Setting up for failure situation/ also racial favoritism

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Dec 22, 2020
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Sooooo at the store I am currently working at ive been there for awhile and had left for a year. I recently returned and have noticed alot of difference in the racial aspect of the work environment.
Before I had left for a year I KID YOU NOT I witnessed a upper position woman supervisor (fancy work title position whatever it was) say "Not enough black people work here"
and so i was appalled by hearing such a comment like ok???
So now that I am back and currently working a set schedule for the store. I am very much one of the highly experienced workers in all aspects due to 10+ yrs in retail. Despite having that experience I have NEVER experienced what I am about to post, not that I am being prejudice or anything BUT i do feel that prejudism is being used against anyone that is NOT black and anyone who isnt black is being set up for failure and I am among quite a few workers who feel the same.
SO i have seen some of said workers sleeping in the break room, loafing around, being goofs and not efficient at all, breaking ALL SORTS of rules including safety, dresscode, tardiness, no calls no shows, stealing company time, etc.... and they are getting away with it. but if you are NOT black you get pulled aside and told off.
whats the deal for such a situation like this? its the workers who follow the rules who getting thrown under the bus.
I was deliberately put in a area where I am not exactly the greatest and it was my first time too and within 2 hours pulled into the office for "not being fast enough"
meanwhile the other loafers around just have it their way.
I dont plan on staying with this said store long enough i am pursuing an educational course and will gladly up and leave after i finish.
its disgusting if u ask me how they are being prejudice here. Seeing them gather everyone in a huddle and enforcing some new rule about not using carts but they forget to leave out the detail that the rules exclude anyone thats black.
pardon this talk but thats the sad reality of whats going on here at this store. its like.... very contridictive. NEVER in my amount of years doing retail have I experienced a situation like this.
 
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There seems to be a lot of indirect racism being expressed in this thread.

I can't speak to the conditions of anyone's store other than mine, so I don't have a perspective to share here that would change OP's opinions. But when you approach a scenario where you feel oppressed and the oppressors appear to be favoring based on race, that's a very precarious approach.
 
Target is not going to cure racism by hiring minorities. It is cured by the character of the individuals employed there. Our direct leadership has no character or integrity . They are arbitrary and capricious in their delegation of tasks and in their supervision...but are consistent in displays of making sure the "in the minority TM" and " not of the leadership majority race TM" are aware they are on the outside. Inclusive environment my eye. What a joke. Middle school cafeteria at best.
 
The entire situation is moronic, on all fronts.

"We recognize we have treated people of color differently than white folks for...well forever...so our solution is to treat them differently than white folks."

Is history tragic? Yes.

Is racism and diversity in the work place a systemic issue? Also, hard yes.

Is this the solution? No. As per usual, a bunch of (admittedly probably white) old folks make decisions which get pushed out and eventually because a box to check. "Gee Steve, were only 6% diverse, let's only hire Black people so we can get to our required 10%."

If these companies truly (and I mean really, truly) wanted to make the communities they suck money from better, they could build schools, build community centers, finance college tuition for minorities, etc. Invest in their community. But they don't give a shit about diversity.

They give a shit about checking a box and posting happy messages on linkedin with rainbow profile pictures or minorities. It's all a farce meant to promote an image of "look at how great we are!" but ultimately the only thing that really matters is how much money it makes.
 
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What is the problem here? Diversity is a good thing. This whole thread sounds like a Conservative bitch session.

I do see their point about performative diversity but since getting a corporation to make any serious substantial change in a system that makes it money is really unlikely, I'll take this for now.
We just have to keep pushing.
Or have the revolution.
 
What is the problem here? Diversity is a good thing. This whole thread sounds like a Conservative bitch session.
Diversity is a great thing. It's also backed up by research that diverse workforces produce better results.

But I don't feel we should be treating people differently (good or bad) because of the color of their skin.

If it were a true effort to implement fair diverse hiring practices, I'm in. I'm on board. 100%. But it isn't. It's a farce. It's just pandering to folks so they feel good and buy more.

Where would their money be better spent? On a "diversity symposium" with guest speakers, or in their local community supporting education and fighting inequality.

I'm not against diversity, very much the opposite. But I don't think Target (or any company) will truly give a shit until they get called out on their Facebook fantasy life picture of perfection.
 
Diversity is a great thing. It's also backed up by research that diverse workforces produce better results.

But I don't feel we should be treating people differently (good or bad) because of the color of their skin.

If it were a true effort to implement fair diverse hiring practices, I'm in. I'm on board. 100%. But it isn't. It's a farce. It's just pandering to folks so they feel good and buy more.

Where would their money be better spent? On a "diversity symposium" with guest speakers, or in their local community supporting education and fighting inequality.

I'm not against diversity, very much the opposite. But I don't think Target (or any company) will truly give a shit until they get called out on their Facebook fantasy life picture of perfection.
Please explain in what ways it is a farce. What specifically have you seen or heard that makes you feel this way? What do you mean by Facebook fantasy life?
 
