After a 19-year-old Walmart worker died in the bakery’s walk-in oven, another Walmart employee is among those questioning how the tragedy occurred.
TikTok user Jamie (@jamieaki2) is a Walmart employee who says they have nearly a decade of experience working with the same walk-in oven. Jamie posted a video on Friday that shows her standing in front of the oven with its door open.
“I’ve worked here nine years with this same oven that they’re claiming she was locked into by herself,” Jamie says. “These ovens are so hard to shut from the outside. You have to push them. Let me show you.”
What happened to the Canadian Walmart worker?
According to NBC News, 19-year-old Gursimran Kaur died after being shut inside the walk-in oven at the Walmart in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where she worked alongside her mother. An investigation into the death is ongoing.
A Walmart spokesperson told the outlet the company is “heartbroken” at the turn of events and that it remains focused on employee welfare. Still, Walmart is frequently in the news for a laundry list of labor violations.
@jamieaki2 I look forward to seeing the results of the investigation. #inmyopinion #baker #oven #ovencleaning #myopinion #bakery ♬ original sound – JamieAki2
Walmart worker walks into oven to show how the door functions
First, Jamie pushes the door open and demonstrates how she must give it a final push before the lock clicks into place. “Now, watch me walk in,” she says. “Look, I can touch both sides. If you scrape the floor, there’s no way this door … They’re not self-shutting.”
Next, Jamie pushes the door with more force to simulate what would happen if a worker accidentally pushed the door too hard and it swung back with a lot of momentum. Before the door can reach the latch, it loses momentum and remains ajar.
“And this is one of the good ovens I’ve worked with,” Jamie says. “I’ve worked in seven different stores over the eight years. There are stores where they don’t even latch; you have to hold it shut while it bakes for 30 minutes.”
Jamis says she’s seen ovens that randomly pop open. She, therefore, agrees with online speculation that this was not an accident. “There is no way that this girl locked herself into one of these ovens while cleaning it,” Jamie says. “There’s no way possible.”
Finally, Jamie demonstrates how the emergency button inside the oven works. “It pops the door open,” Jamie says. “In my opinion, there’s no way she did that on her own.”
Comments on the video are turned off. The video has amassed more than 6 million views.
In a message to the Daily Dot, Jamie wrote, “I guess this is once again my opinion. The bottom line is there is no way to accidentally end up in one of these ovens not when they are off and most definitely not when they are on. It had to be intentional. My heart is broken for this young woman it is horrific.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Walmart via website contact form for comment.
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