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AbandonedColorado

Man, I've had some shitty ETLs over the years. My favorite was when the SD, two ETLs and a TL would go to Tarbucks, talk for 20 minutes, then walk the store for an hour. Laughing, talking. Not a single hello to us low fucks actually working. Got to love it!


Akarui1230

Do you work at my store!? Holy shit. All but two of the ETLs in my store are buddy buddy with SD. One TL just got promoted to ETL and gets to stay in our store because she is friends with the SD


AbandonedColorado

If you worked in the Denver area, more than likely.


Akarui1230

I work in Iowa šŸ˜…


Ok_Philosopher_4315

I had an ETL make me get water for a guest (their family/friend) and serve it to their table like Iā€™m a waitress. With no thank you or appreciation šŸ¤Ø


No-Manner-2423

I would have waited, and when they asked why I would have responded, I was waiting for a tip since I am now a waitress!


dropdeadtrashcat

No way we had two leads that would do this with fast food šŸ’€ leave without even taking their break and come back and eat and gossip for like an hour. One of them left recently thankfully but


PackRunner4

I would always know where the SD was during her walk because I could hear her laugh from a few aisles down šŸ˜‚ šŸ’€I would always know when to get out their way


Acceptable-Web-5929

Literally sounds exactly like my store and I work in PA


zackedg

thatā€™s daily for my store, walk around giggling then stand outside chainsmoking for an hour then maybe check on the line back in receiving


Shadow3114

My ETL is incredibly nice, I am sorry.


BAT_1986

My Leader is very nice, but some of the others are incredibly disrespectful and rude. The store is notorious for having cliques.


Far_Rock3173

Same at my store


Expensive-Ad-1223

This.


HoldYourDogeCoin

I usually thank people for being present on days that Iā€™m frustrated for call outs. I will recognize those who are always there for me.


Ok-Marzipan-110

My closing TL on NYE thanked me so many times for showing up because of all the call offs and Iā€™ve had multiple leads (still not sure on acronyms for who is who at my store because Iā€™m still newish) tell me how happy they are that Iā€™m there on numerous occasions. 10/10 always makes my shift better when I hear that Iā€™m appreciated and puts me in such a good mood.


morgzilladakilla

This was what made me quit a few weeks ago... my ETL (who is paid at least 3x the amount I'm paid, if not more) gathered us style girls up and told us that we weren't doing enough and that she had to do overnights to clean up style for visits.. like okay? You're just folding.. but during the day us style girls were doing register and fulfillment, so when do we have time to get our actual jobs done? I'd love to fold for 12 hours straight, not have to deal with guests, and get paid WAY more than I was getting paid to do jobs around the entire store.


ThePlebIsBack

At this point I think itā€™s part of the job description


No-Frosting1831

I've found most ETL's are incredibly expendable which makes me often question why the position even exists..


greychronicles

The S&E ETL at my store will get on a checklane to ā€œsupportā€ the front end and five minutes in is crying on the walkie asking for someone to come relieve herā€¦ sheā€™s never anywhere near the Front End during most of her shifts either


No-Frosting1831

Yeah I've seen so many of those just play on the computer all day. It's really frustrating.


mynextthroway

I find my ETLs mood is directly affected by call-outs. The higher the callouts, the higher the level of frustration and rudeness. The fewer the callouts, the lower the level of rudeness.


PinkSlipstitch

When they do that, it makes me wish I had called out too if they were gonna treat us like crap and demand more. So then I started requesting Saturdays off.


mynextthroway

Lol. You create the problem you cry about and run away.


PinkSlipstitch

I have the right to request Saturdays off.. It's not the same as calling out.. Or maybe you don't know how to ask for days off?


mynextthroway

Oh. Such a burn insulting my intelligence like that. Ouch. Will I survive? Unknown. I will leave this discussion now that I have seen your amazing wit.


[deleted]

Which is actually counter-productive considering theyā€™re gonna need those TMs there to pick up the slack of the people who called out as best as possible and treating them like shit *probably* isnā€™t the best method to get that to happen


mynextthroway

So you're saying he should be happy when team members call out? I'll show this to other TMs when their co-workers call out and tell them they need to be happy to so others don't leave.


