My family was harrassed by an employee at the target in newburgh new york.

All over the USA Target emplpoyees are rude,every store you go in and
Target dosen't seem to care.If you call to comment or complain they
are always on the offensive.Rude, crude and undereducated.

Isn't it just a bit possible that you are a bit over-sensitive about
the "race" thing? Please don't get me wrong. But the way I am
reading it, is that in the past, you WERE hassassed and followed in a
store because of your race. Now, in THIS case, you might have been
looking like you needed some help. So the employ waited until you
looked really lost and asked if you needed help. And becaues you were
harrassed in the PAST you felt she was doing the same thing.

Define "asked me with an attitude"? What kind of attitude? If she
said it with a smile, then that was a "Cheerfull" attitude.

Also, if you hate the place so bad DON'T GO BACK FOR ANYTHING! All
you are telling Target is, "Well, I'm not happy, but I will keep
giving you my money." They are not going to do anything. They are
still getting your money. The only way you are going to "hurt" them
is to NOT go there. I have had a few places (Fred Meyer and a McD's)
that I have had so many problems with them that I haven't and wont
ever go back. STOP GOING!

I wanna hear more about the girl that followed you around. She sounds
kind of hot. The next time she harasses you, find out if she is single
for me.

for this company. For heaven's sake, everything from pilfering CD's,
witholding shopping bags, not helping the photo customers, not helping
the elderly use the restroom, not releasing security tapes for
customer review. Wasn't there a flat tire incident also? That was a
knee slapper. An "emergency". My, my. I feel sorry for them. This
is probably a small sample of what they get thrown at them. The
implication that an employee remembered your husband (who wasn't even
with you because you said you and he split up before shoipping) from
the horrifying incident a few days earlier, and withheld one of his
shopping bags out of spite, is really too much for me to accept. I'm
sorry, but the truth is the truth. If you were so offended, why in
the world would you go back and support their clearance section?

hahah i find it funny that you say "i WAS going to buy over 200.00 in
gift cards this christmas, but after this horrible treatment, {I will
only buy from their clearance section}..".. yea THAT tells them
something... haha

is one thing, but putting the bags on the floor! I will tell you,
sometimes people have SO MANY ITEMS, that the cashier runs out of
space to put things and it is easier for the cashier to put the bags
in the floor by him/her so that when the total is read, the cashier
can put the items in the shopping cart. I have done this many times
when working at WalMart. This was not a supercenter with the twirling
shopping bags.

My aunt married a man from Kuwait and my cousins take after him in
coloring and height. Even if someone is in doubt about their
ethnicity, once they hear their names there is no doubt that yes, they
are Arabic.

Obviously, after 9-11, we were all concerned about the girls, who were
young teenagers at the time. Now, we are all very proud of them
because they handle the stares and rude questions with poise and
grace. They don't let people harrass them, why do you?

There is a very easy way of dealing with harrassment when it comes in
the form of stares and questions. Be yourself. :) Don't be ashamed of
your ethnicity or the color of your skin or your accent and don't let
others shame you either. Yes, I'm white, but like I've said, I have
family that is Arab, friends who are Native American and live in an
area with a large percentage of Hispanics. I've been in places where
I'm the only one with pale eyes and darned if I didn't feel like a
long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs. :)

Now...not so much. If someone has a problem with me, then they have a
problem with me and there's not a lot I can do about it.

The key is - I don't have a problem with it.

Eleanor Roosevelt said something about how people can only treat you
badly if you let them treat you badly. (I can't remember the exact
wording, but that is the gist.)

By letting them run you out of the store and consigning yourself to
the clearance section....you are letting them treat you badly. Just my
2 cents.

My husband is Hispanic. One of our daughters looks Hispanic and the
other could pass for Italian, White or Hispanic with her features.

When I shop with my daughters we are not harrassed. I am white and
speak with a soft Southern accent.

When my husband shops with our girls he AND they get harrassed and
WATCHED. One of our daughters was trying on shoes and an employee
stood about 3 feet away and was asking her, "Do you need help?" over
and over. She was very upset and ended up crying at home.

On another occasion my husband was looking at sneakers and an employee
stood over him 'arranging' the shoes. He decided not to buy the
sneakers and was very angry but said nothing. When he came home he was
VERY upset. He said to us, "I make ten times what that woman makes and
she stood over me like a dog."

