Journalist Humiliates Target Worker Over 1¢ Display, Furious Public Raises $17K
A journalist was widely criticized Friday for publicly shaming a Massachusetts Target manager who he claimed refused to honor the list price on an electric toothbrush.
Now, thanks to more than 1,000 donors, the manager will be able to enjoy a free vacation.
David Leavitt said the manager, Tori, would not let him buy an Oral-B electric toothbrush for $0.01, which was the price listed on the display for the item.
He cited a Massachusetts law requiring food retailers to sell products for the lowest price that is listed on signs or advertisements for those items.
As a result, Leavitt said he went so far as to call the police. He also tweeted out a photo of the manager and threatened to sue Target.
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
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) January 17, 2020
Corporations like @target are not above the law. The police officer told me they’d testify that they saw the price and that the manager wouldn’t sell me the item for the price listed.
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) January 17, 2020
I have not been able to afford to go to a dentist in over three years. So yes I wanted a good toothbrush and was thrilled to see such an amazing prize on an @OralB but @target refused to honor it and now I have to take them to court
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) January 17, 2020
But Leavitt was quickly called out by those who saw his behavior as an overreaction.
This is embarrassing. Plastering her face online while trying to take advantage of a clear pricing mistake is simply unnecessary. If you’re that set on a free electric toothbrush, then maybe start a GoFundMe. Better yet, don’t.
— Grant McAuley (@grantmcauley) January 17, 2020
Dude, please take her photo down. In what universe do you think it’s ok to shame a woman working at @Target because she didn’t sell you a toothbrush for 1cent? Calling the cops was bizarre, too. It’s an obvious labelling error, she did her job.
— Rita Panahi (@RitaPanahi) January 17, 2020
Tori was gonna lose her job if she sold it to you and lose her job if she didn’t. At least you gave her a good public shaming on her way out. Everybody clap for David.
— The Red-Headed Libertarian ™ (@TRHLofficial) January 17, 2020
As some users pointed out, the $0.01 price was for the display, not the toothbrush itself, which costs roughly $90 on Target’s website.
How can you be an “award-winning multimedia journalist” and also be illiterate?
Its for the display, not the item. Probably because that display is a spot on the shelf, and has to have a tag on it because of the stores internal system pic.twitter.com/8ThcZK0UXd
— America Guy (@that_guy5531) January 17, 2020
This is not the first time that Leavitt has gotten backlash for what many saw as an attempt to troll the internet.
In December 2018, he tweeted at Walmart and called out one of the chain’s assistant managers for refusing to price match a Nintendo Switch game.
Hey @Walmart your Hanover, MA manager Ronald C Carbone is refusing to honor a price match on @NintendoAmerica #NintendoSwitch #games as advertised pic.twitter.com/nYcPzgYIJw
— David Leavitt (@David_Leavitt) December 6, 2018
And in June of that year, Leavitt posted an insensitive tweet as news was breaking about the bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people.
“MULTIPLE CONFIRMED FATALITIES at Manchester Arena. The last time I listened to Ariana Grande I almost died too,” he wrote in the since-deleted tweet, according to The New York Times.
In response to Leavitt’s latest antics, the man behind the popular conservative meme account Carpe Donktum organized a GoFundMe campaign to send Tori on a vacation.
I have started a GoFundMe to send Tori on a vacation.
Anyone that has to deal with this twerp definitely deserves it. I’ll start with a $50 donation.https://t.co/1ntqpiQngY https://t.co/X0bD1vZt5E
— Carpe Donktum? (@CarpeDonktum) January 17, 2020
Leavitt “harassed this Target employee over an electric toothbrush, and then blasted her on Twitter to his 215k followers,” the GoFundMe page reads.
“Lets send her on a vacation.”
As of Saturday afternoon, the campaign had raised more than $17,000 for Tori.
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