra time for whatever I need. If it's something else then how about you develop your team and have them take care of some of the issues.

Whatever, done with this, cry wolf all you want but those of us that understand how it works realize you're either talking crap and trying to pull the wool over our eyes, or you're incompetent. Keep your condescending tone out of your posts next time if you want to be taken seriously.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

somebody had a bad day like me yesterday.

 

[dek067]

Give me a break, don't build your position up to be more than it is. Grab your transition manuals, adjacencies, early set notes, whatever else you want, and read that crap on the floor where you're setting, while you're doing that you can communicate it to your team and provide leadership. Oh yeah, some of us know that the company plans out the stuff for us, it's not as hard or time consuming as you make it sound.



We all do that. Target does not give enough time to complete things 100%, they give enough to get by with. Now with that being said don't act like you're doing some great service, anyone would much rather be off stage sort papers than be out on the floor dealing with idiots. Oh and don't waste time with staples, in-fact, assign it to one of your TMs. They only need to give the stack of SPL to the HLTL (trust me, they would rather you give it to them instead of having to hunt the crap down). They use 1 page if any, if it's not a pegged e/c then wtf do I need a paper for?



Stop with the excuses. Your plans don't work with them because of their selfish reasons? GTFO! That statement reminds me of one of our old PTL's. They would try to work weeks in advance, expect us to drop everything and work to their schedule, because we had nothing else to do. Some of your statements are BS, most of the instructions are given to you by the company and PTL/POG tries to make it more than it is - trust me, I do it too so I can sneak extra time for whatever I need. If it's something else then how about you develop your team and have them take care of some of the issues.

Whatever, done with this, cry wolf all you want but those of us that understand how it works realize you're either talking crap and trying to pull the wool over our eyes, or you're incompetent. Keep your condescending tone out of your posts next time if you want to be taken seriously.

WOW. SR. this is a new in role tl with little experience within target who is seeking guidance. have you been in the ptl role recently (and i don't mean a holier than thou tm who thinks they are a tl, i mean the actual ptl)? i am not being sarcastic, seriously interested. this person just wanted to vent and get some advice. no need to bite his/her head off just because your ptl sucked ass. it sounds like their overall store process for transition is broken. no communication from top down and probably a nonexistant developmental line within the workcenter. they probably received little training. and no, that isn't a big deal if you've been with target several years, but starting out, it's a little scary. how about being supportive and giving precise examples of how this person can improve their process and let them vent a little instead of blasting them?

 

[commiecorvus]

same with my signing specialist. poor poor kid. NIR and still innocent and doe-eyed, capable but struggling.. though quickly approaching the point of starting to tell people exactly what's what... i wish i knew how to help her more.

Been thinking about this one a bit so that I could give you a straight up answer.
It's going to be heavy on generalities because every store isn't the same but here goes ...

Help her hold people responsible -- if you see someone doing a dump and run in the fixture room no matter if its a basket of pegs or a single shelf leaning against the wall. Call them on it and make sure they put it away properly. If they refuse or outrank you, talk to their boss (the shelf is a safety issue so the safety captain might even work).

Check to see if she needs help -- all too often nobody checks until it looks like things are getting behind. Most of the time it just comes down to a little back up but most signing specialists are used to being on their own so they aren't used to asking for help.

Recognize her -- signing falls through the cracks, they are in a weird no mans land where everybody is their boss and nobody is their boss so they get missed for recognition.

Make sure she has the tools she needs -- there is a good chance she is making do with things that work but might not be the best for the job. You'd be surprised what a decent pair of knee pads, shears, double sided tape and a set of screw drivers can make to the job.

Do what you can to get her the hours she needs to do the job -- yea I know, there isn't much you can do but enough voices in the right ears can make a difference. The signing job is not an average hours thing and needs to be supported and consistent.

