January 29, 2015 - LSandeul
Stressed and Tired PA
I really need to vent or I’m going to go insane. I’ve worked for Target for a little over 3 years. I started out in a seasonal salesfloor position and have slowly been taking on more responsibility over the years. I became a team trainer, learned the ropes at guest service(showed up to work with an injured foot and could only stand, so I learned), worked for a bit in electronics without being officially cross trained, and eventually made my way to the PFresh team. I was forced into the department so they could fire a girl that was working over there. No one ever told me that specifically, but I’m not dumb. It’s easier to hire a new TM for the salfesfloor an move one of the hardest workers in the store to a struggling department. The old perishable assistant at my store really sucked. He never got anything done, and the tasks that did get done were always half-assed. I practically was doing his job for him. He quit last summer, and it was only natural that I take over the department. Our market team is small. It was only myself and another guy in the department, but I figured out a way to make things work. Within the first month of taking over Pfresh/Market, we saw sales increase and our our department scores sky rocketed. I was really zealous about the fresh start. I reorganized and cleaned our work center from top to bottom, total overhaul. I won’t take complete credit. The other guy, my right hand man, was such a big support and helped me out so much. I don’t think there is a way to thank him enough. Things were on track and looking good anyway. It was an exciting time to be working at Target.
After almost 7 months of being the PA, I am completely burnt out. I can totally sympathize with the old PA. I’m working 40hr weeks 5:45am-2:30pm.My team has grown from 2 people two five and 1 cross trained member. We saw an increase in hours for a while and had an opener(me unless it’s my Wednesday off), a mid, and a closer. Our shifts overlapped, so there was never one person left to do everything on their own.All our department tasks were getting done, and it wasn’t me doing the blunt of the work. Sadly, those good times game to an end.
Our hours now suck. Almost all of my good team members have left for better paying jobs. The people who replaced them are druggies(I’m pretty sure.) The one guy has mental issues and can’t take directions at all. He thinks that I’m out to sabotage him whenever I give him a task. Honestly, I don’t even know how he passed the interview process. He’s not Target brand at all. I don’t even think Wal-Mart would take him. It’s not fun anymore. It’s only me working until 2:30 now. I spend a good part of my day trying to clean up the mess that was left from closing, on top of dealing with culling old food, cooler/freezer/dry pulls, cleaning tasks, date audits, department price cuts, flexing product to fill outs, and zoning pfresh. That’s not even half of what I deal with on a daily basis.
Three days a week I receive food shipments. The morning LOD calls flow team over to help me and then leaves. That team doesn’t understand that I am the authority in market and does whatever the hell they want. They don’t rotate the product. Food gets put on the wrong racks, and they over stock terrible. It’s not like they have to backstock (i’m backroom trained too. Taught myself and got help from a friend because no one could take the time to certify me), so what does it matter? I’ve labeled the shelves with capacity numbers but that doesn’t stop flow from wedging the yogurt to the top of the shelf. That blocks air flow and can negatively affect our store if Steritec shows up for a sanitation/food safety visit. I’ve lost my voice on more than one occasion from barking out orders. I literally feel like I’m baby sitting. I’m not getting paid extra. Heck, I’m not getting paid enough for the work I do.
Besides dealing with all that crap, I work with the vendors, and fill out reports for them. I fill milk! You’ve never truly lived until you’ve been in the dairy cooler for almost two hours. I try to get reshop done for market if i can find the time. I’m also still expected to respond to backup calls for the front lanes and respond to guest service calls for the salesfloor. Most mornings I’m the only one who responds to anything. When I don’t, no one does. The LOD’s start to get pissy, and I stop what I’m doing to help out. I always want to laugh when the LOD asks me why my department isn’t “up and ready by 9am.” I’m ready by 10:15 on a good day. It doesn’t help that I’m expected to be at huddle at 8:05 and get stuck doing 4×4 zoning for smart huddle. I get back to my department by 8:30 if i’m lucky. The only break that I get during the day is my 46 minute lunch. 15 minute breaks? Ain’t nobody got time for that!
I’m afraid that the glory days are over. This routine is killing me. I get so fed up when TL’s come to me with a list of things to do, like I don’t already know what needs to be done. The thing that really bothers me is they don’t communicate with me about the Pfresh morning walk. They write things down in the notes that I’ve already done or that are in the process of being done. Never have I received a “nice job” or “looks good” on the notes. I always take my job very seriously and hold myself to high standards. It just really makes me feel and look incompetent when I think I’ve made my area as perfect as it can get. I like to set myself up for success but in this environment, I feel like I’m really struggling.
