'I called the cops': Internet's kind act for Target manager after customer's bizarre complaint
A Target employee who was harassed by a disgruntled customer arguing over the sale of a toothbrush has become a viral sensation after online supporters raised funds to send the sales assistant on a much-needed holiday.
David Leavitt made headlines when he reportedly called police because his local US Target store refused to sell him a new electric toothbrush retailing for $99.99 USD (A$145) for the same price as the display model, accidentally advertised on the shelf for $0.01 USD (A$0.15).
Mr Leavitt claimed that under local Massachusetts Item Pricing Law he was entitled to purchase the item for the price listed, despite the label clearly stating it was a ‘Display’ price, although the law he quoted only applies to food and grocery items.
This @target manager Tori is not honoring the price of their items per massachusetts law pic.twitter.com/7IYMjCcutZ
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) January 17, 2020
“I just had to call the police because Target refused to sell me the toothbrush” Mr Leavitt tweeted, he then went on to explain he would be taking Target to court over the matter.
Mr Leavitt, who describes himself on Twitter as an ‘award winning multimedia journalist’ posted images of the store manager Tori, who refused to sell him the toothbrush for 1 cent.
Manager Tori looked defeated by the customer’s unreasonable request and his extreme actions of calling the police but reportedly stood firm and refused the one cent sale.
Social media reacts in perfect fashion
The twitter post on January 17 was shared over 1,600 times and attracted 28,000 comments, with most people questioning why he called the police over the matter.
“You literally wasted the police time with that nonsense?” one person responded.
Others took aim at Mr Leavitt for posting the photo of Tori online and supported her using the hashtag #targettori.
“You are one pathetic little man. A bully a liar,” another said.
Online media quickly rallied around the store manager, now known as ‘Target Tori’ and decided she needed a holiday after having to deal with Mr Leavitt.
Internet users started a GoFundme page to ‘Send #TargetTori on a Vacation’, writing Mr Leavitt “harassed this Target employee over an electric toothbrush, and then blasted her on Twitter to his 215k followers. Let’s send her on a vacation.”
In just one day the page raised over $25,000 for the young woman and is still growing.
Tori thanked the public for their kindness and donations but has not yet decided where to holiday.
Yahoo News Australia contacted David Leavitt for comment.
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