August 29, 2025 at 3:35 pm

She Made The Mistake Of Wearing A Red Winter Coat To Costco, So A Stranger Accused Her Of Being An Employee

by Benjamin Cottrell

woman wearing a red coat

Unsplash/Reddit

Mistaken identity happens in big retail stores more often than anyone would expect.

One woman’s Costco trip turned weird when a shopper mistook her red winter coat as an open invitation to ask her for help.

She could hardly hold back her confusion.

Read on for the full story!

But you wearing a red coat!

I get these questions a lot, usually when I am going to Walmart for some reason.

I feel it could be because I have an Indian face? I don’t know.

Regardless, she went on with her shopping trip.

Anyways, I was at Costco for grocery shopping.

They had this special sale going on that day for some jewelry—a brand that is normally not found at Costco regularly had their own salesperson and all.

But that’s when things got weird.

I was browsing through there, minding my own business, and a guy comes over and asks me which aisle detergents are.

I say, “I don’t know, I don’t work here.” And it should have been the end of it if he just walked away.

I don’t really care for these kinds of questions coming at me. I am used to it.

His reasoning was pretty nonsensical.

But this guy starts getting defensive: “It’s because you are wearing a red coat.”

It was a red winter coat. Heavy, heavy winter coat.

I just laugh at his face and move on.

Sometimes you just have to laugh.

What did Reddit think?

This man deserved the reaction he got.

Screenshot 2025 08 05 at 1.47.37 PM She Made The Mistake Of Wearing A Red Winter Coat To Costco, So A Stranger Accused Her Of Being An Employee

This user responds sarcastically.

Screenshot 2025 08 05 at 1.48.02 PM She Made The Mistake Of Wearing A Red Winter Coat To Costco, So A Stranger Accused Her Of Being An Employee

It’s time to coin a new term!

Untitled design 1 She Made The Mistake Of Wearing A Red Winter Coat To Costco, So A Stranger Accused Her Of Being An Employee

People make some truly baffling assumptions sometimes.

Screenshot 2025 08 05 at 1.50.02 PM She Made The Mistake Of Wearing A Red Winter Coat To Costco, So A Stranger Accused Her Of Being An Employee

Next time, she might be better off shopping online!

Who knew a red coat came with so many unexpected responsibilities?

If you liked this post, check out this story about an employee who got revenge on a co-worker who kept grading their work suspiciously low.