A Walmart worker is going viral on TikTok after sharing his experience with a difficult customer who refused to wait for help.
User @skylouieeeee recorded his nearly minute-long clip from his car, seemingly after finishing his shift at the store. He appeared frustrated with the customer in question.
“At this point I’m confused because what do y’all be expecting when y’all be coming into Walmart?” he asked.
@skylouieeeee said he was attending to his usual duties when “some lady” said she needed help snagging a Christmas tree from one of the store’s top shelves.
“I told her I can’t get the Christmas tree for her because the ladder I got was too small,” the TikToker said. “Plus I can’t even use the forklifts.”
This didn’t deter the customer, however, who @skylouieeeee said was adamant about getting her tree. He added that she asked him who had the keys to the forklift so they could help get the tree down.
@skylouieeeee said the person who had the key was on his lunch break and he encouraged the woman to wait. But the woman apparently didn’t want to.
Then she took matters into her own hands.
“She went up to the forklift and tried to get on it so she could get the Christmas tree down,” @skylouieeeee said. “Luckily, she didn’t turn the forklift on, but she did try to get on there.”
The TikToker said the woman berated him for not being helpful, but he insisted that he was not authorized to use the forklift.
“What did she expect?” @skylouieeeee wrote in the video’s caption. As of Sunday, his clip had amassed more than 59,000 views.
Who is qualified to use Walmart’s forklifts?
According to Walmart’s career website, the minimum qualifications for becoming a forklift-merchandising associate are that you must be ages 18 and older and have 90 days of prior experience with Forklift Certification. Plus, you have to be able to safely utilize pallet jacks.
So certain Walmart employees can’t use forklifts. And getting your forklift license expired may be a headache, too.
In a r/walmart subreddit thread, one Redditor said his license expired a month ago but has so far been unable to get it renewed.
“Good luck on getting time with a trainer,” the Redditor said.
“You must be certified to operate a forklift,” another added. “Not just trained by an employee at Walmart or watching a few videos. That is a major OSHA violation.”
@skylouieeeee What did she expect she got me from toys #fyp #walmart #storytime #retail #retailworker #customer #storytelling ♬ original sound – skylouieeeee
Viewers offer solutions to workers’ predicament
In the comments of @skylouieeeee’s video, several users questioned why the Walmart worker didn’t just call for additional help.
“Why not just call a manager,” one person asked.
“But like do they not have ppl on shift for when some ppl are on lunch break,” another wondered.
“That’s when we call a manager. More than one person should be able to get that down,” a third viewer said. “But trying to do it herself is crazy.”
Other viewers had similar concerns and noted that the woman shopping at Walmart risked serious injury trying to operate the forklift herself.
“You hafta be certified anyways,” one woman said. “She can wait if she want it that bad.”
“Walmart be attracting the most dumb people I swear,” another wrote.
“An untrained forklift operator could kill somebody, bro,” a third viewer added.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @skylouieeeee via TikTok comment and to Walmart through its online contact form.
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