 

[stupid rules]

WOW. SR. this is a new in role tl with little experience within target who is seeking guidance. have you been in the ptl role recently (and i don't mean a holier than thou tm who thinks they are a tl, i mean the actual ptl)? i am not being sarcastic, seriously interested. this person just wanted to vent and get some advice. no need to bite his/her head off just because your ptl sucked ass. it sounds like their overall store process for transition is broken. no communication from top down and probably a nonexistant developmental line within the workcenter. they probably received little training. and no, that isn't a big deal if you've been with target several years, but starting out, it's a little scary. how about being supportive and giving precise examples of how this person can improve their process and let them vent a little instead of blasting them?

Perhaps I was a little rude but no more than his condescending post how rough he has it and no one understands. EVERYONE understands. No, I have not been a PTL. I have been HLTL, BRTL (dayside and O/N), Flow TL key carrier twice (O/N and 4am). I can tell you right now that his position is no harder than those and vice versa, they all have challenges that need to be overcame, they all have advantages to their role. I was just being pissy because of the stupidity I have to go through at my store.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

WOW. SR. this is a new in role tl with little experience within target who is seeking guidance. have you been in the ptl role recently (and i don't mean a holier than thou tm who thinks they are a tl, i mean the actual ptl)? i am not being sarcastic, seriously interested. this person just wanted to vent and get some advice. no need to bite his/her head off just because your ptl sucked ass. it sounds like their overall store process for transition is broken. no communication from top down and probably a nonexistant developmental line within the workcenter. they probably received little training. and no, that isn't a big deal if you've been with target several years, but starting out, it's a little scary. how about being supportive and giving precise examples of how this person can improve their process and let them vent a little instead of blasting them?

Perhaps I was a little rude but no more than his condescending post how rough he has it and no one understands. EVERYONE understands. No, I have not been a PTL. I have been HLTL, BRTL (dayside and O/N), Flow TL key carrier twice (O/N and 4am). I can tell you right now that his position is no harder than those and vice versa, they all have challenges that need to be overcame, they all have advantages to their role. I was just being pissy because of the stupidity I have to go through at my store.

Wow! You do have state of t beat!

 

[stupid rules]

Beat at what?

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Beat at what?

For Knowledge for multi work centers.

 

[TargetOldTimer]

Stupid Rules, after reading your post, you have to know that everyone here realizes you don't have a clue what you are talking about.


I say it over and over, that the PTL position is the hardest TL position in the building and unless you have walked a mile in their shoes... shut up.

 

[stupid rules]

Stupid Rules, after reading your post, you have to know that everyone here realizes you don't have a clue what you are talking about.


I say it over and over, that the PTL position is the hardest TL position in the building and unless you have walked a mile in their shoes... shut up.

I have no clue what I'm talking about? Explain that comment please. Because I can talk processes in either Target talk, normal English, or a combination of the two. I can provide the why's and how's, how they interact with other processes, etc. Just because I don't think your precious little position is the end all be all to Target doesn't mean you have to get your panties twisted up. The whole walked a mile comment is crap, I've overseen transitions, I've planned, completed, assessed transitions, etc.

You think it's hard to plan a ****ing set that the company tells you where it goes, what to do 1st, 2nd, 3rd, to read a planogram, lead a small team? Perhaps that's hard to YOU, I find it much harder in other positions where you have to interact with people and be sociable. Tasks and processes are a piece of cake. Perhaps the position isn't a good fit for you, just like dealing with whiny ass people isn't a good fit for me. Now I say it over and over again, every workcenter and position has challenges, what's a challenge to YOU may be a strength to ME. So you take your own idiotic advice and shut up.

edit - kiss my ass, not even worth talking to some piece of **** who can't see anything from a different perspective

 

[tellmeaboutatime]

I love when someone says "that is the hardest position in the store" BS! Have you ever been a GSTL when all of the computers go kaput? Price change around the holidays? Flow when you get 2 3000 piece trucks and multiple call offs? HLs when you spend over 1/2 of your days on a check lane because there are no cashiers and then go immediately to electronics to cover for a lunch and back up to the lanes to cover for GSTL lunch? Slines team lead when you walk into 15 carts of reshop for your area because they really didn't have anyone to do it? Backroom when you spend the first 1/2 hour of everyday trying to pry equipment out of peoples hands so you can do your job? Food TLs that are cut everything they have ordered and pushed what they already had and have to explain why they have so much waste?
EVERY position in the store has its drawbacks and perks. Some positions are better suited to some people based on your strengths as a leader. Some are more physical, some more mental but all have their challenges.

