July 16, 2015 - Murphy

Never thought I’d be here.

Honestly, when I first joined Target…I loved my job.

The people were nice (at first glance), we had a great team, and great management that would actually make it fun to get redcards. Then it all crumbled.

Somewhere down the line, our store went to sh*t. And it hasn’t come back since.

I started off (as many do), as a cashier. Then, with the help of management, I worked my way up to photo – and then finally GSA. That’s when I began to hate my job.

At this point, we barely had anyone who knew cash office (at our store the GSTL’s and GSA’s are required to do cash office). So literally, after two days of training (hardly call it training) – I had to do cash office. My first day alone in the cash office was Black Friday…And the only LOD that even remotely knew cash office and could help was this stuck up prick that would get mad at you if you weren’t out of there within 1 hour because, ‘that’s how fast he could do it.’

Next our store had to replace our best HR ETL with the most incompetent HR ETL ever. For God knows what reason, she hired on 5 other GSA’s. So at this point – nobody was getting any hours. Including our sales floor…and every other position. Luckily, as a college student, I found a way to mange. But I knew multiple team members that had to waste their vacation hours just so they could continue getting their benefits. These people had families to take care of. Sweet, nice, and loyal team members – that I had gotten to know so well. Sadly, most still work there. Probably because they don’t have any other way out.

Throughout and after the holidays, you truly begin to see what kind of shoppers Target really has. Pretentious stingy greed infested people who fabricate prices and get angry when you question them (even though it was protocol for price adjustments over $10). Target has a way of calling their customers – “guests,” but these are no “guests” in my book. And extreme coupon shoppers…I don’t even want to start on them. I began to hate these people. I could hear the lines of Daniel-Day Lewis (“I see the worst in people”) from “There Will Be Blood,” rattling off in my head.

I feel rather old typing this, but our Target’s worst issue was the damn self-checkout machines. They call them self-checkouts, but they are none the sort. Nobody knows how to use them. Every time we get a rush, it seems like every other second I hear, “Please wait for assistance.” Their should be a tutorial, no an ENTIRE CLASS for people. The customers (I’m done calling them guests) would go all trigger happy and press whatever button would show up on the screen. If you didn’t bring your own reusable bag, it’d be common sense to not press the, “I’m using my own bag” button, right? Wrong. LOD’s, ETL’s and STL’s wanna know why we’re not getting redcards? Because of your stupid self-checkout machines. That and the cashiers are either calling in (which they never get punished or fired for), and they’re not asking. Our store also recently pulled giving out small prizes for redcards. So now there is now no incentive other then it’s your job. Which would still be understandable. But even then, they wouldn’t do anything about it. Nobody at our store has gotten fired for not getting enough redcards.

Target was a place where I was given an opportunity. And at first, I really appreciated it. I loved the team, the discount, and the occasional friendly guest that would actually take the time to crave interaction and ask about your day. But unfortunately, the little things add up. And last week (my final day was Friday), I was never happier to leave. It was the best decision I’ve made in awhile. If you’re thinking about joining Target, get to know your store. Ask some employees whether they like their job, how many hours they get, and ask about management. Do your research before joining. You may like it, you may not.

Thanks for taking the time and reading all of the stuff I needed to vent!

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Employee Experience / TargetSucks