Walmart “floor-walkers,” who follow customers around to determine whether they are shoplifting, continue to be a hot topic of conversation on TikTok. And one woman who only recently heard about them for the first time is reflecting on why she might annoy these workers.
“The algorithm has brought me to the side of TikTok where they’re talking about the Walmart floor walkers. And I never knew that was a thing,” Angel (@guhbye) tells the 89,700 viewers who have watched her video so far.
“But a lot of them are saying that, you know, they’ll wait until you get out of your car to get out of their car to make it look like you guys arrived at the same time,” she continues. “I know a Walmart floor walker hate to see me coming, ’cause baby, I’mma sit here 30, 45 minutes before I go in the building.”
Do floor walkers follow customers into the store?
Exactly how floor walkers do their jobs varies by location and by store. But as Angel said, some shoppers have previously reported that these workers go out of their way to seem like any other average customer, sometimes going as far as to walk into the store from the parking lot.
And her point raises an interesting question—if a customer hangs out in the parking lot for some time, does the floor walker do the same?
Angel clarifies that her reasoning for chilling in the parking lot before going into the store has nothing to do with trying to shake floor walkers. Rather, it’s sometimes anxiety and sometimes just that she has time to kill before getting to the next place she has to be.
@guhbye They can hire #floorwalkers but not more cashiers? I guess that’s too much like right 😂 #tiktokcreatorsearchinsightsincentive #creatoracademy #fyp #walmart ♬ original sound – Angel 💋 | Nomadic • Mystic ✨
And she isn’t the only person who does this, as several of her commenters admitted they love just sitting in the Walmart parking lot, as well.
“I take a ‘Mom vacation’ before getting my shopping done and just scroll and listen to my audiobook before going in,” wrote one commenter.
“I sit in my car for 30 mins giving myself a pep talk not because of anxiety but to not be annoyed going in there,” another said.
Customers remain unhappy about floor walkers
Floor walkers aren’t a new concept in retail, but TikTok has helped draw attention to them when customers, like Angel, may not have otherwise known they are around. And people have largely been unhappy over both the idea that they may preemptively be treated like criminals, and that there could be someone tailing them so closely in the store.
Overall, it sounds as if this is now something customers are putting a lot of thought into, one way or another.
“When I see someone on too many shopping [aisles] following me, I stop shopping and start following them until they stop,” one user commented on Angel’s TikTok.
“They gon get bored with me because I just be back and forth all up in that store indecisive,” another claimed, while a further user said, “I move way too fast for a Walmart walker. I know what I want and I’m in and out.”
As for Angel, she deemed the entire situation with floor walkers “crazy,” concluding, “And I will never shop at Walmart again.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Angel via TikTok comment.
Internet culture is chaotic—but we’ll break it down for you in one daily email. Sign up for the Daily Dot’s web_crawlr newsletter here. You’ll get the best (and worst) of the internet straight into your inbox.
