By Chrissy M. Thornton
There is a quiet calculus many Black people perform before we even walk into a store.
We soften our tone. We monitor our posture. We keep receipts visible. We are mindful of where our hands are, how long we linger, whether we look “confused” or “confrontational.” This constant awareness is exhausting. But it is survival. Because shopping while Black has never been just about shopping. It has always carried an undercurrent: Will my presence be misinterpreted? Will a question be read as defiance? Will someone decide I am a problem?
On the last day of Black History Month, that calculus proved warranted.
I walked into a Dollar Tree in Reisterstown, Md. to purchase supplies for a community event. What should have been a routine errand turned into a police response. The issue began with me asking for a simple pricing clarification and requesting a manager.
What I received instead was profanity and escalation.
The manager approached, visibly agitated. She was loud, confrontational and openly hostile.
“I’m tired of this ****,” she yelled, punctuating her frustration with expletives. When I answered her question about the number of items in my cart, she snapped.
“Oh hell no, I’m not doing this,” she said, before slamming the merchandise down and walking away.
I had not raised my voice. I had not insulted anyone. I had asked a question.
Instead of resolving the matter with clarity or professionalism, she cursed at me for asking. She framed my request as an inconvenience. Another associate remarked that she, too, was tired and supposed to be home, as if fatigue somehow excused disrespect.
Being tired does not authorize humiliation. It does not justify screaming at a customer. And it certainly does not justify what happened next.
As customers watched, one older woman near the front of the store commented that this manager is “always nasty” and that she would likely call the police because that “is what she does.” She said it casually, as if it were routine.
Moments later, three police cars pulled into the parking lot.
Officers approached prepared for what they believed was an aggressive disturbance. One later told me the call suggested something far more serious than a pricing question. They arrived expecting to find a violent confrontation. They also indicated that calling the police is reportedly this manager’s “go to.”
Her “go to.” Not customer service–law enforcement.
Calling the police is not a neutral act. It is not a retail management tool. It is the activation of state power. When someone dials 911, they initiate a chain of events that can include detention, restraint, arrest and in some cases, force and death. Officers respond based on how the situation is described. If it is framed as aggressive or volatile, they arrive in a posture shaped by that framing.
For Black people, that posture carries weight.
National data consistently shows racial disparities in policing outcomes. Black Americans are stopped at higher rates, searched more frequently, and are more likely to experience force during encounters with law enforcement. Research on implicit bias has demonstrated how language shapes perception, how words like “aggressive” or “noncompliant” can influence threat assessment before officers even step onto the scene.
This is why weaponizing the police is so dangerous.
Weaponization occurs when law enforcement is summoned not because of imminent harm, but as a mechanism of control, intimidation, or retaliation. We have seen it across the country in parks, in apartment complexes, in stores, where minor disagreements are reframed as danger. The call itself becomes leverage. The uniform becomes pressure. And it is important to note that you do not have to identify as White to be a “Karen.”
Once police are involved, outcomes are no longer entirely within anyone’s control. Tension rises. Adrenaline spikes. Bystanders gather. And in a country where we have witnessed too many routine encounters spiral into tragedy, Black communities do not have the luxury of dismissing that risk as abstract.
Retail environments are not battlegrounds. Pricing questions are not crimes. Asking for a manager is not aggression.
Yet, in that moment, my simple request for clarification was met first with profanity, then with police. This is a failure of Dollar Tree and their lack of corporate training and accountability.
I serve as president and CEO of Associated Black Charities. My work centers on equity, leadership and systems accountability. I train institutions on de-escalation precisely because we understand how quickly ordinary interactions can become dangerous when authority is misused.
When calling the police becomes a managerial reflex, it reinforces a harmful narrative: that Black disagreement equals threat. That Black persistence equals volatility. That Black customers must regulate not just their behavior, but their very humanity, in order to remain safe.
Since sharing my experience, I have heard from others who describe similar patterns at various Dollar Tree stores – hostility from management, abrupt escalation, law enforcement summoned over minor disputes. The consistency of these accounts is deeply troubling.
If this can happen to someone with professional standing, public visibility, and the ability to document her experience, it can certainly happen to someone without those protections. A young person. An elder. A customer without the resources or platform to demand accountability.
Weaponizing the police does more than embarrass. It consumes taxpayer-funded resources. It strains already fragile community-police relationships. And it perpetuates a long history in which Black presence is treated as suspicion rather than belonging.
Corporations must establish clear guardrails. Police should be called only when there is a legitimate safety threat, not as a shortcut for resolving discomfort or frustration. Managers must be trained not only in operational policy, but in professionalism and de-escalation. And when escalation is unwarranted, accountability must follow.
