Shopping Anxiety is a thing. More and more Gen Z-ers are admitting that in-person shopping gives them the creeps and can even trigger a panic attack.
A common stress inducer can be heading to the fitting room of a retail clothing store. You get the nerve to try on your clothes in the store and then find that all the stalls are locked. What’s the best way to proceed?
One retail worker has taken to TikTok to tell potential customers to just ask (and maybe even get over themselves too). And she’s also telling her viewers that life can be just as frustrating for the person who’s working in the store.
Retail store manager Willow (@il0vem1lfsss) shared her experience with her viewers on TikTok. The video she posted has since picked up 391,000 views as of Monday.
In the video, Willow can be seen folding clothes at a table in her unidentified clothing store. The screen text reads, “When a customer is just standing by the fitting rooms looking at me awkwardly instead of asking for a fitting room like a normal person.”
Willow continues her screed in the video’s caption, saying, “And then they finally come up to me and ask for a fitting room after like 5 minutes. Like come on guys I don’t have eyes in the back of my head to see u standing there.”
At the end of the video, she pretends to see a “customer” behind the camera and mockingly throws a box in their direction—something an anxiety-prone shopper would probably count as a living nightmare.
@il0vem1lfsss And then they finally come up to me and ask for a fitting room after like 5 minutes. Like come on guys i dont have eyes in the back of my head to see u standing there 😔
♬ I Wouldnt Mind – ♱
Willow’s “tough love” video did seem to allay some of her viewers’ shopping fears.
“This is so good to know I always feel like I’m interrupting their work,” Olivia (@olivu03) wrote.
However, many viewers use the comments to recount their own anxieties.
“I [would] literally rather crawl under the door than ask someone for a room,” grim reaper (@geonniay) wrote.
“I got the courage to ask someone at AE one time for a fitting room and they told me ‘I’m not on fitting rooms’ very bluntly, so I just left in panic,” another commented.
“I’m sorry but I’d rather stand there and wait forever then [sic] ask u something if ur busy,” another confessed.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Willow via TikTok for further comment.
