Target: Hey, fellas, feel free to use our ladies room

Herman, Rob and I certainly know that you can't always judge the quality of your work by what the commenters say. You know we love you all! But sometimes when the comment section turns hostile, all we can do is shrug our shoulders and resolve that we did our best even if you can't please everyone. But it seems to me that if you're a retailer and you venture in to the realm of social commentary - especially insofar as it's influencing a change in your policy concerning the use of the, uh, facilities - you might not have done too well when your own customers take to the comment section to vow they will never shop in your store again:

Nice job, Target. You were in such a hurry to pander to the LGBT mob, you forgot that most of your customers are normal people don't much care for the idea of a mentally unstable dude waltzing into the ladies' room. If Target careens into bankruptcy because of this, it will be as quintessential a self-inflicted wound as you'll ever see in business:

We believe that everyone--every team member, every guest, and every community--deserves to be protected from discrimination, and treated equally. Consistent with this belief, Target supports the federal Equality Act, which provides protections to LGBT individuals, and opposes action that enables discrimination. In our stores, we demonstrate our commitment to an inclusive experience in many ways. Most relevant for the conversations currently underway, we welcome transgender team members and guests to use the restroom or fitting room facility that corresponds with their gender identity. We regularly assess issues and consider many factors such as impact to our business, guests and team members. Given the specific questions these legislative proposals raised about how we manage our fitting rooms and restrooms, we felt it was important to state our position.

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Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. And you'll always be accepted, respected and welcomed at Target.

Of course, that last paragraph is a total crock of s***. You don't belong if you have any concerns whatsoever about how this policy will actually play out in the real world. You're not accepted, respected or welcomed if you're concerned about you, your wife or your daughter being in the ladies' room when some unstable dude decides to waltz in. Target's message to you is an unequivocal SCREW YOU. And in the comment section (I'm surprised they even allow comments), customers (or I should say former customers) let them have it. A few choice examples:

It's too bad that Target had to make such a drastic decision so as to accommodate .03% of our population. I, and others I'm sure, will no longer feel welcomed or respected at Target because of this decision, and will no longer receive my money or support. Goodbye, Target. Well...I won't be shopping at Target anymore - was one of my favorite stores. So make sure you "include" everyone because you just excluded me You are willing to make 99.7% of the population uncomfortable to cater to the .3% who are transgender? I am done shopping with you. What about the feelings and values of the vast majority of people? You have lost my business. "Everyone deserves to feel like they belong. And you'll always be accepted, respected and welcomed at Target." Unless, of course, if you think people should use the bathroom of their actual sex. Then Target obviously doesn't accept your opinion or respect it. I will no longer be shopping at Target. I will also encourage other family members and friends to follow my example. It is your right as a business to establish policies, but as others have said you will also have to deal with the consequences. I will not be shopping at your store from now on. You made you policy statement and I am making mine. I will not spend money with an organization i find morally offensive.

By the way, lest you think I just cherry-picked these quotes out of a much larger group of supportive quotes, click the link and read the comment section for yourself. Yes, there are scattered supportive comments, but the vast majority are just like the ones I quoted above. People feel insulted because Target's claim of respecting everyone is transparent nonsense.

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Just like I said in my Curt Schilling piece this morning, it's a classic example of corporations making their decisions on the basis of who or what they fear most. Any of you LGBT activists who think Target really agrees with you are complete fools. They don't care one way or the other. They're giving in to you because they're scared to death of you. They don't want hundreds of you showing up in drag at your stores, waving protest signs and conducting friendly softball interviews with the media about how awful you are. If your whole objective is to have cultural power and influence, congratulations. You've got it. Just about every corporation in America is terrified of you and they're falling all over themselves not to become one of your targets. But in Target's case, they've done so in a way that is upsetting the people who actually spend money in their stores, or used to. By the way, let me explain to you oh-so-open-minded activists what the real issue here is, because you're firing up your keyboards about to castigate me for conflating transgender people with sexual perverts. Regardless of whether they are or are not the same, here's what's going to happen. A real sexual pervert is going to go into the ladies' room. He is going to creep someone out, who will complain to store management. The sexual pervert will insist that he "identifies as female," and even though this will be transparent nonsense, the store manager on direction of the corporation's legal counsel will not pursue any action because doing so would invite a PR s***storm that Target doesn't want. No corporation is going to do the hard work of distinguishing "real transgender people" from mere deviants, because if they do, they're once again going to incur the wrath of the very activists they thought they just successfully appeased. So women, if you're in the ladies' room and you encounter some creep who clearly shouldn't be there, understand that Target will not have your backs. They are not afraid of you. They are afraid of the people who are just as willing to castigate the creeped out woman as they are to attack the corporation that should be looking out for its customers. I don't really do "boycotts," since one person not shopping somewhere is not a boycott. But I'm having a hard time seeing why I would want to shop at a store that disrespects its customers this much. I make no claim this is going to make them "feel the pinch" or anything like that, but I don't think people tend to go where they feel they're disrespected, and anyone can see from people's responses to this self-righteous crap that I'm not the only one.