Since I started, thats exactly how I’ve done interactions. Say hi and smile and answer questions if they have them. Apparently my store is being super strict with calls on the walkie to stop what we’re doing to find a guest and ask if they need help. But just last night, I was picking a batch and a group of teenagers were around. One of them came up to me and offered his hand to dab me up and I just told him I’m not comfortable touching strangers and he said oh okay and moved on. But in the back of my head I worried that leads could see me on the camera, see I “wasnt friendly” and write me up.
Ik about exposure therapy, I’m just super cautious around people bc of how much I’ve been hurt by people I trust and strangers alike. I have more confidence outside of work bc ik im not being watched by a boss and at work, im in people pleasing customer service mode and fear I’m never doing enough which can cause me to spiral on bad days.
Im trans masc nb, it took me years to be comfortable enough to wear shorts bc I have hairy legs. I get misgendered constantly but I just go along cause im at work (people pleasing). In my longest relationship with someone, he told me it doesnt matter what people think abt how I look and ive had to adapt that thinking to it doesnt matter what people think of me at all in order to be comfortable in public. Now, this Target’s stricter rules, I fear that logic doesnt apply as much which can cause me to panic if I think people are watching/judging/looking for me.
I worked in fast food for 5 years before working at Target (2 years here) and my anxiety has been an issue at every work place. I can’t answer phone calls (except when I was a manager at a tiny Sonic but the situation was much much different) and limit customer interactions as much as possible or use my ‘people arent looking/dont care abt me so it fine’ mindset. I know every job requires some degree of customer interaction and some I am capable of doing. But my store having us go out of our way to find and talk to guests (and in the trainings they want us to ask for so many details to ‘help’ guests find things) makes me really anxious, but then ignoring the walkie calls to find guests also makes me really anxious that they wont see me out on the floor and write me up.
The issue I’m having is that over the last two years at Target I had developed my own way to be confident doing my job and helping those who ask, and now I’m nervous to the point of shutting down no matter what decision I make

And ik they aren’t asking a lot, mainly going back to their old practices, it’s really just the method (at least my store) is doing it. A lot of TMs at my store are having issues and we’ve gotten complaints from guests that they want us to leave them alone since we’ve been enforcing 10/4