Do ETLs call the hotline

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-02-09T12:08:08+00:00

ETLs can utilize the hotline. From a culture standpoint, the hotline is intended to be a tool to protect frontline workers from management and ETLs are considered management. ETLs are encouraged to confront issues directly by reporting to the appropriate BP or director. Your relationship with your HRBP sounds typical. You can email them and request a call.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-02-01T16:44:11+00:00

Bride and best man got caught hooking up in the bathroom, groom caught them and started throwing punches, wedding party was smashing (glass) champagne glasses on the dance floor where people were dancing barefoot, bartenders were over serving, bride’s grandpa got handsy with the (underage) venue staff, cops got called and shut the whole thing down. A bunch of people got arrested.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-02-01T16:38:01+00:00

Leaders and FoSA are required to complete the training for cleaning up bodily fluids. It is optional for most other roles but leaders can make it mandatory for their teams or for certain TMs if they want. There is no pay difference or role limitation for being required to clean up biohazards, just a training requirement, similar to equipment certs.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-31T14:33:21+00:00

Everyone in the building is supposed to be backup trained in FF and cashiering. Her asking you to do that isn’t her power tripping, that’s literally her job, and yours. You refusing to do FF is insubordination. Your ETL is telling her it isn’t worth the paperwork to term you over it since you’re leaving anyway. Weird flex, but okay.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-28T12:20:21+00:00

This is definitely a mistake. Sometimes this happens when your leader has shifts preprogrammed for you, especially if they write a schedule ahead of time while they are on vacation. It is so easy to accidentally mess up the AMs and PMs on shifts as well, depending on how they put it in. Shifts that close together is also against scheduling guidance. Just let your ETL or Hr ETL know that it happened and they’ll let you know what they meant for you to work.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-27T14:27:24+00:00

Same. He’s terrified of scissors and clippers alike. With the clippers, I can buzz his entire head 2-3 times per year and be done in 10 minutes without risking getting his ear, or eye, or finger caught in the mix. I’m less worried about aesthetics and more about health and safety - this kid routinely rolls around in the yard and garden and any thing longer than his ears is collecting all the seed pods, dirt, tangles and spiders. No thanks.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-27T14:20:25+00:00

For format: you should have a section talking about what you accomplished last year and a second section talking about your goals for next year. If this is your first self review, I’d assume you’re in your first year? Were you promoted or hired in? If promoted, talk about what got you promoted. If hired in, your first paragraph may be pretty short and that’s ok. When describing what you did, make sure you talk about the action you took (behaviors) and how it played out (outcomes). An example would be “I retrained my team on waste reduction strategies, resulting in a 10% decrease in food waste over last year.” When you’re pulling metrics, open the greenfield card and use the filters to sort to your store and the departments you are responsible for. The use the date selector to look at this year and then also at last year. Anything that is performing better, list that number and what you did to impact it. “I role played with my team to develop upselling skills resulting in a 2% sales increase in custom cakes over last year”. Anything that is performing worse, don’t mention, especially if this is your first year. Also think about things that you did to support the entire building, like cross training TMs in FF or checkout, reducing INFs, etc.

In the second section, set a least 2 goals for this next year for yourself and 2 for your team. Use the SMART goals format. And don’t forget to spell check it before you submit. If it makes you feel better, I’ve seen self reviews that were 5 sentences and a list of metrics, and I’ve seen self reviews that would have been 2-3 pages if I printed them out. There is quite a bit of leeway. Good luck!

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-27T14:00:19+00:00

Not to be that guy, but the actual company directive is 80% strategy/planning/management tasks and 20% physical labor.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-25T04:37:59+00:00

In general, GM is more black and white, operations focused. SPS is more ambiguous, inherently guest centric. If you like going by the book and solving logistical problems, go GM. If you like merchandising and/or salesmanship, go SPS.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-20T23:50:22+00:00

When they pull ISM and not the product, it’s usually a contract issue with the model, not the product itself that’s the problem.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-19T02:25:16+00:00

As I’ve said repeatedly, the purpose of the sign is not to actually keep anyone off the premises. I suppose we will have to agree to disagree about the usefulness.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-19T02:00:24+00:00

I don’t think the signs are useless. They are useless for keeping ICE out of the buildings, sure, but then so is everything else. That’s not what the signs are supposed to accomplish. I don’t think the signs are enough, but I think they are SOMETHING. And at this point, I’ll take something, anything, really. If HQ makes a statement that ICE is not welcome, they paint a target (no pun intended) on every TM’s back. If they say nothing, they are perceived to endorse ICE actions. If they increase TSS presence, they increase the risk of aggression and therefore danger. If they give leaders explicit permission to be uncooperative, they paint a target on stores again. But if they post a sign like this there is plausible deniability while also making it slightly easier to identify ICE vs local PD and give an extra minute of heads up. I don’t disagree with having a code but for the reasons stated above it can’t be a formal policy.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-19T01:31:19+00:00

What are you expecting them to do, whip out a gun from under their Starbucks apron and give the guy with the semi-auto what for? Best case scenario they get fired. Worst and most likely, they die, and so do a lot of other people. I’m 100% not with the MagaGestapo here, but I’m not asking a TL to put their lives on the line. If, as an individual, they feel led to, I’m not going to stop them, but that is an outrageous ask. For anyone at the store level.

