# Asked for 15-20 hours but was given 28?



## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

I feel like most people complaining about hours want MORE hours, but this case is the opposite haha. I have my second and last week of training this coming week, and my schedule for my first week off of training just got released. It has me working 28 hours.

In my interview, I stated I was looking for just around 15 hours a week because I’m a student taking online classes and all of that. I said 20 would be the high end of the hours there and 25 would be my absolute maximum for holidays and such. However, my very first actual week disregards that completely.

I’m going in on Monday for a training shift and plan to talk to someone then. Should I just go straight to the HR ETL? Any advice on what to say to get future weeks down to my 15? Do you think he can cut down my hours for that first scheduled week or would I need to utilize the swap board, and would the swap board be a bad look for me on my first week?


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## Black Sheep 214 (Jul 31, 2020)

If your interviewer signed off on that number of hours on your paperwork, your store should abide by it. Speak to whoever makes your schedule and make sure to let them know that you can’t work that many hours _because of school._ ASANTS but Spot usually gets in a snit when people ask for less hours, (or more hours, or schedule changes, or...you get the picture), just saying. Since the usual deterrent/ punishment is cutting your hours, it may work out o.k. for you. Good luck, hope it works out.


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## Hardlinesmaster (Jul 31, 2020)

It can change to 4 hours a week.
Hours are Based on business needs by spot.


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## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

Hardlinesmaster said:


> It can change to 4 hours a week.
> Hours are Based on business needs by spot.


Honestly, if that’s what happens, that’s what happens. It would suck but I’m not relying on this paycheck for my livelihood like a lot of people are, I’m just saving for college tuition. I’d rather these hours, that I really am not capable of doing with the online courseload that I have, go to the employees that need it. I’m fine taking the scraps lol. Even if I somehow get termed since I’m way under 90 days, I’m (hopefully) going back to campus in January and wouldn’t be able to work beyond that anyway.

Do you think my scheduled week could be cut down if I go into HR on Monday? Or would I need to utilize the swap board, and would that look bad on my first non-training week (I feel like it would)?


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## BurgerBob (Jul 31, 2020)

I wish, i dropped from 30 comfortably  to lol 30 for the next 3 weeks.


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## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

BurgerBob said:


> I wish, i dropped from 30 comfortably  to lol 30 for the next 3 weeks.


I’ll trade you! Haha


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## Hardlinesmaster (Jul 31, 2020)

It sounds like you don’t really need a job now?


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## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

Hardlinesmaster said:


> It sounds like you don’t really need a job now?


I don’t need a job in the sense that I’m well taken care of at home and everything. I need it in the sense that college is expensive and I’d much rather work now than pay loans later. That being said, I don’t need a ton of hours. 28 isn’t even close to a ton for most people, but I’m a student trying to get into a difficult school in my college and need a lot of time to be studying for courses. I’m taking courses online over the summer which is why I can’t do too many hours even now, let alone once fall quarter is underway. 15 is manageable for me and it’ll help quite a bit with tuition. If I can only get 15, hell if I can only get like 12 hours a week, that’s fine, I’m still making money and using my time effectively. Something like 4 hours as suggested would absolutely suck and I don’t prefer it because I’d be making very little money, but if that happens, it happens, I will survive and at least be able to manage my studies.


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## BoxCutter (Jul 31, 2020)

They may be giving you more hours to train you and get you up to speed on the processes in your assigned area. Give it a couple of weeks, then see how many hours you are scheduled. If after two weeks they are more than you can handle, talk to your ETL-HR and explain the situation. In any event, talk about your available hours for the holidays because they will schedule you for as many hours as they have.


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## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

BoxCutter said:


> They may be giving you more hours to train you and get you up to speed on the processes in your assigned area. Give it a couple of weeks, then see how many hours you are scheduled. If after two weeks they are more than you can handle, talk to your ETL-HR and explain the situation. In any event, talk about your available hours for the holidays because they will schedule you for as many hours as they have.


Yeah and I totally get that. I’ve been really pleased with training and everything, I’m getting 2 weeks of it which seems a lot better than most got. It’s just that I specifically mentioned I’d prefer 15 hours and my absolute max would be 25 (for the holidays and such, as you said), that was written down by my interviewer, and literally my first week disregards that completely haha. So I feel like a conversation should be had over the reasoning there.


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## Hardlinesmaster (Jul 31, 2020)

College loans should be paid sooner, than later. Just saying...
Then, add mortgage, car payment, insurance, & utilities after you move out of your parents house.


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## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

Hardlinesmaster said:


> College loans should be paid sooner, than later. Just saying...


What do you mean? I'd rather get ahead of it now and pay off at least a good amount of it, instead of having a bunch of them years after I graduate, accruing interest.

EDIT: sorry, I beat you before you edited your comment lol. Of course I'll have all of those expenses once I'm done with college, I'm only going into my second year so not a big concern at the moment, but if I'm able to study my butt off and get the degree I want, I should be able to deal with those expenses rather quickly once I graduate.


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## Hardlinesmaster (Jul 31, 2020)

You want limited hours after being a new hire. Spot may not take your request lightly. School is important now.


