The Daily Dot reached out to Dani Davis via Facebook DM and comment, to Amber Janae via Facebook DM, to Walmart via email, and @miniondeathcult via X DM, for comment.
A Walmart spokesperson responded on Mar. 27., 2025:
“We want our associates to feel safe and supported in their workplace, and we won’t tolerate bullying or threats of violence against our associates or customers.
We’ve reviewed the situation and will be addressing it internally. We’ve also made multiple attempts to invite Ms. Davis to return to work, with back pay.”
Dani Davis, a Walmart employee, says she was fired from her job of seven years after a harrowing encounter in the women’s restroom during a shift. Davis says a man entered the bathroom and yelled slurs, apparently mistaking her for a trans woman based solely on her height. She reported the incident to her immediate supervisor but was fired less than a week later, with Walmart citing a “security risk.” Now, her story is going viral online—and thousands are coming to her defense.
She was threatened in the bathroom—then Walmart fired her
“[He was] yelling something about ‘t*******’,” Davis described of the incident in a Facebook post from Mar. 25, 2025, “And how he was gonna ‘beat all those p****’ and ‘protect his wife/girlfriend from them.’” She was too frightened to leave the stall for fear that the man would harm her physically and only left when she thought it was safe enough to do so.
Visibly shaken and distressed, Davis states she reported the issue to her immediate supervisor. Less than one week later, Davis was terminated from her job at Walmart.
“The reason they gave for my termination was that I didn’t inform a salaried member of management of the incident,” she expressed in the post, “And that not doing so posed a security risk.”
Davis said that she was “born a female and I identify as a woman,” and that she is part of the queer community, according to information obtained from a GoFundMe page. The conclusion she drew as to why the bathroom intruder considered her to be trans was based on a biological feature she has no control over: her height.
“I am tall,” she wrote. “Really tall. I’m just shy of 6 ‘4 and every inch is natural me.”
The Facebook post, which includes more details from the encounter, was posted to Davis’s account. It has over 15K emoji reactions, 13K shares, and 6.3K comments.
“Does this make sense to anyone?” she asked in the post. “To me it sounds like they thought I was the security risk. Because of my height and someone’s ignorance mistaking me for something I’m not, I was now a security risk and they terminated me for it.”
“I don’t know what to do or what I can do…” she continued. “I just feel so lost…I have lived here since I was practically a baby – and I feel fear towards the community that helped raise me.”
What happened to Dani Davis in the Walmart bathroom?
Davis wrote that the incident occurred on Mar. 14, 2025, and happened toward the end of her shift, around 8:00 pm.
“I was alone in the restroom, locked in a stall and minding my own business, when suddenly I heard a man’s voice yelling INSIDE the restroom,” she recalls in the Facebook post. “It scared me.”
“I stopped what I was listening to so I could hear what he was saying. The voice was much louder than simply someone yelling in from the door,” she continues, adding that she could hear a woman’s voice from outside shouting, “Babe get out! Baby you gotta get out of here! You’re gonna get in trouble.”
“The entire time this is happening, I am in the stall,” she adds. “I honestly totally froze. I am not confrontational in the least and honestly…I didn’t know how dangerous he was…It was terrifying and I wish no one else ever had an experience like that.”
Davis claims she was the only person in the restroom and that she may have been targeted and misgendered as trans because of her height. The man left and Davis described that “the whole experience only lasted a few minutes even though it felt like forever… I was scared.”
When the coast was clear, Davis returned to her assigned department. She recalls that her immediate supervisor “came by and noticed that I was visibly shaken and emotional,” and that she discussed the incident with them, but that she did not leave the store because her shift would soon be over at 10:00 pm.
Why was Dani Davis terminated from Walmart?
According to Davis, she was fired in “less than a week” and the cause of her termination was based on the fact that she “didn’t inform a salaried member of management of the incident”; she did inform her immediate supervisor but stated that this person was not salaried, and therefore it was considered as a “security risk.”
The exact security risk was allegedly never clarified with Davis. “They fired me without giving me any paperwork or having me sign anything,” she adds. “They didn’t put it in writing – they asked for my vest, badge & work phone – and I left.”
“I just…. I don’t understand,” she continued. “I was the one followed into the bathroom and I was the one who felt threatened and unsafe…. so I get fired for it?”
Davis, who also works as a tutor and is a certified Notary Public, asked for advice and insights anyone could offer on the situation. She is also looking for a new job, as per her Facebook post.
Support for Davis pours in from around the world
Davis’s post reached thousands, many of whom sympathized with her situation.
