Woman Gets Fired From Walmart Even Though She Didn’t Even Work There

Some People Just Don’t Know How To Listen

It’s not unusual for people to be mistaken for employees when they go shopping. Typically, telling the person that you don’t work there is more than enough to get them to admit their mistake. Some people, though, refuse to hear that they could possibly be wrong. Those are the sort of people that Kristen (not her real name) had to put up with. Somehow, her simple trip to Wal-Mart wound up with her losing her job, but at least it was a job she never had in the first place. Kristen recently shared her story online and it is a wild ride from beginning to end.

Kristen Might Have Finished Work, But Her Long Journey Was Just Beginning

While Kristen went to college, she worked in the cafeteria, known as the Quarterdeck or QD, as part of her work-study. She had to wear a uniform that consisted of dark pants and a royal blue shirt that had to be affiliated somehow with the university. The cafeteria provided a shirt for workers to wear that had Quarterdeck written on the front in bright, gold letters and CREW on the back. Kristen was a common sight there since she worked almost every day.

One day, after a particularly long shift, Kristen decided to make a trip to Wal-Mart. One of her roommates needed a few items and Kristen was fiending for some mac and cheese. Since she was heading to the store directly after her shift, she didn’t have time to change out of her uniform. Her college had a shuttle service that would drive students to local shops and restaurants, so Kristen hopped on one and headed to Wally World. Once there, she told the driver what time she expected to be finished shopping, grabbed a cart, and went inside.

She Didn’t Even Notice The Woman Staring Daggers At Her

While shopping, Kristen had a tendency to go on autopilot. She was so focused on what she came in to get that she usually didn’t notice the other shoppers around her unless she needed to avoid a collision or get out of their way. While she was studying a shelf of products, trying to figure out which one to get, she heard an irritated sigh come from her left. Thinking she was standing in their way, she just stepped to her right to give them space to get whatever it was that they needed. This was the moment that Kristen knew she’d messed up.

“This was a wrong move, as I soon found out because she decided that I had disrespected not only her, but her entire family of past and future.”

The woman then tapped her forcefully on the shoulder (which caused a bruise that lingered for almost a week) and cleared her throat with a very sarcastic and pointed, “Ahem!” Shocked at the woman’s boldness, as well as her unbelievable rudeness, Kristen turned around to get a good look at the woman who thought it was a good idea to put her hands on another person. What she saw definitely didn’t disappoint. In fact, she looked exactly like someone who would cause such a stink at Wal-Mart.

That Lady’s Behavior Is Unbecoming Of A Woman Her Age

“I looked up to see this woman in her mid-forties that was the epitome of a ‘let me talk to your manager’ customer. She had the haircut and jewelry. Everything.” Kristen, trying to keep things civil, despite the fact that the woman had actually put her hands on her in a way that was totally inappropriate, simply asked her if she could help her. “Well, it’s about time you do your job!” the woman huffed.

“I’m sorry, what?” Kristen asked, confused.

“Oh, are you as deaf as you are stupid? I’ve been trying to get your attention for hours!” It’s safe to say that was an over exaggeration, seeing as how Kristen had only been in the store for about five minutes. She had obviously mistaken her for an employee because of her blue shirt, but it wasn’t exactly the right shade of blue, plus Kristen had recently dyed her hair purple for a fundraiser. Most retailers have a policy against dyed hair, especially unusual colors like purple. Kristen set out to correct her as kindly and politely as possible.

“Ma’am,” said Kristen, “I don’t work here.”

“You most definitely do! Your shirt says crew on the back and you walk around like you know every inch of this store,” the woman argued. Clearly, this woman wasn’t about to back down easily.

Even After All The Insults, Kristen Tried To Keep Things Civil

Kristen was downright flabbergasted that the woman just wouldn’t believe her. What would be the point of her lying about working there, especially if she actually did? And how would knowing where you’re going be enough proof that someone works at any given store? Instead of being rude and telling the lady off, Kristen decided to take the high road and explain all the reasons why she was mistaken. “Well, I’ve been here a lot and I usually get the same things, so I know where I’m going. I still don’t work here. My shirt even says Quarterdeck.”

