A TJ Maxx customer claims there was a dead rat stuck on a pillow while she was browsing the store.
The video capturing the terrifying-if-true event comes from creator @jexxss, gathering more than 134,000 views just 20 hours into its life on the platform.
The initial video—marked “Sensitive Content” by TikTok—shows the creator saying, “Oh, my gosh, I’m literally at TJ Maxx, look at this.”
@jexxss That poor baby 🥺😳 #tjmaxx ♬ original sound – Jess
She then pans to a row of what appears to be large body pillows, with a dead rat on one of them. The video closes with the creator going back to her own shocked expression. The caption reads, “That poor baby.”
She also did a follow-up video, in response to a commenter who requested an update video, to provide a little more context.
@jexxss Replying to @Ri what happened after the video #tjmaxx ♬ original sound – Jess
“I just walked around and tried to find an employee and I couldn’t find one,” she explains. “So, I like pick the pillow up, because that thing was like stuck, like stuck.”
She says she took it to the stock room, poked her head in, and finally got the attention of an employee. “Excuse me … I thought you guys would want to know about this,” she recalls telling them.
She describes the employee as doing a “jump scare” and then being apologetic about the situation. As the creator understates, responding to the employee’s concern, “It’s OK. It happens.”
The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via TikTok comment and to TJ Maxx via email to investigate further.
Commenters reacted to the video with a degree of alarm.
“The way I gasped!!” one exclaimed.
The creator responded, “Me irl when I saw it tho.”
“The scream I just SCRUMPT!!!” another remarked.
“I work for t.j.maxx & this literally made me so sad,” someone else weighed in. “Telling my backroom people AND home coordinators to be watching for this because i’m gonna cry.”
Another person chimed in, “Was not expecting that, I thought you were gonna show us something cool you found.”