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## redeye58 (Jul 31, 2020)

Spot used to give TMs latitude for education but many abused it at my store.
That hurts the serious students. 
Lost count of the times I picked up coworkers' shifts who were supposed to be studying only to hear about their times in the nightclub district


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## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

Hardlinesmaster said:


> You want limited hours after being a new hire. Spot may not take your request lightly. School is important now.


Well, I told my interviewer I wanted limited hours, I would highly prefer 15 hours, 20 on the high end, with an absolute maximum of 25 for holidays and stuff. They noted that, sent me to a second interview, and hired me on. So this isn't a new request, this was a provision I was hired upon that is being ignored on my very first non-training week. If they can't promise to keep me to the agreed-upon hours, then yeah, school has to take priority and I would be resigning and going back to DoorDashing. But I do want to make this work.


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## Hardlinesmaster (Jul 31, 2020)

Talk to your hr. You come to the Internet for answers & don't like what you see. Your store will decide the schedule needs for you. They may cut you down to zero. August is a low hour month for spot.


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## redeye58 (Jul 31, 2020)

If talking to your HR or ETL doesn't help, try posting shifts to give away.
If your leadership asks about it, reiterate your request for fewer hours.


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## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

Hardlinesmaster said:


> Talk to your hr. You come to the Internet for answers & don't like what you see. Your store will decide the schedule needs for you. They may cut you down to zero. August is a low hour month for spot.


Not sure what you're getting at with "I don't like what I see". If anything, this has been pretty reaffirming and helpful. If August is a low hour month, that's fine. My concern is that my schedule has gone over not only my preferred hours, but my maximum amount of hours, and I think the general consensus is that I should talk with HR to get that fixed. A provision I was hired upon is being breached, and if Target brings me down to 0 hours for trying to ensure their end is held up, or even if they outright term me because they don't like that I'm bringing it up, so be it. No reason to be there if they won't abide by that literally from the start. No harm, no foul.

I do appreciate the help!


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## redeye58 (Jul 31, 2020)

Please forgive him.
Hardlinesmaster & others have had to deal with countless other newbies that ask questions on here then rant because they don't like the answers or info they got, completely forgetting that this is NOT a corp-sanctioned site & they should be talking to their store's leadership.
Many such threads devolve into name-calling & end up getting locked.
Either their leadership isn't approachable or they don't know how to ask so TBR is a sounding board.
As a former college grad, working during school made a huge difference in keeping my dept down & taught me the importance of time management.
I do hope you can work it out with your leaders.


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## Amanda Cantwell (Jul 31, 2020)

Just adding on. Def talk to your leader and hr. Also ask around as other ™s May want the hours.

school should ALWAYS be #1 priority


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## MtnDewCodeBlue (Jul 31, 2020)

redeye58 said:


> Please forgive him.
> Hardlinesmaster & others have had to deal with countless other newbies that ask questions on here then rant because they don't like the answers or info they got, completely forgetting that this is NOT a corp-sanctioned site & they should be talking to their store's leadership.
> Many such threads devolve into name-calling & end up getting locked.
> Either their leadership isn't approachable or they don't know how to ask so TBR is a sounding board.
> ...


I get it haha. I'm trying to be as reasonable as possible but I'm sure that isn't always the case here, can't blame him. A lot of his posts and comments helped me immensely throughout the whole application and interview process so I truly truly am grateful for him and his help, on this topic as well. And my leadership seems really approachable actually so I'm not too worried about having a word with the HR ETL about it. But....


Amanda Cantwell said:


> Just adding on. Def talk to your leader and hr. Also ask around as other ™s May want the hours.
> 
> school should ALWAYS be #1 priority


School is absolutely my #1 priority, so if Target isn't able to accommodate the agreed-upon hours, I will probably have to resign. Too much on the line in college and my future to risk over a part-time job in college.


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## dabug (Aug 1, 2020)

A friend of mine does doordash, grubhub, and bitesquad. As long as you are meticulous about logging miles and expenses, delivering food should earn you at LEAST $15 an hour. 

Second thing: Try looking at this differently. 28 hours this week, 4 hours next week. Those average to 16 hours over two weeks. Try not to get overwhelmed with one super busy week. For every week you feel overworked, you’re bound to get much lighter weeks. Balancing your spending should make the fluctuation in hours not so stressful. 

As a student myself, I work 50, sometimes 60 hours a week during the summer while taking 6 credit hours. When the normal school year comes back that will be 35 hours or so with a full time course load. ASANTS, but my store leadership doesn’t care if you wear discrete earbuds/airpods(only one of course) as long as it never interferes with your job. So, since everything is online anyways and mostly accessible by phone, I just pull up my textbooks in audiobook form etc and learn while I work


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## Fluttervale (Aug 5, 2020)

Talk to HR and your ETL.  It may be that you're only going to have a week of higher hours (someone's on vacation) or it may be that the person who writes your schedule doesn't know you only want 15.