We have decided NOT to support ANY Target stores. We will take our
dollars to Kmart and Walmart.

I'm glad to find this site and learn that we are not alone. I'm sorry
to learn discrimination still abounds. I probably notice it more since
my husband is Hispanic.

Jackie R. in Jackson NJ 08527

I would tend not to believe it except that I have had coworkers who
behaved in this sort of way.

One of the highlights of one young woman's short time in the company
came when she finally condescended to ring someone up (she figured in
retail you should have a year or so of training before you can be
expected to use the register, straighten and fill, or talk to
customers and I disagreed) and she realized she didn't remember how to
handle a credit card sale so instead of picking up the phone and
phoning the back room to get a manager out on the floor she grabbed
the credit card and ran to the back room. It took a whole lot of
apologies to the customer for that one.

Another time an African-American customer had been asked for ID since
his credit card wasn't signed, and he said that he was being subjected
to more scrutiny than the white customers (with signed credit cards)
who had not been asked for ID. I explained the policy, he still
didn't think he'd been treated right, I apologized for the appearance
of discrimination, and he left the store. As I was moving back to the
sales floor a different cashier started to complain about rude
African-Americans. So I yanked him and put him to work in the back
room.

The store where I worked had the lowest hourly wage for new employees
of any store in our mall, and it showed. I have no clue how the
Newburgh Target compares to other employees in the area, but it's
possible that at Christmas when almost every retail establishment is
hiring temporary workers there just isn't a great selection of people
willing to work at Target.

So I'm willing to believe that what you say happened may have
happened. It may be that a new (or soon-to-be-fired, but there are a
lot of new workers in retail at this time of year) employee wasn't
really grasping how to let customers know you're available without
making them uncomfortable and it may be that a new (blah, blah, blah)
employee hadn't really mastered the part of working a register that
does not involve actually operating the POS equipment.

Because that seems possible to me I am hesitant to assume that she did
these things on purpose and unwilling to just up and decide that she
ought to be fired. Moreover, I don't know whether your husband asked
this employee for the manager or asked someone else, but he should
have persisted. Anyway, if you don't want to buy gift cards, don't
buy gift cards -- but I hope that in making that decision you will
consider all of your experiences at Target and not just those two.

I really do appreciate that you didn't ask for a bunch of
"compensation". That, to me, says something about your integrity.

Funny, the letter I read just before this one complained of no
employee in a store offering any help, and then this one complains
when she IS offered help.


It's honestly a wonder that most retail workers don't run screaming
from their places of employment every single day.

Sorry, I don't buy any of it.


I seriously doubt Target, or any other retail establishment would
either.


Asking for the dismissal of a girl with long hair in a pony tail who
looked white or hispanic... just dosen't sit well. You just described
over half of young women, and I'm sure there's a lot of ethnicities
that can "pass" for white or hispanic to the untrained eye. What if
they fire the wrong girl?

Too many unanswered questions and too many holes in this story... it's
like swiss cheese.

Ok you walk in as a couple and immediately split up - I could see red
flags going up with security.

While you were being tailed and harrassed and asked if you needed help
finding something, you fail to mention if your husband got the same
treatment (you DID talk to him about it?) But that's neither here nor
there. Just would be nice to know.

I'd have had it right there and then... straight to Customer
Services..... no mention of that.

When I'm shopping and people are trailing me, I don't care. If I'm
doing nothing wrong I have nothing to fear. I'm on their turf, with
their stuff, and they have a right to stroll behind me all they want.
If they ask me if I need help finding something, and I don't, I
politely say "No Thanks" and keep shopping.

I guess this treatment wasn't enough...

Hubby goes BACK a few days later... Amazingly gets the same white
hispanic thin girl with the pony tail (coincidence?)What are the
Chances??? She puts a bag behind the counter on the floor while she's
ringing him up.

Newsflash.... until he pays for it and has a reciept in his hand she
has the right to balance it on her nose or hold it between her knees
or place it on the floor, espectially if it's a bulky item.. while
ringing up the order.

She apologizes (for what I have no idea) he asks for a manager, she
says there is no manager. Newsflash. There MUST be a manager or an
assistant manager on duty. Why didn't he go to Customer Services to
talk to the manager or to file a complaint?

