promoted me to guest for getting too many redcards

[amply]

​

okay i exaggerated. my name is *****, im from store ******* and on March 6th 2015, J let go the GSA/SBTM that was responsible for 64% of the entire stores redcard sales in 2015. 48% in 2014. Please don't attack me telling me how stupid i am for revealing this personal information. I WAS FIRED and i left NOT ON GOOD TERMS. Before J took over as the red-kool-aid sucking STL of the **** store AKA ****, the rules were very different. DO. WHATEVER. IT. TAKES. TO. GET. APPS. my best week i had 36 redcards (we are a B volume store). my worst week was 17. i carried the district. I was by far the most requested team member by our guests. I've been personally told by many of my SBUX regulars and target shoppers that the only reason they still shop here after the breach is because of myself and the team i built. Our scores were unmatched. Guest satisfaction was never below 95% except for the week i went on vacation and the other GSTL and our GSAs aloud it to plumet below 60% with guest comments comparing us to walmart.

On friday. I was fired by J and the DTL AP B, with threats that they could call police. Why? because i allowed my team to honor the 5% savings for guests who applied for a redcard but were not immediately approved. An important part of guest service is that when you promise 5% savings to a guest for applying for a credit card, but instant approval is not granted for whatever reason, you MUST DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO MAKE IT RIGHT FOR THE GUEST. IF NOT they feel scammed. They ran their credit (likely hurting their credit score) in hopes of saving, only to be told it was pointless because he or she was not instantly approved.

Under previous leadership i was aloud to give a free grande latté or frapuccino for an application. I was able to give the guest a $5-$10 discount on top of the 5% (depending on order total) for even an application.

But no. Now I am banned from T2161 for life and must pay for every discount i ever gave to our guests willing to apply for a target credit or debit card, and for every drink i gave away under jakes management.

I am appalled. Confused. Heartbroken. and so is my team. I know I am cocky. I used to think of myself as the target 2162 celebrity. But this i am not making up. Since my termination, 2 GSAs put in their 2 weeks. Our Starbucks TL straight up quit. Two plano TMs won't speak to management. My boyfriend is there only there.....can't speak on this sorry. I know this will get to him but I can't let my downfall hurt anyone else. 4 cashiers have no showed since and 1 other has put in her 2 weeks notice. Our HR TM is appalled. A particular SR TL of a department is actively looking for a new job.

Because they know if I was fired, no one is safe. They made me out like a thief. I am banned from my store that I slaved over for 2 years. I know Im not the target jesus but with constant contact with my ex-coworkers. I know this is the final straw.

AE15. Target will close its doors by 2021. Costcos coming soon. right across the street next to walmart. An ETL-Logistics who I adored whose been with the company 18 years left a few months ago for a position at a promising clothing store. Right across the street. Target will be Walmart at best.

I loved it there when it was good but now i know its the downfall of Target. And the downfall started just a few years before the breach. The breach was the biggest needle in the coffin. AE14 dug it in deeper. But AE15 will be worse. and i guarantee. By 2021 Target will be less relevant than Kmart. Willing to bet on it.

​

 

[commiecorvus]

[warning=ATTENTION]
You posted this twice so I killed the other one.
I understand how frustrated and pissed off you are.
I was fired for unreasonable and stupid reasons as well.
Can you do me a favor though and take the names of the ETL out of your post?
This site has been attacked by Spot in the past and I'd really rather not have them come after us for any reason.
I want to give you a platform to vent but at the same time I want to protect the site.[/warning]

 

[oath2order]

I have a handful of questions, @amply

• Are you on good terms with your old STL?
• Did your old STL leave Target on good terms?
• Do you have absolutely any form of verification that you were allowed to give out the Starbucks drinks/$5-$10 extra?
• Are they pursuing legal action against you to force you to pay for every RedCard bonus and Starbucks drink, or have they just said "give us this money"?

 

[Kartman]

Damn!

 

[TargetOldTimer]

A bit too much information about your friends still working at the store... Please edit for their sake.

 

[BullseyeBabe]

I am so sorry to read this. It should be a warning to us all.

