# Asked to do carts but not a CA



## targetlies

Is it against policy for TLs to ask different TMs to do carts even though none of us are CA/FSA and nowhere near the job title/description? Plus, we were told not to use the pusher because we are not certified to use it. Now I’m assuming OSHA certifications have a higher pay rate and therefore TLs are responsible for the equipment not to be misused and/or hire a designated CA. Just wondering about anyone’s else experience with this, TIA.


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## Anelmi

They ask you to get carts, you get carts. You don't need a pusher. It's not hard to go out in the parking lot, grab a few, push them together and push them inside. 

You go and do whatever your TL needs you to do. That's why you see GM TMs on the checklanes and cashiers doing abandoned or Style covering Electronics or anyone pushing freight or doing fulfillment. Needs of the business and all that.


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## targetlies

Never stated it was hard task but simply an unnecessary workload that doesn’t apply to my job description, otherwise I would’ve applied for CA. Everyone needs to be ethically treated fairly to their capabilities and not as a mindless drone.


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## happygoth

Oh


targetlies said:


> Never stated it was hard task but simply an unnecessary workload that doesn’t apply to my job description, otherwise I would’ve applied for CA. Everyone needs to be ethically treated fairly to their capabilities and not as a mindless drone.


Oh, you sweet summer child!


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## MrT

Its not that serious go spend time getting carts. id say probably 80% of tms that are there for more then a year and probably every tm that is physically capable and probably some that aren't that are up front have grabbed some carts.


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## sunnydays

targetlies said:


> Never stated it was hard task but simply an unnecessary workload that doesn’t apply to my job description, otherwise I would’ve applied for CA. Everyone needs to be ethically treated fairly to their capabilities and not as a mindless drone.


here’s how i treat everyone fairly: go get some fucking carts just like everyone else does instead of making it the responsibility of one or two people

my goodness would you like some cheese with that whine? your job description literally says support the business as needed in other departments, if you’re asked to go get carts go get some ding dang carts


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## SallyHoover

targetlies said:


> Never stated it was hard task but simply an unnecessary workload that doesn’t apply to my job description, otherwise I would’ve applied for CA. Everyone needs to be ethically treated fairly to their capabilities and not as a mindless drone.


They use to show a video about how great it is not to have a union because if you need to help out in another department you can.  Unlike unionized jobs where you can't be asked to do something that isn't specifically in your job description.  If you become the de facto cart person 80% of the time that is the time to complain.  Even then the answer might be if you want the hours this is what we have available.   Being asked to do it in a pinch is not something to complain or worry about.   I'm an older cashier and I've done carts both in specific Saturday crunch periods between CA shifts and during a snowy weather call out situation for most of my shift.  They do ask young male cashier/drive up before others but anyone will do in a pinch.  I have said no when it was nighttime and wet and I wasn't dressed (nor will I wear unwashed community clothes) for the weather.  
If you haven't had to do the work of another position for at least part of a shift then you haven't been at Target long enough.


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## targetlies

SallyHoover said:


> They use to show a video about how great it is not to have a union because if you need to help out in another department you can.  Unlike unionized jobs where you can't be asked to do something that isn't specifically in your job description.  If you become the de facto cart person 80% of the time that is the time to complain.  Even then the answer might be if you want the hours this is what we have available.   Being asked to do it in a pinch is not something to complain or worry about.   I'm an older cashier and I've done carts both in specific Saturday crunch periods between CA shifts and during a snowy weather call out situation for most of my shift.  They do ask young male cashier/drive up before others but anyone will do in a pinch.  I have said no when it was nighttime and wet and I wasn't dressed (nor will I wear unwashed community clothes) for the weather.
> If you haven't had to do the work of another position for at least part of a shift then you haven't been at Target long enough.


Tysm I appreciate this respectful answer. They were asking me to do it for my full shift, mind you I never had a problem gathering rogue carts around inside the store as I’ve done countless times. The issue is being the designated gopher when I barely pass the height requirement on roller coaster rides 🥲


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## Hardlinesmaster

If you want hours take the shift. If not, call off or use swap shift.
I get carts & not front end.


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## CrosstrainInsane

It is in your job description… 
“All other duties as assigned.”
You work for Target.


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## redeye58

I've seen my SD throw on a safety vest & haul carts in.
If they can do it, anyone at my store can do it (barring a medical exemption).


