Picture it—you worked a double shift in Walmart to cover for a co-worker who called out. You’ve been on your feet all day, unpacking boxes, organizing shelves, and working with loss prevention to help keep an eye on someone trying to slide a bargain bin DVD of The Ghost and the Darkness down their tie-dye Champion sweatpants. You’ve had to dodge TikTokers performing dance routines in the lingerie aisle and cleared out shopping carts filled with items left abandoned in the store.
But you look up at the clock and there are only 32 minutes left to go. There aren’t that many customers left and you know that you’re almost home, free to go and enjoy your comfortable bed.
Then, new shoppers come waltzing into the store, taking their sweet time doing so. It’s a behavior that baffles TikToker and Walmart employee Ray (@.ray.mtz03)—he called out these late-night shoppers in a trending clip that’s garnered over 10,000 views as of Friday.
@.ray_mtz03 #fyp go home #ray_mtz03 #viral #trending #walmartemployee #foryou #foryoupage #fypage #closing #work #customersbelike #customers #customer #fypシ ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show
“One thing that I don’t get is why y’all like waiting till the last minute to shop. Bro, it’s [10:28] we’re about to close at 11 and y’all love coming at this time and y’all are gonna take forever to shop like why, why do y’all do that? Y’all had the whole day,” he vents. “Now, it’s time for y’all to go to sleep and catch some z’s. Go to sleep, bro.”
The end of the video shows him walking through the aisles of the Walmart as a loudspeaker announcement plays throughout the location, notifying customers that the store will close in 30 minutes.
Another Walmart employee remarked in the comments section that they too were fed up with shoppers who arrive shortly before closing time.
“Second !!! and ong they be getting BASKETS full,” they said.
Someone else noticed that late-night, nick-of-time shoppers have strange purchasing habits.
“And it’s always the most random stuff,” the user wrote.
One TikToker who said they were a Walmart employee claimed they took closing time seriously.
“Me as a front end team lead closing, making my announcement everyone knew I wasn’t playing on closing,” they shared.
“Last week I kid u not someone literally bought a 75in TV 5 mins before closing like dude,” another person wrote, highlighting an example of some of the purported “random” purchases people make so late at night.
One TikTok user said\ this kind of consumer behavior wasn’t just found in the retail industry, but in food service as well.
“This but with restaurants. why y’all waiting till 10 minutes to close to wanna eat dinner like pls cook at home atp,” they wrote.
Ray’s concern about late shoppers staying past closing time is a valid one—there have been instances where retail employees complained about customers staying 35 minutes after their shift was supposed to be over for the night.
The Economic Policy Institute published data that suggests these aberrations to employees’ scheduled times aren’t just inconvenient for workers, but that they may just lead to higher levels of burnout, stress, and at-home strife.
“Employees who work irregular shift times, in contrast with those with more standard, regular shift times, experience greater work-family conflict, and sometimes experience greater work stress,” the article states.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Walmart via email and Ray via TikTok comment.
