August 20, 2014 - Migarob
Cart Attendants — Overworked… Seriously underpayed.
Ok, I don’t even know where to begin.
I’ve been a cart attendant for 2 years now. (I honestly don’t know how I managed to put up with this for so long) But here’s a rundown of my experience with this company.
First of all, I’m going to just go ahead and say the truth. Being a cart attendant is hands down the most physically demanding job at Target. Seriously. We bust our asses outside in whatever weather the Universe feels like throwing at us. I can’t count the amount of times I’ve just brought in some carts and a fellow TM tells me “Man, it must suck being outside right now, huh.” Well no shit it’s like 98degrees outside. And the same thing for rain. And all this struggle against the elements for minimum wage? Ridiculous.
Not to mention we constantly lift heavy objects when doing charge-backs, carry-outs, etc. Whenever something needs to be lifted, “Cart attendant, come in.” Like is there really no one else in the sales floor who can lift it? What a bunch of pansies. At the end of my shift I tend to be sticky, if not sweating, from trying to be everywhere at one time and tired from all the lifting. I put in 3x the work that cashiers do and they get paid the same as me. That ticks me off. Even worse, Food Service and Starbucks get paid MORE than me. Not saying their job is easy (I help Food Service on occasion), but they certainly aren’t suffering like I am.
Let’s not forget how I take orders from everyone…
- Cashiers: Constantly bitch about bags, carry outs, and spills when I am either already aware of it or have already been told by the GSTL.
- Starbucks: Need trash taken out, asks me to bring the Starbucks order from the back because they are too busy at the moment (f**k you, I’m busy too), or wants a spill cleaned up.
- Food Service: Same as Starbucks.
- Sales floor: Need me to lift something, clean something, grab an item for someone.
- Backroom: Need help tossing trash into the compactor, want me to take an order up to the front lanes, and want me to do some parts of their job to which I kindly say No Thanks!
Sometimes these things pile up on me at the same time and I don’t even know where to begin. They one or the other gets impatient when I haven’t gotten around to doing what they asked me to do. I feel like I’m trying to juggle multiple girlfriends. It just doesn’t work.
On top of all that, I have to cashier for 15mins at a time when it gets busy.
One other thing we are unappreciated for is when we clean the restrooms. Especially the women’s restroom. The men’s restroom is dirty sometimes but you have no idea how annoying it is to clean the women’s restroom. First (as a guy), we gotta wait until all the females are done with their business while keeping all other women out of the restroom. Which is not easy. A woman comes up to me and sees me blocking the restroom door with my cleaning cart and asks “Can I go in or are you gonna clean?”… Well. What the f**k do you think!? Then they cry about how they really gotta go or they use their kids as an excuse to get in, but it’s all bullshit. I stand my ground and say “No you can’t go in, it’s closed. Sorry.” At this point, some of them get angry and go off telling me how they are gonna make a complaint and how they are gonna speak to my manager, blah blah blah. I gladly call the LOD over to the women’s restroom and when they get there suddenly the guest has nothing to say, except “I need to use the restroom.” Well a little FYI for everyone. A restroom in a retail store is a luxury, not a necessity. So you can’t sue me for not letting you take a dump in our restroom. You can take your shit elsewhere if you’d like, but I got a job to do. There are those shitty days where the guests decide to be extra filthy and leave a bigger mess in the restroom than usual. Ugh.
So tell me, is all of this worth $8.50 (Now $9, woo fucken hoo -.-)? I can honestly say that I go through all of this on one 8-hour shift.
Seriously, give the cart attendants the money they deserve. This is bullshit.
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Target is using mytime to cut hours and benefits no doubt.. They are trying to keep it a secret .. We should all unite and become a union .
You poor thing (not being sarcastic).
Cart attendants are so unappreciated. I see how day side treats ours. They treat them like they're some creatures who aren't near the level of a human being. Or a ghost that you never acknowledge. I wouldn't want that job. It's a lot for nothing. Well same goes for overnight lol. But at least I don't have to deal with guests.
Definitely the worst job in the store.
Cart attendant=store slave
I'll never forget my days as the store bitch. Getting fired was one of the best things that has ever happened to me.
Hey man you're lucky. i did all that and i only worked 4 hour shifts, 3-4 days a week(until i complained about supervisors) and only got paid $7.75...
on the bright side you don't have someone having their kid piss in the washroom sink rather than in the toilet, resulting in you having to clean it asap.
"On the bright side?????" There's a fucking "bright side????"
How do you know if a kid didn't piss in the sink? To me that would be great compared to someone shitting on the floor
That is the most truthful thing I have ever read. Being a former ( and at the time of this post) returning (?) cart attendant, I cannot believe how little time cart attendants had to do with the task load we had. Oh and FYI: if you haven't figured it out, go it the group huddles. Even though it's bullshit 65% of the time, you get 15 minutes of resting when you're truly not needed