I was perusing Twitter yesterday when the algorithm fed me a tweet from a Pokémon idiot to the retail big-box store Target. It contained a photo taken at a Target customer service desk showing an associate buying two Pokémon Elite Trainer Boxes (ETBs).
The Pokémon idiot, POV rips, told Target that the employee who bought the two ETBs and the employee who sold them should be fired.
This is the tweet:
Hey @Target it’s your policy that employees cannot buy high volume stuff while working
A person called your store while standing in line to ask about Pokémon cards and they said you guys were sold out… yet here is an employee buying accended heroes ETB’s with their employee… pic.twitter.com/zJ6RqO8hrg
— POV rips (@POVrips) May 8, 2026
What a jerk face
First of all, what exactly is “high volume stuff”? One might think that it means the merchandise they have in large quantities. That’s the opposite of the current situation with sealed Pokémon products. The demand is far outpacing the supply. It’s one of the reasons people are camping out in front of stores the night before a release. It’s why some nerds are getting into violent Bat’leth fights over who is in front of whom in line.
Second, how does POV rips know the Target associate is working?
The associate could be buying the ETBs before their shift. They could be on break. Target associates are allowed to buy items during their break.
I also don’t understand how this POV rips character knows the associate used their associate discount card. Additionally, how did they know the associate posted the ETBs online for $170?
If the associate used their associate discount card, it would create a record showing when and where they made the purchase. That would indicate they weren’t doing anything illicit or in violation of Target policy.
All of this seems like a lot of stupid, idiotic conjecture to me. I said as much in my reply to him:
Target associates are allowed to purchase items before and after their shifts, as well as during their breaks.
The fact that they used their associate discount to buy the ETBs suggests they weren’t doing anything illicit or in violation of store policy.
— Rick in Maryland 🦀 (@RLRottman) May 8, 2026
In conclusion
Trying to get two people fired over Pokémon cards is degenerate behavior. The Pokémon community has some of the most toxic, entitled people I’ve run into online. POV rips is probably angry that he wasn’t able to buy two ETBs and post them online for $170. Maybe he should get a job at Target, too. I highly doubt he’d pass the drug test.