20 years ago I worked at Target. Holy shit, never again. The managers do not give a shit, at ALL.
The employees bust their asses stocking shelves, helping customers, running register (this at a time before self checkout), and doing literally everything to keep the store running.
As far as I could tell, the managers do about 1-2 hours of paperwork in their office, and spend the rest of the time going around yelling at every single employee for no reason.
One time we had a guy who wanted to return a VCR. Keep in mind 20 years ago is 2005. This VCR is at LEAST 10 years old, and very used. We don’t even sell this VCR.
He has no reciept. No box. No remote. There was a porn vhs inside the vcr. He insisted the VCR doesn’t work, is brand new, and wants a $300 refund.
I refused him, because, c’mon.
He asks for the manager. Manager comes over, I explain the situation in private. Then she goes and talks to him. He says I was being rude. Manager is yelling at me that I should have just processed the refund (despite the fact it goes against literally every policy).
So I just asked her “Ok, how do I do that?”
And she looked at me as if I farted. She says “What do you mean? Just scan the UPC, and ring it up!”. So I asked “Ok, where is the UPC?” And NOW she had to admit we can’t return it. Mind you, I already told her in private beforehand that he has no box and we don’t even sell this VCR.
But now that we physically can’t even start the process, she had to admit I was right. Which she then yelled at ME for being rude to HER.
Walked out that day. Fuck target, fuck working at target. Fuck those little letters on the register that say you’re working too slow. Fuck the idea that every customer is always right. Fuck the idea that employees are worthless wage slaves. Fuck entitled managers. Fuck this CEO. I don’t even care if he wasn’t CEO 20 years ago. Fuck him anyways. Fuck billionaires.
Target was my first job a few years after this happened to you. While my favorite is how nearly all retail will only give you 34 hours maximum so they don’t have to give you benefits, while also having you work a different shifts each day, with never two days off in a row, and that schedule is going to never be the same two weeks in a row- making it impossible to live a normal life or work a second job-
While thats so cool of these companies,
Target is were my first cry and the hands of a customer happened. This white dude suit comes though my line, he’s with a young person, and he was buying basically out entire “back to school” (college) section. Hundreds of dollars.
His card declined. It didn’t just decline, it asked to call a number to get the transaction approved. I, as a teenager myself, tried to explain. This man berated me like no one ever did since to be honest. He pulled the “I make more money than everyone in this room combined”. He was mean.
My manager was really good about it when she came to help me. She even let me take an extra break after. Ill never forget that interaction.
“What radicalized you”, this was one if them. Basic Human decency is free. What was he teaching that college aged kid in that moment? Why do some people tie money to whether or not you are a good person? I’ll never understand.
Anyway, about 7 months later I walked out due to this dumb bitch Amanda, power tripping square, who was just mad her crush liked me and not her. I didnt like him back, but she was targeting me for it. I said fuck this and fuck you to her face, and walked out mid shift.
Target sucks balls. I’ve never made enough money to shop there with any real consistency anyway.
Yup, I worked there in the late 90s and this was my experience. Also, at the end of the night the managers would lock the doors and make us clock out and clean the store. I didn’t know about wage theft back then, but I did know what they were doing was wrong.
Might be too late for you now, but for everyone else reading, involve your state employment commission! I got all my back pay from an abusive restaurant owner (like a million years ago, apologies if these no longer exist or are just too dysfunctional to do anything anymore).
I was in high school, working like 50-60 hour weeks, and this lady thought it was fine to pay regular rates past 40. I sure didn’t! State employment commission didn’t either. Stole some water bottles full of Grey Goose on my way out, lol, then collected a cool few very well-earned buckaroos some months later.
