The Black Friday Blowup at Target

On Black Friday in Phoenix, after working a 14-hour warehouse shift, I made one stop at Target to grab a discounted $180 tablet for my daughter. My eyes were burning, my back throbbed, and I just wanted to get home.

I got the last one on the shelf. Literally the last one.

As I turned the corner, a woman about my age—early 30s, yoga-pants, Christmas-sweater type—blocked my cart and said, “Oh good, you found it! My husband was supposed to grab that.”

I said, “Sorry, this one’s mine.” Calm. Polite. Exhausted.

She frowned. “Well, we need it. You look like you already have one at home.” What does that even mean? I was wearing my work shirt and steel-toe boots. My stomach tightened.

When I tried to walk around her, she grabbed the box out of my cart.

I froze. My hands shook. I said, “Ma’am, please put that back.”

A Target employee intervened. She argued with
him, claiming I “stole it out of her cart.” I couldn’t
believe it.

Security checked the cameras—yep, she lied—and
she stormed out yelling, “Greedy people ruin
Christmas!”

Here’s the twist: as security walked me out, I
noticed her waiting near my car. My heart
pounded. I thought she was going to scream
again, but instead she said, almost whispering,
“I’m a single mom. I really needed that tablet. Can
you please give it to me?”

That hit me hard because… I’m a single parent too.

She apologized for lying but said she “did what
she had to do.” And now I’m stuck. My kid doesn’t
get many nice things, but I know what it’s like to
struggle.

I told her I needed time to think and drove home
with tears in my eyes.

Now the decision is on me: keep the tablet for my
daughter, or give it to someone who clearly needs
it but treated me terribly.

What would you do if someone behaved horribly
but then admitted they were desperate?