Yahoo News Target customer blasts employee after 'vile' incident at store: 'I was shaking'
During the incident, Timothy says that he felt “targeted,” especially since the area where he was shopping is “a primarily white area.”
A Target customer is calling out the company on social media after an employee at the chain’s St. Louis Park, Minn., location committed a microaggression against him.
Timothy R., aka timospears, was at Target the Sunday before Memorial Day trying to use a coupon for laundry detergent when the incident occurred. Timothy was having trouble using his coupon at checkout, so he went back to the detergent aisle to grab a different brand — and that’s when he ran into the security guard who targeted him.
“The security guard came up to me and he said, ‘The next time you’re in the store, if you could wear a proper shirt, that would be better.’ I just laughed and I was like, ‘You’re kidding,'” Timothy explained to In The Know.
As you can see in his video, Timothy was wearing a Britney Spears muscle tee when he went shopping at Target that day. Target even sells similar shirts on their website.
When Timothy realized that the security guard was committing a microaggression against him, he did what any smart 26-year-old in the 21st century would do: He took out his phone and started to record.
“If [there’s] one thing that Instagram and TikTok have taught me, especially when it comes to the BLM movement, it’s don’t be afraid to just get your phone and record,” Timothy explained. “So my phone was in my hand and I was shaking but … I wanted to make sure I was protected.”
During the incident, Timothy says that he felt “targeted,” especially since the area where he was shopping — St. Louis Park, Minn. — is “a primarily white area.”
After the incident, Timothy initially uploaded the video he took to Instagram Reels — at the time, he was banned from posting on TikTok — and went home. However, when he got home, he realized that he had forgotten to use his coupon amid all the chaos, and so he went back to return what he had bought.
While at Target making his return, Timothy decided to inform the customer service desk about what had transpired in the detergent aisle.
“I told them, ‘Your security guard is a d*** … He told me that this wasn’t enough to wear’ and she [was] like, ‘You’re kidding,'” Timothy explained.
Though the customer service representative ultimately couldn’t do much, one of Timothy’s social media followers eventually reached out to Target on Twitter, where the brand encouraged Timothy to call them directly. That’s exactly what he did.
“I reported it and I explained and basically I was transferred over to someone who kind of manages the area and she apologized and was like, ‘He’s in the wrong. Obviously we want to make sure everyone is welcomed at Target,'” he explained.
Target told Timothy that they were going to work on a training program to “make sure this doesn’t happen again.” He’s still waiting to hear back from the company about whether they’re taking any disciplinary measures against the security guard who targeted him, though he says he really just wants to know that something like this will never happen again.
“Ideally I wouldn’t want him to get fired. I would just want him to get reprimanded because then he would know not to do that again.”
On TikTok, where Timothy was recently given access to his account again, his video of the incident received more than 1 million views within 24 hours. And, according to the 26-year-old, the majority of comments on the video are overwhelmingly positive.
“That is ridiculous I can’t believe this,” one user commented.
“What is wrong with people,” another person added.
“Absolutely vile,” a third person said. “I am so sorry you had to experience this.”
Check out this Target employee’s PSA after their run-in with a “disrespectful” customer.
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