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## Luck

I personally enjoyed doing carts once in awhile. Its really not that bad. You dont have to deal with guests that much, you can out in some earbuds and listen to music, and you get some sunshine in. 
I just wouldn't want to be a dedicated CA.


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## DBZ

Luck said:


> I personally enjoyed doing carts once in awhile. Its really not that bad. You dont have to deal with guests that much, you can out in some earbuds and listen to music, and you get some sunshine in.
> I just wouldn't want to be a dedicated CA.



earbuds would put you on a CA. It's a safety violation.


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## Zxy123456

Were you asked or just scheduled to do it. If they asked that’s great because they don’t even have to ask they can just schedule. You can say no but, don’t be surprised if your hours get cut.


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## Noiinteam

We use to have a leader call out on walkie "cart party" and anyone and everyone would go out and get 6 carts each. No big deal


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## Rarejem

Noiinteam said:


> We use to have a leader call out on walkie "cart party" and anyone and everyone would go out and get 6 carts each. No big deal


Same.  The front of store attendant also gets breaks and lunches and, amazingly, guests still want carts! Powered equipment training is required for nearly every tm, though the CA and other FOS tms may be the only ones with pusher training. You can't use any powered equipment without training and there is no extra pay for learning how to use the equipment necessary to do a task. You do get to use it on your resume as a skill, though.


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## Luck

DBZ said:


> earbuds would put you on a CA. It's a safety violation.


Only if you are caught! Its autumn. Put on a beanie.


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## IhateOPmodel

targetlies said:


> Is it against policy for TLs to ask different TMs to do carts even though none of us are CA/FSA and nowhere near the job title/description? Plus, we were told not to use the pusher because we are not certified to use it. Now I’m assuming OSHA certifications have a higher pay rate and therefore TLs are responsible for the equipment not to be misused and/or hire a designated CA. Just wondering about anyone’s else experience with this, TIA.


Target is not a union, all jobs are able to and expected to be  completed by anyone.  I have seen 70 year old women/men get carts.  Be a team player and quit trying to use OSHA as an excuse to get out of something, they are too busy trying to figure out how in the world they are going to enforce the vaccine mandate.

It's funny that you think getting trained on the cart machine which literally takes 15 minutes to learn and become comfortable with would deserve extra pay!


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## Zxy123456

Luck said:


> Only if you are caught! Its autumn. Put on a beanie.


I have hearing aids with blue tooth so, I could totally get away with it.


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## NotCynicalYet

Enjoy the break from your usual duties. If you're being asked to get carts, the team needs your help. Please be helpful!


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## qmosqueen

Do as Jesus does go get carts


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## Hope4Future

I disagree and I think that while being a team player can help you get more shifts, sometimes you get taken advantage of when they ask you repeatedly to get carts. It's not just getting carts, it's also being asked to clean the restrooms or any spills and I can understand why team members wouldn't want to deal with that. 

At my old store, there was an older checkout advocate who had been at the store for 12+ years and he never had do get carts. He just said "I don't do carts" when I asked if he could swap shifts with me once.


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## NKG

I couldn't find it but the job description for all positions used to say " may be asked to do other tasks" carts fall into that


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## Rarejem

Hope4Future said:


> I disagree and I think that while being a team player can help you get more shifts, sometimes you get taken advantage of when they ask you repeatedly to get carts. It's not just getting carts, it's also being asked to clean the restrooms or any spills and I can understand why team members wouldn't want to deal with that.
> 
> At my old store, there was an older checkout advocate who had been at the store for 12+ years and he never had do get carts. He just said "I don't do carts" when I asked if he could swap shifts with me once.


My guess is he put in his cart time during those 12+ years. I am in the "I don't unload the trailer" club after 15 years of doing it.  Also, since he was an "older" advocate there may be restrictions on certain physically demanding jobs that you aren't aware of and aren't your business.


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## 60SecondsRemaining

targetlies said:


> Never stated it was hard task but simply an unnecessary workload that doesn’t apply to my job description, otherwise I would’ve applied for CA. Everyone needs to be ethically treated fairly to their capabilities and not as a mindless drone.



You're gonna have a very hard time in your life with this attitude.

Get used to this phrase - "all other duties as assigned"

You're going to see it in every job you have forever.

If you're physically capable of helping it behooves you to just go do it - at a minimum just to be a team player.

