October 23, 2011 - ihatemyjob
Working at Target Has Been a Bad Experience
I was hired about 3 months ago in the Starbucks in target. I did not apply for this position, and I told my interviewer at my interview that I did not want to work in Starbucks, but they proceeded to hire me in Starbucks anyways. The only reason that I didn’t request to be moved to another department was because I was getting paid fairly well. When I started working over there, everyone was very friendly to me for about the first week or two, but after that everything went completely down hill. To start off, the people employed at target I work at are generally incompetent, rude, and unprofessional. Within the first 3 weeks of working there, I heard that people had called me a bitch, a cunt, rude, unfriendly, an asshole, and other things. I was actually extremely offended by this because I was new, I wasn’t trying to be mean I’m just not that out-going, and I thought it was extremely inappropriate coming from some of the adult employees there. So basically that was my introduction to working at target. Then as my managers (the food avenue and starbucks team leads or managers, whatever they are called) became more comfortable with me, I started to realize how unprofessional and stupid they are. The manager of Starbucks, is nice but shows up late to work every time I’m working. She says she’s taking her 15 minute break, and doesn’t come back for 45 minutes. The other manager, who works in food avenue, likes to tell me what to do, even though he really isn’t my manager. He is rude to me, and would basically tattle-tail on me for things I didn’t even realize I wasn’t suppose to do. No one ever told me during my training that I wasn’t suppose to wear finger nail polish, but he complained to other people workers at target about me wearing nail polish. I honestly wanted to go up to him and ask him why he was too afraid to tell me to my face that I shouldn’t be wearing nail polish. Probably because it’s a stupid health code rule, which doesn’t even really matter, but I don’t even want to get into the sanitary and health code business because that’s just a whole other stupid issue. The other extremely annoying problem is that no one ever gives me my breaks. I have worked 8 hour shifts and only have gotten one break. Almost every time I work, I’m usually about one break short, either because no one cares or because there was no one to cover my shift. I honestly feel like they purposely schedule me when there is no one to cover for me because they know I won’t complain about it. The other thing is that, most of the TL’s and LOD’s are just plain out stupid. Many of the TL’s and LOD’s think they are god and that they can tell everyone what to do. But honestly, all I ever see them doing is walking around. They come over and tell me that I can’t “just stand there” that I have “to be doing something at all times” when all they ever do is walk around and tell other people what to do. And there is only a handful of people who are trained in starbucks, so when an LOD or TL who isn’t trained in starbucks comes over to check me out when I close, and they tell me that I’m doing something wrong, I don’t understand why they think they can tell me that I didn’t do a good job closing, when they don’t even know how to close. Over all most of the TLs and LODs are stupid and rude and I could do their job better than them. Lastly, Target never schedules me the hours that I want. I am a full-time student, and I also do extra circular activities. I’m obviously going to put school and extra circular activities at a higher priority than work, but some how, work has become my biggest priority and has consumed all my time. I get out of school at 3:10, and I live at least 10 minutes away from work, and they schedule me to come in at 4 to close. So I essentially go to school all day, then go straight to work, then come home and try to do homework even though I’m exhausted. But target claims that they want to make sure that they make schedules that work for students working there, and that they respect their students busy schedules. But it doesn’t really seem that way to me when they schedule me during times when I’m unavailable. Also, when school started I changed my hours from 10 to 15 a week, but for some reason, I got scheduled 25 hours a week for 4 weeks in a row, even after I had talked to my manager several times about it. Then after they finally started following my new hours and available, they only scheduled me about 5 hours a week. It seemed like they did just in spite of the fact that I kind of got up in their faces for scheduling me more hours than I could work. I feel like they schedule during the shifts that no one wants to work also, like closing on a friday and saturday night. I am the only one who closes on fridays and saturdays, so I eventually I just said I was unavailable fridays even though I’m not because I literally have no day off. I either have school, work, or extra stuff going on. I don’t think its fair when my own manager works every other day, never closes, and takes 3, 45 minutes breaks every time she works. I guess that when they hired me I didn’t realize that they expected me to work a ton, otherwise I would have just worked a part-time job at some small local store or something where it wasn’t so uptight like a freaking military head quarters. Over all my experience at target has not been a pleasant one. People are rude to me and I get the vibe that they just really don’t care about me. They don’t care if I get breaks or not, or if I’m getting the number of hours I need. It’s whatever works for them, and by them I mean the team leads, the LODs, the gstl’s, those people who have more say in what goes on. Also most of the employees are just unprofessional in general. Everyone gossips about each other and acts extremely unprofessional at work, like smoking weed in their cars during their breaks? Yeah I don’t know who does that. And the things that people have said about me when they don’t even know me just really blows me away. Target is just really unable to create schedules that work for people because I guess it’s just really hard for them, but then again I guess I shouldn’t expect a lot from some of the people working here. I would have quit by now, but I decided not to because I get paid well considering I’m only a high school student. But I also don’t want to quit because it is really hard to find jobs for teens right now. But as soon as a graduate, I am going to quit, and find another job where they actually respect their employees and act professional.
