Held Captive at Work
by Justin KenwardLink to article
On December 3, 2003, the Target I worked for took me to an upstairs office. I didn’t think to ask why I was asked to go up there beforehand. I also did not know this was going to be the longest night of my life. This started sometime around 3 PM and ended about 6 hours later. I was asked about a transaction I made a year ago. It seems that I sold a video game system at a discount to another employee. They wanted to know why. Truth be told I did not remember, and still don’t remember to this day. That’s not good enough, said Asset Protection, after about an hour of trying to tell them that I don’t remember anything about that day let alone that transaction.
I had to use the restroom. I asked if I could and was denied. This goes on for another hour when I say, “Look I have to pee, bad, can I go to the restroom?” Again I was told no. So I stand up and start walking out the door, and was stopped. At this point I thought to myself, “They’re looking to fire me!” So I start to think of ways that transaction might have come to be. I say something like, “I would never give a discount unless a manager or a supervisor told me to.”
I was interrupted and told that it sounds like I was trying to place my mistake on others. Three hours into this and still needing to pee I was told that I need to write an apologetic letter to the company with every detail that we just went over and then I could use the restroom. They are going to use that time to fax it to the district office. I am told they are going to decide if I am to be fired or suspended. I write the letter, not that I believe anything I’m saying in it. He then looks at it and takes a highlighter and tells me I need to rewrite these parts. Now I sit and wait. In the room where I was being held captive I look through a window that had dark tint so that Asset Protection could spy on their employees. I look down on the sales floor and see my coworker’s — friends. I want to scream out for help. But I can’t. Because I still have hope.
After being released I call the Target store because a friend of mine seemed to have been upset when the cops walked me out in handcuffs. Let’s call her Jenny. I find out that Jenny’s now being held captive. My heart stopped, my inner cave man took over. I have to save the girl. So I drive back to the Target parking lot. I plot ways to get her out.
I never acted because it would have gotten her in more trouble. So I waited for about 5 hours until they let her go. When I did get to see her I told her I would make everything okay again. I failed. I was hoping the
Tags: asset-protection, captive, Target
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:06 am
May 22, 2007
Dear Justin,
I was appalled and disgusted by your story, and the way you had been inhumanly treated. I would not have allowed them to intimidate me much less have cooperated with these thugs. Instead, I would have kept my mouth shut and asked to speak to my attorney. If you didn’t have an attorney, you are entitled to one by law. What these people did to you was unconscionable and a form of (self-incrimination) and entrapment. I certainly wouldn’t have written anything – much less under duress or coercion. Simply put, your civil rights had been violated, and they were illegally holding you against your will without substantial evidence. In other words, you were kidnapped, i.e. a federal offense. Did you take your case to the State Attorney General’s Office?
July 17th, 2007 at 8:58 am
Target has no authority to hold anyone against their will. You should have just walked out, if they used force they would have been guilty of kidnapping.
August 15th, 2007 at 9:14 pm
This happends every day at target wal mart and stores just like them. the cameras you see are not for shop lifters it is to keep an eye on the employees. Yes he should have just walked out but when two usally big guys tell you that you cant go well you tend to beleve them. yes it is technically kid napping but you have to prove it. now some one needs to tell me how some regular joe like you and me can affored to fight the giant that is target corp???
August 23rd, 2007 at 11:13 am
Well, I have no idea how you’d fight it legally. But as Underwood said, why not just leave? It’s not like a job at Target is irreplaceable.
November 5th, 2007 at 8:32 am
Justin, that was a horrible experience, and you show courage and defiance by posting here. This post is an act of bravery and generosity that allows others to understand what is happening. Frankly, I am shocked. Shocked! It is all so Kafkaesque. I know it is easy to sit here in a comfy chair and say gee, why didn’t you do this? Or why didn’t you just leave? I won’t say that, because I get that you were totally blindsided by this, that you were hoping to keep your job, and that you had no way of knowing you could not cooperate enough to get them to behave in a civilized manner toward you. Everything is easier to see in hindsight, and you did just fine in a very unfine situation. To the person who says why not just leave, and suggests that your job was not that important, are you kidding? Any and every job is important when you rely on the money you earn to put food on the table and pay the electric and see the doctor for a flu shot. Good luck to you, Justin, and please post an update soon.