Not worth $13/h (or $15/h when it goes up next year) - Avis employé General Merchandise Expert Target

1. Overbearing managers: There are several managers who refuse to listen or change their ways. I once had a fight with a manager because I told them my working conditions were left unsafe and I needed to clean rather than pull more product. Management, to my knowledge, did nothing about this. 2. Corporate doesn't care if you're struggling, "just do it": I've spoken with both present and former managers and they've confided that management far up the chain will often send aggressive and threatening emails, text or phone calls telling them things the equivalent of them not caring 3. Hours fluctuate more often than not: Some weeks you're getting 40 hours, some weeks you're getting 10-20. I know this is how retail works, but Target takes it to the extreme. Which leads me to the next part... 4. Healthcare benefits unlock once you start averaging 30 hours: You can lose those benefits if you dip below the average of 30 hours, which is crucial for some people. 5. The workload is absolutely insane and you're not offered much help. This is icing on the cake. More often than not, you're struggling to finish. If you're in General Merchandise, you're expected to: unload the truck, pull all your product, push your product, set revisions for aisles, pull your clearance items, print labels and price each clearance item, push the clearance, do your cardboard, take guest phone calls, do cardboard bales, backup to register, grab and push "reshop" (Any item discarded before purchase, returning it to its correct aisle), backstock any items that do not fit on the shelves, help guests, assist other team members (which is frowned upon by the "modernization" plan), take care of the backroom audit. 6. The backroom is a safety hazard, and at the many stores I've visited and worked in, it remains true. There are few backrooms in this company that are actually meeting the demand they're given. The aforementioned "modernization" plan is designed for small format stores (flex-format as they're called internally). They're not designed for stores making more than a million dollars a day. Because of this, we're often flooded with freight that we have no time to get to. 7. The pay doesn't make any sense. Going back to #5, I make the same as a cashier starting today even though I've been here for 4 years. 7a. You get merit raises every year based on performance, usually in the range of 10-80 cents. However, if the company raises the minimum, you lose all your merit raises. Meaning that someone starting the same day they raise the minimum, you start making the same as some kid off the street. I understand why this is, but I am insulted that a company worth multi-billion dollar company can't let us keep our 10 cents in addition to the minimum raise. It makes you feel as you have no incentive to actually work hard, because it will be stripped from you the second the company wants to look like a hero and raise the minimum. 8. Equipment is not functional. There are several times that your scanner will stop working for no apparent reason. It's frustrating and sometimes makes you miss your goals. This has been going on for years and it seemingly gets worse with every update. Which leads me to... 9. Technology and culture changes happen too frequently. Often times, you're trying to learn something and Target will change it overnight making you lose all progress. 10. There is no training or mentoring. Often times, I have to learn things on my own. I'm not even certified to operate any machinery in the backroom because of the failure to train, though I know more about every piece of machinery than anyone in the building. 11. This goes with any customer facing job, but sometimes "guests" are really difficult to deal with.