The video I made outlining what happened went viral with over 50,000 views and interactions. I then formally escalated this matter to Dollar Tree corporate leadership and was contacted by Michael Collischan, regional director for Dollar Tree, who apologized for my experience and stated that the company had conducted an internal investigation. I explained to him that responding officers told me the call they received described the situation as involving an aggressive or potentially violent customer, which was not true. They also indicated that the manager reportedly calls police frequently and that this type of escalation is known to them as something she does on a regular basis.
He indicated the matter had been “adequately addressed,” though he could not discuss personnel actions. He also stated his agreement that no behavior on my part justified the level of escalation and aggression from the Store Manager. Skirting around his personnel conversation restrictions, I asked if it would be safe for me to return to the store, and he indicated it would be.
After our conversation, I was mailed a letter of apology and a refund for the pricing overage along with an additional courtesy on a gift card totaling $50, which I planned to donate. We also discussed the possibility of Associated Black Charities providing statewide workplace training to help prevent situations like this from happening again. At the time, I felt the matter had been handled satisfactorily and made a video to report such to the public.
But the story did not end there.
Shortly after sharing my update, a customer who had been in the store contacted me to report that she witnessed the same manager verbally abusing young staff members, cursing at them, speaking aggressively and threatening them in a way she found disturbing enough to intervene. I was amazed to hear that, as I assumed the investigation would have resulted in this manager being removed from a position to harm others, especially given her routine escalation to police involvement. This customer shared with me that there was a young girl there working at the register who “needed my help.” She had spoken with this store associate who shared horrible stories of the manager’s verbal abuse and threats.
So, I returned to the store.
The manager was still there.
While my transaction that day did not involve her, I heard her cursing inside the store. When I later encountered the 21-year-old employee I was asked to help, she shared that this behavior was not unusual. She described daily verbal abuse, dehumanizing treatment and threats of termination if staff spoke out. Listening to her, I realized that what I thought was resolution had only been surface level.
Sometimes accountability cannot stop at an apology. It has to look like a refusal to condone detrimental behaviors.
I immediately understood that my responsibility did not end when my own situation was addressed, albeit extremely inadequately. Leadership means using whatever platform you have to protect others who may not have one. Those in positions of influence have a responsibility to insulate others who speak out against injustice.
A few days after we met, that young woman is free from the condoned torment at Dollar Tree and is now interning at Associated Black Charities, where she is working in an environment rooted in advocacy, respect and dignity. I will personally mentor her to undo the conditioning that tells young workers they must tolerate abuse to keep a job, that they must stay silent to stay safe, and that authority cannot be questioned.
The continued presence of this manager with a known pattern of hostility, verbal abuse and unnecessary police escalation raises serious concerns about corporate oversight and about the safety of customers–particularly Black customers–who may again find themselves in situations where law enforcement is called based on exaggerated or inaccurate claims.
Each unnecessary police call carries risk.
Each misuse of authority creates danger.
Each failure to act allows the pattern to continue.
Because of the seriousness of this incident, I believe my right to fair and unbiased access to a place of public accommodation was violated under Article 29 of the Baltimore County Code, which prohibits discrimination and denial of full and equal service in public accommodations. As a result, I have filed a formal complaint with the Baltimore County Human Relations Commission (HRC) and the Maryland Commission on Civil Rights (MCCR) and am actively pursuing accountability through the appropriate channels. I will pursue every level of accountability available to me.
I am seeking a resolution that addresses both the specific incident involving me and the broader pattern of conduct that allowed the situation to occur. The actions taken against me went beyond poor customer service. I was denied normal service, subjected to profanity and public humiliation and placed in a situation where police were called despite there being no threat, no disturbance and no behavior that would justify that response. In a place of public accommodation, customers are entitled to equal access to goods and services without discrimination, intimidation or unnecessary escalation.
The involvement of police in this situation raises additional concerns because of the well-documented history of unequal treatment of Black individuals during law enforcement encounters. When law enforcement becomes a routine response to disagreement, it functions as intimidation and places Black patrons at greater risk of harm.
Because this appears to involve more than a single misunderstanding, and because the manager was left in place, corrective action must go beyond an apology. Without clear intervention, there is a risk that other customers will continue to be subjected to the same treatment. Each unnecessary police call carries the possibility of escalation, injury, or wrongful arrest. The fact that this Manager’s employment continues even after an internal investigation suggests condonation and that stronger oversight, policy changes, and training are required. Associated Black Charities still stands ready to support such training.
The immediate implementation of clear policies governing when law enforcement may be contacted, mandatory training on de-escalation, professionalism and bias awareness is necessary. My goal is not only personal resolution, but prevention. No customer should have to calculate their safety before asking a question at a register.
Because no one is free until we all are free.
When calling the police becomes the reflex, and corporations cover their wrongdoing by protecting employees who create public safety risks, Black customers are placed in harm’s way.
And, Dollar Tree, we are tired.