Hope he gets to take a much-needed vacation now.
It’s no secret that a lot of people are struggling with the economy the way it is right now. With inflation making it so expensive to live, there are a lot of people who are stressed about paying their bills and providing for their family. And the last thing these people want is some stupid TikTok prankster messing with you while you’re just trying to do your job.
That’s what happened to one poor grocery store worker, who was clearly already stressed out and wasn’t in the mood to deal with some kid trying to mess with him for clicks.
In a video that’s now gone massively viral, the “prankster” goes up to a Red Baron employee who’s stocking shelves in a grocery store and asks him what time it is. The guy seems super nice and eager to help out, and pulls out his phone to check the time. But then the TikToker puts his phone up to the worker’s phone and plays the Apple Pay sound, making the worker think that he just sent money to himself from the man’s account.
I’m not really sure how this is even supposed to be funny in the first place, but the Red Baron employee wasn’t having it:
“Listen dude, I am not in any mood for this crap right now. You think this is funny, don’t you? Are you recording me right now?”
He then walks off to report the obnoxious prankster, who apparently just couldn’t leave it alone because as he walks by the employee again at the front of the store he thanks him for the $20 – which seems to push the Red Baron worker over the edge:
“I don’t know if you’re recording me or not, I don’t know what’s going on, but I don’t need this crap right now. You’re just a little punk a– little b–ch.”
The prankster finally starts to retreat and tries to explain that it was just a joke, but the worker didn’t think there was anything funny about it:
“It’s not a joke to me, ok? I don’t have time for this crap in my life. My life is hard enough as it is. I don’t need this crap. I got kids at home that went to bed without me right now, and I was supposed to be at home an hour ago and I’m still out here working. And I gotta get up at 5 in the morning and do 10 more stores, so this is not a joke to me.”
The prankster again tries to apologize, but the man doesn’t think it’s sincere:
“No you’re not sorry, because you’ve got a smug look on your face. I don’t need this in my life. You’re probably making money off of this, and I can’t even pay my god–mn mortgage, and I’ve got four kids at home. So not funny.”
A store employee finally gets the prankster to leave, but whatever he was hoping to get from the video clearly backfired because the internet quickly sympathized with the burned out worker.
As the video racked up millions of views, the employee was identified only as Walt Z from Michigan. With many concerned that he could lose his job, a GoFundMe was started to help him out, and it’s clear that his struggles touched a nerve with a lot of people: As of right now, the fundraiser is already up to $181,000 since being started two days ago (and has already gone up $20,000 since I started writing this article, so by the time you’re reading it I’m sure it will be over $200k).
Neither Red Baron nor parent company Schwan’s have commented on the video, so it’s not clear whether they’re supporting the employee or whether he’ll face any repercussions for the video, but I think it’s pretty clear that every who watched the video was firmly on his side. These TikTok pranksters are the worst type of people, just preying on people who are trying to get by and go about their lives while trying to get a few clicks on the internet.
Hopefully Walt is able to take a much-needed vacation now, and doesn’t have to stress about paying his mortgage anymore.
Times are tough out there. Just take it easy on people.
