‘Cranky’ lady tangled with ‘Mr. Nasty’
Christina Brown said she wanted her $30 back. The cops said she must be crazy.
That’s how a 79-year-old New Hope woman ended up having her head examined when she asked the SuperTarget in Plymouth to refund the $30 she had paid for shirts that did not fit. When store workers offered her a gift certificate in return for the shirts, but would not give her cash, Christina Brown stood for her rights.
[…]
Target had the proceeds from her check, Christina had her receipt and bank records showing her money had been withdrawn. She wanted her $30 back.
[…]
Christina said she would stay in the store until she got her money — all day, if she had to. At that point, she says, the store manager told her she was trespassing.“I’m not trespassing; I’m a customer,” she said. “Give me my money and I’ll go.”
When the manager said he was going to call the cops, Christina beat him to the punch: Taking a cellphone from her purse, she dialed 9-1-1 and called police, asking them to come and help her. Officers responded and later filled out a report, but no charges were filed.
[…]
The store wouldn’t budge. Christina wouldn’t bend. A stretcher was brought in.
#30 – OFTLO
I think the answer to that question would be “NO”.
#32–Myself to OFTLO==strike that. I was thinking you were responding to the Gitmo in Denver setup.
No here Target could easily put away a slush fund and encourage their management to rub two brain cells together. The downside of that as Mustard points out is that these one step above minimum wage earners as a group cannot exercise good judgment===THATS WHY THEY WORK AT TARGET!!!!!!!
Silly the otherwise intelligent people here who would “NEVER” take a job at Target except the same kind of service they would give if they happened to be in such circumstances.
It the egotism of not allowing other people different yet still reasonable positions that amuses me. If that is sucking dick—-“well, I never!!!”
“But on July 31, she left her chair in her daughter Linda’s car and hobbled in to the Plymouth Target’s service counter, where she hoped to return the shirts she bought on July 28 while Linda waited by the curb.”
This is the idiot daughters fault. Would anyone
here (over 14) let there half blind , should be
in a wheelchair, mom WALK in alone, waiting at the curb.
#31 Mister Mustard
As h8youngins pointed out, it says in the story that her daughter dropped her off at the store. She didn’t make some sort of monumental effort to drive to target. If the woman is fit enough to shop for clothes she was fit enough to come back in a few days to make the return.
Just from reading the story its hard to say if the manager was the problem, but it really sounds like she was causing trouble. She was the one who called the police, yet they sent her to the hospital for a mental evaluation. Not saying the police are perfect, but it makes it hard for me to believe her story.
I work at a St. Paul target in Minnesota, at the Customer Service desk. Trust me, this should not have happened. I am extremely dissapointed. I feel sorry for this old woman, and I hope that she sues the fuck out of that big, red building. Sure, she might not know all of the rules, but- A FUCKING STRECHER?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!? It is beyond rediculous. I hope that the team member involved gets what he deserves- a swift kick in the balls.
Target’s already losing to Wal-Mart. This kind of bad press they don’t need, just give the lady her $30.
#32 – 30–OFTLO==easy to bitch. What would you do?
I’d have given her the damn money. Good customer service isn’t rocket science.
The downside of that as Mustard points out is that these one step above minimum wage earners as a group cannot exercise good judgment===THATS WHY THEY WORK AT TARGET!!!!!!!
Do you have any idea what the manager of a Target store makes?
The kid stocking shelves may not be the brainiest kid in town, but that he works there is no indication that he’s stupid. He’s just young and starting out.
Everyone in this life travels a different road filled with different obstacles. We don’t know anything about the clerks and cashiers at Target personally, but en masse, you seem willing to write them off as imbeciles. I don’t know where you got your elitism from, but based on your writing, I’d suggest tempering it with some humility on occasion.
The manager of a big box store presides over a staff that could number as high as 150 to 200 in some markets. He or she is responsible for millions in inventory. They hire/fire, manage merchandising (which is a little more than putting out price tags), address customer relations issues, oversee the supply chain, and do several hundred other tasks. Target isn’t a turn-key operation. Managing a big box requires a great deal of intelligence and experience, for which they are well paid… base salaries not including bonuses are typically above 65K and may go as high as 85K.
The old notion that “the customer is always right” is a grossly oversimplified description of customer service, and isn’t even accurate if you could boil it down to one line. But the role of a manager is also to be the public face of the corporation and he is responsible for that store’s image.
If he had simply made an exception to the policy (which he is empowered to do), the cost would be zero. Customer happy. All is well.
Instead he had an incident that resulted in a nationally distributed news story about an 80 year old women getting hauled off to psyche ward for trying to return $30 worth of shirts. How’s that play in the suburbs? What does that cost? How much goodwill do you imagine that gained?
In the past, I’ve fired people for far less. I would have had this guys keycard by the end of the business day if I were the regional manager… and I’d have been right.
Somebody in the Minneapolis office needs to think seriously about cutting a check plus some to cover this woman’s ordeal.
#39–OFTLO==must be nice to ignore facts and make up your own. From the linked article: “Target spokesman Dave Fransen says Target’s return policy doesn’t allow cash refunds for items purchased by personal check until seven days go by, allowing checks to clear the bank.”
Now by birth or by training, what kind of independent thinkers survive in organizations as locked down as this one?
“I’d fire someone who followed company policy!”—Same attitude that Target uses===hah, hah.
I thought Mr. Nasty worked at Best Buy. At least he did when I was there, last.
By the looks of that patch on her eye someone told her “no” before and she didn’t learn.