The Work Atmosphere At Target

Early last summer, I was on my way to becoming a high school senior. This was one of the most exciting transitions of my high school career. My best friend Modolyne and I always told ourselves senior year must be epic, I mean it’s our last year, right? So, this meant we were participating in all school activities - which wasn’t free. My senior year spending was well over a thousand dollars. Together, we decided to apply to a local Chick-fil-A in hopes of getting a job. I felt anxious towards applying, I’ve never been on a register before and I feared being rejected. Days past after applying and I grew sad. The self-fulfilling prophecy of me not landing the job was slowly echoing in my mind day after day. I woke up one gloomy morning, telling myself to forget about

Ehrenreich chooses Minnesota at whim. After some internet-based research, she is convinced that there will be a comfortable correspondence between rent and wages. She decides she wants to work for retail, and applies to Wal-Mart. After the process of applying which includes a survey and a drug test, she is later hired for $7 per hour. Working at Wal-Mart makes Ehrenreich realizes there isn’t much human interaction in retail. “I could be a deaf-mute as far as most of this goes” (Ehrenreich157). There are also the people in the store who tend to make work a living hell and can turn regular chipper people into angry, cranky pushovers. “Once I stand and watch helplessly while some rug rat pulls everything he can reach off the racks, and the thought that abortion is wasted on the unborn must show on my face, because his mother finally tells him to stop” (165). In many cases the “smiley” greeters who welcome people into the store, are very unhappy and think unkind thoughts about everyone who comes to visit the store, “I even start hating the customers for extraneous reasons…” (165). This sudden change in character can be strenuous on a worker, regardless of their personality. Resenting the people who workers work for isn’t a healthy trait. “ ‘Aggressive hospitality’ gives way to aggressive hostility” (165).

I started substitute teaching at various elementary, middle and high schools in the Jacksonville area. In October of 2010, I obtained full time employment at Youth Crisis Center as a Youth Care Specialist. My role was to assist young adults in the foster care system. While at Youth Crisis Center, I was acknowledged for my dedication and excellence in the work place and was promoted to team lead. In March 2011, I was laid off and regained employment at the Mental Health Resource Center, as a Family Services Counselor (FSC). As I held this position, I worked with families through the foster care system who had experienced past trauma of abuse, abandonment or neglect. I held a case load of 15-25 families as I coordinated services to ensure each of their need were met. The types of services provided included medical, dental, educational, therapeutic, parenting, mental health and substance abuse to name a few. Likewise, I prepared reports on a weekly basis to be submitted to the courts regarding the families progress or lack thereof. With all intent to reunify families there were instances that reunification was not deemed to be in the child(s) best interest. In such cases as these it was also my responsibility to testify in open court advocating for other permanency options for the child. I found my position as a FSC to be both challenging and rewarding at the same time. I remember working with a family whose

In early 2006 I was knocked off track. My little brother was killed in a car accident at the age of 17. My world went pretty dark for a while, and I dropped out of college and left my jobs. After a few months of deep grieving, I got on my feet and got a job making more money as a receptionist for a window company. I pushed my passion to the back of my brain and put the money first. I was all determined to have a “grown up job” and be on my own. This meant I couldn’t afford classes, or books. I also had to have a full time day job to afford my rent. Teaching went to the back burner for several years. I was offered higher positions at my job, and pretty soon found myself sitting in the office behind the desk from which I myself was hired. I hated it. I could sit on the computer all day long and do nothing. Most people would’ve loved my job. But I could not handle

While growing up my mother worked at a child development center educating children ages 3-5. I enjoyed watching her interacting with the children. So I decided to try to teach a few of the students like she did and I did very well. This is when I knew I wanted to be a teacher. I worked at Jefferson Place Learning Center for almost 5 years. There I decided there to obtain my CDA to groom my skills as an educator but I was not able to complete this. In 2011, I decided it was time for a change and I decided to leave Jefferson place and moved to KinderCare Learning Center. I really enjoyed working for KinderCare but due to transportation I had quit and I started to work Wal Mart. My heart was heavy because I knew that working for was not something

After graduating from high school in 2006, I went overseas to a Bible school in Germany for six months. I did a lot of things after coming home from Germany and pursued different jobs. In 2009, I became a Certified Nursing Assistant and did that for three years, on and off. I worked with kids with severe needs in a home healthcare agency. In 2012/2013, I went to PIMA Medical Institute for a Veterinary Assistant Certificate and looked for jobs in that field. I came away feeling very discouraged because of the low paying jobs in that field and without any benefits. During that time and before going to PIMA, I was subbing in District 20 as a teacher’s assistant. When I realized I didn’t want to pursue the veterinary world, I got a job in the district as a SPED Paraprofessional. I

