Archived store frustration

[littlebluej]

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[Hardlinesmaster]

Talk to your Etl log on your concerns for starters.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

Document the events. Be ready to have any conversation with stl or stl.

 

[Logo]

Its very frustrating when you have leaders that don't understand the process or the time things take to make things happen but do the best that you can and as stated by hardlinesmaster document document document!

 

[SFSFun]

Are there any LOG-experienced STLs nearby that you could reach out to for help? Or even other ETL-LOGs? Maybe they would know how best to please your specific STL or maybe they are on good terms with her and would be able to reset her expectations a bit.

 

[Hardlinesmaster]

You can talk to your etl hr, too.

 

[RightArm]

Wow. Feel for you. This is why those above need to get their butts out of their chairs and their feet down on the floor. Once they try to help out with some of those expectations they soon realize what it takes to get it done. On a side note our SR TLs get stuck with far more LOD shifts than 2 or 3 a week. Feels like mine spends most of her time as LOD and we're lucky if we see her in person once a week.

 

[redeye58]

TBH I don't think there's any pleasing your STL given the unrealistic time frames she gives.
Even if you got help, gamed the metrics, whatever to finish a task she'd simply pile on more while convincing herself that you can do still more.
Someone she listens to (really, REALLY listens to) needs to point out the difference between reality & wish list.

 

[RightArm]

You know, now that I think about it... we used to have an STL that would pile on the to do list. You'd already be busy doing things and she'd come up and say she wanted x, y, and z. I always said to her: "I am currently doing A, B, and C. Can you tell me your priority in case I run out of time and can't get it all done?" She would then tell me what to do first - what order to do things. The response was respectful but it also served to make her aware of how much I had on my plate. I also started carrying a small notebook in my pocket and when she'd fire off things I'd start writing it down. I documented my daily task list under her watch... wrote down everything I did every day. That way if she "bitched" I had a record of what I accomplished while I was working. So, yes, document your difficulties with her but it's not a bad idea to start documenting what you do on a daily basis.

 

[jenna]

Ugh. That sounds terrible.

BR and SFS and Receiving all get PDAs at my store.

can you order more equipment? Have your ETL order more equipment?

I know we have more than 12 PDAs in our store.

 

[SrTLall]

I'm a SR TL who recently took over a department which is failing by every metric, as for former TL drove it into the ground. It's now my job to fix it, of course.

I now run 3 departments in addition to my LOD shifts, which are typically 2-3 per week. It says in best practice that seniors should have a max of 2 per week, but who cares I guess.

My STL keeps telling me things to fix, sounds good. But she has completely unrealistic expectations for the time period in which I have to complete them. I attempt to explain a more reasonable time frame, but no, not good enough. Metrics must be green NOW. Also, our INFs for SFS are getting bigger and bigger, which is my fault because I run both SFS and (now) backroom. But she gives all PDAs to SFS and will send backroom home early to get our batches done. Backstock doesn't get done. So she complains about the backstock and blackline now getting done. I attempt to explain but I'm met with deaf ears.

Who can I complain to? My DTL? My group OPS? My STL has zero logistics experience because of her vast retail experience at companies that don't exactly have a backroom (like Victoria's Secret). She doesn't understand the complexities or workload, nor the time it takes to do them. She also constantly butts heads with my ETL LOG, and she's been with the company for like 25 years.

I'm genuinely at my wits end with this lady but I don't know who to express my frustrations to. Any suggestions?

Sounds eerily similar to a situation I was once in. I was a SF TL who was being groomed by my STL for promotion to ETL. Logistics was an opportunity at my store, so I volunteered to take the position once it became open because I like a challenge. Needless to say, I soon learned why it was an opportunity because my STL, who had been with the company for 20+ years, would not budge on any of her stances. After a couple years of agony and 3 ETLs later, I happened to pass the DTL in TSC just after he finished a visit and he asked me why Logistics was struggling so much. I asked if he would speak with me privately and I told him EVERYTHING that was wrong, which sounds a like what is going wrong in your store. I'm a grown man and I broke down in tears while meeting with the DTL because of the pent-up frustration of dealing with my STL's ignorance for the last 2 years and her basically blaming me for the failures of the store. Anyways, a couple months later, the STL was fired and now our store is running all green metrics for Logistics and the DTL doesn't even bother coming to the backroom on his visits anymore.

