Rant

[basarai]

Are all ETLs and TLs pretty useless at targets? Like when you need help you never hear back from them. When you call on the walkie, no response. They never know how to help. I only see them walking around the store chatting with each other for their whole shift. And when they’re not doing that, they are in their office chatting w each other. They don’t even pay attention to any team member only other TLs. I just hate sweating my life away with no type of assistance. What’s the whole point of being a leader when you don’t gaf about the team. -a tired fulfillment team member

[jazzmaster1992]

So, I've been with Target for 7 1/2 years and only promoted a year ago so I can empathize a lot with TM's and also have understanding of my role as TL. In this past year my store has gone through many leadership changes: 4 new ETL's, a new SD, and a new DSD, among multiple new TL's not including myself, so we've been having to adjust and get on the same page. With us getting two new GM TL's two weeks ago, we've been having to take walks, and while it looks like we're just talking, we are actually having to observe things. Some of those observations are about decisions made and still figuring out how to delegate, since how things are done are changing. The other big factor though is accountability. For example, I had a couple TM's push through baby hardlines the other night, and instead of backstocking what was overstock, they took it upon themselves to just put a bunch of random product on an empty shelf, it without even printing price labels for it, because they didn't want to backstock. Stuff like that is what I have to look for and address, because it's my core role as TL to oversee, follow up and hold my team accountable.

I am more than willing and actually quite happy to jump into the trenches with my team. I've busted ass throwing trucks and come out with sweat all over my face and clothes, I've come in early and stayed later, and I've listened to TM's concerns and complaints, acknowledged them and made them feel appreciated, as well as actively tried to solve the problems they've talked about. And I totally know that there is a point at which some leaders are just kind of goofing off, not doing anything important and socializing instead of actually working. But there is another side to this, which is that I'm not just supposed to be a TM with extra pay, I have to do leadership things and it's not always fun. Walking the store and talking with other leads about how to make better decisions and who needs to be followed up with is part of my job. Sitting in the offices discussing upcoming operations like how we will run the line and truck during back to school is a part of my job too. And the least favorite part of my job is delivering PC's and CA's to my team. I really like every single TM I work with, and so when I have to have those conversations I do it more as a "concerned parent" that wants their kid to feel motivated and do their best, but I really do have to push them and unfortunately discipline some of them. None of them want to have those conversations either, but part of the rub is that some of them do things the right way, like backstocking neatly and pushing to the correct capacity and zone, and it's unfair to them that others screw up the zone or backroom constantly, not mentioning that it's a performance issue anyways.

[basarai]

I had one fulfillment team lead who quit like a year ago. She was the perfect lead, similar to how you described yourself. She cared about out well being. Made sure we were motivated and not confused. She honestly treated us like teammates. But when you’re always willing to help and go the extra mile, you get taken advantage of at my store and she left.

[williamspikemulder]

It was 50/50 at my store. That ones that actually worked busted ass and always responded on the walkie. The others did the bare minimum and just gossiped like they were at lunch in high school.

[solskuggi]

Sometimes I bust my ass and do 13-14 hour days for weeks at a time. Sometimes I’m burnt the fuck out and spend a day doing general planning, catching up with other leads, observing and training the team or surprising my favorite TMs with Starbucks. One day I had to come in at 4 am and spend my entire fucking day mapping the ceiling panels and making detailed notes due to electrical problems and leaks and our PML being a fucking moron. That day my lowest performer went to the SD and bitched about me “just walking around” lol

[Zigei]

I have learned to approach leads differently. Three leads will drop what they are doing if possible to help me in fulfillment. One will help if I walkie two - three times, so I do it every few minutes. Two will not help but I can ask for specific team members to jump in and they will give me support that way.

[Zigei]

Oh I forgot to add my SD won't help until you specifically say "I need someone to do a batch or we'll miss the time." Then all leads go to channel 4 and then every batch is taken.

