Woman dubs Walmart self-checkout an ‘unpaid internship’ after a 17-minute cat food fiasco

A TikTok creator’s recent Walmart shopping experience is going viral after she was made to use self-checkout and then had her receipt checked at the exit. She jokingly compared the whole thing to an “unpaid internship.” The incident has brought up a lot of frustration that customers already have with Walmart’s self-checkout system.

TikTok creator Gia Pendergast, who goes by @giapendergast, posted a video about her annoying grocery run. According to Brobible, she had made an early morning trip to Walmart after realizing her cat had run out of food. “Apparently, not only does my family need to eat, but my f—ing cat needs to eat, too,” she said in the video.

What was supposed to be a quick stop turned into a 17-minute ordeal. “I need somebody to tell me at what point did I start working at Walmart,” she said. “Because I was there 17 minutes unpaid.” She also claimed that when she arrived, not a single staffed checkout lane was open. “Not one register open. They’re all red,” she stated.

Walmart’s self-checkout frustrations show no signs of going away

After scanning and bagging her own items, her frustration continued at the exit when an employee stopped her to check her receipt. “Explain to me why I get stopped at the door by Ryan, who needs to check my receipt as if I’m some sort of robber,” she said.

She described the worker as very thorough, saying, “He starts looking over this receipt like he’s trying to read a s— brain MRI.” Walmart employees have made headlines before for odd behavior, like this Pennsylvania woman’s strange Walmart employee encounter.

She jokingly added that if she wanted to steal something, it certainly wouldn’t be Sheba Cat Food. She explained that she usually orders online, but this trip was unavoidable since her cat “needed Sheba, and it’s the only thing he eats.” She wrapped up her video by saying, “Between being an unpaid worker at Walmart… I’m exhausted. I’m taking the rest of the day off.”

Her video clearly struck a nerve, with many viewers sharing their own frustrations in the comments. Many said they feel no obligation to show their receipt after using self-checkout. One viewer wrote, “I had a Walmart employee tell me that I needed to rate my experience with their survey of how many stars I’d give them. I told her none because they didn’t do anything. I did ALL of the work! 🙄”

Another commenter said, “My mom was mistaken as a target worker because she had a red shirt on😂😂😂” One person advised, “Dont take your frustrations out on the person at the door or your cashiers. They are just doing their job. Call corporate.” Beyond receipt checks, Walmart has also been accused of tracking how customers pay in store, raising further privacy concerns among shoppers.

According to legal experts, while asking to see a receipt is not illegal, it can become unlawful if employees block exits, detain customers against their will, or threaten them with police involvement.

Customers who face such treatment may be entitled to compensation for false imprisonment or intentional misconduct. This means customers can legally refuse and walk out. However, a store may choose to ban shoppers from the premises if they refuse to follow store policies.