If the DTL hadn't asked me that one question that day, and if I hadn't been in an extra pissy mood to have the courage to ask him to speak to me privately, I don't know where I would be today.

Nothing is going to change unless there is a whistle-blower. If you're at your wits end, I'd shoot your DTL an e-mail and ask to meet him next time he is in the store. Have a concrete plan for what you're going to tell him, with multiple examples and trends that the STL creates which negatively impact Logistics. As a DTL, I imagine it can be difficult to pinpoint why areas of the store are failing and he is going to need some overwhelming evidence that your STL is dropping the ball, not you or your ETL.

Hang in there, I know it's not easy. The only thing that kept me going was that I knew I was right and I had to see the situation through the end.

 

[RightArm]

We were allotted I think 3 or 5 more PDAs when SFS came in. Equipment is a problem in most stores these days. Your STL does sound like she doesn't have a clue what she's doing. It could be that she's also on the receiving end of this from the DTL and is passing it on to you, not that that makes it right. Definitely sounds like you need to have a chat with your ETL HR. If you don't think that will help then certainly start looking for another job. Your health is not worth putting up with this. LOG is IMHO one of the more difficult TL areas in the store. It's a huge juggling act to begin with.

 

[Reddington]

This might not be the answer you're looking for, but you may be in a no-win scenario here.

In my years with Target and in dealing with STLs, a scant few have had a grasp on what you can realistically accomplish with the time and the resources which you've been given. Rather, they expect everyone in the store to be able to bend the laws of time and space in order to meet their demands. Unfortunately, this seems to be the nature of the position.

You can try to establish a dialogue with the DTL, just consider the ramifications.

1. Your STL in all likelihood will harbor a deep resentment that you went over their head, and while retaliation is against company policy, there are other ways they can make your life miserable.
2. The DTL probably won't do much to correct the problem anyway. They are concerned largely with one thing: sales. As long as your store is making plan, they are not going to risk rocking the boat, and will instead see your STL as simply trying to do what they were put there to do: keep things running smoothly.
3. If you have any visions of climbing the corporate ladder, voicing concerns is not a good thing to be doing as trust me, Target frowns on that no matter what the handbook tells you. You will be labeled a "complainer", and at Target, the squeaky wheel is not the one that gets the oil, rather, it is the first one they look to replace.

 

[BackroomAlpha]

Progress takes time though. Thats a lesson from life I personally learned when I was a child. lol maybe she is just being hard on you

 

[smashandthrash]

I worked with an STL with a logistics background that thought they had the answers to all the problems.

We had a nice chat one day about that. Surprising that I didn't get fired.

I left several months later

 

[Midoninger]

My ETL LOG completely backs me. She's supported me the most and she's my most favorite ETL ever. But even she has been given unrealistic expectations. She works more each day that any other ETL to complete the expectations given to her by the STL. Things that would take at least 3 days she's given 1 to do. She doesn't even take a lunch sometimes because every time she tries to, the STL will give her another task. She's told me she's going to call the hotline.

make sure to address ETL HR first!

This might not be the answer you're looking for, but you may be in a no-win scenario here.

In my years with Target and in dealing with STLs, a scant few have had a grasp on what you can realistically accomplish with the time and the resources which you've been given. Rather, they expect everyone in the store to be able to bend the laws of time and space in order to meet their demands. Unfortunately, this seems to be the nature of the position.

You can try to establish a dialogue with the DTL, just consider the ramifications.

1. Your STL in all likelihood will harbor a deep resentment that you went over their head, and while retaliation is against company policy, there are other ways they can make your life miserable.
2. The DTL probably won't do much to correct the problem anyway. They are concerned largely with one thing: sales. As long as your store is making plan, they are not going to risk rocking the boat, and will instead see your STL as simply trying to do what they were put there to do: keep things running smoothly.
3. If you have any visions of climbing the corporate ladder, voicing concerns is not a good thing to be doing as trust me, Target frowns on that no matter what the handbook tells you. You will be labeled a "complainer", and at Target, the squeaky wheel is not the one that gets the oil, rather, it is the first one they look to replace.

yeah that 3rd one is the truth!