What large chain store can't handle a "rush" of 25 extra shoppers? Especially during the Christmas season. This is idiotic.

All I'm hearing is that Target understaffs their stores and I shouldn't go there due to the lines.

WTF happens when it just gets busy?

"Sorry ma'am, you can't come in. Too many customers."

downstairs: Blues_X: downstairs: So they let it slide in the past, but its clearly an issue so they're just asking 2 weeks notice? Seems reasonable to me.


"We don't have enough resources to let you buy things in our store" is a damned idiotic excuse.

Well, that's not EXACTLY what they said. They said they CAN have enough resources if you simply contact us 2 weeks ahead.

When for the 5 previous years there wasn't an issue?

Luthien's Tempest: Assuming that everyone is being completely honest and forthright, then why on earth did the store never mention this issue in the past - something of an aside as they left last year, or on the phone, like "ok, thanks, but could you maybe give us a couple weeks heads-up next year, just to make things easier on everyone?" It would have been much better for the store to have some sort of policy in place so that the teacher knew ahead of time that she needed to let the store know in advance, before the day of her shopping trip.

This. The only reason they wouldn't let her do it this year is that she gave them some, but not enough, advance notice.

Asa Phelps: Why send in 25 people to spend $80 each?

Because then it makes 25 people feel better about themselves.

Isn't this the same chain of stores that won't let Selvation army stand outside of their stores collection money at this time of year?. I heard something bout they didn't do it cause the SA wouldn't give them a cut of the money that was dontated.

Hahah... yes, let them head on over to Walmart. You'll have no problems getting in and out of the checkouts there!

I don't work in retail and I find this Consumerist blog to be an affront to reason and sensible behavior. I can only imagine what a tier1 or tier2 retailer must think about it.

Blues_X: downstairs: So they let it slide in the past, but its clearly an issue so they're just asking 2 weeks notice? Seems reasonable to me.


"We don't have enough resources to let you buy things in our store" is a damned idiotic excuse.

Yeah. Have the manager run the register and the assistant manager can bag. Just ask them to give you 24 hours notice so you can make sure they're both there. Open up a lane for them and close it down when they leave.

I bet some manager just won himself a pissed off call from headquarters.

"I'll take my business elsewhere" doesn't matter anymore. There will still be loads of people there buying stuff.

sweetmelissa31: Why do they even call in advance? It's only 25 kids, apparently in groups of 4 (so 6 groups and one loser by himself?). So 7 times at the register? There must be something else to the story. Maybe the kids are retarded.

My guess is they require an employee to assist each shopper. If not assisted they get to the checkout lane with more than 80 dollars worth of merchandise and spend 30 minutes choosing what to put back.

into to ?

eraser8: Who the hell wrote that headline?

No sh*t! Headline gave me a brain seizure.

HotWingConspiracy: "Sorry ma'am, you can't come in. Too many customers."

No one goes there anymore; it's too crowded.

"Well, actually, it has been a problem, ma'am, because we can't check other guests out when you're here." She replied, with a definite tone rising in her voice"

I had this problem the last time I went to the post office. Some group was sending girl scout cookies to Iraq or Afghanistan, and they had like 30 big boxes. They only had one person up front, and realized that the line wouldn't move for an hour, so they had to call up someone in the back to service the line while they worked on the 30 boxes.

Pair-o-Dice: eraser8: Who the hell wrote that headline?

No sh*t! Headline gave me a brain seizure.

Good news, that brain seizure qualifies you to be a regular consumerist contributor.

Why can't they just go to Walmart?

LarryDan43: sweetmelissa31: Why do they even call in advance? It's only 25 kids, apparently in groups of 4 (so 6 groups and one loser by himself?). So 7 times at the register? There must be something else to the story. Maybe the kids are retarded.

My guess is they require an employee to assist each shopper. If not assisted they get to the checkout lane with more than 80 dollars worth of merchandise and spend 30 minutes choosing what to put back.

In reality this is likely closer to the truth. The school sends over one teacher with 25 kids. In the past the store had been provided some adults to push the carts and make sure the kids purchased what was on the list. Also just to help one adult move 2k worth of merchandise out to the school van, etc.

So Target may have a legitimate reason to complain about the lack of warning.

Thoughts:

1) We're not getting enough of this story. Maybe 50% of it

2) This is a lose-lose situation for Target. If they allowed this to happen, the next consumerist article is some asshole whining about how he couldn't get checked out fast enough or couldn't get someone to unlock a copy of Kinectimals for him because everyone was so busy with "a bunch of middleschoolers that they are letting run all over the place."

