By the time the Slaters noticed the racial slur printed on the receipt, the store was already closed for the day.
Hoping to get answers about how the words got on the receipt, the Slaters returned to the store the next day. But they said they never got a full explanation, only that the employee entered a generic code.
"And it pulled up six or seven different choices, and the choice that she (the employee) chose was the very last choice," said Slater's father, Keith.
"I really don't doubt that this is the first time it happened. I'm sure it's happened before, but this is probably the first time that somebody noticed their receipt and came back and asked about it," Linda Slater said.

The store has fired the employee in question and issued the following statement:

"While we are continuing to investigate this incident, it now appears that an employee in one of our stores entered highly inappropriate statements in a form used to process a merchandise return. Needless to say, such an act was not authorized by Journeys, and will not be tolerated. This employee has been terminated.
"At Journeys, we pride ourselves on valuing and respecting every customer. We are shocked and sickened that a former associate could be responsible for an act so out of keeping with our culture and our values. We profoundly regret this incident."

Man Finds Racial Slur Printed On Receipt [KMBC] (Thanks, Taryn!)

Oddly enough, one of the other teams that posed for a picture while making the "slanty-eyed" face did so for an actual ad for a Spanish courier company. This time, it's not an ad, and Coca-Cola's probably not going to be happy with this association. The photo was published August 5th, but so far, we haven't heard anything from Coke.

According to the article, Richardson is likely in violation of a state law that prohibits unfair sales practices, as well as state laws "prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race or national origin in places of public accommodation." Even the group that Richardson claims membership in—Rhode Islanders for Immigration Law Enforcement (RIILE)—is trying to distance itself from Richardson:

"There's no way I can defend what he did. It definitely isn't the policy of RIILE to go around and use your RIILE card to intimidate people," said Gorman in a phone interview. "That's not something that RIILE would promote ... to make citizen's arrest."

Genao said he is still upset over the encounter, which he called "loud in tone." Richardson called it "a discussion."

"I told [Richardson] I'm a U.S. citizen by choice, whereas he was just born here," said Genao. "I have every right to be here. I told him his behavior was shameful. And he went on to say that a lot of these illegal immigrants are criminals and we have to stop them, and he said he did this for his country — because it's going downhill, because of all these illegal immigrants.

"What [Richardson] should have done was say, 'Thank you for shopping with me.' That's all he had to do."

(Thanks to ElizabethD!)

"Store owner asks to see shoppers' Social Security cards" [The Providence Journal]

Target gets a free pass in many cases, as opposed to say, a certain blue-colored store, thanks in large part to its eye-popping ad campaigns and associations with artists and feel-good organizations, but the allegations by one disgruntled Target worker, which you should read with a hunk of salt, paint a different picture...

landlease: I work full time at Target and id like to tell their secrets
benpopken: We love secrets
landlease: I worked day time and overnight so i know what its like around the clock First, the security mostly follows black people. One manager told me they don't want a black person working in electronics, because they steal more than others...

(Photo: nycmstar )

Everyone makes fun of customers as soon as they walk away. We wear fake name tags so that when a customer DOES tell a manager that an employee was rude, nobody gets in trouble.

When we apply, we are promised 40+ hours a week. I am down to 24. And every week my manager tells me they will go up to 40. The only reason is that I'm under 40 is that then you don't get health benefits.

benpopken: What store do you work in?

landlease: I work in NY. I'm not telling where. Oh and theres a bar across the street. So on the measly half hour breaks they give you in an 8-hour shift, many people down as much as they can and return to work buzzing or drunk.

Oh, and I'm getting a surgery next month, so i begged to work 40 hours so my health insurance can activate, they said no. So I'm gonna have to pay like, full price.

Oh oh oh, one more thing before i go, the dog recalls. Apparently the people working in pets, don't give a shit, cuz they didn't remove anything....

UPDATE: And now, counterpoint from a current Target employee:

I just read the new article about Target and wanted to share my insight on the issue.

The employee said some truthful things, but some were extreme exaggerations.

1.The security mostly follows black people

a. Not true at all. I work at a very busy target, and we usually have 3 AP people on site at all times. They rarely have time to follow anyone. One usually stands at the doors, one is in plainclothes and wonders the stores looking for suspicious activity - never following unless told to do so by the third person who is usually watching the cameras.

