So many cons....so many.
-The most obvious con for an Target Team Member is the promotion of the Target Red Card. Selling Red Cards is more important than breathing to Corporate. You are expected to be "Fast, Fun, and Friendly" but how exactly can you be fast when you are slowing the line by discussing the card, how can you be fun when you bother people and beg them to get a card, and how can you be friendly when you are only looking at "guests" as potential Red Card numbers. I have saw many good coworkers get in major trouble or even fired because they had trouble convincing people to sign up for another credit card with high interest rates. We were not hired as salesmen and women. That is definitely not in the job description, and if it is, they need to clarify it! Not getting a red card and having GSTLs and ETLs hound you all day can and did bring many people to their breaking points.
-The ETLs are pretty much the worse people in the store. I am not sure if this is true of every store, but I know at mine, you avoided the ETL's like the plague. They only care about what corporate has to say, and whatever their team members say is put to the side.
-The whole Red Card scandal that happened really shook my confidence in Target, especially once they decided it was a smart idea to start selling the Red Card again about a month after people had their information stolen. I remember I was trying to promote the Red Card and I got fussed at many times by people who had their information stolen over Christmas! Really does not promote a "Friendly atmosphere."
-The hours. When I first started they were great. Then about a year ago, things started to go downhill. They started cutting hours like crazy and only having the bare minimum of employees scheduled for the day. Out of the employees that were scheduled, only three-fourths of them showed up. Then they started working the few employees left like dogs, working 9 hours straight with limited breaks. After a while, it becomes too much to handle. I had to quit because I wasn't able to work more hours because of school and my other job that keeps me on my feet. Spending my entire Saturday and Sunday at Target was just not worth it anymore.
-I absolutely despised our Store Manager. He was a cog who only cared about the things corporate told him to care about. He would stand over the cashiers all day and make sure we were asking about a Red Card, and would take us to the side if we were not asking for a "talking to." It's almost like we were getting paid to be babysat.
-The Sales Floor is even worse than being a cashier. When I was moved to the floor, it was a whole different beast. Dealing with spoiled "guests" who must always get their way was extremely frustrating. The call buttons were always going off because their just wasn't enough people to go around asking everyone "Can I help you find something?" And on top of all that, we were still expected to perform our normal duties of zoning all day, and pushing pulls. It was extremely frustrating and stressful.
-Raises are almost an insult. I started working at 7.75 and after three years only managed to get up to 7.92. I worked extremely hard and always had good reviews each year, but they refused to even give me 8 dollars. The struggle of being a broke college student was definitely real. I was outraged to find out that during my last year there, they hired seasonal workers at 8 whole dollars, but refused to give raises to the people that have been through it all. Ridiculous.
-Black Friday. Need I say more?????
-Zoning the entire store at the end of the night, even though the day staff have been here all day busting their humps seemed so unfair to me. I want to go home at the end of a 9 hour shift, not be forced to align merchandise on stupid diamonds.
-Training is a joke.
-Benefits are nonexistent.
-Any time during the holiday seasons is enough to make you want to rip your hair out by the root.
-Work/Life balance? Forget about it. Be prepared to spend every waking miniute at Target or thinking about having to go back to work at Target.