3) I'm generally no big corporation apologist, but my inclination in this story is to distrust the teacher. She seems AW-ie. This reads like a "look at what I'm doing for charity" combined with attempt to get more, free money from Target. It just seems "off" to me. If she's been doing this for years, they only come in groups of 4, and it's never been a problem in the past - why did she call at all?

I don't know, call me crazy but the only people IO trust less than big corporations are people who post on The Consumerist.

What Target's new business strategy might look like.

Way back when I worked at Target, my store manager never would have said anything like that. Their first priority was always haveing someone available to take your money when you were ready to check out.

ha-ha-guy: LarryDan43: sweetmelissa31: Why do they even call in advance? It's only 25 kids, apparently in groups of 4 (so 6 groups and one loser by himself?). So 7 times at the register? There must be something else to the story. Maybe the kids are retarded.

My guess is they require an employee to assist each shopper. If not assisted they get to the checkout lane with more than 80 dollars worth of merchandise and spend 30 minutes choosing what to put back.

In reality this is likely closer to the truth. The school sends over one teacher with 25 kids. In the past the store had been provided some adults to push the carts and make sure the kids purchased what was on the list. Also just to help one adult move 2k worth of merchandise out to the school van, etc.

So Target may have a legitimate reason to complain about the lack of warning.

And since schedules are made 2 weeks in advance, they need 2 weeks notice.

As a few others have said, there has to be more to this story as to why the store can't handle 25 shoppers spending $2000.00. I'm sure each cashier can ring out more than $2,000.00 within 30 minutes on a good day.

I wish I led the life of the farkers that call bullshiat on all consumerist articles, those who can't conceive of a world where big box stores have retarded policies and idiotic managerial staff. I have lived a life where I can picture pretty much every article on the consumerist to be true.

This is weird on all fronts. Why in the world would they even think to call ahead to buy just $2000 worth of stuff? It's not like they're emptying the store. From the store side, 25 people enter your store? Uh, so? It might be a problem for a mom and pop place, but this is Target. That many people probably come in every 10 minutes.

Why don't they just donate the money to the crisis nursery? The nursery could make it go further than a group of kids paying retail.

sweetmelissa31: Why do they even call in advance? It's only 25 kids, apparently in groups of 4 (so 6 groups and one loser by himself?). So 7 times at the register? There must be something else to the story. Maybe the kids are retarded.

This. I don't see how they would be any different from normal shoppers. They shop in groups of four. How is there any kind of problem here? Perhaps you're right about their "special needs".

How the fark can you not accommodation 25 farking people. Call ahead of time? Just farking show up. How is 25 people like some crazy amount. Maybe if it was some small boutique is a small tourist town, but a large box store?

paygun: "I'll take my business elsewhere" doesn't matter anymore. There will still be loads of people there buying stuff.

I disagree. There are several business that I don't patron for one reason or another and it doesn't matter to me if everyone else still uses them or if no one else uses them. What matters to me is that I don't use them. "I'll take my business elsewhere" isn't some empty threat just to get what you want...at least not for me.

Headso: I wish I led the life of the farkers that call bullshiat on all consumerist articles, those who can't conceive of a world where big box stores have retarded policies and idiotic managerial staff. I have lived a life where I can picture pretty much every article on the consumerist to be true.

Sounds like the webcomic entitled "Retail" should be required reading for FARKers. Retail - A Comic by Norm Feuti (new window)

NewWorldDan: Way back when I worked at Target, my store manager never would have said anything like that. Their first priority was always haveing someone available to take your money when you were ready to check out.

This. I also worked at Target once upon a time. Though holidays were a bit different, there'd hardly be any customers in the store around 8 AM, when TFA has them showing up.

HotWingConspiracy: All I'm hearing is that Target understaffs their stores and I shouldn't go there due to the lines.

WTF happens when it just gets busy?

"Sorry ma'am, you can't come in. Too many customers."

That would be doubly disconcerting, what with you being a sir and all.

mudpants: into to too?

ftfy

namegoeshere: What large chain store can't handle a "rush" of 25 extra shoppers? Especially during the Christmas season. This is idiotic.

This.

ha-ha-guy: I bet some manager just won himself a pissed off call from headquarters.

This, too.. Some pissy manager doesn't like the inconvenience of handling a large group of customers so he/she puts their foot down not paying any attention to what negative PR this will bring on the chain. Once corporate gets wind of this story, somebody's gonna get they ass chewed the fark out.