November 14, 2011 - targettard

Target is The EndlessNot

Every complaint I’ve seen on this site is accurate, yet no one blog seems to go far enough. Working for a company such as this is soul crushing on a variety of levels. The first thing a new employee will note is the overwhelming monotony one has to deal with. Sure, one expects a job like this to be fairly brainless, and I pity the individual surprised by this. So, ok…

Then there is the obvious difficulty of occupying such a low position in the service industry.  A Target Team Member is a non-entity, without rights in the eyes of managers or the general public, undeserving of the respect one would give to a High School aged busboy.  Again… this isn’t really a surprise.  What, did you expect people to respect you in that ridiculous red and tan “casual” uniform?  But then, more subtle issues crop up.  The revolving door of coworkers, management, standards and practices… suddenly tasks you’ve spent two years mastering aren’t “brand” (the correct way of doing things) anymore. Hmm, well, who minds a little inconsistency in their lives?  Ah, but then, you see your paycheck!  A part time employee (90 percent of Target’s workforce) can expect to make as little as 10,000 a year- before taxes.  And with this economy you better believe hours are going to continue to decline.  UH OH!  Here comes the GSTL (whatever that means), you’d better be up to date with your jingoistic corporate slogans!  Because Target employees can’t refer to anything in the store without sounding like members of an esoteric cult! Customers are “Guests!”  Clothes on hangers are an “Adjacency!”  Your boss is an “intelligent” person!  Oh, here, Flo team needs some extra help in the morning: hope you don’t mind picking used diapers out of shopping carts! Oh yeah, and a quick reminder to the 4 a.m. team, always have your employee discount card ready to show at the door in order to be let in from the freezing cold, because your boss doesn’t recognize you so early in the morning!

What’s that?  You’re going to rise through the ranks and become one of Target’s elite?  Well young whippersnapper, since the “specialist” positions have been eliminated, you can go right ahead and forget about decent raises, or actually learning anything useful, because you’ll be moved from team to team, as needed, without even being notified!  What’s that you say?  Is there a downside to spending your waning days with such a factory?  No my son, truly Target is the gateway to eternal mediocrity that we all aspire to!

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Employee Experience / TargetSucks