Archived When I was new...

[Catfish Rita]

Now I know at some point we were all new, and must've been pretty clueless on how things worked with Spot. As a seasonal hire, the only thing that kept me on the team for 90 days was my personality.

Hopefully this thread will allow us to share our experiences, get some awkward things off our chest, and maybe allow some newer hires to not make the same mistakes :'-)

Quick background: I was hired as a Seasonal Hardlines TM, but cashiered for 75% of my time, and continue to do so.

When I was new,
-I thought some lady paid for all of her stuff when she came to my line with everything she was buying in a plastic bag. I nearly let her have all of it for free since all she did was sit it on the belt and say "could you re-bag this?"
-I called for a cashier backup (as in, over the walkie GSTL call, not the red button)
-I told AP to call me if they needed anything (I didn't know who AP was at the time)
-I never asked any guest if they wanted a REDcard

What did you do?!? I'm sure I'll think of some more.

 

[NPC]

Technically, I first started at Target when I was 19. I worked in Softlines over the summer before quiting to go to school. My first closing shift, I was scheduled to leave at 10pm. So, I left, at 10pm. Apparently that was not the norm, and Salesfloor didn't leave until the LOD let everyone leave. So it was pretty embarassing to find out they were searching for me, and didn't know I left until they checked the schedule.

I'm so glad they don't schedule us like that any more. When I came back to Target a few years later, it's like I never left. So no funny stories there.

 

[SFSFun]

When I was new, I thought we had to leave after 8 hours so we didn't get overtime (over 8 hours is overtime pay at my other job).

So on my first day, the 8-hour mark came around and we were still pushing the truck, with no efforts being made to start winding down. I figured nobody knew what time it was, so I turned to the guy next to me and said "hey it's almost 2:30. Don't we need to get going?" He told me he was probably going to stay until 4. And for a brief, glorious moment I though I'd be getting overtime pay. But I asked just to be sure and he laughed and looked at me like I was crazy for thinking that.

 

[Kartman]

When I was new...

 

[dannyy315]

Quick background: I was hired as a Seasonal Hardlines TM, but cashiered for 75% of my time, and continue to do so.

Sounds about right

 

[BullseyeBlues]

When I was new, I spent the first few weeks trying to figure out what the hell Target's variety of acronyms meant because I could never remember them all. Luckily, the team from another store who trained me (my store's building wasn't complete at the time) was super patient about my questions.

 

[radiochu]

haha... okay, cool story bro time.

I was probably in my second or third week when I got trained on the WAV. this was at my first store where I was a backroom TM. I got really cocky really fast because hell, it was fun, so I wanted to use it for everything. also, I'm short, and kind of small, so it made a lot of things I couldn't normally do solo possible. (every backroom TM takes team lift stickers as a suggestion rather than a must, right?)

sooo, my least favorite LOD calls back with a guest request, which was a Little Tykes Cozy Coupe. this of course was on the very top of the steel down toys, and slightly bulkier and slightly heavier than I really felt I could safely carry down a ladder. I eyeballed the WAV, eyeballed the gap between aisles... looked back and forth a few times and decided that OF COURSE this was a good idea and nothing could go wrong.

I got it down the aisle just fine, got up to the top, loaded up the box, headed down, started to back down the aisle... hit the steel. turned a little in the other direction to jimmy free, hit the steel. crap.

I was not about to admit to anyone in the store that I was the idiot who decided to drive the WAV somewhere it wasn't supposed to go, so I jimmied that damn thing all the way back down to the end of the aisle. loaded up a flat, pushed it to guest service, Bob's your uncle. never made that mistake again.

 

[RedX]

When I was new as a hardlines team member, I would ask the vendors "can I help you find something?" Until one of my trainers explained what a vendor was. That's when I thought I finally knew what I was doing too.

 

[thetargetman]

When I was new I thought one zone was it and it was done for the night. I didn't know you had to go back and "touch things up" the backroom Forman also had his fun when he told me to take the cardboard down the elevator to the trash room (it was a single level Target mind you)

 

[Triscuit]

when I was new I thought zoning meant just picking up items that didnt belong in that area. So i went a whole hardlines shift and didnt technically zone anything until at the very end I had to help grocery zone and I saw them pulling everything to the front and fixing the items. whooops

 

[redeye58]

When I was still new, I was helping zone in softlines after close.
I had no walkie & wasn't nearby anyone to hear the call to come up front.
After awhile, an ONTL saw me & said "You still here?"
I asked "What do you mean?"
He said "Man, they all left 25 minutes ago."
The ON-ETL had to disarm the door to let me out & the closing LOD got a butt-chewing for failing to account for all his closers.

