A Walmart shopper says she was profiled and stopped from entering the store by retail staff because she was “couponing” during a recent visit to one of the chain’s locations.
In the video, TikTok user Shim Valles (@shimbreez29) can be seen speaking with the Walmart employee and loudly asking them if she is being accused of stealing. In the clip, the worker claims she saw Shim attempting to conceal items whilst previously shopping at the store.
@shimbreez29 #fyp #walmart #couponing #harrassmentawareness #falseaccusations #help #coupondeals ♬ original sound – Shim Valles
Standing at the store’s entrance, Shim asks the employee as she records her, “So, are you accusing me of stealing?”
The employee attempts to talk to Shim before the TikToker interrupts her and begins talking again, “So are you accusing me of stealing? You told me that I concealed. Right? You said you have it on video, right?” The employee says “yes” and nods their head in affirmation.
Shim replies, “OK, OK, I got your name, I got your face. You are falsely accusing me of stealing. OK, cause I’m gonna take this as far as I can, ’cause you’re not gonna accuse me of stealing something when I did not.”
The Walmart employee then informs Shim that “the police are coming.” After the TikToker is instructed to wait outside of the building and wait for the police to arrive, Shim doesn’t comply and instead states that she will stay put.
“Nope. Nope. I did nothing wrong,” Shim says. “I have this all on video. I did nothing wrong, so go ahead and try to trespass me for something false. I’m gonna stand right here.”
Shim again claims that she’s being falsely accused of stealing soda. Another woman stands beside the Walmart employee, presumably a manager of the store, covering their face with a clipboard so as not to be recorded by Shim.
“Waiting for me, huh? Just waiting for me,” Shim says. “You approached me and now you’re harassing me… Out your mouth, you said I stole soda, so I wanna see that video where I stole soda.”
The employee then claims that Shim is listed in Walmart’s system as trespassing at other locations, which Shim denies. “What am I in the system for?” she asks, but the employee reiterates that the police are coming to the scene to address the situation. After Shim repeatedly asks what she’s in the system for, the worker says “we’re done talking,” and refuses to engage with the TikToker any further.
The TikToker writes in a text overlay of the video, “Told me I was trespassing the funny part about this is I don’t even drink soda! This is me [being] secretly harassed for COUPONING!!”
In a follow-up video, Shim explains that she’s a “couponer” and that she began to feel that she was “secretly being harassed” after shopping at Walmart every day for several months while using coupons to get deals on items. She adds that employees started becoming more strict with their coupon policies, informing her that she couldn’t combine coupons on a single order.
@shimbreez29 ♬ original sound – Shim Valles
Shim says that two days before the recorded incident, she noticed an employee had a “look on her” and that “she was not happy.” When she returned to the Walmart, she says she was told that she was “trespassing” and wasn’t allowed to shop there before she even entered the store.
According to Walmart’s Policies and Guidelines, the store “reserves the right not to accept manufacturer coupons with no matching requirements.” Additionally, Walmart and any other private retailer reserve the right to refuse service to a customer as long as it’s not due to a shopper’s nation of origin, sex, religion, or race, though some states enforce additional protections for consumers.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Shim via TikTok comment and Walmart via email for further information.
Several TikTokers who viewed Shim’s post said that they too have been accused of theft from Walmart employees while they were legally purchasing items. Others cited a 2021 laqsuit where a Walmart customer who was falsely accused of stealing was awarded $2.1 million dollars from the retailer for their troubles.