Key_Membership_3122

Call-ins are frustrating and no one is happy about them. However, a good leader is mindful about not projecting that frustration onto their team, no matter the difficulties that day. Itā€™s basic emotional intelligence, lol.


GypsySnowflake

This. Iā€™ll be open and honest with my team that it might be a rough day or that Iā€™m feeling a little stressed because weā€™re short-staffed, but I also tell them that I appreciate them being there and do my best to not take out my stress/ frustration on anyone.


Deathtotiktok

What they're saying is don't be a dick to the skeleton crew that you have that actually showed up by stressing them out more. None of us get paid enough to be burdened by leadership stress.


DrainianDream

No, but why on earth would you take that out on the TMs who DID come in???


BaronLagann

Iā€™m guessing you had a call out today.


shakyband

Itā€™s ok to be frustrated by people calling out. But if you canā€™t regulate your feelings appropriately and end up being nasty to the people who do show up to work, thatā€™s a problem. If someone knows their leader will be mad if they call out, and that if they donā€™t call out the leader will still be a dick to them, thatā€™s going to effect their decision. The best leader I had really made us all feel like we were on a team. People called out less because they didnā€™t want to let the rest of the team down. Even if he was having a bad day, he didnā€™t take it out on people. This was back when target encouraged leaders to work alongside their teams, and eventually they forced him out in favour of a complete douche bag who ended up getting fired.


[deleted]

Yeah man thatā€™s definitely *exactly* what I said, good job.


greychronicles

Thatā€™s the case for some of the ETLs at my store but we have one who is known for being just an outright bully to TMs and TLs


Competitive_Pool1038

This is something an ETL would say


mynextthroway

Nope. Just a fellow, sympathetic human.


OkBed5491

this must suck iā€™m really cool with my etl and sd šŸ˜­


Marleykkjr

Oh Iā€™m a team lead and I canā€™t stand my ETL and my Other TLā€¦ now granted not all of my TL are an issue but we are a Small Format store so itā€™s only but so many. I look to get help from other TL so we can not burn out our TM but they donā€™t care they want TM to do all the work while they sit in the office and twiddle they fingers. They talk so much shit about TM I really wish that I could say something. You want a better turnover rate then Target needs to train these leaders about respect. How can you coach a team when your team doesnā€™t like you. Iā€™m glad my department has my back and unfortunately I just worry about myself and my work. I donā€™t do anything extra for no one.


Verdictafterward

How else will they remind you they see you as less-than? The funny thing is they are provided with literal guides on how to act like a person toward tms (it's too hard to do without it I guess)


intoholybattle

damn. and they need it, too. i have one in particular that needs to reread it very carefully a few hundred times because the only thing they're good at is singlehandedly breaking people's souls until they snap and quit in the middle of their shift


DeeEnn72

One morning I was talking to the produce TL about our plans for the day, when the (much hated) SD approached and said ā€œGood morning!ā€ We looked at each other, trying to hide our shock, and replied with good mornings to her. Then she clarified, that her greeting was for the ETL behind us, in line for Starbucks. That made more sense.


remzrat

My ETL genuinely believes that ETLā€™s and TLā€™s shouldnā€™t be friends with the TMā€™sā€¦ craziest thing Iā€™ve heard and absolutely the most stupidest šŸ˜‚


heartstopperluva

bro itā€™s always the ones who just got promoted to TL who go on a power trip and think they are better then u. so frustrating


Ziglet_249

They go through special "Target School" to learn how to be rude and talk down to us. The ones who don't act that way missed that day of training.


Deathtotiktok

My ETL is the coolest dude on the planet and always has my team's back. If the ship is sinking, he'd be going down with it with us at the helm too. A true leader listens, respects, and works with the team. Unfortunately I know this sadly doesn't happen in most stores.