 

[thetargetman]

oh and I remember during my first closing shift I was scheduled to 11pm but we finished the zone by hmm 10:30 if I recall and everyone was headed to the door to leave for the night so I asked the TL what I should do until 11. He said well we are all done so we can all go home now!

 

[CsideMaster]

I work overnight flow, 10pm-6am, and for the longest time I had no idea what any of the Target slang was so when I was told to "push," or "Pull," or "back stock," I was clueless. I got in trouble for "Flexing" once and had no idea what that meant so kept doing it lol. I would also bring pallets of product to the wrong aisles. I'm very happy to say I know everything now.

 

[RandomRedShirt]

When I first started Bob Ulrich was in charge, Target just started it's expansion plans, the company was making $$$ out the ass, and we still owned Mervyns & Marshall Fields. Overtime was all over the place. I remember breaking $1000 net pay for the first time back when checks were weekly.


And oh yeah - I have a vested pension they have to pay when I retire.

 

[BlueSide]

When I was new, I didn't know how to sign people up for redcards for the first 3 or 4 month and I thought cart attendants made the store go round.

 

[Catfish Rita]

When I was new I always took a myDevice and walkie up to the check lanes... for 7 hours. Then again, hardlines hire. I also didn't know the GSTL was a supervisor-esque position.

 

[mrknownothing]

When I was new as a hardlines team member, I would ask the vendors "can I help you find something?" Until one of my trainers explained what a vendor was. That's when I thought I finally knew what I was doing too.

After 5+ years, I still do that to Target Mobile because my memory sucks and they have a new person like every other week.

 

[Kartman]

I thought cart attendants made the store go round.

A good one?

Oh hell yea...

 

[sher]

I used to like wear cute clothes all the time. I wear running sneakers to work now. I don't do my nails, no makeup, my hands are ashy because all the cardboard sucks the moisture out of em. I'm gaining weight, too. Lot of it went to my butt so I don't have much to complain about there.

I thought my schedule would be consistent.

I thought Target was an awesome company that treated their employees well lol. I thought I'd get an automatic 3 month raise of like a quarter (my previous retail job did that).

I thought backup cashiering would be a rare occurrence. I was so wrong.

 

[Kartman]

 

[BlueSide]

A good one?

Oh hell yea...

I just feel like it took me a while to realize that any one person's job is just a small peice of the store's operations.

 

[asidius]

When I was new, I used to enjoy cashiering and would rush up to the front in joy when back ups were called.

 

[HardlinesGuy]

Started as a regular Hardlines TM, but ended up being my stores own personal "Do everything guy." before getting thrown in some mixed up hellhole of scheduling that had me going from Hardlines, Flexible Fulfillment, Cashiering and Cart Attendant back and forth all week before my saving grace of Assets Protection saved me from it all.

When I was new:
- I had a guest I was ringing up demand that I go get her a new 2 liter bottle of soda from Market because she "accidentally shook it up" and insisted that "when it gets bubbles it makes the taste different and really bad."
- Had no idea what any of the Target lingo meant and would randomly guess and do stuff while hoping for the best.
- Thought my schedule wouldn't be f**ked up every single week.
- Actually asked people CIHYFS?
- Attempted to zone everything perfectly, 100%, all the time, always.
- Thought I could trust my leaders.
- Thought my flow team didn't totally suck and all the bad reputations were just people being dumb. (Oh god how wrong I was.)
- Thought I would always have help on the floor.

Pardon the disorganized list here but I just typed what came to mind as it came to mind. No particular order here.

 

[hrdlnz]

When I was new I avoided backup calls because I thought I didn't know how to use the register. One day I was scheduled as cashier and realized it wasn't hard at all. Oh how I miss being new enough to ignore the calls without getting yelled at lol

 

[seewhatididthere]

When I was new, I was infatuated with Target, loved being on the inside of my favorite store, I practically wanted to marry the bullseye and start my own little Target family (last name pronounced Tarjay), not a single person could tell me one negative thing about Target without a defense from me; then I joined The Breakroom.

And honestly, that was the best decision I made when I was new at Target.