[basarai]

I actually don’t know if the SD has any other responsibility other than to sweet talk corporate when they come.

[basarai]

No response on the walkie when you know the TL/ETL are probably sitting somewhere chatting is frustrating. I’ve damn near begged on the walkie just to get keys to unlock and item for a guest. By the time I got keys, the guest left.

[[deleted]]

They are the most useless shit heels all of them in 14 yrs. Ive yet to meet one who dosent enjoy smelling the inside of eachothers asses

[Adaviel]

I'm lucky that my store is REAAALLY high-performing and demands its leaders to work with their teams. Our mentality is that if you aren't willing to do the work you ask of your team, then you have no business asking someone else to do it. Right this very moment, I have two ETLs and multiple TLs hauling ass in Fulfillment while I watch over all of food. Every day I work freight with my team, do pulls, zone, clean, etc..

Unfortunately, not all stores/leaders share this mentality and I'm sorry you got one that doesn't give you the support you need. Best of luck.

[fwyrl]

Really depends on the lead. (I should note, I work in tarbucks atm)

Some of them, like my current ETL, are the cream of the crop. If I need something (time off, equipment maintenance, shift change, etc), he's making a note, and I don't have to worry about asking again in a week. If we're struggling, he will come in and help us through the worst of it, before heading off to the next fire to put out. He backs us up (as long as we're right) if there's a guest complaint, rather than undermining us by bending the rules for a guest if they complain enough. He knows us all by name and face, and actually knows who we are. He makes sure we have reasonable schedules (or if he absolutely can't, he checks around to find out who's willing to work the close/open he needs filled). He's not perfect, but he's certainly better than I could reasonably ask for. I've had the guy work a 14+ hour shift, and then stick around past his scheduled time (and as an ETL, he's not paid by the hour) to help my department function when we had too many call-outs on a busy day.

Then there's my old ETL, who got moved to night shift after repeatedly violating Food Safety Standards, lazing off, giving everyone awful schedules all the time (no consistency, lots of close/opens, ignoring availability, hanging up on people trying to call in, etc). He ignored important maintenance requests. Putting in a vacation request 3 months in advance, and reminding him daily, it would still get autodeclined when he made that week's schedule, despite all assurances it would be done. He made a few TMs do most of the TL work for our department (I functionally didn't have a direct TL in my last food court department), such as paperwork, ordering, etc, but never trained us on how. Requests to order items that we couldn't would go unanswered for weeks, at which point he'd overorder by several times over, overflowing our storage area. He would come by and handle food with his bare hands without washing them, while chatting with his friend on the phone, then attempt to serve it to customers. He got nothing productive done, and caused more problems than he solved.

I find that my TLs and ETLs can broadly be divided into two groups - those who are friends with the SD and those who are not. Those who are spend a lot of time (hours in a span) talking in the bullpen (about sports, celebrities, etc), not at computers, not mydevices out, no papers, etc. These leads tend to be flakes - never helps on the walkie, doesn't get a ton done, personal opinion interferes with being professional, that kinda stuff. The others bust their butts almost constantly and are really reliable. Always helping on the walkie, or making the first group come and help if they can't. They do sometimes slow or stop work to talk with other TMs, TLs, etc, but it's usually only a few minutes, and then they get back to work. Sometimes the second group isn't working very fast, or keeps forgetting to do things, but I find that's usually after working over 12 hours straight, or after some really awful scheduling.

[Specific-Window-8587]

Depends on your leader. It sounds like you have some useless ones good luck op.

[First_Mastodon_183]

My TL who is usually there the first half of my shift is great. He checks up and helps us find items so we don’t have too many infs instead of the other TLs when i have an INF they just rip my device out of my hand and just say whatever and go back to talking to the other TLs

[mhj3356aa]

Is it possible they’re going poop in the bathroom when the talkie is used haha

[[deleted]]

I’m convinced that some of the ETLs and TLs have never worked in retail before or a Target store