2. Everyone makes fun of customers as soon as they walk away. We wear fake name tags so that when a customer DOES tell a manager that an employee was rude, nobody gets in trouble.

a.Several things wrong with this one

b. We sometimes make fun of customers, usually in jest to make the time fly by faster - and it's usually not about a certain individual.

c. We do wear fake name tags SOMETIMES. The majority of team members wear their real names. The executives give you a random nametag if you come to work without one.

3. When we apply, we are promised 40+ hours a week. I am down to 24. And every week my manager tells me they will go up to 40. The only reason is that I'm under 40 is that then you don't get health benefits.

a. Bull Fucking Shit.

b. When you apply, you're told that you have an opportunity to work 40+ hours. You are never scheduled over 40 hours unless you're paid overtime. There were no promises. Target has been cutting hours but if you are only working 24 hours a week suck it up and maybe learn other areas of the store. I'm trained in 8+ areas of the store and get over 30 hours per week.

c. Theres also a sheet where you can cover shifts for another employee - great way to get new hours.

4. On half hour lunch breaks:

a. Yes, this is true but it's plenty of time if you don't try to get drunk before coming back to work. Almost all of the team members at my store eat in the break room or restaurants nearby and end up waiting at the punchclock to be able to clock back in.

5. Dog Recalls

a. It was removed if there was a specific recall. Target stores were sent signs and lists of recalled food items and dates. The food was removed from the store I work at the same day.

Target does have some flaws, but this is just crazy - she was probably reprimanded for working drunk and took out her anger on here.

Now the 6 arrested passengers are suing their accusers. Boy, there was sure a whole lot of nasty racism going on that day. It's hard to figure out who should sue who, isn't it? Psst, the airline probably has more money. —MEGHANN MARCO

The Today Show

When users enter "dark brown" in Chinese in older versions of the Kingsoft program, its spits out the n-bomb. Newer versions don't, but if you type the slur in English, "dark brown" shows in Chinese.

The supplier, who hasn't updated the translation software in 10 years, blames the software. The couch store owner, who came to Canada in 1972 from India, says he's never heard the word before. The lady who bought the couch is considering suing. — BEN POPKEN

Racial slur blamed on Chinese company's faulty translation program [AP] (Thanks to Laura!)

PREVIOUSLY: Packaging Label Describes Sofa Color As "Nigger-brown"

The lawsuit alleges that Walgreen assigns black managers, management trainees and pharmacists to low-performing stores and to stores in black communities, and that it denies them promotions based on race.

"Black managers are assigned to stores in black neighborhoods more often than one would expect, and black employees are not being promoted to management and within management as often as similar white employees," EEOC regional attorney Robert Johnson said in St. Louis.

Walgreen is the target of U.S. racial-bias lawsuit [Philadelphia Inquirer]
(Photo: TheConsumerist)

As Stay Free Daily puts the problem with MySpace's ugly, ugly templates:

One of the reasons that the templates are so horrible is that they have to accommodate stupid animation games for a ringtone company. Take a look at the latest contest. You play the "savage" - I leave it up to you to decide whether this is more or less racist than playing a gorilla trying to hit a savage with a coconut.

I'd say less, except that, by dint of the ring tone company's astonishing racial insensitivity, I'm pretty sure they intended both the monkey and the African to be the same species. So equal.

Racist MySpace [Stay Free!]

But what do you think? Offensive or inane? More pix after the jump...

Detail from a third version:

The Center of Responsible Lending recently did a study of 50,000 subprime loans. What they found was that Latinos and African-Americans were often given disproportionately high interest rates when compared to their cracker peers. In fact, they are a third more likely to get a high-priced loan than Anglo-Saxon borrowers with the same credit profile.

Good quote summarizing why this is a big problem, besides just being racist: "[The study findings show] that it's even harder for families of color to build equity for their future; it's even harder to send their children to college; and it's even harder to build wealth for the next generation." Self-perpetuating generational poverty is a much bigger problem than mere prejudice; unfortunately, they all too often go hand in hand.

Study Disputes Lenders' Excuses for Charging Blacks and Latinos Higher Rates [Consumer Affairs]

Cingular pulled a ringtone from its offerings yesterday due to its "blatantly offensive" nature. Reportedly, the ringtone started with a siren and then a southern male drawled, "This is la Migra," slang for Border Patrol.

"Por favor, put the oranges down and step away from the cell phone. I repeat-o, put the oranges down and step away from the telephone-o. I'm deporting you back home-o," continued the voice.

The ringtone was developed by Barrior Mobile, owned by Lagardere Active North American, a U.S. division of a French media company.

Guess your neck can get red in the French Riveria, too.