A man in Orlando, Florida, is accusing staff at a Walmart store on S. Semoran Boulevard of racially profiling him during a recent grocery run. The customer claims that while he was using the self-checkout area, an employee accused him of stealing, even though he was still clearly in the middle of scanning his items.
In the video shared on TikTok, the Walmart employee can be seen checking the items in the customer’s shopping cart and comparing them with what appeared on the checkout screen to make sure everything matched. As this was happening, the customer repeatedly protested, saying that he had not even finished ringing up his purchase yet.
Manager Briefly Steps In
A second Walmart employee eventually walked over to the checkout area and identified himself as a manager. Seeing him, the customer quickly directed his concerns toward him, explaining that the first employee was accusing him of stealing even though he had not paid yet and was actively scanning his items. “He’s not doing his job,” the customer said, adding that he had rung everything up and that nothing was missing.
However, when the manager asked the employee whether everything was alright, the employee responded that it was not. This response appeared to further irritate the customer and he immediately insisted that everything was fine. As his frustration grew with being accused of theft, he also threatened that he would call some people to “go off too” inside the store.
The manager did not seem to like this and he repeatedly urged the customer to refrain from making such threats. When the customer refused to calm down, insisting that the staff involve the police in the matter, the manager turned and walked away.
They Found an Unscanned Item
The first employee, who had come to investigate the checkout screen, later pointed out that one item in the customer’s cart had not been scanned. He also claimed that he had been prompted to double-check the transaction because the self-checkout machine had alerted him.
The customer initially disagreed with the staff member, maintaining that nothing was missing, but after looking at the screen himself, he noticed that one item had indeed not gone through. Still, after realizing this, the customer ultimately decided he no longer wanted to continue shopping and abandoned the purchase altogether.
In the caption of his TikTok post, the man said he attempted to press charges over the incident but was told by police that there was nothing they could do and that he would need to contact customer service instead. “Unfortunately I never got my groceries or the respect I deserved,” he wrote.
Here’s How Netizens Are Reacting to the Florida Walmart Incident
A few people who claimed to work at Walmart themselves weighed in, with one commenter saying, “They’re not even supposed to be doing that. Write an email to corporate!” Someone else wondered, “How you stealing mid checking out.” A third wrote, “It’s not stealing if u haven’t left the store… HELLO”
Some viewers also saw the interaction as harassment and said they would have walked out immediately. “Harassing a customer about them not scanning items all while the person is scanning the items and hasn’t even completed checking out is not apart of their job!,” one person stated. Another added, “Why even stand there and go through that. Should’ve just walked out. They don’t deserve your business.”