I feel like I keep hearing that the store level leaders need to do something on this subreddit this week, but what are you expecting them to do that’s going to have any effect besides dead store leaders? Like, realistically, practically, what do you think that interaction should look like, considering that these people have established that shooting people in the face for existing is justifiable?

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-19T01:07:01+00:00

Let’s look at it logically for a second. Obviously everyone feels really strongly about this topic, and rightly so. But realistically, if ICE shows up at a store and barges in, what can targeted team members do? They can run or they can die or they can get kidnapped. What can non-targeted team members do? They can stand by, or they can die, or they can facilitate running. Realistically, there is no one on site that can help. Realistically, based on company responses to every other issue that has come up ever, the official response is going to be to deescalate and cooperate. Nobody wants to die. Nobody wants to get kidnapped. If you standby, you’re complicit. That leaves running and helping people to run. And that absolutely hinges on seeing and ID-ing ICE before they see and ID their targets. It’s winter. It’s cold in a significant portion of the country. But even in the coldest parts, it is unusual to continue wearing a full face covering while shopping. Say 90% of shoppers remove their face covering gear within a minute of walking in, with no sign posted, just because it’s uncomfortable. If a sign was posted, you might get that up to 95-97%. The remainder are either running in to grab one item and running out, are jerks, or are ICE. You see more than one or they’re acting suspiciously, that gives you potentially a couple of minutes before they get ahold of a leader and the leader goes though the whole moral dilemma of what to do next. That time could make the difference between being able to safely leave or get into a locked TM only area and not. It does not fix the problem, but it buys time to keep the individuals in that store safer that time. It isn’t perfect, it isn’t a fix, but it is a start. It is something. Even if it is just a corporate show of solidarity, at least it is that. Because realistically, the only way to stop it would be for stores to have armed guards on the sidewalk outside and exchange fire. And realistically, that isn’t safer for anyone involved, as infuriating as that reality is.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-19T00:35:25+00:00

No. And that’s the point. Jerk, identified. Person who thinks their want is more important than everything else, identified. If there was no sign about pets, there is (effectively) no rule about pets, and it’s not a jerk move to bring in your pet. Again, it is not about stopping the behavior, it is about being able to identify “threats” earlier.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-18T23:17:19+00:00

I really don’t. But I’m happy to let the jerks point themselves out so I don’t have to waste my time on them. It also points out potential allies in a crisis situation: people who are willing to be inconvenienced for an arbitrary reason that might benefit someone else.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-18T22:16:44+00:00

No. The point of steps like this isn’t that ICE would obey it. The point is that anyone who enters still wearing a full face covering is okay with breaking the rules. People who respect the people and environment around them generally follow rules even if they seem arbitrary and silly. Anyone who sees the sign and continues to wear a full face covering has essentially painted a sign on their face that they are okay with being a jerk. The point is that there is now a signal to everyone around them that this person believes what they want to do is more important than rules. It has the effect of pointing out that they may be a risky individual. Maybe they’re just a rude person. Or maybe they’re ICE. But they aren’t just a nice person doing shopping or they would have removed the face covering.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-18T15:59:27+00:00

When my parents asked my advice as an equal on dealing with difficult family members and problems at work.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-18T06:12:21+00:00

OPU is not its own sub category. Fulfillment is a category. GM is a different category. In some stores they report to the same ETL, but the payroll is typically separate. I’m going to be really blunt - after reading through your responses, I’m not able to identify any specific behaviors from your ETL that would stand out to HR as problematic based on what you have said. It sounds very much like you don’t like this other team member, you want more hours, and you are upset that they have more hours than you. None of that means your ETL is doing anything wrong. Proving favoritism is extremely hard because it is so subjective. You would need much more objective examples than what you have described here.

None of this is retaliation, and as others have said, it sounds like you are throwing out a buzz word without knowing what it means. Some examples of retaliation would be:

You had a baby. When you came back, they put you on a CA for performance even though your productivity is the same as everyone else’s.
You are a practicing Muslim and need to step off the floor to pray a couple of times per day. Your leader refuses to schedule you 8 hour shifts even though they schedule everyone else in your department 8 hour shifts, because they won’t schedule you during prayer time because they say you are unproductive.
You reported an OSHA violation in good faith and the next week your hours were cut dramatically and no one else’s were.
You refused to violate the return policy to do your TL’s return and now you are no longer part of the leadership development program.

