A 36-year-old Target employee drove her car into a 20-foot deep canal after working the night shift on Black Friday. Apparently, she lost control of the vehicle due to exhaustion and didn’t know how to swim!! This is pretty scary and a bad look for Target because even though shoppers were able to benefit from its midnight opening, it ultimately put the employees’ lives at risk. More details after the jump!
(HP)–The woman is unable to swim, but managed to call police from her cell phone and explain the situation as she and the car began to sink, notes NBC Miami.
Palm Beach County sheriff’s deputy Frank Mayo dove into the canal to save the unidentified woman, reports The Palm Beach Post.
“Our thoughts are with the team member and her family for a speedy recovery,” Jessica Carlson, a Target spokeswoman told the Palm Beach Post.
The car accident comes after a slew of retailers, including Target, made the decision to open at 12 a.m. on November 25 to accomodate Black Friday shoppers. This required employees to arrive at 11 p.m. on Thanksgiving to prepare the store for an influx of shoppers.
Target said the decision to open earlier on Black Friday was popular with both employees and customers.
But at least one Target employee wasn’t enthusiastic. Anthony Hardwick started up a petition on Change.org asking for reasonable working hours over Thanksgiving, reports The New York Times.
Though Target never changed its opening hours, the petition went viral and received over 100,000 comments from across the country.
Black Friday and the whole holiday shopping craze is taken way out of proportion. All hours shouldn’t be slave driven, but descent so that ppl can get home safely and enjoy holidays. Sad.