Ham radio enthusiast and serial radio scanner Mister Twister (@mister_twister_55) has been enthralling TikTok with a series of eavesdropping videos where he camps out in business parking lots and finds the walkie-channel employees are using.
This allows him to listen in on conversations—in one viral clip, he documents some correspondence between Chick-fil-A employees, providing a glimpse into the hectic, and often wholesome employee exchanges while performing their job duties.
The radio expert is at it again, and this time he’s managed to tune his frequencies to a line used by employees at a Kohl’s retail location who had an eventful day: everything from folks going into labor, crestfallen customers misplacing a bunch of holiday cash, and a shopper who really just wants to find a Foot Locker.
“Kohl’s did not disappoint, oh my God,” a robotic voice narration says at the start of the video.
The following are transcripts of the conversations that Mister Twister the Radio Snoop Extraordinaire was able to eavesdrop on as he camped outside of a Kohl’s and put his walkie to work.
The first conversation begins in a way that initially seems like two co-workers are being catty or passive-aggressive with one another, but in reality, it turns out that one of them was simply anticipating a major life event.
“I might have to leave really soon,” a woman starts.
“Did you say you have to leave really soon? Is that what I heard?” a reply comes through.
“Uh, it is what you heard,” she replies.
“Does that mean the baby’s on the way?”
“He’s on the way!” the woman says.
“That’s exciting news!”
At this point in the conversation, another employee’s voice can be heard ringing through the conversation.
“Sorry, I was on the phone with a customer, congrats I hope everything is all good news when you get there but, yeah, keep us posted and updated,” he tells her. “Plan on taking tomorrow off, don’t come in tomorrow unless there’s no baby and everything’s OK and there’s nothing you can do. But if you’re, if you are scheduled tomorrow and the baby’s delivered I do not want you in this building.”
“OK!” comes her reply.
@mister_twister_55 Replying to @zac ♬ original sound – mister_twister_55
The next topic of conversation centered on a much less joyous topic: it seems that someone’s sack of Christmas cash went missing in the Kohl’s, and they’re asking staff members if anyone has laid eyes on it:
“I have a customer on the phone here in Sephora she’s calling just to make sure that no one found a sandwich bag full of some Christmas money,” a worker says.
“I have not heard anything about that,” one responds.
The next little vignette contains a bit of specific nomenclature that may be foreign to Kohl’s employees and it’s the title that’s given to managers who possess computer access to perform overrides on the register: H2’s.
“Can I have an H2 to register, please?” one asks.
Another portion of Mister Twister’s eavesdropped conversation in the Kohl’s store shows how staff members will often have to field questions that have nothing to do with the store itself. While recording this exchange, he also happened to capture a bit of playful banter between store workers:
“Do we have a Footlocker near us or in Carlisle? Where is the closest Footlocker?”
“The Capital City Mall?” a worker tells them.
“That’s what I was gonna say, in the mall,” the other worker agrees.
“I was gonna say, uh, 1997?” they joke.
(It turns out that their co-worker on the other line thought this joke was pretty good as they can be heard laughing over the walkie comms.)
Before the video closes out, it appears that the person looking for their lost bag of Christmas money was still holding out for a miracle.
“Can a manager pick up the call on *801 it is the lady who is looking for the lost money.”
Mister Twister wrote in a caption for the video that he was pleased to hear the woman’s manager urge her to take time off of work.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard a manager say to stay away and take some personal time for family,” he wrote. “What a breath of fresh air. Kudos to him.”
However, other users on the platform perceived his comments in a different light: that he was only offering her one day off of work despite possibly being on the verge of labor.
“‘Do NOT come in tomorrow if you have that baby. See you in two days, though,'” one mockingly penned.
There was a TikTok user who read the situation a bit differently, writing, “It sounds like the baby situation was like a family member not the actual employee lol.”
Another seemed to take in the manager’s comments in a similar fashion, sharing, “Don’t come in JUST TOMORROW???”
One TikToker had a message for the person who dropped their Christmas money: stop holding your breath. “Girl you left a clear baggy of cash it’s GONE,” they said.
And while numerous TikTok users expressed their joy in being a fly on the wall of the Kohl’s team members’ conversations, there was one person who recalled a time when they were working in retail and a random stranger jumped in on their conversation.
“I would be mortified if someone else was listening to our radios,” they wrote. “One time a trucker passing by accidentally came on and we all jumped.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Kohl’s via email and Mister Twister via TikTok comment.