July 5, 2026 at 8:20 pm

An Employee Intercepted Her Before She Could Reach for a Makeup Product. The Shocking Shopping Encounter That Forced Her to Walk Out Empty-Handed.

by Heather Hall

Inside of a modern makeup store in the mall

Pexels/Reddit

Shopping can get quite uncomfortable when employees start watching your every move.

That’s what happened to this shopper on a recent trip to Sephora while shopping for an eyebrow pencil.

Rather than getting a chance to look around in peace, an employee stayed so close that it made the whole experience feel awkward.

Then, after the shopper finally picked out a color, the employee stopped her before she could grab it.

The woman wanted to explain the sale price, but the shopper took the comment as an insult instead.

Let’s check out the full story below.

AITAH for refusing to keep buying at a shop because the staff interrupt me while I was shopping

First, this happened when I was hanging out with a friend at a mall. While at the mall, I decided to enter a makeup shop because Sephora was in the opposite direction of the bookstore my friend and I had decided to go to. I was just looking around because if they had a good eyebrow pencil, why not buy it?

The shop was quite unorganized because the makeup was not arranged by brand or type, so I was struggling to find the eyebrow pencils.

Then, since I kept looking at one shelf because I saw a row of eyeliners and mascaras, one of the staff members suddenly came over and stood behind me. I wasn’t bothered by it at first, but she kept standing there, staring at me from behind with a pout that made me uneasy.

When she found the right pencil, the woman reached her hand out.

Then, I found the eyebrow pencil. Sadly, they only had one brand, so I checked the tester and thought it was fine enough because the color was pigmented and the brush was good enough (my eyebrows are not thin, so I’m not really that picky about the brand of eyebrow pencil).

After deciding, I reached for the dark brown one. Then, suddenly, the staff member stepped beside me and held her hand right in front of me. She was trying to sound friendly, but of course I got offended by the hand gesture. Still, I tried to keep smiling.

In her awkward “friendly” tone, she said to me, “We are sorry, but only the black one is 10 dollars (lol, I am not American or from any country that uses dollars, so 10 is not even an expensive price but cheap!!). The other colors are 12.”

Then, she realized why the woman was acting like that.

I didn’t even notice the promotional price tag they had on the shelves because I don’t care about the price. Then, I looked down at my clothes. Yeah, jeans and a baggy top that might have made me look like some random broke college student or high schooler. I don’t know, but I can say I wasn’t impressed by my own look that day either.

Then, I just nodded, looked at her with an awkward smile, and said, “Oh, I see…” while pulling my hand back (she still had her hand in front of me). She wanted to repeat herself, but before she could finish her sentence, like, “Only the black one is 10, the other colors are—,”  I raised my hand up toward her face and walked out of the shop.

I know I looked disrespectful, but I don’t think a staff member from a random shop should put her hand in front of a customer when they are trying to reach for something. Still, I think I might have been too ****** about it.

AITA?

Wow! The store isn’t paying that woman to judge the customers.

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Let’s check out what the readers over at Reddit think about this ordeal.

According to this, you can’t even treat a shoplifter like that.

Sephora 3 An Employee Intercepted Her Before She Could Reach for a Makeup Product. The Shocking Shopping Encounter That Forced Her to Walk Out Empty Handed.

It may just be how Sephora trains their associates.

Sephora 2 An Employee Intercepted Her Before She Could Reach for a Makeup Product. The Shocking Shopping Encounter That Forced Her to Walk Out Empty Handed.

Now, that’s interesting.

Sephora 1 An Employee Intercepted Her Before She Could Reach for a Makeup Product. The Shocking Shopping Encounter That Forced Her to Walk Out Empty Handed.

It does seem like it.

Sephora An Employee Intercepted Her Before She Could Reach for a Makeup Product. The Shocking Shopping Encounter That Forced Her to Walk Out Empty Handed.

It’s hard to blame this shopper for walking away.

Getting stopped before picking up a product would make a lot of people wonder what message the employee was trying to send.

Maybe the employee honestly wanted to explain the sale price. Even so, the timing couldn’t have been much worse because it came across like the customer couldn’t afford the item she picked.

Nobody walks into a store hoping to defend whether they can pay for something. If that’s the kind of customer service this shop encourages, it’s no surprise someone decided to spend their money somewhere else.

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Heather Hall | Contributing Writer, Life & Drama

Heather Hall is a contributing writer for TwistedSifter specializing in internet culture, workplace conflict, and viral customer service stories. With over a decade of editorial experience in digital publishing, Heather excels at curating trending online discussions and providing insightful commentary on the daily dramas that capture the internet's attention.

Since beginning her career in 2011, she has developed deep expertise in SEO-driven digital content, having written for a wide array of publications covering lifestyle, business, and travel. At TwistedSifter, Heather focuses on synthesizing complex social media threads into engaging, highly readable narratives that highlight the human element of viral news.

When she isn’t analyzing the latest internet discourse, Heather is a dedicated mother of three sons who takes family gaming nights entirely too seriously—whether she is dominating in Mario Kart, exploring The Legend of Zelda, or jumping into Roblox.

Connect with Heather on Facebook and LinkedIn.