I fear for this country (or, my adventure at Target) October 19, 2004 ~ 9:57 am
Posted by Julie in : Daily Grind , trackbackMom and I went to Target yesterday. It’s technically in Queens, near JFK, and a huge shopping plaza (the kind you only see on the Island or in Jersey) has been built around it. Old Navy, BJ’s, Home Depot, Bed Bath and Beyond, they’re all there.
I love going to this Target. For one thing, it’s Target! They sell everything!! And stylish things that I don’t need that are still fun to decorate my house with (like the lamp shaped like the Eiffel Tower that’s on my dining table)!!
For another, if I make it out there, I’m in a car. And because I live in the city, I don’t get to do that very often. I get as excited to ride in a car as a dog. “Wanna go for a ride in the car-car? YES!!!!”
Yesterday, Target didn’t satisfy as it usually does. For starters, it was packed. And in the midst of all the customers were employees hell bent on running the customers over with hand trucks. Seriously. If you see an aisle that has five customers in it, would you still drag your packed hand truck through it and run everyone over? No, you wouldn’t, because you have common sense. But common sense was out the window at Target yesterday. I almost got run down six times, no lie.
Then, because I found a moth in my closet this weekend, I wanted to get moth repellent. We asked several Targeteers (I’m tired of writing the word “employees”) where we could find some. They directed us all over the freaking store, but nowhere near any moth repellent. And almost got run down twice more.
Targeteers were everywhere. But when I wanted to find out how much Fahrenheit 9/11 was, do you think any of them would help? No. I looked for a scanner thing, but was afraid to go too far for fear of another hand truck injury. Finally someone told us that it was $19.99. Thank you. How hard was that?
The register was another story. As soon as we got to the check out, the cashier ran off after the customer before us, since he had left a bag at the register. She left us alone for five minutes while she chased him around the parking lot (I guess). Then when she got back, she had an issue with the way we wanted our purchases packaged. We had bought a large plastic bin (for cat food), and so didn’t need bags. Just toss them into the bin, right? Wrong. She didn’t want to put anything in the bin, she wanted to use the bags. Lady, I have half a million plastic bags at my house, I don’t need more of them. She decided that if we wanted the stuff in the bin, we had to put it in there ourselves. Fine, whatever.
When she had finished ringing us out, I checked my receipt and found I had been overcharged on my allergy meds by $20. Fuck that shit. I told her this, and she said “I can’t do anything, you have to go to Guest Services.” Another line. Another wait while another incompetent went to check the price. While we stood around waiting for him, we noticed a line of people who were applying for jobs on the Target computers. Then we noticed that on one of the computers, three people were working to fill out one application. Suddenly everything became clear: if you can’t fill out an application by yourself, how can we expect you to be competent? We can’t.
Eventually price check boy came back and said “Well, she says the marked price is a mistake, but we’ll give it to you for that.” No way 24 allergy pills (which rang up as $18) sells for more than 48 pills ($15) of the same brand, which is what he was saying. But they did give me my $20 back.
And then we left, totally disenchanted by Target. My first Target disappointment. I’ll go back, because this is the only bad experience I’ve ever had at Target, but if they pull this Three Stooges routine again, I’m gonna beat someone.
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