Hospital swamped with 6,000 ‘profanity-laced’ angry calls as employee who berated Target worker sparks backlash—Target employee receives nearly $200K in donations!
Screengrab of video showing the elderly Target employee who wore the 'Freedom' tee-shirt. (X/@TheOfficerTatum)
A California medical center found itself inundated with angry messages after a video went viral showing one of its employees berating a Target worker over a political T-shirt.
Enloe Health President and CEO Mike Wiltermood said at a Wednesday press conference that the medical center received more than 6,000 messages—many of them “profanity-laced”—within hours of the video spreading online.
Wiltermood urged the public to stop calling the hospital’s main phone line, warning that the volume of calls was interfering with patient care. “The repeated calls impeded our ability to serve patients and their families,” he said.
The video, filmed inside a Target store, shows a woman later identified as an Enloe Health employee confronting an elderly Target worker for wearing a red shirt that read “Freedom” with the name Charlie Kirk underneath. The woman aggressively questioned the employee’s intelligence and accused her of supporting racism, using repeated profanity.
The Target worker remained calm throughout the exchange, responding simply, “That’s your opinion, ma’am,” before walking away.
A Target spokesperson said the company expects “everyone in our stores to treat one another with respect” and that it is focused on supporting its employee. Wiltermood echoed that sentiment, praising the Target worker’s composure and condemning his employee’s conduct, which he described as behavior that occurred off the clock.
“As a human being, I’m sorry she went through that, and I admire her resilience,” Wiltermood said. “This isn’t about politics. This is about how we treat each other and basic decorum.”
Wiltermood declined to say whether the Enloe Health employee was fired, citing company policy against commenting on personnel matters.
Online users quickly identified the woman in the video as an Enloe Health worker. Some called for legal consequences, but the Chico Police Department said the conduct shown in the video did not meet the threshold for criminal charges.
The Target employee, informally identified as “Jeanie,” has since become the beneficiary of a GiveSendGo fundraiser that has raised nearly $180,000. Many donors praised her professionalism and restraint.
Organizers of the fundraiser said the money is intended to help Jeanie with whatever she may need, including time off, travel, or retirement support.
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