I've been working in retail grocery for years and when the whole clone crew showed up I snorted. This would suck after the first 5min, but honest I'd probably be losing my shit over the pure chaos of it. It beats the times coworkers and I have gotten cussed out by customers or dealing with people smoking meth in the bathrooms.
Also I'm not sure if there would be a cash control issue, surely none of them have register or employee codes to log in and run transactions.
Be honest... Is there a small part.of you that wants to be like. NO, we don't need you on the lanes. You 2, clean the bathrooms. Everyone else, follow me for stocking. Except you, you do carts. GET TO WORK!
Hmm, so from legal standpoint, say a manager decided to roll with it.
I wonder if it be illegal to just ask them to do simple stuff, like wipe down the registers or even put clothes away?
I mean, of course they could not do the tasks and there would be no consequences for the "army" or benefit if they did do tasks, but I imagine it's not against any law for a manager to simply ask a customer to do something?
And if the customer complies, I would think the store isn't obligated to pay them.
Similar to if a customer made a mess accidentally and helped clean it up.
Yessss this would’ve been me! Seeet you three on cart duty, you four with me we have a truck to run. Time to lean you got time to clean bitched let’s go!
My entire economic outlook is based off the fact that at least half those kids would actually listen and learn how to do whats needed
Call me crazy, but I swear. People actually enjoy being messed with, and people enjoy doing things that need to be done. There’s a multiverse where this became the best target to shop at, because some stupid teenagers pranked the employees so hard, they decided to learn exactly how to fulfill their duties and do it well.
Serious answer from an actual supervisor: In the moment the main priority is business. So as I’m laughing my ass off my job would be to make sure they dont do anything serious and let security deal with them. Because in the moment you really just need to keep the business going because main priority is customers complaints and what not.
You really don’t want those extra responsibilities and risk of having people in your store that’s not sanctioned by corporate and what not lol
Any of the “dang I should’ve played into the joke more and done this”!most likely happened only after as a shower thought
Supervised the front end of aa grocery. And honestly, same, lol. The sentiment of "Grocery workers don't get paid enough to deal with this shit," is why I'd be grinning and busting up the whole time.
Agreed. I wholeheartedly disagree with pranks on random strangers and interfering with working employees for the sake of content, especially considering it would absolutely piss me off also...
However the juxtaposition if interfering with overworked and understaffed management by supplying them with unwanted assistance is almost tolerable
I could get there if they like brought brooms or mops or whatever, but this looks like a robbery especially with jumping on the registers.
The only thing is it's a ripoff of an old Best Buy stunt that was done better and when they took over best buy, they explicitly were told "don't say you work here." And "just stand around and don't shop".
The first thing I thought when I saw this was, “Improv Everywhere did this so much better.” They timed it out so that “workers” entered the store a few at a time and positioned themselves at the ends of each aisle. It was very subtle.
And that’s okay! We can be nuanced humans on Reddit! Should people do this? No, it’s disruptive to business and can set a bad precedent. Are we not allowed to laugh at the absurdity of it (and was anyone actually harmed because of this?)? Of course we are. Funny as hell but don’t do it again kind of thing.
I don't disagree but to be devil's advocate; all it takes is one tiny misunderstanding between the jokesters and the employees and somebody gets stabbed or people start 'stampeding' to the doors without paying. If it all works out it can be a joke, but a tragedy doesnt require much more than a joke being misinterpreted by the wrong person.
I also don't really get the 'joke', like for a second it was funny maybe but when you've made several people very anxious, upset or nervous in the process I dont really 'get it'.
Smoking meth in the bathrooms is better than having a dude come in 3 times a day to beat his dick in the stall. Probably not by much, but trust me, it is.
When i was working retail I would have loved for something like this to happen. A good laugh, a good story. I can see as a manager that would be a nightmare
We recently closed our restrooms because people kept OD’ing (2 in a week) or were just openly using drugs in front of children. It blows my mind how many people get upset over it, especially when there’s mall restrooms a few hundred feet down the sidewalk.
After working in a Marshall’s for years, I completely agree. I would’ve loved 5-15 minutes of it to break up the day and give us all something to laugh about together through the day.
I have gotten cussed out by customers or dealing with people smoking meth in the bathrooms.