But Wait. She needs to be fired. You're so angry that you're spending
over 200 dollars in gift cards somewhere other than Target.

But wait .... there's more....."but after this horrible treatment, I
will only buy from their clearance section" This was the "clincher"
for me. Usually people who escalate things to this level over three
days VOW never EVER to return... I just can't see someone so angry
that they want someone fired even thinking of setting foot in the
store. But I guess Target's Bargain section has that same magnetic
quality as the rack at Nordstroms.

Wow. After the mistreatment, you're going BACK for more?

There are definitely two sides to this story, the other of which we
will never know.

Do we have another Bluth family on our hands?

As someone who's worked retail, I know from personal experience that
Loss Prevention often contacts sales associates on the floor in the
event that there's suspicious behavior. Did you have a large bag with
you, by any chance? Any number of things could raise eyebrows with LP,
since just about anyone could be a potential shoplifter, and my guess
is the girl could have been simply doing her job if LP thought you
looked suspicious. We were basically told to drop whatever we were
doing in order to assist Loss Prevention. I imagine it's no different
than Target.

Also, I don't know why you think the bag was personal harassment.
Maybe your husband had alot of items and there was no other room than
the floor. It seemed like a simple mistake to me. Frankly, I don't
appreciate that you're trying to get this poor girl fired for just
trying to do her job.

I am going to start off by saying that asking for the girl to be fired
makes this whole letter sound bad. I am an avid Target shopper, and I
am there VERY regularly. I too have been followed, some stores just do
that. I know of a couple off hand that do it pretty regularly, and I
also know of a couple where I have never been followed. The way I look
at it is, I have nothing to hide. So no big deal to me.

Now, I know exactly what you mean about the bag. I have had cashiers
place the bag on the floor behind the register before. I know I've
walked out not even knowing a bag was back there, and had to return
for it. It sucks, but it's part of retail. I'd be willing to bet
others have had the same thing happen at Wal-Mart, or K-mart, or
anywhere else.

You are not telling the whole story. Know how I know? Because what you
are saying doesn't make sense. Next time you bash Target or any other
reputable store TELL THE WHOLE STORY! I am sure whatever they did they
were justified in doing so.

I used to work for Target. When I worked there, I really dispised
customers like you, complaining just so you can complain. It sounds
to me like you are a little paranoid. Maybe you were up to no good,
why else would you be SO upset?
Oh, and you know what...maybe you should keep track of your
bags...they are YOUR bags. When the transaction is done...it's done,
move on to the next customer. Target times their cashiers, I bet you
didn't know that. If there cashier speed goes below a certain Target
standard, they get written up. So, sorry if your cashier didn't take
the time to make sure you've collected all your belongings and hold
your hand and walk you to the door. Come on people, take some
responsibility for yourself. It never fails... some irate customer,
who has no real complaint, always has to bring up how much they spend
in the store...SO WHAT? Target doesn't need TRASH like you shopping
there...Don't they have a WAL-MART nearby? Target isn't going to go
out of business because you decided to stop shopping there. GET A
LIFE!

Your husband should have kept an eye on the cashier, known what he had
purchased and made sure he had all of his merchandise before leaving
the store.

I think your request that the employee in question be fired is totally
out of line and I also find it interesting that you won't buy gift
cards but you will still search through Target's clearance section for
good deals.

Sounds to me like you're making a big deal out of nothing. I honestly
don't see anything wrong with a Target employee asking if you needed
help finding something and if you have nothing to hide, then it
shouldn't have bothered you.

As I mentioned in my comment above, alot of times Loss Prevention has
emolyees keep track of suspicious looking customers and report back to
them. That's the only reason I can think of for following someone, and
I think it's perfectly legit. After all, it's part of her job.

The bag thing just seems like an honest mistake. It happens.

What more should they have said besides "sorry for your
inconvenience"? Come on, they did apologize.

And wanting them to fire her, that's just over the top. How do you
know she wasn't just doing what she was told by management? I really
don't think Target employees follow customers around since they are
not loss prevention.

Sounds like she needs an attitude adjustment, if this is true. She
won't last long.

You lost all credibility when you demanded she be fired. What a
rotten thing to request.