Pexels/Reddit

Sometimes all it takes is the wrong color shirt to accidentally get recruited into a job you never applied for.

One woman, excited to wear a brand new yellow t-shirt spent an afternoon helping her parents shop at IKEA before closing time.

Partway through the store, she noticed an odd feeling of being followed, but brushed it off as nothing.

That feeling didn’t go away, and by the time she reached the final section of the store, she realized she wasn’t imagining things at all.

You’ll want to keep reading to find out what happened next.

Fun little encounter at IKEA

I had recently gotten new clothes to wear, and it was a weekend where my family decided to go out to shop, so of course I wanted to wear one of the new t-shirts I had gotten.

The shopping trip was going pretty much as planned… until she felt a presence.

It was yellow and with a cartoon design at the front.

Inside IKEA, I was helping my parents look for things in our list. Almost halfway into the store I felt a presence following me, but I thought nothing of it.

She continued on her shopping trip.

Since it was closing time, I urged my parents to get whatever they wanted and to leave the window shopping for another time.

When we got to the final section with all the giant shelves filled with boxes, parents got distracted by the computers there to try and find something they were looking for.

That’s when she finally confronted the presence.

I once again felt the same presence around, except this time I took a quick look around and saw an elderly woman staring straight into my soul.

The elderly woman speaks up.

I look at her with question, she looks at me in question, notices the cartoon design on my shirt, and says, “Oh my god, I’ve been following the wrong person, thought you worked here,” and she walked back into the store.

On the drive back my brother tells me how he had a hunch someone would mistake me for an employee.

Yellow was clearly the wrong color to wear to IKEA!

What did Reddit make of this amusing story?

A simple “do you work here?” would have solved this whole debacle a lot sooner.

Wearing yellow to a place where they wear yellow uniforms is pretty much just sealing your fate.

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If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a cashier and manager who came together to help a truck driver from another country.

She could have turned this lady’s confusion to her advantage.

It’s rare for a mix-up this random to resolve itself so painlessly, but this one somehow did.

Sometimes a mistaken identity story doesn’t need a twist or a moral, just an odd coincidence and a stranger willing to admit she got it wrong.

Next time, she’ll definitely think twice before wearing yellow to IKEA.

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Author

Benjamin Cottrell

Benjamin Cottrell | Assistant Editor, Internet Culture

Benjamin Cottrell is an Assistant Editor and contributing writer at TwistedSifter, specializing in internet culture, viral social dynamics, and the moral complexities of online communities. He brings a highly analytical, editorial voice to his reporting on workplace conflicts, malicious compliance, and interpersonal drama, with a specific focus on nuanced stories that lack an obvious villain.

As a published author of rhetorical criticism, Benjamin leverages his academic background in human communication to dissect and elevate viral social media threads. Instead of simply summarizing events, he provides readers with balanced, deep-dive commentary into why the internet reacts the way it does. In addition to his cultural reporting, he is an experienced fine art photography essayist and video game reviewer.

When he isn’t analyzing the latest viral debates, Benjamin is usually chipping away at his extensive video game backlog, hunting down the best new restaurants, or out exploring the city with a camera in hand.

Connect with Benjamin on Instagram and read more of his essays on Substack.