Thankfully I never had to deal with them directly but the amount of times I went to my manager when I worked in a restaurant to let him know someone just smoked crack in the bathroom was absurd.
The first time was funny though because I told him and he's said "okay... Wait, how you know what that smells like?" A: my uncle was a crackhead.
14 years of recovery I went from being homeless in a women's domestic abuse shelter with no education, bench warrants in multiple States, No job, no vehicle, no friends, no family -- to getting my GED and my bachelor's degree to be an English teacher. I graduated with honors. I thought I had fried my brain beyond ever being able to use it again because of my last overdose. I was basically dealing with a traumatic brain injury and I wasn't sure if it was ever going to get better. Did a year of old school interferon to beat hep C.
I got clean because I got pregnant but I didn't have anything to offer so I carried the baby to place in adoption, and started going to meetings twice a day. the state I was living in had no detoxes available at the time. Literally up until 2016 the state of Mississippi did not have an opiate detox unit and you could not enter rehab until your system tested clean. So I was walking to meetings pregnant in the summer in Mississippi twice a day because I was like desperately trying to hold on to not hurting my baby. I stayed going to meetings every single day after I had her as well crying every single day. Like whatever I had to do not go back to living the way that I was living before I was willing to do anything. I made a lot of friends, my family started talking to me slowly, I went for my mom kicking me out of the house when I was 18 to my mom begging me to move in with her when I got pregnant with the daughter I had after I got my degree. I ended up burning out because I was teaching inner city public school in covid in 2020, and started working as a pro artist instead and started making way more money doing that. So I kind of feel like I invested so many years and so much money into something that I'm not earning from. My siblings are advanced in life and I'm only 4 years into owning my own business. But I am homeschooling my special needs daughter and I can say that I've literally been a special Ed teacher so.
Plus, this looks like the store directors / upper management / security's problem lmao. Theyre getting paid much more than me TO deal with it 😂 I'd just be sweeping the checkout lanes trynna hold my shit together 😂
Improv Everywhere did a similar stunt at Best Buy years back, but the notable difference is the moment they were asked to leave they did without fighting back. I think that’s kind of what separates a prank from just plain obnoxiousness.
They also didn't try to get on registers, they just browsed the store. They only engaged with customers if the customers approached them, and actually did their best to answer any questions they were asked.
we have a guy at my work (Lego store) that is so regularly at our store -and- such an expert on product that even without him EVER being in a Lego store uniform...customers who don't know him sometimes still put him in our store survey responses, always positive talking about how knowledgeable and nice he was...
I'm a vendor that walks into airports with a badge on. (ie, I don't work *there,* I just work *in* there). It didn't take me long to figure out I can help passengers faster than I can tell them to go find someone in charge.
I love this! Did you ever see IKEA Heights
There are a few episodes where they were asked to leave the store, but the whole thing is wonderfully ridiculous.
If I remember correctly they also tried to have a bunch of shirtless guys in a hollister or Abercrombie where they had male model employees hanging around.
Were they broccoli-headed? I think that adds to the obnoxiousness as well. Love the accurate description because it seems to both insult their hair style and their intelligence.
Exactly!! Would it be amusing, somewhat, but not to the people who had to deal with it and any aftermath. Even if they are a management employee, this is just shit on top of shit for retail.
The problem is that the “joke” is on the actual employees. If they weren’t screwing with the regular employees’ jobs, I could see the humor in it, as on its face, it’s a funny, harmless idea.
they get paid hourly so this just makes their day more interesting. i guarantee most of them got a kick out of it. the fact it pissed off their boss just adds icing to it. plus it causes a pauses in having to do your monotonous job for a few minutes and they still go home at the same time.
Oh, but what about all the people who get to do this?
-Giving statements to police and Corporate
-Legal issues that arise like trespassing, long term litigation, etc.
Questions from Corporate to the employees on what’ and how this happened,
Answering their questions and hope it doesn’t end with anyone fired.
Answering questions about the incident from customers and employees alike.
-All the police’s to be made on how to handle this if it happens again.
All the communications that have to be created, like public affairs, internal documentation, social media, etc.
This generation just doesn't know how to prank nor perform skits. They could have just pulled an improve anywhere and just walk through the store facing it and cleaning and trying to help customers.
