By Andrew W. Griffin

Red Dirt Report, editor

Posted: July 2, 2008

OKLAHOMA CITY – Lame.

That is what I thought of the explanation I received from a Target Corporation spokesperson when I inquired about an issue I had a concern about.

Specifically, it has to do with the checking of driver’s licenses when one purchases alcohol.

During a recent visit to the Super Target store near Quail Springs Mall here in Oklahoma City, I was purchasing some beer when the young woman at the checkout asked for my ID. Holding my Oklahoma driver’s license close enough for her to confirm that I was old enough to purchase alcohol, the aggressive employee snatched my ID and scanned a mysterious bar code on the back of the card.

Outraged, I demanded to know what she was doing and why she scanned the card. I did not receive an adequate answer and didn’t expect to since the young woman was clearly “following orders” from Target management.

Disgusted, I grabbed my beer and was out the door, determined to never purchase any more alcohol from the big, red bullseye.

Thinking about this today, I decided to call Target’s corporate headquarters in Minnesota to see what the deal was. Is it all right for employees to snatch my ID out of my hand and scan the back of it, uploading who knows what into some Target corporate database.

On the phone first was a young man named Nate. Alas, this person was nearly unintelligible. Half of what he said to me was garbled. Note to Target: Make sure your customer service call center employees don’t have a speech impediment. It defeats the purpose, ya know.

Anyway, I was able to get it across to Nate, who kept interrupting me, why I was calling. I made it clear to Nate that I needed to talk to someone above his pay grade. Well, after being put on hold, a clear-speaking young woman named Abby came on the line and told her that Nate had briefed her on why I had called. Of course I was surprised she even understood what he said.

Regardeless, Abby attempted to be polite and helpful.

Said Abby: “I do know that they swipe driver’s licenses to verify identity.”

Identity? O.k. Fair enough. But what is the information Target is needing off the back of my driver’s license? Who are they to invade my privacy? I wanted to know, I told Abby.

Abby listened politely and added that Target “obviously take the privacy of its guests very seriously” and that when they swipe a driver’s license, no information is captured. I told Abby while that may be all well and good, I think that my showing a driver’s license to some half-witted cashier is good enough to purchase a six-pack. They don’t need my height, weight and eye color, among other things.

She said that the scanning was “a prompt at the point of sale,” meaning that the cashier is informed to take the license and scan it every time alcohol is purchased.

I tried to get it across to Abby that it is outrageous that this sort of activity is taking place in Target stores and that I will take my business elsewhere. She pleasantly said that she would take my information down and “document it as a complaint” and “share it with ‘store operations,’ whatever that means.

I’ve looked for information on this and have talked to non-Target employees about this invasive practice. I was told that they do it to see if you might be giving alcohol to underage drinkers. How do they do that, I wonder.

In all, I suspect this will be chalked up as some crank who needs to accept the fact that privacy is a thing of t­he past and that the ‘land of the free, home of the brave’ is rapidly becoming ‘land of the coward, home of the slave.’

Copyright 2008 West Marie Media