Horrible....

[Stephen]

I work at a grocery store...and I can say this. A managers call like this would be just that. The managers call. The fat cats most times are not there...so its not like they were pressured. This was a call made by one man. Who, as TNC pointed out...deserves to be fired. I myself hate Target. I went there once...and felt like it was a cookie cutter walmart/k-mart/AMES style place. That, and there workers were dumb as nails. I made the mistake of asking one where somthing was...and got a blank stare a long "uhhh" Then he just walked off. (If I did that at my store, I would have had to just keep walking...because my job would have been filled by someone else by the close of the week) But as far as a manager doing this...the blame lies soely with him. Hopefully as news of this spreads....he looses his job anyway. I am not trying to be mean or malicious...but obviously he is rather stupid managorial wise. To ask someone to leave like that...your asking for a black eye for your store. Ah well, this reminds me of a poem I saw the other day.....


"It is the soldier, not the reporter, who has given us the freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier not the campus organizer, who has given us freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag."

[c-girl]

>o.O< Whoa. That's so not cool...

[Maledicte]

If anyone hasn't said this, Target is a French-owned company, and just about everyone knows that France is against the war in iraq...
All Target stores won't support the US military, not even for toy drives at Christmas and for veteran parades. talk about rude.
And besides their clothes are too expensive anyways.

[Kisa]

Oh! That makes me so mad! They have the freedom to runa store like that because of young men's sacrifices and they have the nerve to kick them out?!
I hate when people are anti-military (I come from a Navy family with even more military background) I support those guys to the fullest and I will not support those who shove them aside!

[uc pseudonym]

That is unfortunate that they banned the Salvation Army people. I'm inclined to think their motivations weren't that great, simply from my experiences with other chains and the Salvation Army bells (which I ring by volunteer). Disrespecting people isn't good either, but as has been said, it was the decision of one manager alone.

Meanwhile, Ashley has already stated from an administrative stance that we should stay on topic, and while I reiterate that, I'd also like to personally ask: please stay off the subject of the war in Iraq.

[Yojimbo]

While this does make me quite angry I won't be boycotting Target. I happen to like Target overall we have a large one only two blocks away and their prices are reasonable. I also know a number of people that work there. And if the Target were to ever close in our area (not that it ever will anytime soon) it would be a major blow to our neighborhood.

You'll find no one on this site that appreciates our guys more than I do. Almost half of my mother's very large family served. Both my grandparents are WW2 and Korea vets. I have two friends over in Iraq right now and a cousin that might ship out there. But boycotting Target because of one idiotic manager on the other side of the country is not grounds for that. I think what he did are the grounds for him to be fired of course. Target employs millions of people and I don't think any of us want to see those people jobless owned by the French or no.

For example my mother works for Thomson Consumer Electronics. You've probably never heard the name but you have heard of the various companies they own, including RCA, Philips, Technicolor, etc. They are French owned (and might even be Chinese owned in the couple five years) and after 9/11 people in the area started to really boycott Thomson because it was owned by the French. Well Thomson has laid off a good chunk of it's workforce here in Indy and in their plants in Mexico. And because of it my mom didn't receive a well deserved raise that she should of received years ago. Those people were ignorant in the end they were only hurting their own state's economy.

It's fine and dandy to want to boycott but just know that everything has a consequence and ask if it's really worth it. It obviously wouldn't be company policy to turn soldiers away and I don't know enough their Planned Parenthood sponsorship to say anything on it. If you want to do something about it write a letter of complaint to the Target where this incident occured.

[Scribs]

I have heard that Target does give money to the salvation army, they just don't like the bell ringers.

[shooraijin]

The Salvation Army??? they're a church not a military outfit.. I should know coz thats my church!!

Good to hear from another Salvationist I grew up in the Salvation Army (Western Territory/Sierra del Mar), although I'm a Nazarene now.

[agasfas]

I just don't think it's right to boycott Target for banning the salvation army. I would think there is another reason for doing so... Plus, like I've stated, I like to know where my donations are going, I don't want it going towards something I'm totally opposed to.

Edit:
Check out:http://www.mississippiwebsite.com/targetstores.htm

It has some more information that people may be over looking. Like the many donations the Target Corp. gives and they are not Frenched own.

