Blog #171  I talked about Zappos calls again in 2002. In this blog I want to talk about learning from George and Charles.

Target had different ETL’s for each of the areas. There were quite a few in the Hard-lines area since it was so big. I had the Soft-line’s area by myself and there was a Logistics ETL and a HR ETL. We didn’t usually see much of the Logistics ETL as he liked to work graveyard with his team which was by choice. The other ETL’s and I all got along really well. Our HR ETL, Theresa was a crack up. Very cynical and direct, so we got along just fine. There were three Hard-lines ETL’s  but the main Hard-lines ETL was Charles. I probably learned the most from him but had great relations with the other two as well.

Charles

Charles was a very A-type personality. Very direct with people, wasn’t mean but wasn’t too warm either. He usually treated people with respect though and everyone liked him. If he looked over his glasses then you knew he meant business. Normally he would start with a “Rebeccaaaa, you know how this is supposed to look like….Soooooo when will this be corrected”. Never talked to me like that but it was a little comical to watch. Always had good intentions and had a big heart. Plus he was an encyclopedia of knowledge. Knew Target left and right, forwards and backwards. I learned a lot from him and he even taught me and certified me on the fork-lift.

One thing Target was about was clean & stocked floors,  so that basically was our job to make sure that happened. Every day… ETL’s would usually have a walkie on one side of the belt and a LRT holster on the other side. We used those to scan the barcodes to create a fill order to get out to the floor. The team leads would be responsible for this mostly but the ETL had to make sure it was executed.

Getting to the store itself was a chore being in Dublin. My family lived between San Jose and the Pleasanton area, so I had the Silicon Valley traffic to deal with. It took a good hour sometimes to get to work. We usually started our day in the store at 7 so I had to be on the road by 6am.

George

Another thing with Target, everything revolved around the truck shipments every day. Sometimes it would be one truck other days two. There was never a day that there wasn’t much to do. Every day was a busy day. George made it all ok. He was such a great guy. I’d rank him with some of the other mentors I’ve had in my career. It was a different business but his people skills were unmatched. I think he could sell anything to anyone. Yes, he was that good.

George had a smile that was super warm and very authentic. Always took his time to explain things to everyone so they understood. Even when he was mad, it was ok. You just knew he wasn’t happy and wanted to turn that around. There wasn’t one person who disliked him. Talk about a great sense of humor too, we laughed often when together and really enjoyed each other’s company.

This made me stay. The job itself wasn’t that great but I sure enjoyed working with him. Until I figured out what else I’d do he made it ok to work there. It just wasn’t very fulfilling, something was missing. Did I miss the shoe business?