#TargetTori Receives $30,000 In Donations Over Viral Toothbrush Argument
Tori refused to sell an incorrectly marked toothbrush to an irate guest
Earlier this week, a Target manager named Tori started trending on Twitter after being publicly dragged by a writer online because she wouldn’t sell him a toothbrush for a penny. Strangers came through for her in a big way, starting a GoFundMe that eventually raised $30,000 to send her on a well-deserved vacation.
The incident started when “award-winning journalist” David Leavitt posted a picture of a mislabeled toothbrush (that was really just the display pricing) and stated he was refused the price listed by Tori and had to call the police because he believed it broke some Massachusetts law.
“The police verified @target displayed the price of toothbrush for $.01,” Leavitt wrote in part on Twitter, showing the display and a picture of the poor girl to publicly shame her. “The store manager Tori refused to sell me the toothbrush for displayed price. The police said I need to sue them and that they are making me a verified report take to court,” Leavitt later tweeted.
The retail giant has confirmed they’re looking at the situation. “At Target, we’re grateful for the hard work our team members put in each day to serve our guests in our stores. We’re working closely with our store team on this and appreciate the messages of support the team has received from guests,” a Target spokesperson told the Providence Herald.
People were understandably outraged that this man would not only try to get away with something so absurd but also post a picture of a woman who was clearly just trying to do her job. #TargetTori quickly took off and one Twitter follower decided to start a GoFundMe to raise $5000 to send her on vacation, writing that 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.” Instead he raised $30,000 because anyone who has worked in retail will tell you, there are a million Davids out there looking to speak with the manager and people are sick of their shit.
Administrators of the fundraiser said they’d been in contact with Tori and notified her of the GoFundMe page, saying she had been given authorization to release two photos to verify her contact with the fundraiser’s organizers. In one photo, she is seen holding a sign telling donors “Thank you for your kindness.”
Go Fund Me
An attempt to reach #TargetTori, whose real name is Tori Perrotti, was apparently unsuccessful on Monday but it sounds like things are in process. “It’s so often that people will take the picture and make a meme out of it in a mean way,” Perrotti told NBC Boston. “So, it’s nice to see there’s publicity out of this to support me and my feelings.”
Perrotti told the station she plans to donate some of the money to charities supporting retail workers and take a much-needed vacation “somewhere warm” with the rest.