 

[TargetOldTimer]

I love when someone says "that is the hardest position in the store" BS! Have you ever been a GSTL when all of the computers go kaput? Price change around the holidays? Flow when you get 2 3000 piece trucks and multiple call offs? HLs when you spend over 1/2 of your days on a check lane because there are no cashiers and then go immediately to electronics to cover for a lunch and back up to the lanes to cover for GSTL lunch? Slines team lead when you walk into 15 carts of reshop for your area because they really didn't have anyone to do it? Backroom when you spend the first 1/2 hour of everyday trying to pry equipment out of peoples hands so you can do your job? Food TLs that are cut everything they have ordered and pushed what they already had and have to explain why they have so much waste?
EVERY position in the store has its drawbacks and perks. Some positions are better suited to some people based on your strengths as a leader. Some are more physical, some more mental but all have their challenges.

No, I'm not a PTL, Only a lowly signing person, but in decades of watching others do their jobs, plano tl definitely has a very difficult job. MY OPINION.

 

[commiecorvus]

I can only speak for my store but on the one hand I have to agree with tellmeaboutatime and SR, every job has its fair share of pressure and sheer obnoxiousness.
However, there seems to be a factor for the PTL that the other TL's don't seem to get.
Plano is the redheaded step child of all the teams.
We go through PTL's like crazy, they get dumped on constantly by the ETLs and it seems to be consistent, not just who has the job.
I really can't say why that is and like I said it might not be that way at every store.

 

[ptl]

I suppose I might come across as a bit biased given my username, but will point out that only ~1/5 of my time as TL was as a PTL. The rest was GSTL, Backroom, HL, and Remodel, so I've got a fairly broad experience base.

SR, you clearly have no idea what you're talking about when it comes to plano. Only very rarely does a transition book suggest an order to set things, and it's rarer still that the suggested order works in any particular store (due to staffing/scheduling, clearance sell-through, the whims of the execs, etc). The amount of planning required exceeds that of any other TL position by an order of magnitude, and if you try to get away with doing less planning, everything starts to unravel. Yes, it may be a small team, but that doesn't mean it's any less work--for instance, how often would you say you get a question from an experienced Flow TM about how to do some part of their daily work? Not very often. For plano, it's a steady stream of questions from even the most experienced TMs, because nothing ever works quite the way HQ planned/designed it, and even experienced TMs will ask for help with figuring out (or at least signing off on) creative solutions.

For Flow (and I don't mean to pick on any one workcenter--the idea applies to all of them--but it's just easier to stick to one for the argument's sake), how often do you have to change plans/make new plans on the spot? Well, maybe you had a callout so you have to assign someone to a different spot on the line, or to a different area to bowl. Maybe they're waxing the floor and you even have to plan a different path for the wave! Ooohh, so tough. For plano, try more along the lines of the STL walks in at 7am and decides that he wants aisles 21 and 22 set today, no excuses, even though this is the first he's told anyone of it, you hadn't planned to set them for three more days, your team has already torn apart the three aisles planned for today and thus you can't just change plans and leave them half-finished, and those three aisles were projected to take 43 hours (for your team of 4, including yourself, who are scheduled a total of 30 hours today--and 43:30 is actually the lowest ratio of the week).

For Flow, how often do you get a TL or an exec other than your own asking you to do something, take care of something, change a plan? Maybe you get the LOD asking you to get a pallet off the floor that was missed? Maybe you get an exec or a TL asking if there's freight still needing to be pushed for their department? For the most part though, you only deal with the logistics execs and maybe the STL--maybe sometimes you have to coordinate with the Instocks team to some extent, but rarely is that anything other than telling them what hasn't been worked yet. For plano, every single TL and ETL in the building needs something from you or your team (especially your signing TM) every second of every day. They all want their areas set first, they all want the signing they ordered/need ordered/think should have arrived, they all want to know what you did with the clearance when you set their areas, etc. It's a constant stream of questions, requests, and complaints.