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## Style2563 (Aug 6, 2020)

At my store particularly in the Style department people would talk to the ETL Style about scheduling. We have a few students in Style and of course their schedule changes every new semester. Our ETL right now is pretty good at working out on a schedule that works for everyone in Style.
When I was a student, I had a set schedule and I think it’s easier to manage the hours they can give you. Like at that time I only wanted to work 15-16 hours a week so I decided to give up my weekend and only be available Saturday and Sunday. Luckily they will give me the full 8 hours shift so I can totally get the 16 hours easily. And with having a set schedule, if they try to schedule me more hours on a day I am unavailable I can let them know that it’s outside my availability and they will delete that schedule if I report about it. But if they scheduled me outside my availability and don’t mind working I will go ahead and do the shift. But it didnt happen to often.


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## nodramallama (Aug 11, 2020)

when i was hired i told them i was looking for full time and they told me it was, turns out spot doesn't do full time employment and i got 5 hrs my first week....


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## nicnispa106 (Aug 11, 2020)

Style2563 said:


> At my store particularly in the Style department people would talk to the ETL Style about scheduling. We have a few students in Style and of course their schedule changes every new semester. Our ETL right now is pretty good at working out on a schedule that works for everyone in Style.
> When I was a student, I had a set schedule and I think it’s easier to manage the hours they can give you. Like at that time I only wanted to work 15-16 hours a week so I decided to give up my weekend and only be available Saturday and Sunday. Luckily they will give me the full 8 hours shift so I can totally get the 16 hours easily. And with having a set schedule, if they try to schedule me more hours on a day I am unavailable I can let them know that it’s outside my availability and they will delete that schedule if I report about it. But if they scheduled me outside my availability and don’t mind working I will go ahead and do the shift. But it didnt happen to often.



I want my etl style back 😭😭😭


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## Hardlinesmaster (Aug 12, 2020)

nodramallama said:


> when i was hired i told them i was looking for full time and they told me it was, turns out spot doesn't do full time employment and i got 5 hrs my first week....


Spot wants part timers, not full timers. Hours are based on business needs & sales.


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## happygoth (Aug 12, 2020)

It's amazing to me that interviewers promising full-time hours seems to be such a widespread issue throughout the company. I was also told during my interview by my future TL that they could "get me close to 40 hours". 😂

TLs/ETLs, come clean  - are you all told to say this or is it pure coincidence?


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## Black Sheep 214 (Aug 12, 2020)

happygoth said:


> It's amazing to me that interviewers promising full-time hours seems to be such a widespread issue throughout the company. I was also told during my interview by my future TL that they could "get me close to 40 hours". 😂
> 
> TLs/ETLs, come clean  - are you all told to say this or is it pure coincidence?


Sorry your future TL told you that whopper. ASANTS, and this was before Modernization, but I was not told to say that and I never did.  I was not about to lie to somebody during an interview to lure them into Spot and then screw them over later. I did lose a couple of interviewees who were looking for full time, but at least they knew the truth at the outset, unlike those new hires who had been lied to and quit soon after receiving their 4 hour a week schedules. I think some leaders lie to meet their quotas, some because they are desperate to fill positions, some don’t want to deliver any bad news, and some are just asshats who will say anything to anyone to get what they want. Spot would be better off if integrity was valued over expediency during the interview process. No wonder turnover is so high!


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## Yetive (Aug 12, 2020)

Definitely not told to do this, in fact, I always say 20/25.  People with retail experience will say that they can always pick up hours, and I always say not to count on. It.


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## happygoth (Aug 13, 2020)

To be fair to my (now-former) TL, they had just taken over Style, which was very broken, and I don't think they were being deliberately shady. They would have been glad to give me all the hours I wanted but their hands were tied, especially after Modernization kicked in.


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## seasonaldude (Aug 13, 2020)

My ETL was completely honest in the interview and asked what the minimum number hours I could accept was because they weren't always going to be able to give 40 hours a week. I worked hard and earned the hours though so now I get them.


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## Far from newbie (Aug 13, 2020)

I am always very clear that hardly anyone gets 40 hrs (even our TL’s get 37) and MOST TM’s average 15.  I do say the more you learn the more areas you can cover and pick up but no amount of hours is guaranteed.  Waste of time to onboard and train to have them quit.  I have NEVER been TOLD to say anything specific in an interview other than “Thank you for applying, you will receive an email from us in about a week with our decision”.


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## Nauzhror (Aug 26, 2020)

Far from newbie said:


> I am always very clear that hardly anyone gets 40 hrs (even our TL’s get 37) and MOST TM’s average 15.  I do say the more you learn the more areas you can cover and pick up but no amount of hours is guaranteed.  Waste of time to onboard and train to have them quit.  I have NEVER been TOLD to say anything specific in an interview other than “Thank you for applying, you will receive an email from us in about a week with our decision”.



TL's getting 37 amazes me. I thought they were guaranteed 40 everywhere. I don't get a guaranteed 40, but I'm usually not too far off, especially after the swap board.

Scheduled 36.5, 33, 40, 33.5 the past 4 weeks, after raiding swap board that became 36.5, 40, 40, 38.25.


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