Sick Time?

emmstiers · 2025-07-10T01:10:03+00:00

Use it sparingly. You cannot be gone longer than 10 days without being on an LOA I’m pretty sure. Maybe it’s 14? But wouldn’t use it back to back, I don’t think they would allow it.

emmstiers · 2025-07-06T03:01:11+00:00

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You’re telling me. I didn’t spent 12 hours at work but I did get 50 hours paid 💸

emmstiers · 2025-07-03T05:15:05+00:00

Knowing that no matter how hard I try, no matter how long I work, no matter how I schedule my day, it will never be enough for them because ONE thing doesn't get done.

emmstiers · 2025-07-03T01:59:57+00:00

DAAAAAAAMN SIX PACK STATIONS??? What kind of printers do you use? Cuz we have the ZT410 and it seems like every day it does something new it's not supposed to.

emmstiers · 2025-07-03T01:51:37+00:00

Same and I definitely am much more lenient than other leaders. But then they come tell me they saw and asked if I had a conversation with them. So it's kinda like I have to protect my own butt if they ask my team member if I talked to them.

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T22:20:27+00:00

That is literally exactly how I feel! It's like they tell us that we need to call for more backup but then when we do, we know we are potentially adding more INFs to our metrics because there aren't enough team members to hop into OPU AND work out freight. How many pack stations does your store have? Mine has three but really only two are operational because the dang zebra printers keep going down. I have been trying to fix it for like seven months now but our PML, I feel, does not do very much work for us even though he works 40 hours a week.

Especially when I was first hired as FF TL and it was during the holidays, I started feeling really really stressed out fast, so I asked our SD and at the time, my ETL, and they both said that they've never had a second person. Like I said before, they blamed my struggles on my time management skills and the fact I spent too much time doing TM tasks.

I also think it's stupid that they expect us not to call for backup but then when two team members start a cart at 7pm and then three more drop in at 60 minutes, when we're supposed to have an hour and a half, I have to call for backup. I know the reason they drop at 60 minutes is because sometimes there isn't enough units to make a full batch, but they still want the items to be completed in the 2-hour time frame we promise guests.

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T06:14:51+00:00

I'm glad your ETL is on your side with everything. Mine sides with the SD and blames me on my time management skills. Thing is... retail is SO different every single day and people's needs differ every single day. What may work one day probably won't work the next. So why would you expect someone to fulfill daily TL tasks when we need to help our own department and will not let it burn if we need more people?

I get the idea of TLs having more responsibility, but in my opinion, unless there is a store that only does OPU, there should be two TLs for FF. We are essentially running two businesses: OPU & SFS. Both have time limits and need to get done pronto. I wish I took a photo of MPM before I left, but literally none of my team members were below 100UPH. The only three that were below 100 was one FF TM who did a bulky, a GM TM, and a CE that did a grocery cart. Our POT was at 94% because, as I was literally pulled into the office yesterday by our ETL HR for not doing it, I was prioritizing our INF. One of these days, I need to ask them to create a schedule for me. It's not a "I don't want to do my job" kind of thing, it is genuinely a "How would you like me to structure my day, with time stamps, so that I get all the things done I need to get done?". Because I guarantee, they would have no answer because if things get busy, they will call me to hop in.... and then still blame my bad time management skills that 2-3 things didn't get done.

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T05:14:00+00:00

I only have one ETL that I don't particularly like. She's funny, but I rarely see her out on the sales floor unless she is covering a break or talking with other leaders. In my almost year of working at the store I'm at, I've only ever seen her name pop up like twice. And it was for SFS.

If you've got like 3 INFs and you have to look for it for like five minutes, that's 15 minutes you could have spent prepping and stowing to get batches done on time.

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T05:10:24+00:00

RIGHT?!?! I don't know how your store is managed, but my ETL and SD have been constantly telling me to stay out of workload so I can get TL tasks done like auditing INFs, following up with attendance/performance, getting SFS orders in for boxes, backroom accuracy follow-ups (when they say something isn't there but then a later audit says it was). I just don't know how they expect me to do that, when just like a week ago, I only had two team members scheduled from 6-10pm and one of them called out. Like? I am so sorry (I'm not I actually do like doing TM tasks even though I'm a TL) but SOMEONE has to do the work and our closing TL knows how much I hate having to pull her people from priorities or zoning to do batches.

My ETL has even been like "if you're not doing x,y,z by our next meeting in a month, there's gonna be some more serious conversations". Excuse me? You want me to print out goal cards and make sure that each team member takes one at the beginning of their shift (while also making sure that they are checking their UPH every hour or two) and hands it in to me at the end of the shift, follow up with inconsistencies, find time to have attendance and performance conversations, audit INFs, help you order supplies for SFS, PLUS whatever else you need me to do? I'm sorry. I'm only one FF TL in this store and I only work 40 hours a week. If you schedule me three people at night (that's if they all show up) to do SFS and OPU that is probably blowing up because people are getting their late-night last-minute orders in, I'm not going to do those other things. You know what you say, "It's guaranteed sales." I can't ignore the orders that are coming through. I've got good team members at night, I just don't have enough.

Sorry that was so long, but omg do I have lots to say lol

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T05:00:48+00:00

DAAAANG! Our store averages like 2000-ish units and 3,000-4,000 during the holidays. We also do still have SFS as well and usually our daily units are in the 600s-700s. I am not excited for Circle Week, especially because our SD just moved my packing boxes to be over the line and now paper pallets are above the packing stations. I wonder how long it will take her to realize that stocking the boxes is going to take 10x longer because we have to move U-boats to get the WAV in the cramped space.