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Well from my experience, if you say you don't want something that is exactly what they give you. I am so glad to have left Target. It is the worst organization I have ever worked for. Don't do it! They have no respect for their employees and they try to cut back on everything they can. There is no individual accountability of your job. It's all the team. So if you are working hard and someone else is off talking...then everyone gets credit. I watched people walk around and do NOTHING. Then the person that does nothing runs their mouth like they did something.
Hey to the person that posted this - I would really like to speak with you about your experience. You can reach us at js@calji.com or (707) 571-8500. Thanks
I hate working at Target and I'm thinking about handing in my two weeks notice! it is such an unprofessional setting! Theres this one really stuck uo manager who makes it common practice to talk about her employees RIGHT THERE! I don't know it it's because our L.O.D and HR ppl are soo young but they act like middle schoolers! soo much gossip there...it's ridiculous! They continually schedule people during times they can't work and have already listed on their availbility and yet, blame you when you tell them two weeks in advance that you got scheduled wrong. They talk down to their employees and do things like stare you down, looking for reasons to fire you if this one manager in particular that is extremely chilidish doesn't like you. They schedule people strategically so that they don't get another break but work most of that last hour (I can't explain it). You can give them your all and get them 20-30 redcards a week and next week, it's a fresh start and they are hounding you down for more..telling you how you are under performing when someone else only had one a week! I just find it soooo wrong as a manager to take the time to publicly humiliate your employees by talking crap about them or watching as they work and whispering to other people. More and more people quit at our store and instead of fixing the problem with management, they just hire replacements who will get fed up and quit too. You can give that store your all and get nothing in return but "do more...get more...move faster" type of attitude. They pay is measley...I wasn't expecting a living wage but sheesh...a lil above minimum wage..c'mon! A lot of the management are former cashiers and stuff and now feel they can treat others like crap as if they are soo much better. They have a zillion managers that you can't even keep track and ridiculous nick-names for everything and everyone. They provide free candy in the break room to make you feel as if you're valued when your not! they grade everything you do with green red and yellow..even how fast you ring customers which we are expected to call guests up and it's b.s b/c some customers take fuckin forever in line debating weather to get something, finding their cash or running their debit cards through. There's lil to no respect for the lil guy. They give ppl pointless promotions that hold more responsibility but no real raises. They sometimes take forever to come by when you turn on your light for assistance b/c they are busy having fun, chatting at Starbucks with other employees. They know nothing about professionalism! SHITTY PLACE !
sorry about the errors in my last comment...I was just soo frustrated! it is very true, they don't care to compensate your life! they are about themselves.... they claim to put school first but if you can't work the times they choose for you, they give you possibly 4 hours a week! They give people hours that they know no one can make any real money off of and they are soo all over the place that you wouldn't even be able to work another job. There's just no order!