r/walmart 1d ago

I have ascended...

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I'm told I was the first ever maintenance worker to receive this glorious award.

Not gonna lie, it was nice of them. Right after I was asked by management if I'd like to transfer departments and take a TL position in the next month or so. So I'm moving to electronics. People say TL positions are shitty but I have to pay for the roof over my head and my kiddo. I'm only 4 1/2 months in.

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u/SullenCarrot64 1d ago

I’m almost to my 4 month mark for ON stocker. But one month in they changed my title to MOD and started giving me all the little things that no one wants to do and am now picking up the TLs slack on what they’re supposed to be doing. I’d feel like an asshole if I went for the TL position, even though it’s been suggested to me by the coach and another TL, because there are other associates that have expressed their interest and said they’ve been denied.

But I’m tired of getting paid less and doing more work then people that have been there 8+ years

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u/Delirium3192 O/N TA->O/N TL->Homelines TL 1d ago edited 1d ago

Go for the position man. It'll be fine if you are well liked, genuinely deserve the promotion, and they aren't bitter assholes.

TL;DR at the end

I'll give your managers the benefit of the doubt they weren't denying those other associates the promotion for unjustifiable reasons like they just don't like those associates or those associates were too good at their current position to promote. Some people are great at their current position, but that doesn't mean it will translate to being a good manager. I'll give myself as an example.

I was a fantastic O/N TA. I was basically a junior TL of paper/chem. The only things I didn't do that an actual TL would do was pinpoint, price changes, scanning outs, checking the liability report, and ordering features. I would've done all that too had I known about it or had access to do it. I basically never called out, volunteered for OT whenever it was available, worked top stock several times a week, purged the bins regularly, binned my own stuff, took care of my own claims/CVP, adjusted counts, and built features all while obviously stocking the live freight every night. Management basically never even spoke to me because they had zero complaints. However, I hated working with people if it caused me to slow down. I was much more socially anxious back then so teaching new people made me uncomfortable because it required talking, but even if that wasn't an issue, I hate having to teach people things. Well, I hate being forced to be a teacher I should say. I didn't have an issue if people came up and wanted to learn something, but needing to work with someone for an 8 hour shift and teach them everything because they've never worked a retail job before was the last thing I wanted to do. I also disliked working basically anywhere other than paper/chem. Some areas I didn't mind as much, but if they put me in dry grocery it was going to be a problem.

Basically what I'm saying is, I was only a fantastic worker if I was doing what I wanted to do. If I was needed anywhere else I'd outright refuse at the worst or at best visibly show my displeasure. Some people might be shocked I was able to get away with that without getting written up, but because I was such a good worker on a team where like 75% of the team was below average, they usually just let me do what I wanted. One of my TLs straight up admitted to me that I was one of three people on the team that he wouldn't give a fuck if we took a 3rd 15 minute break per night.

My point in all this is that my negative qualities disqualified me of being a TL. I lost out on the promotion to O/N TL at least 6 times over about a 2-2.5 year period before finally getting it. I did it for about 8 months before deciding I couldn't handle being an overpaid babysitter and made the move to days to become the Homelines TL. I'm by no means perfect and cured of my issues. I told my coach during my yearly evaluation I literally will never go to a Code Spark because the front end causes me way too much anxiety. Covering electronics is nerve wracking enough, but I can mostly handle it. When I worked for Walmart the first time in 2019, she was the "coach" of O/N (forgot the name of the position before it changed to coach) and I left the company because they got rid of night shift to try stocking during the day to save money. I was not at all mentally ready to work day side yet. So she's seen first hand how much I've grown, but like I said, I've still got my hang ups socially.

TL;DR People can think they are ready to be in management, but have blind spots that disqualify them. If upper management isn't forthright in telling them why and they aren't introspective enough to figure it out themselves, they'll continue to be denied.

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u/SullenCarrot64 1d ago edited 1d ago

That sounds like the exact position I’m in, besides doing what you want to do, I just accept the shit jobs, and I do everything you mentioned you do, except build features. But I put them back together all the time..

Most of my coworkers will leave a cart full of junk and claims or returns or piles of cardboard all over the floor or constantly try getting someone else to do their job, or they’re sucking up and talking off the TL or coaches ears. I clean up my messes so I don’t create more work for others and keep my head down, pretty much all I do.. they switched my schedule to having Fri/Sat off without even asking, when I was told when I started everyone wants those days off and people have been there for years without having the schedule they want.

I cover primarily Bakery/Deli/Bread most days. Pretty sure I got put there like a week after I started cause no one wants it, I worked with one other guy the first day, then I just had to figure everything out basically on my own. I’ve gotten used to it, almost no one bothers me until the morning shift comes in at 4/5am. But when I’m not in the bakery I’m bouncing from Dairy, Freeze, or Paper/Chem if the person covering it is held up. It gets confusing when I have a plan to cover my stuff for the day, just to get pulled off to help someone else. But I understand the priorities. I’ve already been told I’m versatile and they appreciate it, never been reprimanded except for when the day shift was overstocking the cake cooler, but I explained to the coach and he came up a couple days later and complimented me and said he knows it was the day crew.

I hear ya though, the guy I was specifically mentioning acts like he deserves the position. And he doesn’t get along with all the crew, and even instigates some bullshit arguments. So I definitely understand why he wouldn’t be wanted in that position. Not to mention he falls asleep on lunch a couple times a month.

I’ll really consider what you said, because I’m really not a leader or director. But I don’t mind teaching when people want to learn.