Texas-based criminal defense and personal injury attorney Jesse Hernandez (@texaschancla) posted a viral TikTok discussing a sticking point many Walmart shoppers have with the chain: being made to show their receipt to workers upon exiting the store.
@texaschancla Should you stop if an employee asks to see your bag after self checkout? #texas #viral #lawyer #walmart #stitch #selfcheckout @David Upton ♬ original sound – Jesse Hernandez
Hernandez stitched his video to another in which a Walmart shopper airs his gripes with employees who stand at the store’s exits to check receipts.
“You want to know who really p*sses me off? The people at Walmart who check your sh*t. Like excuse me Walmart, last time I checked I wasn’t trained how to use your self checkout system so if I mis-scan or I miss something and I don’t do something properly that’s not my f*cking problem. That’s yours,” he says.
At this point in the clip, Hernandez transitions to his own commentary about Walmart receipt checkers. He states that there is no legal precedent for shoppers to stop and show their receipts. He agrees with the TikTok user he stitched his video with, saying that from the time a shopper pays for their items, those items legally belong to them.
“David has an excellent point here, as soon as you have paid for those items they are now your items,” he says. “So everything in that little shopping bag that you’re walking out with belongs to you. And now it’s up to you whether you want to give the Walmart employee permission to look through your bag or touch your things, you have no obligation to even stop when they ask you to.”
Hernandez also goes on to state, “They are not law enforcement, there is no law, you are a private citizen going about your business. If they have reason to think that you shoplifted then bring it on.”
A Walmart shopper accused of stealing from the store in 2016, recently won $2.1 million as part of a lawsuit against the global retailer, and there have been a number of TikTok posts showing people’s run-ins with employees of the chain involving receipt checks. A former Walmart employee also claimed that while they were undergoing training, their supervisor instructed them not to ask customers for their receipts, only adding further confusion about the practice.
Many TikTokers argued their opinions in the comments section of Hernandez’s video. Some said that even though customers aren’t obligated to show their receipts, they should still be kind to Walmart employees.
“As an ex walmart employee. please don’t be rude to them when they ask. They’re just doing [their] job,” one person wrote.
Another penned that it’s probably best to avoid confrontation and simply show your receipts: “Honestly I just show them because my Walmart’s receipt checkers are elderly and is [their] only job, I don’t want to make it harder for them.”
But there were many who weren’t as understanding.
“If they ask for my receipt I just hand it to them and keep walking, let them throw it away for me,” said one shopper.
“It bothers me when it becomes a second line to leave, I just waited in line to pay, now I have to wait again,” another Walmart customer responded.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Walmart and Hernandez via email for further comment.
