Depending on who you are, self-checkout can be the most convenient option or the most frustrating.
For one woman, it is the latter.
In a TikTok that has drawn over 455,000 views as of Friday, @cousinkim_ expresses her exasperation with her local Target store’s self-checkout, showing herself attempting to take a security tag off a pair of jeans. In her comments section, she says a store employee looked on as she struggled with the security device.
“You got to ring yourself up, take your own sensors off,” she says in the video. “I can just f*cking work here. Sh*t. I got to do my own work, check myself out. It’s a damn mess. I need assistance. Somebody ring the bell. Help me.”
A text overlay on the video further elaborates her frustration with the self-checkout at Target. Primarily, she is frustrated that while she is struggling with certain parts of checking herself out, an employee did not jump in to help her.
“Target this is a mess!” the text overlay reads. “We have to check ourselves out, take off our own censors and pay for weak paper bags! But there’s an employee that stands at self-checkout just to watch us do the work they could be doing on a register! Nah!”
The Daily Dot has reached out to @cousinkim_ and Target via email regarding the video.
Several viewers wrote that the part of the kiosk she was attempting to use to remove the security tag was likely not meant for this purpose.
@cousinkim_ @target is starting to piss me off!…Also, put @Pizza Hut back in Target stores, maybe that’ll make us feel better after dealing with all the foolishness in this store! #target #targetstore #targetstyle #fyp #fypシ ♬ original sound – Kim •Food & Shopping Lover💕
“Lol that just opens the self check out screen,” one commenter wrote. “It’s not the magnet that takes those off. Im so sorry they had you struggling like that.”
“That thing is not for taking sensors off,” another echoed. “It’s to flip up the screen so the employee can put more register tape inside or work on the register.”
“This just lifts up the screen so that they can replace receipts,” another said. “Those security tags can only be taken off with the special magnets they have.”
Others wrote that they were similarly frustrated with the reliance on self-checkout across different grocery stores.
“I feel like self checkout should get a 10-15% discount bc I’m doing all the work myself hell,” one commenter wrote.
“I shop at Target less now that they have put me to work,” a user commented. “It’s so stressful doing the work with my kids also trying to help. I get very flustered.”
“I went through checkout w a full cart and they tried to get me to go to self checkout.. baby im payING not paID please start scanning,” a commenter wrote.