One Target customer took to TikTok to vent after she says an employee allegedly followed her from aisle-to-aisle while she shopped. In a video that has been viewed more than 200,000 times, user @lastarnr says a regular trip to the store turned into an uncomfortable interaction with an employee that left her feeling like a thief.
“Why did I get accused of stealing from Target today?” the Columbus, Ohio-based user asks her audience.
@lastarnr It was more of acussing me passive aggressively🫢#storytime #fy ♬ original sound – Starchild
The shopper, a Black woman, claims a Target employee followed her from a beauty aisle, to the grocery section of the store, and then finally to the self-checkout just to make sure she paid for all of her items.
“But as I’m in the grocery aisle, it’s the same lady following me,” she recalled. “And I’m like bros, I know she’s not following me.”
While trying to put her money into the self-check out, the same worker apparently inquired about an item she believed she picked up in the beauty aisle.
“Did you find the hair oil you were looking for?” the employee asked the woman.
At that point, the TikToker felt it was certain she was being unfairly targeted by the woman.
“If you wanna see my receipt, you can definitely take a look because everything I bought is on my receipt,” she said.
Many users in the comments section could relate to the woman’s ordeal and some even suggested novel ways for dealing with the uncomfortable situation.
“I flip it and start following them,” @Fefe_Delgado wrote.
“I would have asked her if she could help me carry my things to the car since she’s been following me around anyways,” user @wintermiranda22 commented.
“They did that to me at Target. Followed me everywhere,” another user wrote. “I walked out and never went back.”
This is not the first time Target has made headlines after accusing a shopper of stealing. One customer made a viral TikTok after she says a Target employee re-scanned all of her items before letting her leave the store, an action she felt was unnecessarily intrusive and motivated by racism.
Target, however, is not the only store that sometimes gets it wrong when trying to keep shoplifters at bay. Another TikTok creator’s harrowing encounter with law enforcement after a Coach employee wrongfully accused him of stealing a wallet also racked in millions of views on the platform and got him a much-needed apology from the brand.
The Daily Dot reached out to the TikTok user and Target via email but did not receive a response before publication.