A TikToker recently posted a video in which she came to the realization that she had spent five shifts worth of pay on a quick shopping spree.
A TikToker who posts under the handle @user6424852991100 posted the video of herself sitting in her car sipping an iced coffee. She pretends to laugh along with an audio track, which then yells, “Broke people should never laugh!”
@user6424852991100 ♬ original sound – Francesca Arcari
A white text overlay reads, “Me when I remember that my $7 coffee, full tank of gas, and unnecessary shopping spree just cost me like 5 shifts.”
@user6424852991100 isn’t the first person on TikTok to articulate this problem. Recently, a Walmart worker came to a similar realization when he calculated that one lunch cost him three hours of work.
Viewed over 756,000 times, many users sympathized with @user6424852991100’s plight and shared their own spending woes.
“Me getting 4 things from the store and it costing me 2 shifts,” one user said.
“Spent 600 dollars in two days I’m not proud,” another wrote, while a third claimed to have, “just dropped $1200 in 2 days.”
“And gas to get to work costs a whole shift make me wanna cry,” added someone else.
The video and its comments reflect the overall trend of salaries not keeping pace with inflation, a pattern that, Forbes reports, is set to continue in 2023. According to the report, despite the fact that average wages are on the rise, they have not been able to combat the impact of steeper inflation rates.
This means that consumers have less disposable income, and must spend the majority of their salary on day-to-day necessities.
As one commenter summed up, “Getting a paycheck thinking of everything you have to pay for knowing ur not gonna have even a little left for yourself …”
It also led another user to admit, “Before I buy something I think, is this worth 2 hours of my time?”
But a number of comments said that they simply opt for the path of immediate gratification.
“It makes me feel so good in the moment though,” wrote one person about spending their paycheck.
“It’s called self care so it’s fine,” justified another, while another echoed, “We only live once!!! Treat urself girly.”
The Daily Dot reached out to the creator via TikTok comment.