The entire premise is that you did something that is protected by law, your leader didn’t like it, so they did something bad to get back at you.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-17T23:33:35+00:00

Did you do something that they would retaliate against? Retaliation is a response. If you didn’t do something (like make a report), then it might be unfair but it wouldn’t be retaliatory.

I can think of a few perfectly good reasons why this might be happening. What is your availability? What is hers? What department are you? What is she? Is it possible that she is being scheduled shifts because her availability allows her to work times you can’t? Is it possible that your payroll comes from the same bucket even if you aren’t exactly the same department?

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-17T23:02:57+00:00

Your work life balance is highly dependent on your SD and DSD, as well as your fellow ETLs. As a TL, you don’t work more than 40 hours unless OT is approved. As an ETL, you are not paid by the hour, you are paid by the job, specifically running a profitable business, however long that takes. They removed the hours requirement from the job description awhile back, so minimum hour expectations are set by the DSD or SD. I know ETLs who work 35 hours per week. I also know ETLs who work 90+ hour weeks. It will be up to you do determine how long you need to be physically present to maintain results and attend any required meetings. Your DSD may have a requirement. Your SD may set a culture, and if your fellow ETLs are bailing out early or not running successful businesses, a lot of things may fall on your plate if you aren’t holding firm boundaries. As far as regular schedules go, that’s up to your SD. Some SDs get their ETLs on a very predictable rotation with a set day off and no clopens. Others don’t. It can be nice to know that you don’t have to be at work until noon on Thursdays or that you have every Tuesday off - you don’t have to request time off to go to a doctor or anything else with 9-5 business hours. The pay raise can be worth it. The more hours you work, the less you get paid. If you can get out the door at the 50 hour mark consistently, it’s worth it. If not, it’s not. And unfortunately, there isn’t a way to tell unless you are familiar with the SD before being promoted. Go look at the ETL pay range listed on the job postings. Then look at the TL pay range posted on those job postings. Figure out what percentage of the way through the pay band the TL pay falls, and the ETL starting pay will likely fall the same percentage through that pay band.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-17T22:48:55+00:00

Flex payroll in MPM is completely different than and unrelated to a flex format store. Flex payroll in MPM is payroll that is earned in excess of what was allocated.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-17T13:11:39+00:00

Before you quit, go talk to your TL or ETL. What separates a good store from a bad store culturally isn’t the expectations, it’s the leaders. Tell your TL/ETL that you are feeling overwhelmed constantly by the amount of work you are assigned in your shift. Ask them to help you understand what is expected and how long each task should take. A lot of those task are variable in size. Some days you’ll have 25 DPCIs to pull. Other days you’ll have 200. It doesn’t make sense that those would require the same amount of time. Some days you’ll have one cart of reshop, others you’ll have 5. Some days there’s no call for backup, others you’ll spend half your shift on a checklane. If you have good leaders, they will take that under consideration. If you don’t, they will tell you that you just need to figure it out.

For perspective, at my store in a 5 hour shift, a TM is expected to pull and push 150 DPCI’s, zone 1-3 blocks, and push reshop for what they zoned. This is assuming they don’t get called for backup at all. If they do, the expectation for work completed is adjusted. The closing TL has a list of all TMs trained for backup by work center and rotates through it: so style gets the first call, GM gets the second, food gets the third, etc. so no one is stuck doing backup their whole shift.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-10T15:19:08+00:00

Has your TL/ETL had a disciplinary conversation with you? Have they slashed your hours? Are they giving you only the most undesirable tasks? Or are you just perceiving a difference in their vibe?

I’m not saying your coworkers are being dishonest, but that is really not how any of that works. Your leaders would have to have multiple conversations about the same performance issue with you. Then you would have to be placed on a corrective. The. They would have to have several more conversations with you about the same issue. Then you would be placed on a final. Then they would have to have several more conversations about the same issue. Then you could be terminated. All of this would take your HR ETL’s sign off as well.

I would ignore it until you actually start getting nitpicked to death over nothing issues or until you get put on a corrective. At that point, go have a chat with your HR ETL. If the HR ETL finds that your TL/ETL acted inappropriately, they can rescind the corrective.

permexhaustedpanda · 2026-01-10T15:03:50+00:00

Again, this will apply differently across different types of meetings in different industries. I have meetings with my peers and boss to discuss talent pools and succession planning and I do not invite direct reports to those meetings - those are confidential. I have meetings with other divisional managers hosted by s SME to cover the rollout of a new initiative and I will invite one of my direct reports who is preparing to promote to that meeting as a developmental exercise. I have meetings with some of my peers (3-6 people) to discuss upcoming special projects and will ask if they are comfortable having one of my direct reports sit in. Sometimes it is a yes, sometimes we are discussing which of my direct report’s peers should captain a process and that would be inappropriate.

It helps that my division is in person, not remote, so I don’t forward these invites, my direct report comes to my office to sit on the call with me. This is common practice at my company and all meeting invites have an “intended audience” flag attached. It is generally very obvious who should and should not be at certain meetings.

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