I’m mentally and physically exhausted to the point where I feel like I can’t even live my life. I come home from work and can’t even move. I can’t even think about going out to have a good time with family or friends. Spending a little fun money is out of the question because there is nothing fun about the wages I’m making. I just dread going to work. The first thing I do every morning is contemplate whether I should call off or not. I know I can’t because it just creates more work for me when I return. Market falls apart when I’m not there. I think about quitting everyday. I can’t even smile when I’m there anymore. It’s hard to even force a smile and pretend that I’m in a good mood. I’ve set myself on fire to keep Target warm, and now I’m paying the price. The only thing that keeps me going is knowing that I’ve only got a few months left till I’m leaving to teach abroad. I’m finally getting out of that hell hole to put my degree to some good use.
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The great thing about the internet is that it doesn't take a lot of energy to apply for a new job somewhere else. Get the fuck out of tarshit before it sucks the life out of you.
Yeah, I hear ya -- things are about the same in my store. The TL over market in my store is one of those lazy -- off loader types which is the worst person for this type of job. If anything, the market area needs people that will stay on top of it -- to keep it top notch. This is because it take just one person getting food poisoning that can be linked back to Target and it's all over. And if it was me, I would have fired our market TL long ago because of the aforementioned. Not to mention the thousands of dollars of food he has wasted -- or all the other problems that he has created for the TMs who do work.
My store's STL is also one of those types who does not understand (or want to understand) what it takes to run the market area. E.G., One day, I was pushing pfresh perishables (priority pull) when I was called for backup at the registers. I radioed the GSTL that I could not respond because of what I was pushing. The STL then calls me and tells me to leave the push on the floor and respond to the registers. Mind you, there were other TMs in the store who could have responded! And also this was a direct violation of Target's own policies regarding the timely push of perishable products. All because I said no.
I think there's a general culture at Target (corporate wide) which does not take seriously market/pfresh operations and what it takes to run a department like this. At least at my store there seems to be -- cause they only seem to care when our DTL shows up.
So again, I hear ya -- and it's sad too -- because there are people like you that Target should value as an employee -- but they don't.
P.S., you forgot to add in about those idiot "guests" who can just make your day crazy. E.G., the ad for this week had $2.99/LB ribs -- clearly stated -- but no, these idiots came in by the dozens for those "$2.99" ribs. What a nightmare -- lol.
tarshit is living up to their name. tarshit. if they don't pay their creditors, they may very well lose all cross border shoppers. it may also hurt them down in the us as well if the idiots in management try to avoid the creditors
I think you are absolutely right about Target not taking market operations seriously. My department isn't even just market anymore. It's Consumables, so tack on pet food, infant food, and occasionally medicines to the list of things I have to look after. I know for a fact that the ETLs in the store don't even possess the skill set that the market team members have to have in order to keep things running smoothly: following routines, time management, multitasking, detail oriented, adaptable. There are probably so many other things that could be added to the list. When you're alone in market, you end up doing the job of 2 or 3 people. Oh and when the DTL visits, I agree, all hell breaks loose. I've talked to TLs in the building to spread communication about rules and policies in market to help keep us brand, expecting the info to be shared with their teams. It never gets shared. The funny thing is I mentioned some of the same issues (overstocking being a biggie) that the DTL mentioned when she visited a few weeks ago. Then, as the PA, that problem got put on me, like I hadn't already tired to remedy it. It's frustrating.
and the guests who can't the ad are amazing! The best ones are the ones who can read the ad but don't process the information. "It says sutton and dodge pork roasts are on sale for $6.49/LB at Super Target only. I can't find them where are they?" I should have told the guest they were hidden with the word 'super' is missing from the front of our store.
i wonder if that explains the deplorable situation in consumables section. The frozen grocery shelves aren't very full. Or it's only faced and not a lot of stock is placed on the shelf. People want to buy tons from tarshit but apparently tarrget won't allow employees to stick more on the shelf. Probably because they don't have enough stock to stick on the shellf and are rationing supplies. One guy basically posted he would have bought an entire case from target if they were allowed to stick tons on the shelf. Hey tarshit, who the fuck cares if one person grabs all your stock. You're broke and need people to buy shit. Only tarshit gives a damn when someone buys shitloads of shit.
I think they missed the boat with the baby stuff.. By the time brian decided omg time to focus on baby stuff, it was too late xD. They missed the crazy shoppers that would buy 2k in baby stuff.
I had a similar problem when I was working 4am backroom at my old store. This can be hard to do, but what worked for me was that I stopped giving a shit. By that, I mean that I work a reasonable, consistent pace the entire day. That's all anyone can really do. If the job isn't to Target's ridiculous expectations, I don't care. Fuck you, I did my part. I had to learn to do this at my old store or else I'd probably have health problems. Back then I worked as fast as I could, came home exhausted, and kept myself awake at night strategizing to improve unloading the truck and getting blackline up before 6am. My ETL's strategy: not done before 6? Move faster. Done before 6? Move faster, you should have gotten more done by now. I couldn't win either way. Overall, I was getting pissed over a bunch of boxes (which is funny in hindsight).