One Walmart shopper’s way of handling a request to see his receipt as he left the building has sparked a debate on TikTok.
“So I just went to Walmart and bought a bunch of stuff,” user @berryd_treasure told viewers. “And as I was leaving, the guy asked me if [he] could see my receipt. Now, I never show my receipt to the Walmart people, but I said, ‘Yeah. Sure. I had it texted to my phone.’”
When the employee followed up by asking to see his phone, he informed him his phone was in the car and said he could follow if he wanted. The TikToker says the worker did just that, as he went back and forth “searching” for his vehicle, eventually even going out to a different part of the parking lot entirely.
“Then I got to my car and I did this—I pulled my receipt out of my pocket and I handed it to him,” he admitted, holding up a paper receipt. “He gave me a really dirty look. Like, motherf*cker, why do you guys have it an option to give me a text message as a receipt if you want to see my receipt at the door?”
@berryd_treasure #walmar ♬ original sound – BerryD Treasure
Asking to see a customer’s receipt at the door seems to have become common practice for Walmart in recent years, and there are other large retail stores that have implemented this policy as well, with the claim that it’s used to prevent shoplifting.
While some customers don’t mind, others have taken issue with it, sometimes because it’s an added inconvenience that can take extra time if the store is busy, and sometimes because the policy allegedly isn’t applied to all customers, even though Walmart has claimed it’s meant to be.
That the employee followed @berryd_treasure out to his car to check his receipt suggests that not everyone actually does get checked. As one viewer pointed out, “imagine how many receipts he missed by following you to your car.”
But some felt the TikToker was in the wrong for wasting the worker’s time.
“Man I feel bad for that team member for [simply] doing his job,” wrote one user. “it’s like he has to check and you’re making it difficult… why take it out on him.”
“Walmart is ridiculous but it isn’t the minimum wage employees policy. It’s Walmarts,” another agreed.
A further viewer insisted, “if you don’t like their policy, shop somewhere else!”
Others who have been equally annoyed with being asked for a receipt at the door thought @berryd_treasure’s way of handling the situation was brilliant.
“I’m going to do this from now on and leave my phone in my car on purpose now,” said one commenter.
“I’m absolutely not showing them my phone. I smile and say no thank you, you can go reprint [the receipt],” another viewer claimed.
And @brianjohnson2737 suggested that “if they are so worried [about shoplifting] they should have cashiers instead of self checkout.”
While it’s perfectly legal for Walmart employees to ask for a receipt at the door, in the United States they can’t actually require customers to do so under most circumstances. In other words, unless they have reason to believe you have shoplifted. Complicating matters, however, is that refusing to show your receipt upon exit can be seen as suspicious, and prompt employees to detain you. And according to a recent Colorado court case, they have probable cause to do so.
The TikToker said in the comments that he usually simply declines to show his receipt as he leaves the store, but wanted to prove a point with the new option to receive a receipt via text.
“Half the time I go into the store, I forget my f—king phone in the car,” he said.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @berryd_treasure via TikTok comment and Walmart via the media relations contact form on their website.
