Let me get one thing straight. I loved Target. I loved shopping there and I truly loved working there. Ask anyone. I was the employee who danced through the door every shift and greeted my co-workers with genuine enthusiasm. As a Stay at home mom, I spent all day with my kid and was happy to be with other adults at a company I cherished. Oh I just loved being there.
Our romance started in early September when I got a job working in Softline’s Department; Softlines is just Target Lingo for clothing and accessories. Call me OCD or just plain crazy but I enjoyed putting away the clothes, neatening, straitening, and folding the clothes on the racks. I enjoyed the nightly challenge of taking a messy unorganized department and transforming it into a beautiful neat place that the guests would love to shop. Guests? Yes my favorite part of my job was helping our guests. At Target we call the customers guests and as a Target employee I treated the guests like my friends. Each guest in our store was treated the same as a friend in my home.
I got great satisfaction from helping them and always went that extra step. I would walk them across the store to find their item, call other stores, and once I even talked to a woman on her husband’s cell phone to ensure that he was buying the correct item for a school play.
Once I overheard a woman complain to her husband “How can this ridiculous store not have regular Onsies! I have looked everywhere and I am about to lose my mind!” I asked her if I could please show here were the Onsies were. I walked her and her husband over and found the size that she needed for her grandbaby. She thanked me and her husband gave me a high five. They both left with smiles on their faces.
Moments like this one made me so proud to wear the Target khaki and red. In fact we have an employee feedback system of called “Great Team“cards. Employees give their co-workers “Great Team” cards when they witness another Target employee doing a great job. I received stacks of these wonderful cards from my co-workers. It was so nice to be recognized for all of my hard work.
Oh Target I loved you and you loved me back. Or so I thought until December 23rd, two days before Christmas, when I was called into the assistant manager’s office and fired. Yes I was fired, blindsided. I went to work on Tuesday night and fifteen minutes into my shift I was asked to hand in my name badge, and discount cards. I think that I am still in shock. Why was I fired after three months of dependable, professional, first-rate work? Because I bought a nine dollar toy while not on a break. Yes, I bought a Zhu Zhu pet on company time.
Let me tell you with 100% honesty that at my Target store employees bought items on company time all of the time. Ask any cashier, they’ll say “we are not supposed too, but everyone does it”. Yes, the handbook states that we are not supposed to do this, however if it is a common practice in the store how was I supposed to know I could seriously get fired?
The firing assistant manager told me that not only did I make a purchas on company time, but I kept Guests from buying Zhu Zhu. She could not have been more wrong. The Zhu Zhu pet display was stocked at around 11:00pm the store was opened until 12:00. One of my co-workers ran over and said. “They stocked the Zhu Zhus” a bunch of us ran over to see for ourselves. What did I do? I took two off of the large display and then walk around to every guest that I could find and told them that we had Zhu Zhu pets. I even offered the guests the Zhu Zhu pets that I had in my hands, but they choose to go pick their own. After I was done running around to most of the departments informing guests I went to purchase my pets. My kids were desperate to get this toy. I told them that no one even Santa could get his hands on the pets and to not get their hopes up. I went to the register with a feeling of pure glee.
At the register the cashier said. “Since you aren’t on break I have to charge you full price.” I said that it was fine. That’s what they always say when people aren’t on break.
I ran to the back room to get my wallet. I paid for my pets and skipped back to put them in my locker I was so happy. I was going to surprise my kids with the red herring, the impossible Christmas present. The girl in the back office asked. “Will you have two happy kids this Christmas?” As a joke I said “Shh…this never happened.” I meant that she never saw me act like a silly dork getting all crazy and caught up in the hysteria over a $9.00 kid’s toy. But, I honestly was, I just kept picturing the looks on the kid’s faces when the unwrapped their Zhu Zhu pets.
When I got home I went right on Facebook and my email to spread the word that my Target store had Zhu Zhus and opened at 8:00am. I emailed the Franklin Mom’s Club, and the Franklin Parents Forum. I did my best to notify our customers that the pets were available.
Oh Target you broke my heart and there I was in the assistant manager’s office being dumped. Like all break ups I was hurt and confused. I didn’t understand why I was being singled out. A few employees bought Zhu Zhu pets that night and to this date all of them have not been fired. It is my understanding that if one employee is fired for breaking a rule than all of the others who broke the same rule at the same time must face the same consequence. In fact all of the employees who have ever made a purchase on store time should be fired. I guess that would be impossible as that would mean firing almost the entire staff.
There might be a few of you out there who are upset that Target employees got first dibs on this year’s critical critters. But please take this into account we work long demanding hours keeping our store neat and stocked for our guests. I know that I always went that extra mile to ensure that my guests left happy and with all of their needed purchases. I was also required to work weekends and spent the nights between Thanksgiving and Christmas staying as late as one O’clock making the store neat and clean for you the next day. I sacrificed holiday parties, family time, and most holiday activities to be at work. I did all this for just above minimum wage with no holiday perks from Target, no Christmas party, holiday bonus, or even a Christmas card. Shouldn’t I have one perk for all of my hard work and dedication? I thought so. Target did not agree.
My heart is still sad. I miss my store, my co-workers, and my guests. Oh Target a part of me will always love you, but I Will never look at you quite the same way again. Why did things have to end this way?
Above is a picture of Alice opening her Zhu Zhu pet on Christmas morning. Was it worth losing my job? You decide.