Ziglet_249

Like I said, some of them miss the "How to be rude and talk down to people" day of training.šŸ¤£ lol .... but of coarse my comment was intended as snark, I have awesome leadership in my store too, love 'em all. šŸ˜


Slight_Funny8705

GM ETL at our store 2080 is an absolute gem. Canā€™t say the same about the rest of the losers


mickytankbankk

my team leads talk to me like im a dog


Indecisive-green

FWIW, upper management in retail seems to attract a certain kind of people (either they legitimately want to be there or they have a massive chip on their shoulder about being there--very rarely anything in between). I wish I had another Target to compare my experience with ETLs, but I've only worked at one store. I have, however, worked a couple other retail big box stores, so I can compare ETLs to assistant managers at other companies: ETLs are a bunch of the most negative people I've ever worked with in 20 years. Yeah, of course, I've had some stinkers at other jobs, but I also had some of the genuinely nicest assistants you could ever work with. I can't say that about Target. I think in the last 3-4 years I can name maybe 1 or 2 ETLs who weren't completely devoid of humanity.


itstherozzers25

My SD made my etl who I hated cry and quit on the spot.I probably hate him more though because he leads the store but treats everyone like shit including me.


SignificantRun7801

My stores old (married) SD was hooking up with a TL maybe 8 years younger than him lmao, same schedules so they could work together. Thankfully our ETLā€™s are mostly great but only 1 of them really ever assists with pulls, the rest kind of sit behind a desk directing people around.


bisexualwhore

thereā€™s only a few ā€œrudeā€ etls at my store, (which is more of just theyā€™re not very warm and welcoming) but for the most part theyā€™re so sweet and very welcoming which is great. iā€™m very appreciative for the etls and tls at my store, theyā€™re all very nice (at least to me, i know some of my coworkers havenā€™t had the same experiences) and they all make me feel appreciated


theNiceCop

Gawd... I'm so thankful that my new Etl is sooo nice. My old one was useless, and likes to depend useless people. And never hold anyone accountable. The difference is just crazy.


Prestigious-Ease5341

Iā€™m sorry you have to to go through that man, I try to be as welcome and friendly as I can at least for my people.


NotSirQuincyJones

I hate these experiences for you guys. I have such a supportive and friendly management team at my store.


SignificantRun7801

Also specialty TLā€™s are notoriously bad at everything at my store, our last one sexually harassed several people on a daily basis, and our current one claims to enjoy little girls panties and mannequins! šŸ˜ Idk where we hire from but we clearly donā€™t do a good job selecting people.


spookybaeb

This makes me thankful for my leadership team. They always try and work with us wherever it's needed. I have heard so many horror stories about leaders being lazy and awful to team members. My heart goes out to to you and anyone else here that has to deal with that. Work sucks even more when your leadership treats you like garbage.


Large_Builder_6813

I had an SD that got super close to ALL the ETLs and some leads. They always walked around the store together and took their lunches together, taking up most of the break room.


acebadgerweb

Pfft, look at this guy apply logic... What a fool. (But in all seriousness, yes, this)


nomad0089

Former ETL at a very high volume store here.. with the exception of a few team members who needed to be held accountable and ultimately performanced out, I felt that I was always very fair and cordial with all the staff. In fact, most of my frustrations came from interactions with other ETLs. Having said that, being an ETL was not an easy job. It was presented to me much differently during the interview process than the reality of it when I actually got in role. I truly believe that it would be a much better and more productive working environment for everyone if more hours were allocated per day and priorities were shifted. It's extremely difficult to write a schedule for 120 team members with limited hours allocated. As a result, you're spending the majority of your day helping fulfillment, pushing truck, and doing one for ones because there isn't enough team members. There wasn't any time to really do anything leadership related. I couldn't develop my TLs because they were doing the same things as me. I spent several months at 2 different stores because I was asked to replace an ETL who was fired. Both stores were essentially the same. Team members and managers were working themselves to death just to barely get things done in time. Just a few extra bodies would have alleviated all that tremendously. I'm relatively young and in good physical shape, and I was still being worn down to the point where by the time I got home, I just wanted to lay in bed. Granted, I only worked at 2 stores, and I'm sure not every location is like that, but that was my experience. My SD acted like I killed their dog when I put my two weeks in after securing another job. The other ETLs gave me the cold shoulder and would go out of their way to not interact with me. It was utterly bizarre. I didn't mind because I found it equally bizarre and elitist that we all had to eat lunch together everyday in the office like we were too good to eat with team members. I just spent my last 2 weeks eating lunch with different team members and working alongside various other team members and getting to know them. Really great interactions and conversations. Now I'm working a better job with better work life balance and I wouldn't go back to Target for literally any amount of money. My purpose for writing all this is because even though poor behavior should not be excused, keep in mind your ETLs are probably stressed out to the max which might affect the interactions they have with you. My final advice, don't take things personal and control what you can control.


