Target — Local services in Columbus

African american female. White coat. In toys. Does she have anything on her? No. I'll keep an eye on her.

This is what I--an african american woman (female is an adjective, not a noun), who is wearing a white coat, and was standing in front of the stuffed animals--just overheard while shopping in Target. I had $100+ in merchandise, was still shopping for a stuffed animal, interactive toy and book for my nephew, as well as flip flops, a Brita container and toothbrush for myself.

I approached the store associate who inadvertently had his Walkie-talkie on the wrong channel(the LP guy confirmed this by telling him to switch channels), asked if I could speak with the LP personnel who just made the statements about me, and if he could explain why he was keeping an eye on me. He refused to come out, and also denied the statements. I'm neither Deaf nor hard of hearing. It's impossible for me to mishear six independent statements spaced out over a minute while in direct earshot of the device. If you watch the video you would probably see me dramatically react after "white coat."

I asked a second store associate to call the store manager. He initially said he was busy, but I insisted. When he arrived to the children’s department, I explained what happened. He immediately stated "those kinds of conversations don't happen over Walkie-talkie." He then apologized, but the former statement nullified any sort of sincerity in the latter. The days of the customer always being right are gone.

This encounter is problematic on so many levels. With the climate of retail, Target cannot afford to lose loyal customers. I spend hundreds of dollars with them every month. In the last week I've spent no less than $350--all of which will be returned tomorrow morning--and could have easily spent another $150 today. I'm not sure why I was being watched and talked about by Target's LP, but since the coward wouldn’t admit to his statement I can make an informed conclusion. I'm sure the Walkie-talkie bit was a mistake and I definitely doubt it was meant for me to hear the discussion, but this airs out the true culture of Target. It would have been best to tell the truth and apologize. I am debating on how far I want to take this, but for now here...

I just had a fantastic visit at the Target on East Broad Street.

I was looking for a particular item, one which has been hard to find. I checked the Target app as soon as I woke up this morning, and it showed that the Reynoldsburg location had the item in stock. I hopped in the car and drove 25 minutes to visit this particular store. I searched the shelves where the product should have been, and I was unable to find it.

I approached Emily, who was stocking product (batteries, to be specific) on the sales floor. She greeted me with "Good morning" before I could even say anything. I showed her the picture of the product on the Target app, and she walked to an alternative are where the product could have been. She realized that the product wasn't in that location either, so she looked it up on her handheld scanner and found that it had just arrived on the truck this morning.

I immediately felt awful for ambushing these folks right after their shipment truck had arrived, but Emily, without any prompting from me, went into the back and found the team member who was sorting the shipment, and she got the exact item I needed and brought it out to me. She was very friendly when she brought it out to me, and I then asked her if I could get a second one (feeling awful for putting her out again).

With that same friendly attitude, she went right back into the stock room and grabbed a second product for me. I wasn't expecting bad service at Target, but I wasn't expecting this level of customer service, so far above and beyond my expectations.

Thank you, Emily, for renewing my faith that there are still customer service professionals out there ready to take care of customers. I will definitely be coming back to this...

As long as I can remember I have always loved Target from a really young age. I come here multiple times a week and have no big complaints! Everyone is always so nice here and I normally 99% of the time find what I am looking for and if I don’t I just order it online because I have my redcard. I do a lot of order pickup and it’s always quick! I just did drive up service a few days ago and I LOVE IT!!!! As a mama with 2 children under 4, it’s hard to go in for the essential items without temper tantrums so doing this was so quick and easy and I didn’t have to take my children out of the car! :) The only small complaint I have is Starbucks. There is never a employee behind the counter and normally have to wait several minutes to get your order before they appear. They are pretty much always out of cake pops (Hey! I use them to bribe my children, I’m not above it.) It honestly doesn’t stress me out when things are out of place or all over because it’s not the employees it’s the disrespectful customers who do not know how to put items back in its original place. Think of how hard it is on the employees who have to constantly clean up after GROWN ADULTS on top of stocking and other various tasks they ALREADY have to do daily!!! If something is out of place that I see and maybe want I just scan...