I could go on, but whatever; you've made it clear that you aren't listening or interested in having a conversation anyway.

I'm not going to say that any TL position (well, other than GSTL) is necessarily easy--but to suggest that PTL is anything other than the hardest is sheer lunacy.

 

[dek067]

I love when someone says "that is the hardest position in the store" BS! Have you ever been a GSTL when all of the computers go kaput? Price change around the holidays? Flow when you get 2 3000 piece trucks and multiple call offs? HLs when you spend over 1/2 of your days on a check lane because there are no cashiers and then go immediately to electronics to cover for a lunch and back up to the lanes to cover for GSTL lunch? Slines team lead when you walk into 15 carts of reshop for your area because they really didn't have anyone to do it? Backroom when you spend the first 1/2 hour of everyday trying to pry equipment out of peoples hands so you can do your job? Food TLs that are cut everything they have ordered and pushed what they already had and have to explain why they have so much waste?
EVERY position in the store has its drawbacks and perks. Some positions are better suited to some people based on your strengths as a leader. Some are more physical, some more mental but all have their challenges.

YES. to all the above. i have been in every tl position with the exception of the 'relatively' new combined br/instocks role (never been over instocks). although, i am seriously thinking about taking instocks away from them, they are not appreciated and are constantly dumped on. we all have opinions, and we all have warped perceptions based on our experience in our stores. i will say ptl is the only position that requires in depth planning weeks ahead and collaboration with every workcenter in the building. honestly, flow was too repetitive, as was br (easiest tl position i ever had), gstl was a breeze, pricing hours were awesome but repetitive and no real team. softlines was easiest as far as salesfloor. hardlines (everything but food) was fun. and market. well. market can kiss it for all i care. i almost went insane and picked people off after three years in market.
every workcenter has good and bad. but dont discount your ptl and signing guys (if they're good at what they do). i know some tm have a bad perception because of bad tm/tl at their own stores. it is true you get a map of the store with locations. but you also have to walk the map. check the footages and gondolas. make sure you have the fixtures/signing. staffing. not to mention fill out twt, and a STUPID ppa for every. single. little. thing. you. do. imagine what a pain it is for your registers to crash, or have 20 pallets to push 2 hours before leaving, with no resources or equipment, PLUS your job relies ON THE COGNITIVE ABILITY OF HQ for you to get your crap done correctly to begin with and the agreement of your stl/etlhl/etllog/etlsl on priority. that is the biggest difference.

 

[TargetOldTimer]

Eloquently said.

This "piece of Sh*t" as I was called by stupid rules, could not have said it better.

LMAO!!!!

 

[Ajax11]

edit - kiss my ass, not even worth talking to some piece of **** who can't see anything from a different perspective

This had me actually laughing out loud.

Perhaps that's hard to YOU, I find it much harder in other positions where you have to interact with people and be sociable.

I wish I could find a way to not interact with people/guests and be sociable, how exactly is that suppose to work at stores when you are setting / filling POGs until 3pm?

 

[Retail Girl]

I find it interesting that most of us would agree that HQ manages to screw up everything they put their fingers in...but when it comes to them sending out stuff for presentation, the assumption is that they manage to get that right.

 

[stupid rules]

TOT you said you're not a PTL, go read your comment about PTL and then STFU.

PTL I am hesitant to address your comments because you seem to be clueless. So your plans got changed, big deal, if you want specifics on how to get **** done then ask. If you want to whine and act like everyone else is crap then keep crying victim.

Perhaps the stores you guys are in are completely different. The POG team never finishes sets, revisions, etc. Guess who picks up the slack and has to finish - the HLTL's (including CTL). We get **** for hours, have to give up people, hell even if they are scheduled for HL they end up doing plano (and not changing work centers).