Target
Title
Target
Creator
Daniela Dunteman
Date
04/22/2022
Text
A simple Target run. In and out- I just need to return this, get the right size and that’s it. My dad makes faces at me at the thought of going to Target now at 6pm on a Sunday. I reassure him I’ll be quick and leave. Ugh I hate this car. It’s old and shakes if you go past 40 mph. Cars swerve in front of me, and one lady nearly hits me. Tough day for her -- her boyfriend just broke up with her over the phone. I mean, come on, the speed limit is 45 mph it’s not like I’m going that slow. Holy crap. The line of cars turning into Target is ridiculous. Who the hell is at target at this time?! Well, it’s Sunday so I guess that explains it. The lines to check out with all the things that no one really needs are even more ridiculous. I guess this won’t be quick. I wander over to the area I need to be at- goodness gracious can I not walk 20 feet without being bombarded by groups of middle school girls? The giggles, the lingo and all the TikTok references… please make it stop.
“It’s the broken charm for me,” one of them says in a high-pitched voice. One second while I internally vomit. Oh, look at that, girls doing TikTok dances in the middle of the clothing section with the phone propped against the pants I wanted to look at. Great; but I can’t help but smile as memories come to mind of me being exactly like that. I look at the girl in the middle and decide that her name is Janet. Her crush follows her TikTok so she likes to look all nice and pretty for these videos. OMG, he just commented on one! No way, he definitely likes her back.
As silly as it is, I remember having the butterflies and uncontrollable giggles at the thought of my crush. I remember coming here to Target to just hang out with my own friends. It was the middle point where we would all meet up and talk and laugh and dance and be extremely annoying to the adults who just needed to get that specific item. Those were the days. Now I guess I’m one of those adults. Yikes. Okay back on track. They have my size thank God- let’s go. I notice that the clearance section looks really full, maybe I can find something good. Target loves to charge twenty bucks per piece of their two piece bathing suits, but these ones here in the clearance are five bucks! Oh, I have to get some.
“She did NOT say that!” One lady says. Damn she scared the crap out of me. She’s huddled up with about four other women and they’re laughing and gasping. I wonder who said what. I somewhat hide behind the clothes hung up and listen in on their gossip.
“She told her to shut the hell up and told her that none of us liked her and then she quit.”
“Oh the balls this new generation has. My mother would beat my butt if I ever talked to a superior like that. What was Maria trying to get her to do?”
Using context clues, I’m assuming Maria is their boss. My mom would’ve beat my ass too if I ever said that to my boss. I wonder what happened. Oh, that’s a really cute top.
“She told her she can’t wear AirPods while at work and that she needed to actually be on time.” A different lady states and they all laugh at the stupidity.
“But we all know they had their little feud; she wanted to quit the first day she started working here.”
Wow, that’s crazy. What made her so miserable working here?
“Hey, the lines are all the way in stationary there should not be any unoccupied registers okay I don’t want to see anyone standing around. Let’s go!” A voice comes through the walkie talkie breaking through their laughs and ending their enjoyment. One of the workers asks the lady speaking through the walkie to repeat it… and she does, sounding even angrier than the first time she said it. Groans replace the laughter. That must have been Maria on the talkie. She sounds like an angry person, but I don’t think she’s an angry witch, I think she’s just been so frustrated with her workers lately because no one will ask her how she’s doing. Maybe she’s been showing for days that something’s wrong, throwing out sighs, looking sad, but not one person bothers to ask her what’s wrong. The nerve of them. She just needs someone to talk to- she’s silently crying out to them, but no one hears her. We all need someone to lean on.
The group of ladies begin walking to the front of the store to reach the registers and I am left alone remembering the gossip that used to take place between me and my friends, or even me my sister and my mom. We’d come here just to hang out and get out of the house. Today’s a beautiful day; let’s go to Target. Of course, Target wasn’t the only destination, we went out and did actual activities but Target was also fun.
