So I stopped by Target today to pay my credit card bill and pick up a couple of toiletries. When I walked in the store there was a little old lady standing there talking with a manager. As I stood in line I couldn't help but hear their conversation because she was at least 70 and lots of old people have trouble hearing so conversations with them tend to be loud. Anyway, she was going on about how she couldn't find the Advil she had just purchased when she got home so she turned around and came back to the store to see if maybe it had been left on the counter. She went on about how it couldn't have fallen out of her wagon (that's what she kept calling the buggy) but either way she couldn't find it and she wanted the manager to check the register she was at just to make sure it wasn't left.

Apparently the girl who checked her out had gotten off work prior to her returning to the store so the manager was a little reluctant to check the register. He insisted that it must have simply fallen out of her car or out of the buggy. They go on with this exchange for a few minutes and I guess the manager was tired of dealing with it so he was just kinda like I don't know what exactly you want me to do. So she was like well I still need the Advil and he was like well you'll have to buy more. She was like I can't spend another $5 on Advil, I looked everywhere and it wasn't in my car or purse or the bag so I came back here. He was like I don't understand what you want me to do. There's nothing I can do, you just have to buy another one.

I immediately got a headache listening to this exchange. I paid my bill and I got $10 over on my debit card so I could buy the lady some Advil since the manager wouldn't budge because obviously a $5 box of Advil is the only thing keeping Target afloat.

I got the money walked over to the lady and told her I would buy her another box of Advil and of course she protested because she felt like I shouldn't have to do that since Target is such a huge corporation and they're always bragging about customer service they should just give her another bottle. Unfortunately for her that wasn't going to happen.

I explained to her that I was more than happy to do that for her because there was a 90% chance that I'd put that $10 towards another pair of shoes or something equally as frivolous. She said that was not a bad thing and I said no it isn't, but I already have a 100 pairs of shoes so it's not necessary either. I finally convinced her to let me buy the Advil so we walked back to the meds to get them. She went on and on about how disgusted she was with this whole situation and how the Advil couldn't have fallen out of her wagon. She was also beside herself that she even had to drive back over there with gas being damn near $4 per gallon. We finally got to the register, I bought the Advil, she told me I was a good person and she hoped good things happen for me. She also hoped one day she'd be able to pay me back. I assured her that was not necessary and she left and I went back to get my toiletries.

I share in her disgust about that whole situation. I don't understand why the hell they couldn't just give her another box of Advil. She had a receipt showing she'd purchased it, but for whatever reason it didn't make it home with her. She was old and more than likely living on a fixed income so I'm sure she couldn't afford to spend another $5 on Advil. The manager just couldn't understand that. I mean, damn this is not some youngun trying to get over on you. She was an elderly lady who had to go out of her way to come back to a store in rush hour traffic to try to figure out what happened to her medicine. All he could say is "I don't know what you want me to do". What the hell do you mean you don't know what she wants you to do? Obviously she wants you to give her another box of Advil!

I don't know what's happening to customer service these days, but it's getting progressively worse and worse!

The reason I started going to Target was because I didn't want to give Wal Mart all of my damn money, but Target is no better. Both of these corporations know they'll always have customers no matter how shitty their customer service is because they have all the crap we need and it's cheaper than getting it at a drug store or grocery store.

Why do you think they have 18 registers in the store yet they only have 3 of them open? Because they can. They know we'll come back because we really don't have much of a choice. I'd love to not have to give either of them any of my money, but that's not likely to happen. The economy is bad so I gotta get what I need at the lowest price I can get it.

It's really unfortunate, but places like that will always have the upper hand. Target is super popular because people are under the impression that it's a notch above Wal Mart. They both have the same shitty customer service on any given day, the only difference is the fact that Target is red and they have overpriced clothing.

 

Update:  This is the response I got from Target.  Yes, I sent them this blog in an email.  I was pissed.