In a viral TikTok video, a Walmart employee responds to a call from a customer who complains about the parking lot being too full, pointing out the limits of his abilties.
Tons of viewers applauded the Okeechobee, Florida retail worker for highlighting to the woman that the issue is out of his control, sparking a conversation among other TikTokers about the various complaints they hear from patrons on a daily basis about situations that are out of their control.
@garrett__hudson Okeechobee Walmart run went a lil sumpn like this. 😂😂😂 #okeechobee #okeechobeemusicfestival #insomniac #ravetok #edm #menace #foryoupage #raves #festivalseason
♬ original sound – Garrett Hudson
The video was uploaded by Garrett Hudson (@ghud_99), which shows the Walmart worker answering the phone and looking at the camera. A woman can be heard on speakerphone, complaining about the fact that there are just too many cars in the lot and that she doesn’t have anywhere to park.
The Walmart worker simply asks the woman what she wants them to do. She repeats that the lot is full to which he replies again asking what she would like for him to do, and if she expects employees to go out into the lot and start moving the cars themselves.
She doesn’t respond and it appears that she hangs up the phone, the employee then smiles at the camera. “See, that’s how you handle it,” he says, as the individual recording the video laughs.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Garrett via TikTok comment and Walmart via email for further information.
Viewers who saw the post shared the Walmart worker’s exact sentiments.
“No but fr what are they supposed to do about the parking?” one wrote.
Another remarked, “made her rethink why she even called in the first place.”
Someone else said that they now understand why it’s always so difficult to get someone from a Walmart store to answer the phone—it’s because of responses like this. “Wow this explains why Walmart doesn’t answer their phone what was she expecting wal to do?” they said.
Another user spoke to a very real phenomenon in the workplace: the verbal abuse many employees are subjected to from patrons on a daily basis. They shared, “Some people just wanna yell at people just to yell he was like I’m not the one mam he [don’t give a fuck].”
There are tons of incidents reported from folks online, like this Quora post, where they say they’ve been shouted and screamed at by customers for things that occur on the job that are well beyond their control.
Similarly, one popular Reddit post was uploaded to the site’s antiwork subreddit by a Starbucks barista who detailed how a particularly rough day “broke” them down emotionally. “I’m just so tired. I get up at 3:45am most mornings just to get shit on every single day. My coworkers and manager(s) are fantastic and I otherwise love this job but these CRUSTOMERS are driving me to insanity,” they wrote.
