A Walmart customer shared one of their top grievances with self-checkout: pesky employees who suggest she doesn’t pay for her items.
In a video uploaded on Nov. 9, TikTok user Halie Pauline (@haliepauline) shared how she was stopped twice by a Walmart employee questioning if she paid for her items. Her video has been viewed more than 28,000 times as of Saturday.
Halie tells the story of how one time, an employee seemed to doubt her and the person she was shopping with scanned items at the very bottom of their basket. Because the items were pretty sizeable, a case of Dr. Pepper and a box of cat litter, they opted to use a hand scanner. It appeared that because they didn’t physically pick the items up to scan them, the Walmart employee hinted at something nefarious going on. During a separate trip to Walmart, Halie said an employee pulled up a video clip, double checking she had scanned a case of Coke.
“I have no problem scanning my own groceries and doing self-checkout,” Halie said. “I absolutely prefer that over a regular cashier, but the last two times have just rubbed me differently.”
She went on to offer some caveats about her opinion on Walmart employees and self-checkout.
“And I don’t want to be disrespectful and come off disrespectful with all this,” Halie said. “I have spent plenty of years in retail, scanning and being a cashier. But don’t take it that serious. Don’t take your job that seriously. ”
According to CNN, many big chain stores are rethinking their strategy around self-checkout, which expanded in stores in the 2000s. Reasons for this include the possible increase in the likelihood of “shrink,” or loss of inventory, due to stealing and faulty user experience when it comes to checking out specialized items like produce. Business Insider reported that earlier this year, Walmart pulled self-checkout lanes from at least three stores in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
The Daily Dot reached out to Walmart via media contact form for more information and contacted Halie via Instagram direct message for comment.
@haliepauline Just 6:30am thoughts #fyp #foryoupage #walmart ♬ original sound – Halie Pauline
Viewers of Halie’s video shared their own gripes with self-checkout.
“If they are going to stand over my shoulder as I scan my purchases, they might as well be doing it for me,” user Jacqueline Alexander (@moj_2cute) said.
“I scanned three items and they didn’t come out on the receipt so I let the service department know. [The] manager said they always have problems with the system,” user @monanavarro84 said.
“[Self-checkout] was the dumbest invention ever,” user Maria (@xhellomariakittyx) commented. “It takes employees just as long to check to see if you paid for everything.”