I was grateful to obtain a higher paying job and I signed a lease for my off-campus apartment, and with those new responsibilities tied into everything I had to do for summer school it took a tole on my stress level and sleep. I was granted the higher paying job before spring semester finally ended, and I really did need that job to help me with providing for myself. My mother is on disability and she cannot help me as much as she wants to with the things that I need, and I would rather provide for myself so that I would not be a burden to her or anyone else. With this in mind, my new job was set in place to help me pay for food, rent, and other necessities during the summer months until school started again. My job called for a lot of extra attention with what I had to do for the job, so it was like taking on another class, and that is where the stress kicked in. I wanted to put my best foot forward with everything that I had set up for myself, which meant that I did not intend to put education on the waist side and I tried not to push myself too hard with my job. It seemed like that plan was able to be accomplished, but at the end everything just became too

At the beginning of this school year, I began to realize something. I realized that my high school years were coming to an end. This was an eye opener for me. I didn't know what to expect of my last year nor what I wanted to do after high school. I then began looking for a job. So I applied to Chick-fil-a. I waited patiently several weeks for a call, but received no call whatsoever. I patiently waited for a new opportunity to come along. Until finally, I was given an opportunity at an electrical shop. On the first day of work I was introduced to the staff and learned the procedures of what needed to be done. My job now was to maintain the shop clean and to keep all materials organized as well as other tasks that helped me grow with my skills.

I am excited about this assignment because I hate my job. I currently work as a CSR at Family Dollar. I started there about a week after school ended and I started hating it a week or so later. I kept the job because I get paid weekly and my hours are good. I also kept this job because its hard finding jobs when I return home for the summer. The work setting causes me stress. A poor relationship with my boss is the number one issue in this setting. The store has been through three assistant managers and four employees since I’ve began working there. The store manager is the main reason the company can’t hold on to workers. She is rude, lazy, and she over works you. The workload is overbearing and the time pressure makes it much harder. For instance, every task she gives is timed and she constantly nags about how long its taking you regardless of how hard the task may be. Putting out stock is timed, but the amount of time given to you is hard to make. I don’t mind working hard at a fast pace, but some of the tasks she requires is extreme. I worked at a previous family dollar and my task was four totes before my shift ended. She requires five totes an hour and says that’s company’s policy. She doesn’t help on register even if the line is long. She doesn’t help recover or do any stock, she doesn’t do anything, but dictate how you do your job. She doesn’t communicate well with others; most people see her as rude. As you can see the store manager is the problem with the stress at

I continued teaching for two more years until my daughter was born. During that time, I was voted for three years in a row as "Students ' favorite teacher." However, I grudgingly left teaching to be able financially to support my growing family. I started an environmental consulting business with my wife who is a biochemical engineer and was working as an environmental consultant for a firm in Orange County. For the next eighteen years, I developed and managed a successful company called Ecotek. Though, teaching was always on my mind and the part that I enjoyed the most about Ecotek was the environmental training and the presentations that I did for my clients. My three children are in college now, but four years ago I started hearing that inner voice telling me to follow my bliss. I knew that I wanted to go back to teaching, so I took several assignments as a substitute teacher to see if I have what it takes to be a good teacher. I found out quickly that I want to teach and that I enjoy it, school administrators offered me several long term substitute positions and soon enough, within a year, I left the business to my wife and started teaching biology full time at Lynwood Unified School District. It has been four happy years since I returned to the teaching profession. As a biology teacher at Firebaugh High School, I feel that

Mt. Vickson High School contains a little over 1,000 students total. It's a small high school in Connecticut that doesn't have much recognition. My last 3 years working here have been interesting. Fresh out of college, I applied for a job teaching science or math. I applied at many other schools, but the Mt. Vicks school board got back to me very quickly and offered me a choice: either honors and scholars biology or essentials and scholars algebra 1. Although both were strong suits of mine, I had been an honors student all my life and my biology teacher had inspired me to become a teacher in the first place. I knew I needed the job so I came for an interview and signed the papers. It felt right to take the job teaching junior biology. That

One positive point from your mail is your passion of teaching. Most of my friends and I myself are not really sure what we love for. With the passion, I believe whatever decision is the right one. I hope your feeling of sadness and desperation will fade soon.

It wasn’t until the end of the day that Susan pulled me aside and gave me some good advice. In her words, “People in the store are going to drive you mad. They are the pickiest, finickiest folks I’ve ever seen. But if you keep a smile on your face, keep calm and do a good job, you’ll survive the day, and we’ll get along just fine.” Even though it wasn’t exactly the greatest advice ever, it was what helped me keep my sanity the whole season I was there. I made some good friends, good money and I realized that working isn’t as easy as it seems. But all in all, it was a good job, and a good

Although I accepted the job offer that my old boss extended my way I didn’t think that I’d be in retail sales for any long period of time. I thought that it was the best decision I had especially being unemployed since moving home. In making the decision to go back into retail sales it got my parents off my back about finding a job and it also got me out of the house for a couple hours a day. At the time I was okay with going back into retail sales but I wasn't planning on it being longer term what so ever.

My family says that I should finish my studies first before working. They said it would be a struggle to pay for my car insurance, so I decided to look for a job. But that’s not the only reason why I wanted to work. I also wanted to work because I wanted to gain work experience so that it wouldn’t be hard for me when I get a job in the future. During my summer vacation, I applied to Target and had an interview. Unfortunately, I was unable to get the offer. I also applied to Century Theaters but they didn’t have a spot with my availability time. Finally, I