A Target employee who was criticized on social media by a customer received an outpouring of support, along with $30,000 in donations.
Tori Perrotti works at the store’s Swansea location. On Friday, she encountered a customer who was upset with a sale and decided to snap a photo of Perrotti and post it to Twitter with several complaints.
“My first thought was I wish I had worn makeup to work that day,” joked Perrotti.
The disagreement was over an electric toothbrush that was on sale for $89.99. The customer, identified on Twitter as David Leavitt, believed he should be able to purchase it for 1¢ because the price was posted on a display ad for the item. When Perrotti refused, he took to social media to air his grievance and then called police.
“The store manager Tori refused to sell me the toothbrush for displayed price,” Leavitt wrote. “The police said I need to sue them and that they are making me a verified report take to court.”
Swansea police declined to comment, calling the issue a civil matter. An email sent to Leavitt did not receive a reply.
But the public responded swiftly, criticizing Leavitt, not Perrotti, for his posts and photos.
Local
In-depth news coverage of the Greater Boston Area.
“It’s so often that people will take the picture and make a meme out of it in a mean way,” Perrotti said, “So, it’s nice to see there’s publicity out of this to support me and my feelings.”
The support went farther than just words. A GoFundMe account was setup for Perrotti and as of Monday morning had raised at least $30,000.
Perrotti now plans to donate some of the money to charities that support retail workers. As for the rest, she hopes to plan a vacation to somewhere warm.
“It’s overwhelming,” Perrotti said of the support. “But in a good way.”
