Walmart shopper tries to use fitting room. Then she takes matters into her own hands when no one shows up: ‘So disrespectful’

Most people wait for a fitting room attendant. Some people… clock in. After standing around for 30+ minutes with no employee in sight, one Walmart shopper decided to skip the waiting game.

All she did was pick up the store phone to call for backup herself. Viewers, however, took it as a battle cry. Now her comments section is inundated with people calling her disrespectful, entitled, and impatient.

But what else could she have done?

What Happened at this Walmart?

As of now, Tahrena’s (@tahrena._.tnc) clip has over 1 million views and upwards of 1,700 comments. The text overlay reads: “When Walmart doesn’t have anyone at the fitting room but ive worked retail before so i call the customer service counter.”

In the short nine-second clip, viewers see Tahrena standing behind the employee’s desk in the fitting room area in Walmart. She has the employee phone pressed to her ear, and she’s speaking into the handset, saying, “Yep, I just picked up the personal phone, I’m just trying to get a hold of someone for the fitting room.” Another customer standing in front of her laughs.

In her caption, Tahrena divulges more context. She notes that it wasn’t an immediate decision: “We waited 30+ minutes for someone to come i looked for an associate and never found one so ofc i picked up the phone and called for someone !” she explains.

She also notes that the person who answered the call laughed about the situation, clearly surprised to have a customer on the other end of the call. All in all, it took another 5-10 minutes for a customer to arrive after the phone call had taken place.

Is Walmart Understaffed?

A lot of angry viewers stick up for Walmart’s lack of customer service, saying that the business is probably severely understaffed and it’s not the employee’s fault. In July 2025, Yahoo! News reported that Walmart lost an incredible amount of its workers due to the U.S. government cracking down on immigration. Apparently, a great percentage of employees were employed with work visas, but their duration was prematurely ended, forcing them to stop working and leave the country. Because of this, the employees who have stayed have been overworked and trying to pick up the slack. 

Just four weeks ago, in a Facebook group called “Walmart Apparel/Homelines Team Leads- Discussion,” one user asked whether it was one person or two who was in charge of the fitting room area.

She says, “At my store they expect one person to be able to do all of those tasks and be at the fitting room for the most part but that’s not possible when you have a bunch of returns to do and it’s just you.”

Many of the commenters shared that they also had one person for the fitting room, on top of being in charge of returns, jewelry, etc. One user shared, “One person in my store, but they also do all returns, jewelry, fitting room and run fashion pick rails. Oh and also fashion pick walks. Talk about wearing a person out.”

Viewers Are Not Happy

The top comment with 31,200 likes is calling out Tahrena for her behavior.

“I know it’s so annoying when places are understaffed and they overload poor workers and they aren’t at your beckoning call every second,” rants one viewer. Tahrena responds, “Walmart is a multi billion dollar company i think they can afford to hire more ppl to help the customer consider their entire thing is CUSTOMER SERVICE !”

A second viewer claims, “I get that it’s annoying but also that’s honestly so disrespectful.” 

There are also many on Tahrena’s side. One viewer says, “U guy it’s also not this girls fault Walmart isn’t doing their job.. we get understaffed or not she needed to try stuff on?”

Another adds, “Yall she literally said they waited for 30 minutes and did look around for an Employee.”

Others relate. “Valid, I once stood at Walmart fitting rooms 40 minutes before I gave up and I swear I could not find anyone in that section,” shares one viewer.

A second viewer chimed in, “Has anyone in these comments ever tried to try on clothes at walmart??? i stood there for an HOUR waiting – ended up buying the three bras, tried them on in my car, returned two, and left.”

@tahrena._.tnc since this post is getting attention- we waited 30+ minutes for someone to come i looked for an associate and never found one so ofc i picked up the phone and called for someone ! i was extremely polite and me and the woman on the phone laughed about this situation as she was suprised there was a customer on the phone , and someone from customer service came and helped us 5 – 10 minuetd later , lady on the other line was so confused ? @Walmart #walmart #fyp #funnymoments #new #viral ♬ original sound – ⃟

Lastly, one viewer simply states, “As a Walmart employee I would be mad but as a Walmart customer I understand.”

The Mary Sue reached out to the creator via TikTok DM and to Walmart via media request form.

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