'This Is Target' Cries Black Friday Worker in Pep Talk

The pre-dawn planning, hordes of impatient shoppers, aisles crammed with shiny goods ready to be snapped up.

Black Friday brings mayhem to stores like Target, so this YouTube video showing a Westminster Target staffer revving up the troops before the big battle is resonating online.

The description says his rallying speech – given from atop a checkout lane’s conveyor belt – is a riff on the 2006 movie “300.” If you don’t remember the flick, Gerard Butler played Spartan King Leonidas, who faced down thousands of Persian invaders with only 300 Greek soldiers.

While there wasn’t a happy ending for the Spartans – all 300 died in the final battle even as they decimated the Persians – there were no reports of bloodshed at the Westminster Target.

The employee, identified only as Scott on YouTube, charges up the workers with this pep talk: “People of Target: Brothers, sisters, hear me now. Any minute now those doors will be breached. Whatever comes through those gates, you will stand your ground with a smile on your face. … We will show them that we are not just the best store in this neighborhood, but the best store anywhere, because we are more than just a store. This is a team, this is a family, this is Target!”

Target applauded Scott’s enthusiasm in a statement to Buzzfeed: “One of our favorite parts of the holiday is watching our entire Target team bring the season to life in their own way. We want them to have fun, because we know when our team is having fun, so are our guests. Our team member Scott is one of countless team members who help make Target uniquely Target. We have long said that Thanksgiving weekend is to retail what a championship game is to sports. Scott is clearly quite a coach.”

»Credit: Screenshot from YouTube video