A Massachusetts store manager nicknamed “Target Tori” received more than $30,000 in donations after a customer’s gripe about a mispriced toothbrush backfired on him and went viral.
The bizarre retail ordeal unfolded at the franchise’s Swansea branch Friday when David Leavitt — described in his Twitter bio as an award-winning multimedia journalist whose work has appeared in CBS, AXS and Yahoo — discovered an Oral B Pro 5000 electric toothbrush on the shelf with a displayed sale price of only 1 cent.
The toothbrush was actually on sale for $89.99 — but Leavitt insisted he should be able to purchase it for the next-to-nothing display price, NBC Boston reported.
When manager Perrotti refused to sell the brush for only a cent, Leavitt called the police, and aired his grievance — with a photo of Perrotti — on social media.
“This @target manager Tori is not honoring the price of their items per Massachusetts law,” Leavitt groused in a Twitter thread. “I just had to call the police because @target refused to sell me the toothbrush.”
Leavitt clarified that he did not call 911, but instead dialed “the business number for the police and told them it was not an emergency and they could take their time and explained the situation,” he wrote.
The angry customer added that police verified the $0.01 displayed price — and that authorities made him a “verified report” to take to court.
“Corporations like @target are not above the law,” he declared. “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.”
“I have not been able to afford to go to a dentist in over three years,” he added. “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.”
But the tables turned when many commenters started to bash Leavitt instead of Perrotti — and some supporters even launched a fundraiser to send her on vacation.
The page had racked up more than $31,000 by Tuesday morning, far exceeding its $5,000 goal.
“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 spend the rest on a vacation somewhere warm.
She took Leavitt’s Twitter post in stride.
“My first thought was I wish I had worn makeup to work that day,” she joked.
Leavitt did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent through Twitter.
A Target spokesperson responded to the debacle in a statement to the Providence Journal.
“At Target, we’re grateful for the hard work our team members put in each day to serve our guests in our stores,” the statement said. “We’re working closely with our store team on this and appreciate the messages of support the team has received from guests.”