Discrimination. A word I don't like and a practice that I abhor.
I dislike when people are discriminated against simply because of one's color or orientation. I don't like it when it happens to others and I especially do not like it when it happens to me.
After visiting a neighboring restaurant, we visited Target to pick up some books and a few groceries. After finishing our shopping, I got into a line. Two people jumped in front of me. I didn't like it but life sometimes is too short to sweat the small stuff. I could have stood in line fuming but I chose to find another line.
In the second line, my husband and I placed ALL of our articles on the conveyor belt of the checkout counter. Instead of rthe cashier inging our articles up, a female suddenly jumped in front us. The male cashier picked up her article to ring her up. I complained that we were in line and she jumped in front of us. He said that she had just one item. I indicated that if I had been asked, it would have been different. Instead, she jumped in front of us without asking. The cashier rang her up, with both of them grinning.
I asked to see the manager because frankly, I honestly felt that it was deliberate discrimination based upon the color of my skin, especially when the cashier chose to ignore my complaint, ring the person up, and grin at the girl.
When someone came to the counter, she had no identification indicating that she was management. When I asked her position, she indicated that she was the manager. I explained to her what happened and she said, in a lame voice, that she was sorry. The male cashier began to exclaim that he didn't know that I hadn't agreed for the girl to go in front of me. It was such a blatant lie and the way I was being treated by the cashier and "manager," all of different ethnic origins than me, I exclaimed that I was sorry that I had a different color of skin than him but that was no way to treat me. Yeah, I know, this is something I would not normally say (in fact I have never said it to someone) but I really felt like I was being ignored and discriminated against.
The "manager" proceeded to walk away and call 2 security officers, despite the fact that I had never raised my voice, was not acting in a threatening manner, was well-dressed, and was only attempting to voice a complaint about how I was treated.
I could not believe it. When I asked for the contact information of the regional manager, the "manager" came back with a customer service number. I had to ask for the names of both individuals and was only given first names.
The ironic thing was that this situation could have ended in a much more amicable way. All the "manager" had to do was behave in a manner that said that she was honestly listening to my concerns and not blowing me off!
As I perused the reviews of this place, I find it very ironic that I am not the only one who has mentioned discrimination.
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