In a TikTok posted on Dec. 20, TikToker @creativechefdamtruth says she was racially profiled in a Bealls Outlet store when she brought in a shirt she purchased that still had the electronic security tag on it.
“I spent $400, you guys left the tag on, I went home,” she tells the store’s manager. “And it’s still on.”
The TikToker said she tried to address it with a cashier before the manager approached her.
“It seems like it’s an issue and I don’t see what the issue is. It’s not my fault the tag was on there,” she told the manager. She also says she didn’t bring the receipt for the shirt because she didn’t think she needed to.
The manager tells her that “normally” without a receipt, they “assume” that the customer “walked out” with the merchandise. @creativechefdamtruth asks employees to look her up in their system to prove the purchase.
“I own 47 fuckin’ restaurants. How fuckin’ dare somebody even think I walked outta here,” the TikToker tells the manager. “Because I’m black you gonna treat me like I stole something?”
The TikToker also says that she heard a cashier refuse to look her up in the system to prove the purchase, which she made using a credit card from Bealls. The store manager then says he didn’t hear any of the employees say anything about @creativechefdamtruth’s race.
“She just left me here like I was fuckin’ invisible,” the TikToker says of the employee that didn’t look her up in the Bealls system.
With the exception of a select few comments saying that @creativechefdamtruth should have brought in her receipt, many of the commenters on the video agreed that she was treated unfairly.
“You have every right to be mad,” wrote @da_twinmama. “I’m tired of people assuming you’re stealing based on the color of your skin.”
“If she stole it why would she bring it back,” commented @destaniwalker3.
“It’s always the ‘who me?’ ones that be guilty!” wrote @nadinekori of the Bealls employee who spoke up in the TikTok. “She [could’ve] kept her head down and not say a damn thing but no she’s like ‘no I didn’t.'”
Others didn’t side with @creativechefdamtruth.
“You did too much,” commented @histimeinfamousho.
“The attitude isn’t needed,” wrote @kiki_doyle860. “Mistakes happen all the time.”
@creativechefdamtruth told the Daily Dot in an Instagram direct message that she will neither be returning to Beall’s nor using her Beall’s credit card again.“After looking at all that video again it makes me want to cry,” she told the Daily Dot. “[I’d] rather spend my money else where to be honest.”
We’ve reached out to Beall’s.
This story has been updated with comment from @creativechefdamtruth.