Woman thought a Walmart staff was flirting with her and became a ‘fan’. Then he grabbed her at the exit and checks her purse: ‘Was so scary’
Not every admirer is a fan
Noticing the same man in aisle after aisle can make a Walmart trip uncomfortable. One woman, however, apparently landed on a much more flattering explanation: he had a crush on her.
The attention did not seem impossible to her. She had around 40,000 TikTok followers at the time, so she even wondered whether the stranger was a fan. Walmart shoppers have caught people quietly following them around stores before, but she was reading the situation very differently.
According to TikTok creator @secretaccountforbadbs, there was one major detail working against that theory. She was shoplifting at the time. Once she reached the Walmart exit, her supposed admirer finally revealed why he had been watching her. “This was so scary,” she recalled.
That attention suddenly made sense
The woman shared the 2023 incident in a TikTok that has received more than 124,000 views. At the time, she described herself as “completely dirt broke,” despite having a job that paid $17 an hour.
She admitted that much of her money was going toward partying and drinking, leaving her without enough for food, laundry, and other expenses. Eventually, she decided to steal from Walmart.
During this particular trip, she remembers picking up vegetable oil, sunglasses, and a large package of Tide Pods. She intended to pay for some of the items while taking the detergent without paying.
Meanwhile, a man kept following her. “Mind you, this man has been following me the whole time,” she recalled.
Rather than suspecting loss prevention, she thought his interest was personal. “This guy is like—he has a fat ass crush on me,” she remembered thinking. She even wondered whether he recognized her from TikTok. “I was like, shit, I have a fan right now,” she said.
That assumption did not last long. Walmart’s floorwalkers can blend in with ordinary shoppers, and the man’s actual purpose became clear once she tried to leave.
She paid for the sunglasses and vegetable oil before heading toward the exit with the Tide Pods concealed in her purse. As soon as she reached the door, the man stopped her.
She claims he put his hand on her cart, pulled it aside, grabbed her purse, and told her to come with him. He then showed her his badge.
The woman was taken to a private room inside Walmart, where she began worrying that she was going to prison. She had never been in serious trouble before and had little experience dealing with police.
While they waited for an officer, the employee allegedly lectured her about stealing and questioned why people who shoplift did not get jobs. That irritated her because she already had one, although she acknowledged that her spending habits were a major reason she had run out of money.
Eventually, police arrived and issued her a ticket. She also claims she was told she was banned from Walmart stores.
That did not last in practice. She admitted returning to Walmart with her grandmother about a week later and claims she has visited the retailer many times since without anything happening.
Her legal consequences lasted considerably longer. She later went to court with her grandmother and received two years of probation and 40 hours of community service. She claims it took nearly two years to finish the community service, completing it while pregnant.
Her experience also shows why assuming nobody is watching can be risky. Walmart workers have demonstrated how closely purchases can be monitored, and several commenters had their own stories about getting caught.
“Girl me too (now banned for life),” one person wrote. “i just got caught at target omg it was soooo embarrassing,” another admitted. One viewer joked, “Honestly Walmart is the only one that be catching people.”
Still, someone had a more pressing question after hearing how she tried to avoid the cameras: “So all craft sections are cameraless?” Her encounter with the supposed admirer probably answered that one.
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