And now here I am, standing alone. An old couple walks past me towards the men’s section, and the woman grabs a few shirts and insists that he would look so handsome in them. He nods in agreement although I have a feeling he’s not really paying attention to the shirts just to how happy she looks holding the shirts up to him.
There’s such an array of different people. I see young girls, young boys, grown men and women, moms and dads, grandparents. All here for their own reasons, everyone walking right by each other not really noticing anyone beyond their own circle.
“It’s the broken charm for me,” one of them says in a high-pitched voice. One second while I internally vomit. Oh, look at that, girls doing TikTok dances in the middle of the clothing section with the phone propped against the pants I wanted to look at. Great; but I can’t help but smile as memories come to mind of me being exactly like that. I look at the girl in the middle and decide that her name is Janet. Her crush follows her TikTok so she likes to look all nice and pretty for these videos. OMG, he just commented on one! No way, he definitely likes her back.
As silly as it is, I remember having the butterflies and uncontrollable giggles at the thought of my crush. I remember coming here to Target to just hang out with my own friends. It was the middle point where we would all meet up and talk and laugh and dance and be extremely annoying to the adults who just needed to get that specific item. Those were the days. Now I guess I’m one of those adults. Yikes. Okay back on track. They have my size thank God- let’s go. I notice that the clearance section looks really full, maybe I can find something good. Target loves to charge twenty bucks per piece of their two piece bathing suits, but these ones here in the clearance are five bucks! Oh, I have to get some.
“She did NOT say that!” One lady says. Damn she scared the crap out of me. She’s huddled up with about four other women and they’re laughing and gasping. I wonder who said what. I somewhat hide behind the clothes hung up and listen in on their gossip.
“She told her to shut the hell up and told her that none of us liked her and then she quit.”
“Oh the balls this new generation has. My mother would beat my butt if I ever talked to a superior like that. What was Maria trying to get her to do?”
Using context clues, I’m assuming Maria is their boss. My mom would’ve beat my ass too if I ever said that to my boss. I wonder what happened. Oh, that’s a really cute top.
“She told her she can’t wear AirPods while at work and that she needed to actually be on time.” A different lady states and they all laugh at the stupidity.
“But we all know they had their little feud; she wanted to quit the first day she started working here.”
Wow, that’s crazy. What made her so miserable working here?
“Hey, the lines are all the way in stationary there should not be any unoccupied registers okay I don’t want to see anyone standing around. Let’s go!” A voice comes through the walkie talkie breaking through their laughs and ending their enjoyment. One of the workers asks the lady speaking through the walkie to repeat it… and she does, sounding even angrier than the first time she said it. Groans replace the laughter. That must have been Maria on the talkie. She sounds like an angry person, but I don’t think she’s an angry witch, I think she’s just been so frustrated with her workers lately because no one will ask her how she’s doing. Maybe she’s been showing for days that something’s wrong, throwing out sighs, looking sad, but not one person bothers to ask her what’s wrong. The nerve of them. She just needs someone to talk to- she’s silently crying out to them, but no one hears her. We all need someone to lean on.
The group of ladies begin walking to the front of the store to reach the registers and I am left alone remembering the gossip that used to take place between me and my friends, or even me my sister and my mom. We’d come here just to hang out and get out of the house. Today’s a beautiful day; let’s go to Target. Of course, Target wasn’t the only destination, we went out and did actual activities but Target was also fun.
And now here I am, standing alone. An old couple walks past me towards the men’s section, and the woman grabs a few shirts and insists that he would look so handsome in them. He nods in agreement although I have a feeling he’s not really paying attention to the shirts just to how happy she looks holding the shirts up to him.
There’s such an array of different people. I see young girls, young boys, grown men and women, moms and dads, grandparents. All here for their own reasons, everyone walking right by each other not really noticing anyone beyond their own circle.
Collection
Citation
Daniela Dunteman, “Target,” Everything Speaks To Me , accessed September 18, 2026, https://everythingspeakstome.com/items/show/68.