In the site I'll listed a guy who's a veteran emails Target asking about the non-troop support. The Target corp. response to all these alligations.
Ex:
"Target is owned by Target Corporation, a company based in Minneapolis,
Minnesota since it's founding by George Dayton in 1902. Target is not now
and never has been foreign owned. Our company has supported many charitablecauses throughout its history, and that includes veteransorganizations. Foryears, Target has donated funds and volunteer hours to local and national veteran and military organizations around the country."

When you get another side to the story it doesn't make Target look so bad...

To find all the organizations Target gives to:
http://target.com/target_group/community_giving/partnerships.jhtml

Article about Target giving to the Red Cross:
http://target.com/target_group/community_giving/bulletin.jhtml

SO sure they may not promote the Salvation Army anymore, this company supports so many. So to boycott Target over the Salvation Army seems a bit one sided in my opinion. They give out millions in donations for the community and national disaster relief. THe list goes on and on.

[termyt]

Nice bit of research, there, agasfas. You beat me to it.

I think Target is no better or worse than any other giant corporation. They all do things we like and things we don't. I'm sure you are all capable of making a reasonable choice of whether to shop there or not. But you should always try to find both sides of the story before you decide. Everything in this thread (beyond the initial post and direct quotes from named sources) should be counted as hearsay. If you are alarmed by what you read, try to verify it from Target itself as well as reputable news sources.

[LadyKokoro]

this is a good point. the manager that did this should be fired or at least punished. I don't wish for Target to go out of business and I don't think anyone else should either...a lot of people would be without jobs then, and we have enough of an unemployment problem as is.

I must agree ... that is a form of discrimination and by law he/she is had commited a terminable offence - seek higher management and don't let up until they agree to do something.

[Fireproof]

Although it's unfortunate, I don't think Target would kick out marines as policy. This more likely one manager's grudge taken too far.

[Shao Feng-Li]

One word, "Traitor!" These guys are over there getting blown up and get this in return? Not a whole lotta things like this make me angry, but there's something about our soldiers getting treated like this that makes me want to cry. Probably because my dad's a navy vet and me uncle is an officer who recieved a bronze star in Iraq. THese people don't know how greatful they should be towards the man who are dying for them... lemme say though, I don't much support the war, but the troops serving.

EDIT: I think I got a bit over zealous...

[agasfas]

It's okay Shao Feng-Li, breath slowly. Sure it sucks these guys where kicked out, but it's wasn't a company policy, it was a decision of one guy. I wouldn't necessarily call them "traitors," everyone has their own peronal beliefs. I heard a ton of stories about people doing the same thing to the troops that served in Vietnam. It happens... people can be so cruel, and not only Americans. Not everyone agrees with war. The world is so diverse and so are peoples opinions on things. That human nature.

[agasfas]

Kind of random but I learned some new things today about this Salvation Army situation. Members at a local Target store and their Store Director told me (more along the same thing):

1) Target has always had a no soliciting, fund raising or petition rule. They just figured it wasn't fair to enforce that rule to everyone except the Salvation army.

2) So instead of having the Bell Ringers out in front, Target cuts them a really huge check instead. More then what they usually earn during the holidays.

3) Bad Repuatation:
The salvation army workers here in Austin have a reputation of taking out the donations in small amounts to purchase random things for themselves such as food and such. Hitting on or harassing Target employees. Also, many times the workers would leave the money unattended thus theft happened a lot.
ALthough this doesn't happen everywhere, Target didn't like the fact that these kind of events happen, not only here in Austin.

Also on another note there is a Target Red Card in wich 1% of your total purchases gets donated to a local school of your choice.

Most people assume because they stoped using the bell ringers that they stopped supporthing them all together. It's quite the contrary. THey still give donations to the Salvation Army, just stopped using Bell ringers.

Sorry if y'all may see this as "grave digging" but I thought I had to point out that the salvation army is still getting funds from Target, it just may not be evident.
Also, sorry if this seems irrelevant. *shrugs*

[Zilch]

Well, I'm in the same boat as many of you. I don't go to Target anyway. The only time I did go, the place smelled like a certain relaxation facility(you KNOW what I mean!)...