A woman claims she found something appalling in her Adidas shoe box. If you’re squeamish about blood, you may not want to hear this story.
Popular TikToker Syd (@poorandhungry), whose content usually focuses on the things she deals with as a server, posted a trending video with more than 150,000 views. In it, shared the horrific experience she had when picking up her shoes from Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Syd explained that she ordered the shoes online for in-store pickup. When she got to Dick’s, she says she asked to try on the shoes before walking out with them in case they didn’t fit.
But when she opened the box and lifted the tissue paper, Syd came face to face with something unexpected.
“The tissue paper underneath was covered in what I imagine was human blood. It was covered in blood. I’m gonna assume it was human blood,” Syd said.
@poorandhungry The employees are putting BLOOD sweat and tears into their shifts #blood #retail #shopping #omg #fail #customerservice #longervideos #review ♬ original sound – $yd
According to Syd, when she pointed out the blood to a Dick’s worker, he said he wasn’t sure if it was blood. However, he conceded after taking a further look.
While there was no blood on the shoe, Syd said the paper stuffing that keeps the shoe’s shape also had blood.
“Be careful if you’re buying a pair of shoes from Dick’s Sporting Goods online. It may be covered in human blood when you pick it up,” Syd said.
“The employees are putting BLOOD sweat and tears into their shifts,” she added.
What could it be and where did it come from?
While some people speculated that the blood could be paint that rubbed off on the tissue paper, Syd pointed out that, “the box was blue, and tissue paper was white. And the shoes are silver. IT WAS NOT PAINT.”
Other commenters speculated about where the blood could have come from.
“Maybe a factory worker lost a finger,” a person said.
“Someone probably tried them on and were bleeding and decided to leave them in the box without notifying an employee,” another speculated.
“It’s probably more to do with that adidas factory than the shop you bought it in – gotta love the health and safety in a sweatshop,” a commenter added.
Fast-fashion working conditions
Fast-fashion brands have come under fire in the last few years for their negative environmental impact, poor working conditions, and labor exploitation.
Adidas specifically has been accused of stealing wages and severance from hundreds of Cambodian workers to the tune of a million dollars, Just Style reported. Adidas has denied the allegations.
The German fashion brand gets a “Not good enough” rating from fast fashion brand rater Good On You with a specific callout for not paying living wages.
The Daily Dot reached out to Syd for comment via email and Instagram direct message and to Adidas via email.
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