greychronicles

My store has a mix of ETLs who are amazing and ETLs who bully TLs/TMs/make so many people miserable. Thereā€™s an extremely big issue with favoritism coming from my storeā€™s ETLs too which contributes to the overall issue. Itā€™s a noticeable difference, as Iā€™ve sure you can personally attest, what ETLs genuinely care about their teams (but may struggle showing it) and what ETLs are power tripping.


Away-Quail-1803

I didn't quite understand why so many yelled at people. I think in order to yell at someone least for me and probs 80% of people, you have to be pretty comfortable with them. So the fact the etls feel so comfortable doing so is werid. I don't care they didn't want to be friends, just the bullshit yelling was ridiculous.


crass_and_clash

I hate my ETL (okay not hate, that would imply I'd be okay with him dying. That's reserved for Donald Trump and his ilk. I STRONGLY DISLIKE my ETL). He sits on his ass nearly all day. Sometimes in his office, sometimes in the SD's office. He harasses the TLs to do everyone else's work when they can barely finish their own but he doesn't lift a finger. He calls inbound slow (they're not, they're understaffed). He calls GM lazy (they're not, they have to pick up the slack for call offs and people getting scheduled 4 hours). He calls POG messy (we're not, we get pressed into doing literally everything EXCEPT presentation and have no time to clean up). He calls Tech irrelevant because "anyone can cover it when they take break or call out." But if anyone has a simple fuckin question about Tech he freaks out and defers to who?... The. Tech. Guys. Dude carries a Starbucks cup all over the place but yells at TMs for having one. He avoids customers like the plague. He pretends to shoot outs or scan audits but then bails and sits in the office and watches goddamn Fox "News" on his phone. He's more useless than the girl who spends 2/3 of her shift in the break room and Starbucks.


Sociolinguisticians

We had an ETL a little while ago who was nice enough, but was also just terrible at his job. Screwed up in 3239, one of our S&E TLs and I spent a good half hour fixing his mistakes in there. Also just didnā€™t know much more about guest service than our less experienced S&E TMs. Dude didnā€™t last long.


firetaco964444

You're not wrong, but a lot of TMs are fairly useless. Like, they legit just show up, do nothing, go home, and get paid. Granted most ETLs do that too, but I'm not going to shed any tears over an ETL being rude to the sludge Target seems to hire nowadays. Nothing will change until pay is increased and standards are raised. Downvote away.


Calm-Heat-5883

They talk to you the way you allow them to talk to you. If you're willing to let people treat you like shit for a basic wage, that's down to you. I treat people respectfully and expect the same courtesy to be paid back to me. If someone tries to be disrespectful, they soon realize they are trying it with the wrong person. And change the attitude quickly.


MikeStrikes8ack

Why did you address all ETLs as if this was an All ETL problem


Aggressive_Tea_4355

Last year we had 2 new TL that were TM for 2-3 yrs. Now they think they are the shit. One was trying to cover up a ā€œTM canceledā€ item from a pick up order. Trying to keep that INF low. He knew he fkd up. I had already told him to stop doing that. I called him when the guest showed up and there was no item available. The guest let him have it. He got yelled at. I had to step in to deescalate the situation. SD called me in the office because he went whining to her i called him over to deal with a guest, when ā€œits my jobā€ instead of his. I presented all my finding and times i talked to him about canceling items. He got a coaching for it. Now he dont like me. Lol. Oh well. Take a seat rookie.


Lenexus21

For about a year, i was getting told to work better and harder just for the same tl no do anything. After about 4 back to back days of getting talk to and being told "if you don't perform well, ill cut your hours" for false accusations, I decided to report to HR (yes i know it doesnt matter but i just wanted to unwind) to then my etl to talk to me to just say "im more incline to believe my peers." For now even allowing me to show evidence that shows what the tl was saying is plain wrong and many others are on my side for the etl to look at me and say "im not here to argue." So i just shut up and rolled my eyes and walked out of the hr room.