August 11, 2017 - cartattendant763
Bored Out of My Mind
I work as a Cart Attendant, and I’m normally scheduled for the closing shift (4:30-10, sometimes 4:30-11). I’ve spent a lot of time reading posts by other Cart Attendants and the common theme is that they are all ridiculously overworked and berated by their LOD’s for not getting everything done on time. I’m kind of going through the opposite situation, and need advice. I’m bored out of my mind. Every. Single. Day. As Cart Attendant, my responsibilities are as follows: fully stock the front of the store with carts, load up carts on the outside of the store, bring some extra carts in for the Flow Team to stock the aisles, stock the spill stations, take out the trash, fill the registers with bags, and collect the security locks/hangers from the registers. That may sound like a lot, but really, most of those responsibilities are one-and-done jobs that don’t take very long. Even if I don’t use the cart machine which allows you to transport 25 carts at a time, I still get everything done fairly quickly. I’ve never been reprimanded by an ETL/LOD for being slow or anything, but I feel that I spend a lot of time just walking around aimlessly because I do all of my duties and have literally nothing else to do as the night comes to an end. Think about it. How many guests really come in to the store past 10:00 PM? Not very many. So when you guys are scheduled for really long shifts and get everything done efficiently and on time, how do you guys spend your time, and what do you recommend for me? Also, I usually volunteer for Backup Cashier at least twice over the course of my shift, which takes up some time also. I can’t volunteer every single call, because then the other TM’s would never respond for backup calls thinking I’ll always respond and they’ll walk all over me, but what do you guys recommend? I feel like it’s different as a Cashier just standing there because they are in their own lane waiting for guests – I have no “set working location” so I don’t know what to do.
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For a retail position that is a lot of work for one person, especially for what you're paid! What it sounds to me is your store doesn't have a lot of guest/customer traffic so it's not as challenging as it would be at a super busy store.
I suppose the store you work at isn't situated amongst a busy freeway or shopping center? When I worked as cart attendant I was lucky to get 10 min to myself to catch my breath. I was being overworked and severely underpaid. I actually don't know why I allowed myself to continue working there for the amount of time I did. Management thrived at one thing and one thing only, laziness. Meanwhile, other workers had to pickup after them otherwise the LODS were quick to point fingers as to why the work they were suppose to do wasn't being done. I truly hate target. It has potential of being a great retail store but incompetent leaders, greed, and lack of support is driving people out of their stores.
I think your store has their shit together. Like literally. the job description says the cart attendant is responsible for keeping the bathrooms and cleaning up spills, etc. But it sounds like they have have hired someone just to clean the bathrooms and spills. So you don't have janitorial duties. The store I work at does that.
What? You don't have screaming guests claiming they swore that was cheaper than what it scanned at? And call you for a price check?
That aside, deal with the put aways when you have time on your hands and put them back! It'll help you figure out a layout of the store. You are the first person the cashier will turn to when someone asks where is that xxxxx ? That stuff is never ending.