She pointed at the logo, but the woman just huffed and waved away her explanation. “Then you work at Starbucks, but you still work here,” she said. While there was a small Starbucks at that location, their uniforms looked nothing like what Kristen was wearing. They wore all black with green aprons, plus their uniforms said “Starbucks” on them. It was difficult, if not impossible, to mistake Kristen for a Starbucks employee, but that lady was clearly up for the task.

Sometimes, You Just Have To Give In To Stupid

Tired from a long day of classes and a long shift at work, Kristen was ready to end the whole ordeal. “At this point, I just want her to get as far away from me as possible. Again, I’m tired and I want to buy my things and leave.” Since she had worked with customers before, she knew exactly the tone she should strike to appease her. Instead of arguing with her, Kristen just put a big smile on her face that she’d perfected in her years of retail work. “You’re right,” she said, in a tone of voice sweet enough to rot her teeth, “I keep forgetting that we’re connected. That’s my mistake, and I’m extremely grateful you pointed that out. I promise I’ll work on it. What are you looking for and I will try my best to help you find it!” She admitted that she was being “overly perky” to compensate for her genuine lack of interest and total exhaustion.

That was exactly the tone the overly aggressive customer wanted, apparently, because she went from anger to smugness almost immediately. “There you go,” she said, “I knew you could do it. You just need some sense beat into you.” The fact that she actually said that made Kristen so uncomfortable that she had to stop herself from taking a step back from the woman. She literally just implied that it was perfectly acceptable to put your hands on a worker, just as long as you got what you wanted from them. Don’t know about you, but that sounds like a woman excusing assault, just as long as it’s justified by her getting what she wants. No wonder Kristen got chills when she heard her say it, but it was too late to back out now.

All Rude Customers That Day Got Sent To The Same Aisle

Now that she thought that she had won, the woman’s demands became evident. As it turns out, the woman was looking for a particular brand of pet food, one that, by pure coincidence, Kristen knew that Walmart didn’t carry. Her mother had asked her to look for it a while ago and that’s how she knew they didn’t have it. She didn’t tell the woman that, though. Instead, she directed her to look in aisle 12-B, which was all the way across the store. The only problem?

There was no such thing as aisle 12-B. The numbered aisles stopped at 10, so there couldn’t be an aisle 12, much less an aisle 12-B. Kristen though her little ruse was hilarious, plus it got her away from that crazy woman and back to her shopping, so she figured it was a win-win, but things were about to get worse. “Had I known that she would have released the storm of storms, I’d have left immediately.” Moreover, she wasn’t the only customer that day to mistake Kristen for a worker.

Kristen estimated that almost 40 people stopped her to ask about certain products while she was in the store. If they were nice and apologetic about interrupting her, she pointed them in the right direction. If they were rude or presumptuous, though, they got directed to aisle 12-B. “Cereal? Aisle 12-B. Garden equipment? Aisle 12-B. Rat poison? Aisle 12-B.” The location of the imaginary aisle changed depending on where Kristen was in the store, but it was always somewhere all the way across the store from where she was at the moment. Yet she could only keep up this game for so long.

Just When She Thought Her Ordeal Was Finally Over…

When Kristen finally got to the checkout, she was absolutely done. She went through the self-scan checkout just to avoid having to talk to anyone else. There was one last hurdle for her to overcome before she could make her way to freedom, though. As she was walking toward the exit, a store manager stopped her, looking absolutely furious. “You don’t need to bother coming in for your next shift. You’re being let go for not being a team player and for misleading customers.” At this point, all of the fight that Kristen had left was totally gone. She just looked at the manager with a tired look that expressed just how dead inside she felt at that moment.

“I don’t work here…” she said, in a tone of voice that beautifully expressed her hopeless, defeated mindset. “I have never worked here. I just want to go home, make some mac and cheese, and fall asleep before I finish the bowl. I just want to live a simple life. I just want to leave. I never asked for this…”

The anger faded from the manager’s face as she listened to here sad tirade. “Oh,” she said, “So that’s why you don’t look familiar.” Kristen was finally freed from her Walmart prison and made it home in one piece. She probably made sure to never wear anything even remotely blue to Wally World ever again. It’s an easy mistake to make, but it’s the kind that can absolutely ruin a shopping experience. This is definitely a lesson that we can all learn from. Hopefully, Kristen never tries to shop at Target while wearing red or khaki, she might be stuck there for all of time!