A Walmart shopper took it upon herself to fulfill her pick-up order after suspecting the pickers were lying about Nestle’s Carnation Evaporated Milk being out of stock.
“Walmart marked my evaporated milk as ‘unavailable’ on my grocery store pick up,” TikTok user Pearl (@pearl_n_pursuit) notes in her TikTok, showing her Walmart app.
Pearl then shows herself in the store holding the 12-ounce can of Carnation Evaporated Milk. She also shows a well-stocked shelf of the cans.
“I said BET & walked inside to grab it myself. Nothing will stop me from making the viral mac & cheese,” she wrote in the caption.
Pearl later revealed that she was totally OK with substitutions if the name-brand product was out of stock. But she revealed the workers didn’t even try to make a substitution.
“Substitutions were turned on for this order. Great Value can be swapped for name brand (they do a price adjustment for the order). Have to add this bc y’all are spiraling rn: I’m not mad, I just thought it was funny. If this post makes you upset, please seek help,” she later added as an edit to her post.
The Daily Dot reached out to Peal via TikTok comment and direct message, as well as to Walmart via contact form.
What’s the viral mac and cheese?
In her caption, Pearl is referring to Tineke “Tini” Younger’s mac and cheese. The chef and influencer shared her recipe with the world last year. Along with the evaporated milk, it calls for 2-and-a-half pounds of mozzarella, Colby Jack, and cheddar cheese—all hand-shredded. Younger has said the recipe has become so popular that even she has a hard time finding the ingredients for it.
Walmart shoppers resonate
Pearl’s video has over 441,000 views and 820 comments. Many Walmart pick-up shoppers resonated with Pearl’s experience.
“Same! I got a pick up order Saturday and marked unavailable and I go in and it’s there,” one viewer wrote.
“They did that too my case of waters. I went in the night and they literally had 5-6 [pallets] next to the doors, and another 4 in the drinks,” another shared.
“I did the exact same thing I politely walked in the store and grabbed my item off the shelf before I picked up my order,” a third recalled.
Making a point
One Walmart shopper exacted revenge after being told one of the items she wanted was “unavailable” only to find it herself. She put the so-called “unavailable” bread “front and center for when they load the car.”
Walmart’s out-of-stock process
Pearl may have lucked out by getting nothing rather than a substitution, though.
“The first and last time I did grocery pickup, they tried to substitute my canned corn with a ham; and 20 items were ‘out of stock’. I went in, found every single item. Never again!” another viewer shared.
Walmart’s website states, “If an item isn’t available, it will show out-of-stock. Unfortunately, sometimes an item may show available when you place an order, but by the time we process the order, the item is no longer in stock. If this happens, we’ll email you to let you know that we canceled the item or the order. We restock items as quickly as we can.”
Customers have the option to choose substitutions for potential out-of-stock items, which is what Pearl did. If you don’t select your own substitution but want a substitution, Walmart pickers will choose for you. This is probably how that viewer wanted canned corn but ended up with ham.
@pearl_n_pursuit I said BET & walked inside to grab it myself 😆 Nothing will stop me from making the viral mac & cheese @Tini👩🏼🍳🔥 Edit: substitutions were turned on for this order. Great Value can be swapped for name brand (they do a price adjustment for the order). Have to add this bc y’all are spiraling rn: I’m not mad, I just thought it was funny. If this post makes you upset, please seek help 🫶🏻 #tinismacncheese #macandcheese #nottodaysatan #liar #liarliarpantsonfire #fyp ♬ Liar Liar, Pants on Fire – Chuck Brodsky
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.
