Sources on the ground agreed that the situation at their respective Targets was initially confusing without being out-of-control when the glitch first began on Saturday.
Smith said that she and her family didn't even realize that something was amiss when they first entered their local Target in Levittown, New York.
One employee who spoke with Business Insider said the experience was much the same in-store.
"At first, people were just straight up confused," an employee told Business Insider. "They weren't upset. They were like, 'Okay, maybe something's temporary with our store alone.' But the moment they heard it could be hours, that's when people started getting frustrated."
That same Target employee described their experience during the weekend malfunction, saying that they were in the middle of checking out a customer when it happened. They had successfully scanned every product, aside from a small water pistol.
"I kept scanning, but it wouldn't let me scan this one last item," they said. "I was like, 'Oh, no. I can't let this happen. I'm going to total this out before it all crashes."
That last customer was able to escape with her purchases, aside from the water gun.
"And then it kind of just broke out into chaos," the employee said.