A Walmart customer in Las Cruces, New Mexico, captured the moment when an employee stopped him at the store’s exit to accuse him of stealing an item he had just purchased.
The viral video, reposted on multiple social media platforms, shows a woman in a light pink shirt with a speaking device attached to her chest, confronting a man positioned off-camera, standing behind a shopping cart with two microwaves. She accuses the man of taking one of the microwaves from the store without paying.
A man in uniform, who appears to be a police officer or security, also blocks the exit.
“I know you purchased it, but they denied your return, so you went and got a whole other one off the shelf,” the employee says, pointing to an unboxed microwave.
“I purchased it,” the man says.
“Not this one. I put a sticker on it right here, yeah, but they denied you the return because you didn’t have the original box,” she countered.
“I know, but it’s mine,” the customer says.
“Yes, that one is yours,” the employee says again, pointing to an unboxed microwave that she tagged with a sticker. “This one is not,” she adds, pointing to the appliance in the box.
“This one, I purchased it right now,” the customer says and hands her the receipt.
“Right now?” The employee asks, to which the frustrated man says, “Yes.”
Realizing she made a mistake, the employee calls a coworker over for help, who identifies himself as Jake,
“Yes, I purchased this one. This is the one you put the sticker on,” the customer reiterates.
The stunned female employee then backed down.
“OK, what was your name?” The customer asks the employee.
“I don’t have to give you my name,” she replies.
“OK. Well, you’re gonna go online,” the customer says before demanding his receipt back.
Many pointed out that the employee didn’t apologize after realizing her error, and condemned her for shunning the camera and refusing to provide her name when she was wrong.
“So you can racially profile someone, but you don’t want to be exposed. Funny,” one viewer said.
However, some viewers argued that the employee was doing what the company required her to do.
“She’s just doing her job. Once she saw the receipt she was good. We don’t have to post everything. This was a normal human interaction,” another viewer said.
