For years, people have vented about getting mistaken for an employee after wearing red to a Target. But do you think this would happen to you? Be honest.

The shopper who told this story thought this couldn’t possibly happen to her on a quick trip to a Target, but… It did.

He went there to pick up a few household items and replace a phone charger but got out having learned to never wear a color close to what the employees wear again, unless he wants to get some side quests.

Keep reading for the full story.

Wore a red hoodie to Target. You can guess what happened next.

I know, I know. I’ve heard the joke a thousand times, everyone warns you, “never wear red to Target.”

I genuinely thought it was one of those exaggerated internet things that doesn’t actually happen in real life.

I was wrong. I was so wrong.

It was a saturday afternoon, I’d just come from a friend’s place and needed to grab a few things – dish soap, some snacks, a phone charger because mine had finally given up.

He was wrong to think he could wear red to Target, though.

I was wearing a red zip-up hoodie and dark jeans. That’s it. No logo, no name tag, nothing.

I’m walking through the home goods section kind of zoning out, comparing two different dish soaps like that’s a decision that requires serious thought…

When a woman probably in her 50s walks up to me with this very purposeful energy and goes “excuse me, where are your Keurig pods?”

I look up, look down at myself, look back at her and say “oh sorry, I don’t work here.”

But he was dealing with an NPC, it seems.

She does this thing where she kind of tilts her head and smiles like I’ve said something silly and goes “I just need to know if you have the dark roast in stock.”

I said again, slowly, I don’t work here, I’m a customer.

She looked at my hoodie. Looked a t my face. Looked at my hoodie again.

“Can you just check in the back?”

At this point I genuinely didn’t know what to do.

I said “ma’am I really am just shopping, I don’t have access to the back, I don’t know where anything is, I’m looking for dish soap”.

Now it finally registered.

She made this little huffy noise and said “well you could have just said so” and walked away to find an actual employee.

I stood there for a second just holding my dish soap.

Found my charger, got my snacks, checked out.

The actual Target employees at the register were wearing bright red polos with the logo on them. I was in a plain zip hoodie.

I still think about what she thought was going to happen if I had actually gone to check in the back.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a barista whose keen eye uncovered a customer scheme for free coffee.

What did Reddit have to say?

😬😬😬

A wild Kevin appears.

Yup, that was weird.

In a robotic voice.

Another nerd chimes in.

Wait, now I want to do it.

Most people expect a “Oh, sorry!” after saying clearly and plainly “I don’t work here”, but surprisingly, that often doesn’t happen.

People will often insist and keep asking for help or be downright angry about the whole interaction, even though the other person is just an innocent and confused customer.

The repeated requests to “check in the back” were so funny. Did she think he was an employee who randomly decided to refuse to help her?

It’s as if these people assume someone works there so intensely that their ears need time catching up with their eyes.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a waitress who refused to return a tip after a party returned to the restaurant with a complaint.