Restaurant folded in a year. Turns out it was basically a gift from her successful husband anyway, lady was outrageous. As in, fuckin employees in the walk-in and stealing money from high school kids outrageous lol
Aaaaand just realized I’m old. I’m apparently the kinda guy who just tells stories about strangers to no one, from 20+ years ago, for no reason.
big box store managers don’t know that the full saying is “the customer is always right in matters of taste”
they legitimately think that “the customer is always right” is the full extent of making good business decisions. the average manager at one of these chains (and i’m switching terms here, because what i’m about to say applies to applebee’s, target, payless shoes, any chain at all, really) is a member of the karen class. they are entitled. they are dumb. they are petty. they are mean.
and these are the red hats in your community. the people who have inserted themselves into positions of power by being presentable enough for the people really running the business, the owner class, to think they can put someone that cruel in charge of their location and run a little fascist dictatorship for cheap. and none of this is new. this is the same Big Whites, Small Whites, and Workers setup that was present in early colonial north america. because that’s the system the owner class inherited their wealth from. they know it works for them because it’s been working for them. meanwhile the small whites are a mixture of thinking someday they’ll be the big whites if they resent and oppress the workers enough and people who know they have no upward mobility in the system but still perform the role of violent oppressor because they don’t want to risk sliding down the ladder into violently oppressed.
the plantation system in america has never really changed, fundamentally. it has just changed shapes. walmart, target, dollar general, none are so different from the mining companies’ company stores when you get down to it. klarna and afterpay are the new company scrip. i’m sure these things go back further into the plantation system, but my ancestors came here after the civil war. the coal wars was when they figured out how fucked america is. i’ve just pieced some of the puzzle back together with how the big whites, small whites, and workers relate to eachother. if you want to know more you’ll probably have to go outside and ask a black person how food was distributed in the plantation system. the only thing i do know for sure is that the modern thing, where white poverty and black poverty are different because black people are kept away from prepared foods, and white people are kept not affording the time to make meals and learning to cook is SUPER old. that’s been happening the entire time. whiteness has always been culturally dependent on someone else to make the food.
20 years ago I worked at Target. Holy shit, never again. The managers do not give a shit, at ALL.
The employees bust their asses stocking shelves, helping customers, running register (this at a time before self checkout), and doing literally everything to keep the store running.
As far as I could tell, the managers do about 1-2 hours of paperwork in their office, and spend the rest of the time going around yelling at every single employee for no reason.
One time we had a guy who wanted to return a VCR. Keep in mind 20 years ago is 2005. This VCR is at LEAST 10 years old, and very used. We don’t even sell this VCR.
He has no reciept. No box. No remote. There was a porn vhs inside the vcr. He insisted the VCR doesn’t work, is brand new, and wants a $300 refund.
I refused him, because, c’mon.
He asks for the manager. Manager comes over, I explain the situation in private. Then she goes and talks to him. He says I was being rude. Manager is yelling at me that I should have just processed the refund (despite the fact it goes against literally every policy).
So I just asked her “Ok, how do I do that?”
And she looked at me as if I farted. She says “What do you mean? Just scan the UPC, and ring it up!”. So I asked “Ok, where is the UPC?” And NOW she had to admit we can’t return it. Mind you, I already told her in private beforehand that he has no box and we don’t even sell this VCR.
But now that we physically can’t even start the process, she had to admit I was right. Which she then yelled at ME for being rude to HER.
Walked out that day. Fuck target, fuck working at target. Fuck those little letters on the register that say you’re working too slow. Fuck the idea that every customer is always right. Fuck the idea that employees are worthless wage slaves. Fuck entitled managers. Fuck this CEO. I don’t even care if he wasn’t CEO 20 years ago. Fuck him anyways. Fuck billionaires.
Target was my first job a few years after this happened to you. While my favorite is how nearly all retail will only give you 34 hours maximum so they don’t have to give you benefits, while also having you work a different shifts each day, with never two days off in a row, and that schedule is going to never be the same two weeks in a row- making it impossible to live a normal life or work a second job-
While thats so cool of these companies, Target is were my first cry and the hands of a customer happened. This white dude suit comes though my line, he’s with a young person, and he was buying basically out entire “back to school” (college) section. Hundreds of dollars.
