A viral TikToker was able to buy multiple boxes of plants at Home Depot for a penny each, but one store employee wasn’t happy about him getting the bargain.
The TikToker, known as @livehomeaquarium on the platform, shared footage of the Home Depot interaction, garnering about 200,000 likes as of Tuesday. LiveHomeAquarium, who usually posts about home aquariums, has more than 17,000 followers on TikTok.
The footage showed several boxes of plants, each marked down to a penny each. The on-screen caption read, “talk about a legal devious lick,” referencing a TikTok trend that centers around damaging or stealing from school property and uploading a video of the act.
“All was well until we ran into our biggest hater,” the TikToker said, using a TikTok-generated voice.
The “biggest hater” was a Home Depot employee named “Luis” who said the plants were “not supposed to be on the shelf for that.”
Luis said the plants were actually supposed to cost $5.03, and he could only give the customer one of the plants for such a low cost.
“No, you’re going to give me all of these for a penny because that’s what this says that this is right here,” the TikToker said, revealing the clearly labeled boxes.
According to the TikToker, Luis was “so upset” that he had to sell the boxes for a penny each. Then, the store manager told Luis he was in the wrong and let the TikToker take all the boxes for free.
Viewers were divided on whether Luis was obligated to sell the boxes for the advertised price, with some saying he was “legally” required to do so.
“If they label it a penny then they have to sell it for a penny it’s the law,” one viewer commented on the video. User @livehomeaquarium replied, “Crazy how we all knew that except for Luis.”
Others weren’t convinced though, citing the “right to refuse service.”
“They don’t have to legally sell you anything. They can straight tell you to leave. You realize that right?” one user wrote. Another commented, “‘You legally have to sell them to me.’ No??? They have the right to refuse you service or refuse to sell you a product, it’s a private establishment.”
According to Consumer Reports, it’s a myth that retailers must honor a posted price as long as it’s a mistake, although some stores might honor the price anyway as a matter of policy or on case-by-case bases. However, businesses that intentionally post false prices can be liable under federal and state consumer-protection statuses.
Aside from legality, some viewers were confused on why Luis even cared how much the plants sold for—it’s not like he was making any money off them.
“Why do the workers actually care, it’s not their money or company?” one such viewer asked.
Another said, “Whatever happened to ‘idk man.. I just work here..?’”
User @livehomeaquarium did not respond to the Daily Dot’s request for comment.
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