May 1, 2021 - TargetSmokesPole
My Time At Target
First off, I was fired almost 4 years ago and it was the best thing Target ever did for me. But that’s not what this is about. I mostly just wanna share a few things that happened during my 2 years working in that shithole. It’s gonna be long, so prepare yourself.
I was hired Backroom when I first started there. Other than my shift starting at 4 A.M. I enjoyed the work. Just pulling and backstocking. Kept me busy. I even started enjoying starting so early after a while because the store was empty for at least half of my shift. I got along with most of my coworkers in the backroom. I especially liked my TL. We were about the same age, both enjoyed comics and video games. We got along well. He was also super nice, very helpful, and got the job done. I was actually enjoying my job.
But then Target did what it does best and fucks everything up. After a few months, management decided to change everything up. Why? Fuck knows.
Backroom members now had to pull and push product, but ignore backstock. Fucking what??? AND they cut our hours.
So after the first week of no backstocking, the backroom was a fucking disaster. You barely had enough room to walk back there, much less set up flats or tubs for the daily pulls. And this went on for another few weeks. Just backstock piling up and making everything congested and worse.
Then there was a surprise visit from corporate. They saw the backroom and were pissed, naturally. They wanted heads to roll. But did management claim responsibility? Fuck no! They fucking blamed my TL for it! All he fucking did was follow the fucking orders these dipshit twats told us to do. But they needed a fucking scapegoat and threw him under the bus. So he was fired immediately and his replacement was the exact opposite. A real fucking asshole. We never saw eye to eye on anything and he was a major suckup to management. That’s when I first realized Target was actually hell in disguise.
Fast forward to around 6 months of working there. They needed a new guy to backstock dairy and freezer. The previous guy moved out of state about a month before and nobody really worked on it since. It was a shitshow in there. Tons of backstock, expired products that nobody was keeping up with. And God forbid when you had to try to squeeze in there for pulls.
Anyway, I jumped at the opportunity to backstock in there. Nobody else wanted it. I don’t mind the cold, it was pretty secluded, and it kept me off the sales floor. Plus, you can’t hear shit on the walkies in there, so perfect excuse when I happen to miss a call for a carry-out or something.
It took some time, but I got the freezers completely backstocked, organized, and the products were up to date. They were pretty immaculate, I must say. I was proud. I was getting a ton of praise from management. They said they’ve never seen it so clean in there. After being shit on by this company so many times, I was actually happy with my current status there. Things finally started getting a little better.
I kept my place in the freezers for almost a year without being shifted around. The STL decided outta the blue to make a “special team” to pull, push, and backstock produce and freezer. Except most of the team consisted of the most incompetent moronic fuckwads that I’ve ever come across. There was only 1 person on that team that was any good, but he quit after a week.
You’d think they would add me to the team, the guy that has experience. Nope! Get the dumbasses that don’t know the system or check dates. Needless to say, my freezers were destroyed. Didn’t even recognize them anymore. All the work, all the organization, the prestine system I came up with. All gone inside of a week. Target managed to revert those freezers back to their original state: Cramped and messy. It was like the last year of work I’ve done was wiped away almost instantly. And that was when I started to hit rock bottom.
They moved me to sales floor. The last place I wanted to be. Worst of all, it was exclusively closing shifts. Returns, carry-outs, constant customer interaction and zoning.
Fuck. Zoning.
I get part of zoning. Like grabbing items that are carelessly tossed all over by customers that don’t belong in that section. I get that. But moving every single fucking product toward the front of the shelf? I get you want it to look nice, but fuck that! Such a colossal waste of time.
On a side note, toward the end of my tenure there, the STL wanted everyone on sales floor to greet, interact with, and offer assistance to every single customer we see. No exceptions. You’re kidding, right? That may sound good on paper, but think of it from the customer’s point of view. Imagine you’re going grocery shopping and you get bombarded with “Hello! How are you today? Can I help you find anything?” about 15-20 times. Maybe even more if you see the same employees multiple times throughout the store. I’m sure most people would hate that experience. I know I would.
So anyway, after being moved to closing sales floor, life took a turn for the worse. I hated every minute of it. I was always miserable. I started drinking way more in my off time. My health was declining. I was simply a train wreck. I tried looking for another job in my downtime, but no such luck yet. I was stuck in hell with no end in sight.
During this time, there were only 2 closing LODs that made all this just a little bit less shitty. One of them moved out of state after a few weeks (we knew that ahead of time. Wasn’t all of a sudden.) And the other was almost always closing when I was off. Fucking figures, right?
The rest of the closing LODs weren’t great, but there was one that stood out above the rest. She was the absolute worst person I’ve ever worked with, besides the new soulless machine that just started working in HR. Pretty sure she wasn’t human. Completely devoid of any real emotion or empathy. She was completely incompetent with even the simplest parts of working retail. It was kinda baffling, actually.