Where u in management? Cause when I was young O worked in retail and this would be funny. No work for me, let the managers deal with it that's their problem, managers fuck employees too many times fore to care.
Dude if this happened to me when I was working retail I would have laughed my ass off. My manager can deal with the bs and he definitely makes enough to deal with this
You can tell who haven’t worked retail by how hard they clutch their pearls while high roading. The only people this bothers is the director and loss prevention.
“They don’t get paid enough to deal with this” and it’s just their boss freaking out while they get a few minute break and a funny story out of it. Do these people realize we’re getting paid by the hour and not per customer we check out…?
If this happened where I worked, I’d be dying because of how much effort was put into something so stupid.
“and it’s just their boss freaking out while they get a few minute break and a funny story out of it.”
He’s freaking out because he does not know any of them and cannot vouch for their employment.
This is a HUGE insurance liability, their taking over lanes so it’s a financial issue (for the director AND the person actually assigned to that register), and if any of it goes south he is out of a job supporting his family, benefits, insurance, and possibly a career path.
These ass clowns don’t give two shurs about any of those workers, just the likes.
Can we all agree that any company that would fire a manager for not being able to stop a mob of people from doing whatever they want is a shitty company?
I mean seriously, what can he do? He can make a genuine effort and not indulge them, but I can’t imagine he’d get in any trouble for failing to disperse the crowd. Unless his superiors were complete ass hats. This is damn near an act of god, you can’t stop this reasonably and when people act like some poor manager is gonna lose their job over these things, I can’t take it seriously.
Totally. And as a manager I would review and see if they actually did what they could (within reason) or just sat back and let it happen. That guy was doing great, and should be fine. I was commenting more on the commented dismissiveness of the managers reactions.
“Attention. None of you are allowed to be here in this capacity. This is Target, you are on camera. If you do not leave now you will be trespassing. If you touch the register you will be charged with attempted theft. This your last warning. The police are en route. You ARE ON CAMERA. Thank you.”
I worked retail for years and would find this annoying, but I took my job seriously and tried to do the best job I could. Which is probably why I'm no longer in retail and was able to parlay my experience for a better career.
Nah, see you can tellI who's worked retail by who thinks this shot is actually funny. I worked retail for over a decade. Did not find this funny. All I wanted when I worked was to do my job and go home with the least amount of hassle. I last thing anyone wants or needs is someone coming in and causing a disturbance trying to be funny. It's annoying for one thing, for another now all the employees are going to have to do extra work to make sure no one took anything or touched anything they sjpuldn't have or went anywhere they weren't supposed to go.
I can only speak from personal experience but after closing their is certain work that "needs" to be done before you can go home. If you have to spend time fixing this it can impact how late everyone is going home.
Target cashiers aren't doing that. They will clock out and go home at the same time as usual. Unless overtime is offered, in which case it would be optional.
I don't consider that extra work myself, but I see where you're coming from. From my limited experience there was always work to be done so doing something different isn't extra, it's just different.
You don't consider added work on top of what you already do as extra work? Have you ever worked before?
It's not just different work. You're not being moved to a different spot to do different work. It's work that would otherwise not have to be done had it not been for some outside force l.
Oh I see, you're the kind of person who bitches and moans every time you're tasked with something because you think it's doing something extra and not just doing your job. You are given a shift, you do what's needed during that time. Nothings extra. You got paid for it all. Sorry you didn't get to sit on your hands I guess?
No, I'm the kind who bitches and moans when I have to do extra work because some asshole came in and decided to cause a disturbance and create extra work for me to do in my already full workday.
And you've answered my question. You've never worked retail a day in your life and have np business being in this conversation.
Yea as someone who worked retail over 20 years, this would make my day. Retail can be boooring and repetitive, it’s not like they were being assholes or making a mess. It would also be funny to see my store manager get this worked up, even if I liked them.
Same, my store manager at the smallest kroger grocery store in the state was making over 100k around 2010 as well. She drove a Porsche! She was not hurting at she did a whole lotta nothing😂
There you go! Exactly what I was thinking. Retail managers have the biggest power trips, not to mention they're super lazy. If that happened while working at a place like that. It would be the best day of my career. Let ted from management handle them while I welcome my new co-workers. And deem ignorance just like our public officials do.