Edit:

Just saw your other post about it being an entire shift.  This may be a little different, but in general you should get used to the idea of being a mindless drone.  Because that is what you are, to Target and 99% of the rest of the employers out there.  It's harsh and it sucks, but it's reality.  Consider it a motivator to move up in the world.


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## targetlies

Is it against policy for TLs to ask different TMs to do carts even though none of us are CA/FSA and nowhere near the job title/description? Plus, we were told not to use the pusher because we are not certified to use it. Now I’m assuming OSHA certifications have a higher pay rate and therefore TLs are responsible for the equipment not to be misused and/or hire a designated CA. Just wondering about anyone’s else experience with this, TIA.


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## DBZ

Anyone else cringe when they see this title? I've had to get carts more times then I can count and I am not a cart attendant. We need carts for our guests and that's why I get them even though I hate it. Everyone at the front end who is physically capable can be asked to get carts. We've had to have people from GM do it as well. Our SETLs get carts and so do a few other TLs and our ETL. Our former SD would also get carts.


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## commiecorvus

targetlies said:


> Is it against policy for TLs to ask different TMs to do carts even though none of us are CA/FSA and nowhere near the job title/description? Plus, we were told not to use the pusher because we are not certified to use it. Now I’m assuming OSHA certifications have a higher pay rate and therefore TLs are responsible for the equipment not to be misused and/or hire a designated CA. Just wondering about anyone’s else experience with this, TIA.



Short answer, no.
Long answer, the managers can ask you to do anything that meet the needs of the store unless you have a disability that keeps you from doing it or you lack the training. You don't need a pusher to go get carts.


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## Hope4Future

Rarejem said:


> My guess is he put in his cart time during those 12+ years. I am in the "I don't unload the trailer" club after 15 years of doing it.  Also, since he was an "older" advocate there may be restrictions on certain physically demanding jobs that you aren't aware of and aren't your business.


So you get special privileges because you've been at Target for 10+ years? No wonder the turnover for cart attendants (and in general) is so high since no one wants to get stuck with cart duties by themselves. I've seen cart attendants get berated if there aren't enough carts left and also get disciplined for nearly hitting compliance but if they went on meal earlier, there wouldn't have been enough carts left. I should have been clearer, I wish that there was more than one cart attendant at a time so it would have been easier for them to complete all of their duties appropriately. 

I still remember an incident when one of our cart attendants became openly frustrated with being asked to clean the bathrooms by an SETL. This SETL was so lazy and she could have cleaned the bathrooms but because she didn't want to, he ended up having to do it. I even offered to help him but I couldn't since I was assigned to carts and baskets and I couldn't leave my position.


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## Rarejem

Hope4Future said:


> So you get special privileges because you've been at Target for 10+ years? No wonder the turnover for cart attendants (and in general) is so high since no one wants to get stuck with cart duties by themselves. I've seen cart attendants get berated if there aren't enough carts left and also get disciplined for nearly hitting compliance but if they went on meal earlier, there wouldn't have been enough carts left. I should have been clearer, I wish that there was more than one cart attendant at a time so it would have been easier for them to complete all of their duties appropriately.
> 
> I still remember an incident when one of our cart attendants became openly frustrated with being asked to clean the bathrooms by an SETL. This SETL was so lazy and she could have cleaned the bathrooms but because she didn't want to, he ended up having to do it. I even offered to help him but I couldn't since I was assigned to carts and baskets and I couldn't leave my position.


No special privileges, but just because you never saw this person do a particular job does not mean that they have never done it.  Again, you do not know their personal limitations and it is not your business. Why am I in the "I don't unload the trailer" club?  A serious injury on the job prevents me from lifting and pushing above a certain weight. It's nobody's business what my health conditions are except my leaders nor do I judge others who may or may not have other reasons. Nobody is under any obligation to cover your shift.  You asked and it was answered. An SETL doesn't have to clean a restroom, but does have to make sure that an appropriately trained person does. The SETL is your boss, like him/her/they or not. It's not like the FOS attendant was told to cover the barista or receiver break or to set rear seasonal or meet with the vendor in market.  Restrooms are part of the job!  I seriously will never understand the number of people that post that they are offended for being asked or told to do the job that they are hired to do and worry about others who they don't think work as hard as they do.


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## happygoth

I've helped get carts a couple of times but I'm only able to push three at a time max. I did a really big load once and almost passed out, lol. With my asthma and lack of physical conditioning, my stamina is shit. I can handle an eight hour day running around the store, occasionally lifting things, but no way would I be able to do a shift getting carts or throwing a truck.