 

[Nauzhror]

This thread you claim your best week ever was 36, your last thread you claimed to have gotten 42 the week prior to posting it. At best one if those two statements can be true. I also find it rather amusing that when you made the last thread and bitched about lack of recognition that I posted that if you weren't pulling numbers out of your ass that the lack of recognition was because you were doing something shady that AP was monitoring.

 

[Guest]

 

[CanuckTM]

From an earlier (self-described "rant")

For some reason I'm good at selling unnecessary 24.99% apr credit cards to soccer moms and I don't know why I keep doing it

At a guess it helped that they got 5% off, and $5-10 off, and a free drink for applying. Someone also suggested the reason you didn't get recognition was that AP was building a case - seems like that was right.

In September, you said you were strongly encouraged to take the SBTL post but felt it was a trap, I presume based on the GSA/SBTM verbage, you declined? In which case I'm not sure

i allowed my team to honor the 5% savings for guests who applied for a redcard

is accurate - more like you encouraged your co-workers to give discounts in violation of policy. If the authorisation to do that, going above & beyond the normal redcard discounts was written, you need to present it to the STL/DAP, and if not then you were always being set up to be thrown under a bus. If you're told to go against policy and it's not written, you can bet your ass someone's making a mental note.

I'm sorry you've been fired, you're obviously upset. Try looking at the upside - you felt unappreciated, you weren't in your first choice workcentre, and if you were as good as you felt, the store will suffer. You're now out of all that.

 

[PugMuffin]

Maybe the reason your previous leadership is previous leadership is because they were encouraging these types of discounts that are against policy.

 

[Flabbergasted]

Ok so I think this is ridiculous, even if it is technically against policy. My store has given out the 5% even to guests who are not approved ever since I started working there (and way before that), which was nearly a year ago. We still do it to this day and no one has said anything. Our AP is aware of it and they have not said anything. I know of other stores that do this very thing. If corporate wants to enforce this, they can have the DTL coach the STL about it, who can then inform the GSTLs/GSAs to stop giving out these discounts. But if the entire store is convinced this is acceptable, as mine and many others are, you cannot just fire people for it. That's rude and I'd even say evil.

 

[Nauzhror]

I would bet it was all the other additional discounts or that the STL had already said enough is enough and was ignored.

 

[sigma7]

A lot of what you were doing sounds shady. Like someone else said, if the former STL approved all these techniques then that could be part of the reason why they are the former STL. The company would not and has not endorsed any of these tactics. The only thing guests are promised is 5% off when they use a REDcard. They aren't guaranteed 5% off just for applying, plus $5-10 off and a free Starbucks drink. It sucks you got caught up in this. Hopefully you learn to cya next time and not dip into the company coffers, even if you weren't stealing anything for yourself.

And let's be honest with ourselves; You weren't promoted to guest for getting too many REDcards... You were fired for stealing from the company.

That said, something seems suspect. If this was the culture concerning REDcards under your previous STL, I can't imagine that the new leadership would come after you and only you without first addressing the unauthorized methods to get REDcards with the entire store and the front end team.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Learn from it, too. Costco is going strong.
Also, it sounds like you work in Starbucks. There will other opps for you there.

 

[Leonhart621]

Do you want us to call the store and give them a piece of our minds? Tell them why the **** they let Target Jesus go?

 

[buliSBI]

Now whose policy was it to give 5% discounts to guests no matter what...I wish you were still working at Target so I could get FREE MONEY.

 

[Mhugh220]

Advice: Follow corporate policy only, regardless of what the STL approves. This goes for all workcenters. If the STL gets sacked, they'll also look at the TMs who followed. The POS records every discount given and records TMs who give the most frequent discounts and a report is generated for AP. What you did was against policy. It's like faking metrics to make the store look green, but if you get caught then someone has to pay the piper Anything involving money or discounts is monitored.

Our neighbor STL got fired for hiding merchandise in the electrical room because the flow team rolled two trucks in a row after having two 2500+ trucks and only 10 TMs to push each (End of month cuts). During a DTL/VP visit, they inspected every room and found tubs of freight hidden everywhere. She never came back.