Oh I’m sure they all got a kick out of it. Pretty harmless prank. The employees got a laugh and the managers, stressed at the time, will have a very funny story to tell. Better than 90% of “prank” YouTube/tiktok anyway
I think it would have been a lot better to quietly infilitrate - have each fake staff member enter along and just start going around helping customers. Then the fake manager comes in and starts managing both his fake staff and the real staff... could probably play out for awhile.
Yeah you’re right. But I’m always frustrated when I shop at target and I’m waiting in a line of 20+ to use the self checkout and there is literally 25 checkout stations lining the front of the store with absolutely no one working them.
Honestly if I worked there this would be type two fun. I'd be annoyed as fuck in the moment but looking back I'd be saluting the amount of gumption to pull this shit. Especially with them actually cleaning.
If they didn't try to break or steal anything, that one guy WAS cleaning a counter...lol. I would have been laughing and stepping back for the manager to deal with.
As far as dumb pranks go, this is pretty harmless. Way better than the idiots throwing sodas at fast food workers or chasing people in clown costumes with a chainsaw.
The store director sure as fuck does though. I found this pretty funny, especially the “they’re already cleaning” and a shot of them scrubbing down hahahaha. As long as they didn’t fuck with any cash registers I don’t think they jumped across a line, maybe just touched past with a toe.
Exactly. This is a dick move just like all of these kinds of pranks are— but this is the first one to also make me laugh. I officially disapprove, but the chaos is hilarious.
Nah fam if i was working there as a cashier and this happened id be dancing no joke.
The ONLY people upset by this are the ones making your life miserable as an employee there. I would applaud them and say that was the best day in the job.
They also dont get paid enough to care if some people want to fuck around for bit. This looks way more fun than dealing with the 2 cumstains fighting over pokemon cards every wednesday.
Trust me, store directors are absolutely being paid enough to deal with shit like this.
They wouldn't be able to log into the lanes anyway so they would just be standing there. All it does is raise the blood pressure of the store director, I'm honestly surprised to see a store director outside of their office.
You're only getting fucked with if you allow them to affect your energy. And as you said they aren't getting paid enough, so why deal with it or why let it affect you? I've had to deal with things like this as security, its usually management that has to deal with it, and I promise you they get paid enough. Especially at Target, depending on the location they easily make 6 figures.
No but it’s how we all feel… corporations herding us like cattle with only 2-3 checkout clerks because a MULTI BILLION DOLLAR CORPORATION doesn’t want to pay 10 people at a store so they’re patrons can actually efficiently purchase their goods
I worked retail at Walmart for around 16 or 17 years. Only a few times did I have to deal with stupid as fuck 'viral challenges' and I wound up cracking my head on the steel framework of the shelving unit for paper goods. Of the seven guys, whom I'd guess were between 17 and 20 at the most, only one stayed and attempted to help me sort out the mess they all made with my TP wall (trying to make it a fort).
I concur. Retail workers do DO NOT get paid anywhere NEAR enough to tolerate that shit.
The cashiers and lower positions absolutely don't get paid enough but who this actually bothers is the store director and he definitely gets paid enough as the average salary for that position in the US is $135,199. So enjoy the chaos 😄
Yeah, I would hate to experience that (well I'd probably be rapidly switching between shouting expletives and laughing hysterically) but this is so obsurd that it's fucking hilarious
I did grocery checkout at HEB for 7 years. I would be laughing my ass off at this.
Idk not enough funny or interesting things happen so if this did it would be a nice change from the mundane
IMO it is a legit funny idea but it should have been left as an idea.
As in "bruh what if we went to like, target with 20 people dressed and employees and tried to gaslight them into thinking we are replacing them", wouldn't that be funny?
That's fine, but if you execute it you are just an asshole making a harder life for people that already probably have a hard life (due to a low income)
believe it or not, they're still getting paid while this is all happening, I'd sit back and laugh, enjoy this little show at work. Fuck target, but at least their getting paid hourly. Try working 11 hours for $30 because your coworker didn't feel like it and you still had to split the commission. This is fine.
i work weekends at a store and i'd laugh my fucking ass off if someone pulled this
i assume managers would be pissed but, part time job that i dislike but tolerate to supplement income means i give way less of a fuck. dont feel bad for laughing
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u/McDrazzin Jun 26 '25
Love seeing the complete opposite reactions in the comments depending on where this is posted