Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Target cashier questions race of girl’s doll…

This is Sophia. And this is the doll that she picked out for herself at Target. Her mom posted about the interesting comments they got from the cashier when they purchased it, including: "But the doll doesn't look like you."

The news went viral, and Brandi Banner (the girl's mother) shared her story with SFGate:
Nick and I told Sophia that after 1 whole month of going poop on the potty, she could pick out a special prize at Target. She, of course, picked a new doll. While we were checking out, the cashier asked Sophia if she was going to a birthday party.

We both gave her a blank stare.
She then pointed to the doll and asked Sophia if she picked it out for a friend.

Sophia continued to stare blankly and I let the cashier know that she was a prize for Sophia being fully potty trained.

The woman gave me a puzzled look and turned to Sophia and asked, "Are you sure this is the doll you want, honey?"

Sophia finally found her voice and said, "Yes, please!"

The cashier replied, "But she doesn't look like you.
We have lots of other dolls that look more like you."
I immediately became angry, but before I could say anything, Sophia responded with, "Yes, she does. She's a doctor like I'm a doctor. And I'm a pretty girl and she's a pretty girl. See her pretty hair? And see her stethoscope?"

Thankfully the cashier decided to drop the issue and just answer, "Oh, that's nice."
This experience just confirmed my belief that we aren't born with the idea that color matters.
You can read more here on SFGate. I personally am appalled by this. I have no idea what Target store this happened at - I'm assuming it's in the SF Bay Area, as local reporter Frank Somerville picked up on it - but IMO this cashier should be reprimanded. Not fired, per se, but definitely talked to and "educated" on proper etiquette with customers.

2 comments:

Kate said...

sigh
why does every.little.thing have to be put on social media

NSHD said...

Every little thing is put on social media because that is the state of our world today. You have a choice to tune out but I'd rather tune in so better decisions can be made in daily life that effects all humans -- including knowing that there are some Target's that still need to do a better job of training their staff on how to communicate properly to the general public on sensitive issues such as race and gender.