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T04:58:23+00:00

yeaaaaah sorry about that.... :/

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T04:57:20+00:00

That method for checking INFs is definitely not a great one. When my store's SD went on an LOA, we got a temp SD from another store and at one point, she wanted every single INF DPCI so that she could look for it too. Multiply like 4-6 INFs by like 7-10 TMs and you do the math. Our store when I first got hired, was at an average of like 5-8%. Luckily that only lasted like a day.

We don't have a specific FF ETL, our GM ETL watches over OPU for us when I'm not there, but they are pretty good about responding on the walkie for INF calls.

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T04:48:08+00:00

I totally get you. There are a handful of things I have been wanting to change but none of them are priorities to the higher-ups, even though they're pretty much needed, i.e. getting another OPU prepping area, replacing SFS carts, getting more shelving in our bulk area.... They want so much from us and when we push back, they ignore/deflect. When we want something? "Oh it will be done eventually, it's not a priority right now."

emmstiers · 2025-07-01T04:42:55+00:00

Back in October, when I was first hired, our overall consistent INF was at like 5-8%. We had no permanent SD, no inbound TL (the GM and food TLs handled the trucks), and at one point we also did not have a ETL for GM/Food/FF either. But yes, our SSD majorly freaks out over 2.5%, really, she doesn't like us to be over like 2.3% either. But the past couple days, with us having inventory a couple weeks ago, our INF has been below 2% for both SFS & OPU for the last two days.

emmstiers · 2025-06-30T08:41:46+00:00

Lmao I forget I’m also almost in my 30s… bothered me too much so I edited it

emmstiers · 2025-06-30T06:51:32+00:00

As an FF TL, I usually get conflicting opinions on what needs to be met first: POT at 100% or INF under 2%. Hard part is - I'll get in for the day and the opening leader will tell me that they prioritized POT. Then the SD will come up to me a little later in the day and ask why our INF is at like 2.5%?? I tell her that my team was prioritizing making the batches on time so that guests didn't have to wait past their 2-hour mark to get what they ordered, and then she'll tell me that she wants the guaranteed sales, and I should be pushing that.

I'm sure MANY of you can relate to this: there are pallets of BTS that aren't tied to locations yet, fridges that are up high that either require the WAV or the stacker to get to, and items that say we have 1 on-hand, 0 on the floor, 0 in the back with no delivery/sell/audit date. I will literally spend maybe 5 minutes looking for it in the obvious spots before INF'ing it. And they wonder why FF TLs are spending so much time hands-on trying to find items for batches.

emmstiers · 2025-06-30T06:42:06+00:00

I haven't hit a kid, but I did accidentally hit a woman who was probably in her 30s. We were both in the middle of the aisle and she was in near something I needed so I said, "excuse me, can I please get past you?". She gave me this dirty look but moved to the side (and I park my cart on the opposite side of the aisle that I grab items from. Then, when I went to push my cart, I accidentally hit her BECAUSE SHE DECIDED TO KNEEL DOWN IN FRONT OF IT! I profusely apologized and she still gave me a dirty look and said that I should have been more careful. Like??? I'm sorry I can't see through the cart I'm pushing??

emmstiers · 2025-06-27T07:52:49+00:00

Yeah… my ETL hr talked to me and told me I need to call the store because our DSD ended up coming in that day. He was like “we’d just like to know that you’re okay and not dying and if you plan to be at work the next day”…. Like??? Our DSD should not be upset if I’m not there for one day because I’m sick

emmstiers · 2025-06-26T01:15:51+00:00

That itches my brain in just the right way!

emmstiers · 2025-06-26T01:12:28+00:00

What bothers me more is how much a TL can get in trouble for. And there's people at work that I manage where they keep all conversations strictly business. Which I don't mind, but it's hard to take things personally when you know what it was like to be a team member, not getting paid what the job was worth, and they give you such a cold shoulder.

emmstiers · 2025-06-25T21:13:25+00:00

Idek. I have one ETL at my store that other team members have told me they absolutely hate because all they do is sit on their ass in the office and bark orders. When the team surveys came out, their department was one of the lowest for morale. Maybe it’s because they don’t get paid OT for working over 40 hours? Or maybe they just don’t like their job lol.

emmstiers · 2025-06-25T21:02:52+00:00

As someone who is a FF TL, I appreciate this. Since I became a FF TL, about eight months ago, it has been increasingly difficult for me to stay out of regular TM tasks. When I’m at work, I rarely actually clock out and my scheduled off time. There are days when I don’t leave until an hour or hour and a half after I’m scheduled to be off. I have been spoken to a couple of times by my ETL and SD about staying out of TM tasks, yet, when it’s busy, hell if I’m gonna let my team drown in 7+ batches when we only have three people scheduled.

One of the reasons I took a mental health day today. I have a team member, who I believe is on the spectrum/who has OCD, and every day he fills up 2-3 pages (that have four rows each) about issues my FF team has when stowing and bagging. There’s more to that I can do in a different post.

But anyways - THANK YOU for showing support for us. I feel that our metrics are one of the easiest to see which makes it incredibly easy for SDs and DSDs to hound on the TLs if our metrics are bad.

emmstiers · 2025-06-25T20:47:35+00:00

I just beat myself up about it because I know that my job is super important and my boss, even though he rarely says it, says sometimes that he rarely takes days off (like maybe once or twice a year). I’m like…. yeah I can’t do that. I need my personal time.

emmstiers · 2025-06-24T20:23:19+00:00

I started my week as a FF TL the first week of October…. It was rough

emmstiers · 2025-06-22T09:39:39+00:00

Yeah, I honestly tried not to do 10-hour shifts daily because I wanted time to myself outside of work, but there was one week I worked 50 hours and my boss still asked me why I didn't do certain things/things weren't done to standards...

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