I'm sorry you got termed like this. But if management ever tells you to do something against policy - you accept to take the risk or become the whistle-blower

 

[Ofde]

While I don't really believe this guys story, is it really fair to say that giving 5% off to someone who applied for the credit card is stealing from the company? That's absurd.

First off, the company, via having the redcard itself, is basically saying 5% doesn't matter to us and our bottom line. And yes, I realize the redcard transaction fees are nonexistent for debit, and either none or very low for the credit card, along with free marketing research information on every card holder is worth something to them, and the alleged guest loyalty(I've always thought, a good number of people who would want a redcard are probably already loyal frequent shoppers to target anyway, so now we give them a discount for buying what they'd be normally buying here anyway(also I think guest loyalty is a sham, people shop, in order of priority by 1) Price/Best Value(costco bundles anyone?) 2) Location(closeness to my home/drive to work)/ease of access(ie online stores) 3)How likeable the store is(clean store/nice website layout/customer service/is it "in")).

Secondly, at my store at least, most every transaction begins with the line "Would you like to save 5% off today and every day by signing up for the target redcard?" This implies that by signing up today they will receive 5% off their order, whether approved or not. Have you ever shopped at another store with a normal rewards/loyalty program? Quite a few offer a 5-20% off the first order just for signing up. It's not ridiculous as the guest to expect that 5% off for attempting to sign up. Also, doesn't it seem to go against target policy to screw a guest out of 5% for having to wait to be approved? What happens if they are approved after? Don't you think they'll remember not getting the 5% off that big TV they bought? Or that vacuum cleaner? Or that $150 grocery order? They're gonna open that approval letter, and be reminded of that negative feeling. They're going to be reminded being told no, we don't actually care about you. All we care about is that stupid card and patting each other on the back for that "profitable sale" and "increased basket size" we got off of you. They'll be thinking how Target scammed them out of money. Target needs to change their phrasing then if they don't want to give 5% to everyone, even the ones who are told to wait for further review. I bet you, in a state like California, they would be fined and forced to give that 5% just for signing up(assuming no change in phrasing from what I said above).

 

[Flabbergasted]

Well now I'm getting concerned for myself and my own team, because this is something we do all the time. However, it is encouraged by the GSTLs and store AP is aware of it. Would our jobs be on the line if they decided to crack down on it?

 

[buliSBI]

It doesn't matter what the guest perceives if Target is scamming them or not. Its if you, your team, or store is following company policy and procedure. If the company thinks you are cheating the company, then you will be coached or termed.

If the guest was always right, then Target would be closed.

 

[Mhugh220]

@Flabbergasted - jobs would be on the line if an investigation was opened on your store. Target doesn't trust anyone, so they have backup for backups. AP may not care but that doesn't mean his boss(es) don't care and are monitoring your store's actions. Each group has a monitoring team that works remotely. They also monitor cameras and POS transactions. If they see something bad, don't report it, then they risk their boss finding something and so on. Typically the management staff will be the first to get let go. If you continue this practice after they are termed then you would be next on their list and anyone else that continues doing it.

This is what happened to @amply. He/She (Ryan Duffy) continued a practice under previous leadership. The new leadership followed BP and an investigation was opened. I would defend that giving the 5% off for just an application should follow VIBE expectations but this is really a grey area. Throw in $5-10 off and/or a free starbucks drink and now it looks even more suspicious. Again, 5% off isn't killing Target and if the team is doing it for everyone, I don't see a big issue.

The pressure Target puts on RedCards sales is ridiculous. They set expectations too high(although it seems now each store has individual goals rather than company wide conversion rates). If Target wants guests to have RedCards, and 5% off increases that chance, then @amply shouldn't be condemned for getting the store RedCards.

 

[Flabbergasted]

I'm just going to be beyond pissed if I come into work someday and am told I'm getting fired for bad discounts, when it has been approved by all leaders in the building. Their heads better be rolling first.

 

[Mhugh220]

Investigations can be hit or miss. Usually happens during a transition from one manager to another at either the store level or district/group level. New in position folks tend to be rule followers and determined to right the ship, even when that ship is sailing fine.

 

[dannyy315]

My store also takes 5% off when they get declined for a RedCard.

 

[Targetron]

Welp. Sounds like that stores going to see an instant sales # increase