‘This is on sale’: Woman tries to scan Powerade at self-checkout. Then the manager steps in and says no, she can’t buy this product
Almost nothing is better than a good sale, especially if it’s your favorite snack or beverage. Heading to the store to fully stock up on your beloved product turns a mundane grocery trip into a slightly more exciting one. But what if something—or someone—gets in the way of those much-needed savings?
One customer demanded answers after she was blocked from buying Powerade that was on sale. In a viral TikTok uploaded to the @ghettogaragebuildz’s TikTok account, a Brookshire’s grocery store customer interrogated an employee as to why he wouldn’t let her leave with all that Powerade.
No Powerade for you
The video opens with the customer filming the grocery store worker, who already seems exasperated.
“So you’re telling me I can’t buy these?” the customer asks.
She then pans the camera to the basket attached to her motorized shopping cart. It is filled to the brim with Powerade bottles of all flavors.
“Yes, I am,” the worker replies. As the worker tries to explain himself, the woman demands he remove the items from her buggy. She asks him for a number, presumably for corporate, while interrupting him over and over.
“I’m trying to explain it to you and you’re not listening,” the worker says. He mentions having to write a “rain check” for product he doesn’t have, which causes an issue for him.
“If it’s on sale, the sale is going out tonight. I came to get a certain amount,” she says. The customer then asks the employee to remove the merchandise if he won’t sell it to her.
The video, which earned 3 million views as of writing, closes with the worker removing the various cases of Powerade and putting them back.
Why doesn’t he want her to buy the Powerade?
In a follow-up clip, the worker explains his reasoning in more detail. According to him, the customer came in, bought some packs of Powerade, and left the store. She later came back and filled up her cart once again. He tells the customer there’s a “limit,” and if she buys everything off the shelf, there won’t be any left for other shoppers. The customer explains she made two trips because her buggy couldn’t carry more.
“I have to write thousands of rain checks because people are wiping out all my product,” he tells her in a third clip.
“That has nothing to do with me,” the customer responds.
What’s a rain check?
In sales, a rain check refers to “a slip of paper verifying that you came to the store for an advertised sale item that wasn’t available,” per the Connecticut Government’s site. That paper, then, lets the customer buy the product at that sale price whenever it’s back in stock.
In short, the worker’s main issue was with having to write so many if the woman bought out all the Powerades.
“It’s not about the dollars,” the worker continues as he unpacks the beverages. “I’m doing all I can to try and serve everybody in the store.”
“You serving me,” the woman responds.
The TikToks appear to be reposts from another source and uploaded to @ghettogaragebuildz. The TikTok account is dedicated to posting similar viral videos, so the Mary Sue was unable to track down the original source. We reached out to the creator via TikTok comment to verify.
Viewers couldn’t be more divided on the issue
The TikTok videos sparked a brutal debate in the comments section. Half of the viewers were on the customer’s side, while the other half thought the employee had every right to refuse the sale.
“His stock issue should not be her problem,” one top comment read.
Another pointed out that there was no sign dictating a limit: “They should have a sign stating that.”
“That doesn’t seem like that much,” another echoed. “If they didn’t post a limit on the sign, she should be allowed to buy however many she wants.”
However, several labeled the customer as “greedy and selfish” for trying to take advantage of the sale.
“I don’t like when people buy everything on the shelf when its on sale. One person dont need 50 to 100 of the same items just because it’s on sale,” one comment read. “What about other people who want the sale too? they need to always put only 2 per customer. some people are greedy and selfish.”
@ghettogaragebuildz #groceryhaul #grocerystore #managersbelike #managersoftiktok #customersbelike #fyp #foryoupage #foryourpage ♬ original sound – Ghettogaragetv
Can a store have purchase limits even without a sign?
Yes, most stores can limit your purchase quantity even if there is no sign explicitly telling you so. This can be one of their in-store policies, and as long as they are not denying service due to religion, sex, gender, race, etc., a store can legally stop you from buying all the products. However, you also have consumer rights where stores cannot deceive you or mislead you in their ads. Now, if there was a sign that said “no purchase limit” and you were stopped anyway, then the store is wrong in that case.
The Mary Sue reached out to Brookshire’s via website contact form.
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