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## Hope4Future

Rarejem said:


> No special privileges, but just because you never saw this person do a particular job does not mean that they have never done it.  Again, you do not know their personal limitations and it is not your business. Why am I in the "I don't unload the trailer" club?  A serious injury on the job prevents me from lifting and pushing above a certain weight. It's nobody's business what my health conditions are except my leaders nor do I judge others who may or may not have other reasons. Nobody is under any obligation to cover your shift.  You asked and it was answered. An SETL doesn't have to clean a restroom, but does have to make sure that an appropriately trained person does. The SETL is your boss, like him/her/they or not. It's not like the FOS attendant was told to cover the barista or receiver break or to set rear seasonal or meet with the vendor in market.  Restrooms are part of the job!  I seriously will never understand the number of people that post that they are offended for being asked or told to do the job that they are hired to do and worry about others who they don't think work as hard as they do.


I agree that you should listen to your boss in general. However, this SETL was such a problem and so disliked by everyone that when I put in my two weeks notice, my ETL-HR begged me to stay by informing me that said SETL wouldn't be here for a few months because she would be on LOA. Maybe she was desperate since turnover was so high but that tells me that the SETL wasn't meeting expectations properly and it led to other team members became frustrated dealing with her and resentful about their workload.
By the same token, I've been called and asked to cover carts for my shift even though I was scheduled service advocate. I shouldn't be under any obligation to say yes although my ETL-SE would pressure me and ask why I couldn't fill in.
Edit: Just for clarification, I was a checkout advocate so I wasn't scheduled regularly as a front of store attendant.


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## BurgerBob

I even got carts and i work electronics. And we are typically  not asked t o leave tech.   Hell if I'm delivering  a TV to a car I'll grab one or two carts on the way back in.


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## Rarejem

Hope4Future said:


> By the same token, I've been called and asked to cover carts for my shift even though I was scheduled service advocate.


At our store, all FOS are trained for all jobs.  Even if you're scheduled as a service advocate, you are FOS and may be moved to another FOS area. Same is true for GM, market, style. If you are trained for any of those areas, you should not be surprised if you are asked to help out in an area other than your "usual". Frozen may be moved to dry market, kitchen moved to dec home, NIT moved to mens... doesn't matter. That's your team. If you don't get that, then you made the right choice to give your notice.  With regard to your lead not being there due to LOA, all that says is that she will be on LOA.  LOA is her choice; nobody makes you go on LOA for not meeting expectations. If you don't meet expectations you go on to the next job.


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## Hope4Future

At this point, I don't see any reason to continue this conversation. Like I said, I've already put in my two weeks notice and I've got a lot of other things to worry about. OP has probably already resolved this issue one way or the other and all I wanted to do was provide another perspective.


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## Captain Orca

My old STL used to sling carts.  I pushed carts.  Just do the damned carts and don't whine.


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## Captain Orca

One day last week I went to Costco, there were carts all over the parking lot!  Must have been some call outs.


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## Unleashed Dog

I understand the front end’s struggles with getting carts sometimes. And if they ask my team to get them, I go out there with my team and fucking get them. We tag team it and get it over with quickly. Whole store has to support one another fairly. Not acting like something is not your job all the time just because it’s not your home department. Sometimes you do have to set your foot down. Others you have to be fair.


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## Bonzo

It's not the good 'ol days anymore in ANY company, where you simply do your descripted job duties and nothing else.


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## Hope4Future

Bonzo said:


> It's not the good 'ol days anymore in ANY company, where you simply do your descripted job duties and nothing else.


Sorry if this is a stupid question but when do you think things changed and companies added requirements like "other duties as assigned"? I'm 27 and I don't have too much experience with the job market outside of Target.


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## sunnydays

Hope4Future said:


> Sorry if this is a stupid question but when do you think things changed and companies added requirements like "other duties as assigned"? I'm 27 and I don't have too much experience with the job market outside of Target.


50000000 years ago


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## Ashfromoldsite

It’s always been that way. (Worked at target since early 90s til 2021)


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## Hope4Future

Ashfromoldsite said:


> It’s always been that way. (Worked at target since early 90s til 2021)


Darn, even if I went back in time to the early 1900s, I couldn't find a job that didn't have that requirement . Oh well, I'll just have to keep plugging along and try to find a new position that is a fit.


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