And I was always scheduled to close with her. Every. Single. Fucking. Time. Without fail. On my first night closing with her, I was swamped that day. I was the only person working in A and B all night. Chemical, paper, pets, cosmetics, pharmacy, HBA, office/stationary, and home. Alot of ground to cover. So I had to pull batches, push to floor, backstock, work returns, carry-outs, and zone all of these areas by myself. And I did that every night. It was just too much.
So on my first night closing with this LOD, (let’s call her Dickbag, or DB for short) she sees the progress I have made with my zoning. Granted, I’ve only been there for 2 hours at that point and barely started zoning since I still had pulls to work on, but DB didn’t like it. She pulls me to the side and says this is unacceptable. She goes on and on about her and Target’s standards for zoning and keeping your area clean. Then she says the most asinine, ignorant, ridiculous things I’ve ever heard anyone in a professional setting say:
DB told me she expects me to finish all my assignments and closing duties within the first 2 hours of my shift. When she said that, I could’ve sworn I heard her wrong. I ask her to elaborate. Then she repeated everything back to me, but in a much slower and more condescending tone. Then she listed off everything she expects me to do inside that time frame: Zoning, pulling, pushing, backstocking, interacting with all customers, flex, returns, and answer any backup calls.
ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!?!? HOW IN THE FUCKING SHIT AM I SUPPOSED DO ALL OF THAT IN 2 FUCKING HOURS?!?! AND IF BY SOME INSANE MIRACLE I PULL THAT OFF, WHAT THE FUCK AM I SUPPOSED TO DO FOR THE REMAINING 6 HOURS OF MY SHIFT?!
Obviously, I didn’t say all that. I tried telling DB that seemed unreasonable and unrealistic. Especially since it’s just me here. She replied by saying if I don’t meet “Target standards” I will receive a written warning. If I receive 3 written warnings, then it’s termination. Then she said she will “let it slide” today since I’ve now been officially informed. Like she’s doing me a fucking favor.
Sure enough, next time I closed with her, I obviously didn’t get an entire night’s worth of work done in 2 hours. So she called me to her office and gave me my first warning. I wasn’t happy about it.
The next night I closed with DB was my second warning. For real? I actually tried reasoning with her again, trying to get her to see reason. She wouldn’t budge. She genuinely didn’t see anything wrong with the bullshit she’s putting me through. I had no words. I just got up and walked out of her office.
The next day I worked, I immediately went to HR about this. I was on the verge of getting unjustly fired. I told HR everything DB told me to do in 2 hours. I told her I felt like DB had unrealistic expectations for me. That it was straight up impossible to do what she wanted me to do in such a short time frame.
To no one’s surprise, HR was no help whatsoever. She did fuck all about it. She just told me if DB is the LOD and if that’s what she wants you to do, that is what you need to do.
After that, I started calling in every night I was supposed to close with DB. Not only to postpone being fired, but because I was so severely stressed out. I felt like I was gonna have a heart attack if I went in and worked with DB again. I managed to call in the next 5 shifts with her before I was pretty much forced to go back to work with her.
The next time I worked with DB was the last time I ever worked there or even stepped foot in that demon-filled cesspool known as Target. I saw her once I started my shift. She greeted me and told me which section I’m in, and reminded me once again all the things she wanted me to accomplish in 2 hours. I said nothing. I gave up. I knew it wouldn’t get me anywhere.
The 2 hours were up, and I spent most of that time up at the front for backup and getting carts and returns. I didn’t even finish one half of the first aisle of my zone. I knew this would be my last warning. But it was time for my first break. Figured if I’m getting shitcanned, I can put it off an extra 15 minutes for a few extra bucks on my paycheck.
I go to my car usually on break. Just to get away from this store and be alone, even if only for a few minutes. When I get back, I’m immediately called on the walkie to come to the office. Sure enough, DB was there. But this time she had the lady from HR with her. She said she is appalled by my work. That this is the worst she’s ever seen it and I should be ashamed. I try to explain to her that I was barely in my section so far, that I’ve been at the front most of the time. Doing work that she sent me to do half the time. But she didn’t care.
It was then HR informed me I was terminated. Needless to say, I was furious at the time. But I look back on it now and realize it was a blessing in disguise. To be free of that hell. I walked out of the building and never returned.
Sorry for such a long story. I went through alot of shitty stuff at Target, but I only shared the really bad stuff that effected me the most. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.
P.S. FUCK TARGET AND FUCK DB!!!
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I know how it feels to be in that position. Targets all around seem to be going for a LEAN strategy recently (I still text with co-workers that turned into friends). One of my last interactions with a bad GSTL I didn't like was pretty much a write-up for something so meaningless that I went to HR and complained to them about the issue, to which they were of no help.
Dang this woman sounds like a bitch. So sorry you had to deal with that and that hr was no help as usual. I hope you found something better.
I'll be making my own post eventually, but i feel you. I was a CTL for two years, and got absolutely shit on for busting my ass and getting stuff done. just not the "right" stuff, whatever the fuck that means