If you’ve explored the world of Walmart social media criticism, there’s a good chance you’ve probably heard of “floorwalkers.” It’s a term used to describe plain clothes secret shoppers inside the popular retail chain. Other patrons have theorized the brand employs these folks to walk around the store.
Dressed in “civilian” clothes, they’ll either push around a cart or hold a basket. They’ll never have anything perishable inside of their cart, and there’s a reason for this: They’re floor walking for so long, and management doesn’t want to waste food.
A TikToker who goes by Penny (@bigbagspenny) on the popular application posts about floor walkers constantly. His initial videos on the topic appear to have been uploaded in earnest. In them, Penny expresses how he believes he’s targeted at Walmart due to his tattoos. He goes on to say that he regularly shops at the same store, oftentimes with his son, which is why he found it strange that plain clothes shoppers would be following him so closely whenever he shopped there alone.
@bigbagspenny616 #TikTokCreatorSearchInsightsIncentive i use to be a floor walker until i got fired. Now im letting everyone in on what i know!!! #creatoracedemy #walmart #floorwalker ♬ original sound – BigBagSpenny
In on the joke?
Several other TikTokers on the platform accused Penny of being paranoid. Now, it appears that he’s embraced the “delusion” criticism. Following these accusations, Penny has started many of his clips with an exaggerated chin scratch. Secondly, his demeanor in the clips has changed. Now, he stares directly down the barrel of the camera and speaks excitedly. Previously, his videos appeared much more subdued.
However, he still hasn’t stopped posting about floor walkers. This recent video accrued over 7.2 million views. In it, he posts that one of these “walkers” followed him and his son into the store from the parking lot.
Penny’s video begins in the Walmart parking lot; his young son is walking beside him, talking happily. “All right, so you all think I’m crazy? Well, look at this floor walker following me and my son in the store from the parking lot,” he says, recording what appears to be just a random fellow shopper walking inside the retail establishment. “Notice how she goes in right before us to try to trick us into thinking she got there before us? But look how long she took. She’s still getting her cart,” he says as he enters the store.
The clip then transitions to Penny and his child in the Walmart. “She just starts pushing it when we walk in the door. Now, I’m not the FBI, but dang, I put this case together pretty quick.”
Penny continues to record the woman. “Watch her pick up the speed on me. She wants to cut in front of me to try to trick me again into thinking she’s not following me. But pretty soon, she’s gonna pull a classic pivot move. This is where she makes a quick right or a left into one of the aisles. That way, I can get in front of her again.”
Watching the floor walker
Penny continues to record the woman while he’s shopping with his child. “Are you guys picking up the body language and signals like I am? There she goes,” he says, narrating the video via voice-over. The woman in the video can be seen stopping and turning into another aisle.
“This is where it gets weird. Then she’s with us in every aisle when we turn around. And there she is again. Then, they sent in the floor walker final boss.” At this point in the video, a tall man wearing shorts and a blue T-shirt walks past Penny and his child.
He caps off his video by asking folks to let him know if they think he’s crazy.
@bigbagspenny616 Floorwalkers followed me and my son from the parking lot at walmart! #walmart #secretshopper ♬ original sound – BigBagSpenny
Several people who responded to his video appeared to go all in on the floor walker theory. One person penned, “I usually start following my floor walkers when they notice me doing so, I simply tell them ‘It’s uncomfortable isn’t it?’ Or I tell them ‘I seeeee you’ It immediately stops,” one wrote.
Another remarked, “My floor walker hates to see me and my adhd coming. I’ll go back and forth across the store a hundred times for 4 things.”
Someone else said that they previously had an uncomfortable situation with a floor walker: “A floor walker was following me and my newborn and those postpartum hormones kicked in. I made a scene because I was paranoid and genuinely thought she was trying to take my baby.”
And then there was this viewer who said they’ve had experiences with floor walkers previously. “Some guy followed me from the lot and all through the store and to the check out. I got so scared I called the cops and had a worker walk me to my car. Thats when i was told he was a floorwalker.”
Are floor walkers real?
TheStreet has previously reported on the “sneaky tactic” of plain clothes secret shoppers “stalking” customers. According to the outlet, Walmart was involved in a 2016 lawsuit citing this loss prevention methodology.
One redditor in the r/walmart sub posted about their own experiences with floor walkers. In their mini blog, they said that every single time they visit the store, “loss prevention follows [them] non-stop.”
They prefaced their Reddit post by stating they formerly worked loss prevention at Walmart, meaning that now, whenever they shop there, they can’t help but spot workers from a mile away spying on them.
“Perhaps since I am in there so often, I’ve noticed members of AP/LP following me around non-stop, from the time I enter the store until I leave. They’re not very hard to spot because they couldn’t be more conspicuous, just wandering around tailing me through every department and aisle in the store.”
The constant watching left the employee frustrated. “Seeing as I’ve done nothing wrong and I just happen to shop there quite a bit, I feel like this is harassment. A former co-worker from my old store told me I should document all the times I see them tailing me and report them.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Penny via TikTok comment and Walmart via email for further information.
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