Please explain in what ways it is a farce. What specifically have you seen or heard that makes you feel this way? What do you mean by Facebook fantasy life?
In the simplest way I think I would equate it to "Talking the talk but not walking the walk".

Companies are quick to espouse things like pride and diversity all over their public social media and to their customers. But they tackle the problem the wrong way.

When you institute metric driven policy to force diversity (x% diverse per store etc) then the chain breaks in the middle. The focus is the number, not the actual result. Managers will just work to achieve the metric instead of truly understanding the value of it. It's not a durable solution. It only changes things as long as people focus on the metric. Once the metric is gone, so is your so called diversity.

Global corporations are not stupid. They know this. But they don't care because the point of these policies isn't to actually become more diverse, it's to generate the smallest and cheapest paper trail possible so they can then plaster it all over social media and court the shareholders and the public to support them - thus driving people and money into their doors.

If they truly cared about diversity they would be spending money to educate employees and educate communities about diversity trying to make actual positive change.
 
In the simplest way I think I would equate it to "Talking the talk but not walking the walk".

Companies are quick to espouse things like pride and diversity all over their public social media and to their customers. But they tackle the problem the wrong way.

When you institute metric driven policy to force diversity (x% diverse per store etc) then the chain breaks in the middle. The focus is the number, not the actual result. Managers will just work to achieve the metric instead of truly understanding the value of it. It's not a durable solution. It only changes things as long as people focus on the metric. Once the metric is gone, so is your so called diversity.

Global corporations are not stupid. They know this. But they don't care because the point of these policies isn't to actually become more diverse, it's to generate the smallest and cheapest paper trail possible so they can then plaster it all over social media and court the shareholders and the public to support them - thus driving people and money into their doors.

If they truly cared about diversity they would be spending money to educate employees and educate communities about diversity trying to make actual positive change.
Don't you think that training is a way of trying to educate employees? I don't believe it is a retail company's job to educate the community, but Target's diversity and anti-discrimination and harassment training is pretty extensive. Whether TMs actually choose to pay attention to it and learn is a different story, of course, and it would be more effective if we had in-person workshops (like we did a few years ago), but people would be rolling their eyes and bitching about that as well.
 
Don't you think that training is a way of trying to educate employees? I don't believe it is a retail company's job to educate the community, but Target's diversity and anti-discrimination and harassment training is pretty extensive. Whether TMs actually choose to pay attention to it and learn is a different story, of course, and it would be more effective if we had in-person workshops (like we did a few years ago), but people would be rolling their eyes and bitching about that as well.
Paying attention to a computer screen isn't going to change any one in real life. Interacting in real life will. Those in person trainings sound perfect. Huddle s on an actual regular basis are a pathway. Diversity among and within work centers is a pathway. So far at our store all the whites work at night and all the others work dayside. GServices is diverse/Aka appearances. It s been a slow evolve apparently due to the LACK of effort by leadership to acknowledge anyone but their own like skined workers....work there.
 
Don't you think that training is a way of trying to educate employees? I don't believe it is a retail company's job to educate the community, but Target's diversity and anti-discrimination and harassment training is pretty extensive. Whether TMs actually choose to pay attention to it and learn is a different story, of course, and it would be more effective if we had in-person workshops (like we did a few years ago), but people would be rolling their eyes and bitching about that as well.
I think the training is a box checker much like the rest of the effort.

How many TMs do you think get a yearly "you need to do your diversityt training because your name is on the naughty list"

I wholeheartedly believe it is an organizations role to act on behalf of the best interests of the communities they serve. They have the money, they have the connections, if not them than who?
 
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Juneteenth Is Not a Legal Holiday In Most States:

Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee included funding for a state Juneteenth holiday in his proposed budget this year. The paid holiday proposal died in the GOP-controlled legislature after state Sen. Joey Hensley, a Republican, said in a February committee hearing that he had asked well over a hundred people in his district what Juneteenth is, and only two of them knew.
“I just think it’s putting the cart before the horse to make a holiday people don’t know about. We need to educate people first and then make a holiday if we need to,” Hensley said.

Yet whenever people of color try to educate others about their history they're shut down with accusations of promoting Critical Race Theory.
 
Juneteenth Is Not a Legal Holiday In Most States:

Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee included funding for a state Juneteenth holiday in his proposed budget this year. The paid holiday proposal died in the GOP-controlled legislature after state Sen. Joey Hensley, a Republican, said in a February committee hearing that he had asked well over a hundred people in his district what Juneteenth is, and only two of them knew.
“I just think it’s putting the cart before the horse to make a holiday people don’t know about. We need to educate people first and then make a holiday if we need to,” Hensley said.

Yet whenever people of color try to educate others about their history they're shut down with accusations of promoting Critical Race Theory.


Yeah, my governor is an asshole and wouldn't make it a state holiday.
And we have a couple of local school boards trying to keep it from even being mentioned in school.
Fucking bigots.
 
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