Observations on the Workplace

So, I have a new job. I unload the truck and stock the shelves (hopefully more of the latter than of the former in the future) at Target. After one day of this, I have concluded, at least temporarily, that this is okay. However, being me, I am considering this less a way to make an extra hundred or hundred and fifty bucks a week than as a way to observe people in a new setting which I previously didn't have access to. I mean, it's both of those things, really, but damn it, I like observing people!

Target, being a huge company, likes to run itself as much like a well-oiled machine as possible. Things are pretty precisely timed, that much was apparent immediately. You have exactly this long, down to the minute, to finish unloading the truck. You have exactly this long to finish stocking the shelves. They know exactly how many people they will need to make sure these things will be done exactly at this time. I checked the clock; we finished unloading the truck at exactly 7:30. I checked again; we were done stocking at 10 on the nose. Well-oiled machine. Okay, that's not unexpected. What was more interesting to me was the sorts of people working within this well-oiled machine. I am part of what the company calls the Flow Team, whatever that means. There are probably a couple dozen of us, roughly two-thirds male, roughly two-thirds in my general age bracket. Most of about my age are probably students or are working at Target as a second job (or perhaps both). Without knowing for sure, I'd guess that I'm probably the most educated person on the team. No judgment there, just an observation. It's a pretty eclectic mix of people, anyway. One of them is Rick's brother, of all things, and he looks pretty well like Willie Nelson and acts about as you might expect of someone with such an appearance.

The point is, it's not the sort of people you would expect to be part of a calculating machine. I guess that's the nature of people in such a position. Your lower-tiered workers aren't really interested in the company running smoothly and efficiently; they're just in it for the paycheck, and they might as well have as good a time as possible while working. It's the same sort of thing I saw while working at Hollywood Video, though nobody would every accuse that company of being a well-oiled machine.

Eh, this is what I do. Well, that and get up way too early in the morning to go to work. So this is what it's like to have a job...