His card declined. It didn’t just decline, it asked to call a number to get the transaction approved. I, as a teenager myself, tried to explain. This man berated me like no one ever did since to be honest. He pulled the “I make more money than everyone in this room combined”. He was mean.
My manager was really good about it when she came to help me. She even let me take an extra break after. Ill never forget that interaction. “What radicalized you”, this was one if them. Basic Human decency is free. What was he teaching that college aged kid in that moment? Why do some people tie money to whether or not you are a good person? I’ll never understand.
Anyway, about 7 months later I walked out due to this dumb bitch Amanda, power tripping square, who was just mad her crush liked me and not her. I didnt like him back, but she was targeting me for it. I said fuck this and fuck you to her face, and walked out mid shift.
Target sucks balls. I’ve never made enough money to shop there with any real consistency anyway.
Yup, I worked there in the late 90s and this was my experience. Also, at the end of the night the managers would lock the doors and make us clock out and clean the store. I didn’t know about wage theft back then, but I did know what they were doing was wrong.
Might be too late for you now, but for everyone else reading, involve your state employment commission! I got all my back pay from an abusive restaurant owner (like a million years ago, apologies if these no longer exist or are just too dysfunctional to do anything anymore).
I was in high school, working like 50-60 hour weeks, and this lady thought it was fine to pay regular rates past 40. I sure didn’t! State employment commission didn’t either. Stole some water bottles full of Grey Goose on my way out, lol, then collected a cool few very well-earned buckaroos some months later.
Restaurant folded in a year. Turns out it was basically a gift from her successful husband anyway, lady was outrageous. As in, fuckin employees in the walk-in and stealing money from high school kids outrageous lol
Aaaaand just realized I’m old. I’m apparently the kinda guy who just tells stories about strangers to no one, from 20+ years ago, for no reason.
Those are the best kind of stories and I’m here for them.
so the family guy cutscene was accurate about target. where lois fratenizes with the target cashier lady, and the manager comes out and yells at her.
Welp…
Welcome to life as employee at any Big Box store.
With slight diff’s, they’re all cut from the same mold. (I’m ex-Home Depot emp…)
big box store managers don’t know that the full saying is “the customer is always right in matters of taste”
they legitimately think that “the customer is always right” is the full extent of making good business decisions. the average manager at one of these chains (and i’m switching terms here, because what i’m about to say applies to applebee’s, target, payless shoes, any chain at all, really) is a member of the karen class. they are entitled. they are dumb. they are petty. they are mean.
and these are the red hats in your community. the people who have inserted themselves into positions of power by being presentable enough for the people really running the business, the owner class, to think they can put someone that cruel in charge of their location and run a little fascist dictatorship for cheap. and none of this is new. this is the same Big Whites, Small Whites, and Workers setup that was present in early colonial north america. because that’s the system the owner class inherited their wealth from. they know it works for them because it’s been working for them. meanwhile the small whites are a mixture of thinking someday they’ll be the big whites if they resent and oppress the workers enough and people who know they have no upward mobility in the system but still perform the role of violent oppressor because they don’t want to risk sliding down the ladder into violently oppressed.
the plantation system in america has never really changed, fundamentally. it has just changed shapes. walmart, target, dollar general, none are so different from the mining companies’ company stores when you get down to it. klarna and afterpay are the new company scrip. i’m sure these things go back further into the plantation system, but my ancestors came here after the civil war. the coal wars was when they figured out how fucked america is. i’ve just pieced some of the puzzle back together with how the big whites, small whites, and workers relate to eachother. if you want to know more you’ll probably have to go outside and ask a black person how food was distributed in the plantation system. the only thing i do know for sure is that the modern thing, where white poverty and black poverty are different because black people are kept away from prepared foods, and white people are kept not affording the time to make meals and learning to cook is SUPER old. that’s been happening the entire time. whiteness has always been culturally dependent on someone else to make the food.