“I am totally sickened by this,” added Facebook user Gwendolyn James. “I would be asking why your team lead didn’t take you to a salaried member of management as soon as you told them. They needed to interview you and have you write a statement. Also, was there even a salaried member of management available.”
Others stated she should seek legal counsel. “You take this to a lawyer, because that’s wrongful termination,” said Facebook user Arielle Pennington.
Facebook user Kayla Monique suggested that Davis “file an EEOC complaint. It seems discriminatory in nature.”
However, some pointed out that Florida is an “at-will” state, meaning employers could effectively discharge Davis (or anyone) without a reason.
Dani Davis’ mother speaks out
Davis’s mother, Amber Janae, has been active on social media, sharing her daughter’s story. She posted a Facebook Live video on Mar. 23, 2025, where she explained the situation and her relation to it as Davis’s mother, despite being “very anxious” about being on camera.
She also appeared in a TikTok video with Davis, posted on Mar. 26, 2025, where the two of them vocally detailed the experience.
@amberjanae181 ♬ Silence – Vick Lezcano
“Dani is the kindest, smartest, sweetest young lady I know,” Amber Janae said in a Facebook post linking to the TikTok video. “She is honest & trusting to her own detriment at times.”
She mentioned that her daughter was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) but that she was always a good student, “well-behaved and well-liked by her teachers” and that she had many positive work experiences, including, “employee of the month at least twice while at Home Depot.”
“She is motivated and wonderful and didn’t deserve this from Walmart,” she added in the post.
Angered by what happened, Amber Janae set up a GoFundMe site to help raise money for her family to relocate outside the state of Florida. “I’m a mom in the South that needs to relocate ASAP,” she explains. “My children are at risk. I’m scared. My daughter is neurodivergent, queer, works in the public, and has been targeted time and again. It’s getting worse.”
The passionate mother explained that she is disabled and unable to work as a result of her conditions, living off of $1,300.00 a month from Social Security. She added that they are a “tall family,” with her son Braden at almost 6 feet 6 inches, her daughter over 6 feet 2 inches, and that she herself came in at “just shy of 6′.”
“WE NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE,” she added at the end of the GoFundMe page. “Please help us. We are surrounded by guns, bigots, racists, red-hats and Confederate flags.” She also noted that she’s unsure if her daughter “has any rights at all now that Walmart dropped DEI,” referencing the news of Walmart as one of the largest companies to dial back its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies this year.
Social media users allege Walmart’s transphobia
News of Davis’ experience has many on social media upset and outraged.
X user @miniondeathcult posted a screenshot from Davis’ Facebook post. “A 6’4” woman says she was followed into the bathroom at her job by an anti-trans male who threatened her with slurs and violence. When Wal-Mart found out, they fired her,” they wrote in the caption of their post, which has over 2.1M views, 61K likes, 7.3K reshares, 5.4K saves, and 439 comments.
“More evidence that targeting trans people doesn’t make women safer,”@miniondeathcult added in a post thread, along with a link to the original Facebook post. “The anti-trans movement emboldened and enabled a man to do the very thing they’re fear-mongering against.”
X user @Diamond_Aura_ also reshared @miniondeathcult’s post, adding, “1) super messed up of Walmart to have an employee threatened, and fire them “for not talking to the right person” instead of, oh I dunno, following up with them about it before jumping to termination? 2) Being anti-trans can make you a danger to EVERYONE around you. Everyone.”
However, X user @justeaw2 noted in a post that “This is unacceptable and indicative of larger societal issues. It’s also another instance of a c1s woman throwing around ‘I’m a biological woman’ as a defense – they actually mean ‘I’m a REAL woman.’ It covertly legitimizes the violence trans people face.”
“A scary encounter in the bathroom is terrible and should never happen to anyone. But it’s our whole lives, and one small portion of a c1s person’s,” they continued in a threaded post.
Taking next steps
Davis posted an update on Mar. 26., 2025, explaining that she’s received an overwhelming amount of messages from people all around the world, with advice, information, and more, and that she was already taking steps they had suggested, including filing for unemployment and setting up consultations with lawyers.
“I tried to open-door the termination, taking it to the higher-ups at my location,” she said. “The store-lead unfortunately said the same thing as the coaches who terminated me and that he wouldn’t open a case for it to be reversed.”
She also said she “tried to report the incident itself to the Wal-Mart ethics line,” but that they allegedly hung up on her.
“I do plan to keep fighting and bring more attention to this issue,” Davis stated in her latest post. “No one deserves to feel like I did in that situation. No one should be afraid in those more vulnerable moments that we all have.”
“It’s a scary world right now and I’m gonna do my part to try to make it better.”
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