November 27, 2016 - FirstTimerRetail
Insulted And Humiliated In One Night
I was recently hired for Seasonal and looked forward to doing something different. I’ve never worked in retail, but heard all the pitfalls about it. However, I needed some extra cash and decided that everything I heard could not possibly be true. Boy was I wrong.
I began my seasonal career in mid-November. I attended a two hour orientation with one other person. In our store, I guess the My Devices were in short supply, since the two of us used just one for the little excursion the HR guy sent us on. Not having enough My Devices should have been my first clue.
I was scheduled to work the next day for training on the register. After working all day at my full time job, I arrived a good 45 minutes early to do all my paperwork on the HR computer. This should have been my second clue. When you are hired you receive your employee number. Well, there are various ways Target uses this number. For instance when you clock in, you need all ten numbers. When you are on HR, you use only 9. And when you’re on the register you use only 8. So after getting help I was able to do all my tax forms and direct deposit. Following the rules, I clocked in 5 minutes before my shift and proceeded to look for my trainer. This should have been my third clue.
As I roamed the back during my 45 minutes, no one asked who I was and if they could help. People came in, stood by the time clock, checked in or out and walked away. Only the person who helped me with my HR, but I was quickly getting close to my clock in to ask questions. I did tell them I was here for my cashier training and they showed me to someone who set up the register.
The training was confusing, but I managed to get the simple things down. One of the things I remembered the most was during my own training I had to go to the restroom really bad. So I turned off the bottom switch and turned on the help switch hoping my trainer would come to see if I needed help. This should have been my next clue. I waited for what seemed to be forever when I finally saw my trainer coming down the isle. When they got about 5 registers away, she said she was too busy and to turn off my help light and they will come right back. They never did, so I logged out and went to the rest room after asking another cashier if it was okay to do so. When I returned to my register, the trainer stopped by and said it’s time to watch a real cashier and then do some work on my own while they watched. This went okay, I mean who can’t stand there and watch. But when it came time for me to do it on my own, the person I was watching left and I was given someone I did not know to watch me. It would have been nice to have had the team member I was working with help me since we began to talk to each other, but now I had some one else I did not know. So I ended the day and felt pretty good, but I began to see what others had told me about retail. It’s about speed and I’m not all that speedy.
My next day I was to begin my floor training in Hard Lines. It was the evening shift and my trainer was young and very helpful. They explained what to do and was always there if I had questions or if I did something not up to Target standards like calling guests, guests and not customers. Being this was the evening shift, it was all about re-zoning and re-stocking from guest services. I thought I was getting a handle on things, but looked forward to the training for the day shift I was scheduled for in a few days. So the weekend came and we did nothing but pulls and some restocking. So it was a pretty busy day and very pleasant. My trainer was helpful and allowed me to go on my brakes before theirs. Very nice person my first trainer was to me.
So my next training night came and I was to have a new trainer. We worked in toys and electronics. So I went right to work re-zoning the 38 isles of toys. I said “I” because after my trainer told me where to start, they spent the whole night doing electronics and announcing of the radio each time she sold a Red Card. I think the count went to five. well of course they were able to do that. I’m the only one re-zoning and re-stocking 38 isles of toys. But okay good for them.
Now the time has come for me to be on my own. I was called by HR to see if I could come in on my off times. I gladly accepted working on two days I had off. Remember, I work a full job as well. So I arrived early as usual to see where I’d be working and I was not on the list of departments. I looked for the person I worked with in toys and told them I was called in, but not assigned a section to work. This is where I met the most arrogant, snot nose kid I’ve ever worked with. Very condescending and seemed to have this better then you personality. They took me to another section where another team member had already started work. So I began doing my rezoning like I was trained earlier. I was amazed at how many things were missed placed. So I made sure that the right item was at the right price. I used the My Device so much, it died. They never have enough My Devices. They really need a day shift and a night shift set because the ones at night are either dead or on the verge of dying. I finished my shift with this arrogant but wipe going through my section. They told me that the diamonds in front of the shelves needed to be covered and had me go through all 38 isles making sure they were. My previous trainer never mentioned this, do I took it as a learning experience and moved on.
The next non-scheduled day I agreed to work on I arrived early again to see if I was listed on the list. I was and found out that I had two sections, all by myself. That’s 76 isles of re-zoning and re-stocking in 5 hours. And these sections happened to be very popular with the guests. I met the LOD and started in the last isle and worked vertically to get both sections done. I needed a restroom break and ran into my LOD. It seemed like i did that a lot that evening. Coincidence? They asked how I was doing and I told them what I was doing and was told to just concentrate on one section. So I did. About an hour later, my LOD asked where I started and after seeing the current isle I am in told me I was working to slow, speed it up because I had the other section to do. I apologized and sped up my rezoning by foregoing the work of putting things in their proper place. Once I finished the one section I was assigned I started the other. This section was a lot easier because I had done it two night ago and things were still in their right places. The store closed and everyone was beginning to restock. Oh by the way that obnoxious team member I met two days ago, was not very helpful and even worse.
So as I was getting my restock from customer service, and over the radio I could hear the LOD asking for team members to come to my section because one of my isles way in dis-array. I felt so humiliated. I took my restock and began placing them in their proper place. Suddenly my LOD came to me and asked me when I started work. She told me I had to clock out and asked for the My Device and they will finish my re-stock. So I clocked out, threw my name tag on the HR desk and walked out.
I think I was up to fail. To give someone new two sections to do in 5 hours is tough enough. But to hear you’re working to slow, and have other team members hear that your section is in dis-array and they must stay late to fix it is very humiliating. And having to deal with that SOB was just to much.
Target has to decide if they want the isles looking full or if they want it organized. Anyone can move things forward to cover the diamonds. But if they item is under a different price on the shelf, I believe that is misrepresentation. I won’t recommend Target for the first timers.
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