Keeping it Brand, Part 10

*I work at Target. You know, the store. And I’ve worked at Target for the past ten years, on and off. During my experience at Target I’ve learned so many different things about the store, about people who work there, about people who shop there, and how it is so much different from all the other retail stores out there. We aren’t employees; we are all team members. And we don’t serve customers; we serve guests. The biggest difference is the culture, the language, and the atmosphere of the store, which I’ve expounded about in this series. It’s all about Keeping it Brand.

I told someone about the coupon faeries the other day at work, and they looked at me like I had just grown three additional heads. Then a new team member asked me to help her with a guest who needed to find something. Later on that same day I had a rousing discussion about the new signing we had gotten in to highlight the summer experience (even though we’re setting Back to School within the next couple of weeks). Those are the discussions I love to have, with guests, with fellow (and female) team members, and with other people about the experiences I have.

One of the big things recently has been the volunteering experience. Target is huge on volunteer hours, and our store leads the district by a big margin when it comes to giving up our time to support causes. I was lucky to be involved in the Relay For Life this year, arriving at the event in the wee hours of the morning to see the place rocking. It was just so much fun, with a sense of camaraderie not only between the team members but also between us and the others who were also there for the 24-hour period. Plus, we were able to raise a lot of money with raffles and the sale of food, not to mention the donations too, to support a great cause.

Then just a couple of days ago a large group of team members helped to paint over graffiti in the city for the Day of Action. I wasn’t there, but I felt like I was with all the excited talk surrounding it when they returned. That’s how to keep it Brand even when we’re not in the store.

Conversations I’ve had in the store this past week:

“You guys have the best berries, and your prices are very reasonable.”

“It’s highway robbery what’s happened with butter lately! I mean, $2.79 for butter?!”

“Are you gonna get any bigger watermelons in?”

“You seen the new watermelon-flavored Oreos yet?”

“How cold is it in that freezer?”

“You did that all by yourself?”

And I was serious before about the coupon faeries. I actually saw one at work this past week, too, even though they’re supposed to be ultra-secretive. I was so excited when I witnessed it that I told every single person I ran into contact with later that day, team members and guests alike. That’s the other thing about being a Target team member. Not only do I get to talk to so many different people in one day, I am encouraged to do so. I can’t tell you about every single moment in every single day when I get to have really great conversations with strangers.

When they express surprise that I can spend so much time with them, and talking to them, I just tell them I’m Keeping it Brand. Because I am.

Sam