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Tag: TikTok

  • ‘I’ve never felt such raw fear kick in’: Indiana woman pulls on her door handle in the Target parking lot. Then a bunch of coins fall out

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    Lauren Muzz (@laurenmuzz), a woman from Fishers, Indiana, was having a normal day shopping at Target. That is, until she walked back to her car. In the parking lot, she noticed something suspicious about her car’s door handle. A bunch of coins fell out of it. Then, she noticed one coin jammed sideways to keep her door handle ajar.

    “ I instantly knew like something was wrong and I needed to get the heck out of there,” Muzz said in a video that she posted to TikTok. Since then, her clip describing the encounter has gotten 115,000 views. 

    Muzz’s story—a chance encounter? 

    Muzz spent about 20 minutes in Target before heading back to her car. It was around 7:00 p.m. when she tried to open her car door and noticed something off about it. 

    “ As I’m going to open the door, a bunch of coins fall out of my door handle and it’s dark. I’m confused. I don’t really know what’s going on. But, I keep trying to open my door. And that’s when a quarter gets lodged sideways in between my door handle,” she said.  

    Then, she noticed two people quietly sitting inside their car with no light. They weren’t using their phones or getting out of the car, something that made Muzz want to bolt back into Target. She went back inside the store and dialed 9-1-1. As she waited for an officer, she noticed that not even five minutes after she went inside, the car next to her had left. 

    A police officer arrived, and Muzz explained the situation to him. He examined her car and noticed that the coin keeping her car open was now flat.

    “ I can only assume that somebody was trying to get into my car when I went back into Target,” she said.

    @laurenmuzz @target #storytime #FYP #psa ♬ original sound – Lauren Muzz

    Muzz recounts her unanswered questions

    The police officer said it was unlikely Target’s security cameras captured the encounter. He cited the positioning of the camera as his reasoning for not asking to check the footage. 

    “ I was so like disoriented and frazzled that I did not question it, and I just wanted to get the [expletive] out of there,” Muzz said. But later, Muzz said she thought about following up with the police department and seeing if they’d be willing to check the cameras. 

    He also let her know that if a person placed a tracker in her car, it would most likely ping in a few days. 

    Muzz is grateful that she didn’t pick up the coins and that a man happened to walk by around the time she discovered them. 

    “ There was a guy that walked out of Target… 10 to 15 seconds behind me, and his car was parked adjacent to mine… He was getting in his car as I was like fumbling with my door handle,” she said. She wondered if his presence stopped anything from happening to her. 

    Overall, the situation frightened Muzz, who feels grateful to be safe now: “ I’ve never felt such raw fear kick in, and I never wanna feel that again… Stay safe everybody,” she said. 

    Where does wedging a coin in a door handle even come from?

    There’s a long-standing urban myth that wedging a coin into a car’s door handle makes it easier to break into them. Snopes wrote an article about the rumor, which started in 2015, and debunked it. There’s little evidence to conclude that wedging a coin in a car’s door handle can actually disable a remote locking system or grant access into the vehicle. 

    But thieves sometimes try to use this method to try and get a vehicle to not lock properly. According to another article from Trash Rite, the obstruction may limit a car’s ability to lock when the owner drives to another location. Once they leave their car unattended, they can swoop in and steal it. 

    There’s another separate idea that traffickers use coins, sunglasses, zip ties, and other calling cards to “tag” victims. Those incidents have all largely been debunked, or in the very least, haven’t had any tangible connection to trafficking incidents. They’re not backed by any sort of data from law enforcement officials. Sites such as Politifact and Snopes have both debunked various claims regarding general car tagging from trafficking organizations. 

    Comments questioning—Is Fishers a safe place?

    While many people expressed general fear at the thought of theft, trafficking, and other scary encounters, others expressed dismay that this incident happened in Fishers, Indiana. The city has little to no crime, scoring an A- according to crimegrade.org. 

    “[Indiana] girl here,” said one commenter. “Thanks for sharing. Fishers is supposed to be safe!” 

    “So wild I was just at Fishers target yesterday. I do know Fishers police have been patrolling the area more. Glad you’re safe,” another added. 

    The Mary Sue has reached out to Target and Muzz for comment.

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    Rachel Thomas

    Rachel Joy Thomas is a music journalist, freelance writer, and hopeful author who resides in Los Angeles, CA. You can email her at [email protected].

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  • ‘I did file a warrant for your arrest’: Georgia woman walks out on $240 hair service after bragging about income. Then the salon owner finds her address

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    An Augusta, Georgia, cosmetologist gets a call from a woman who wants her hair highlighted before a wedding. However, the woman walks out without paying, leading to a police report.

    In a video with over 1,000 views, TikToker Emely Coyoc (@edgyhairbyemy) says the woman called “last minute” to book an appointment the same day she would attend a wedding in town. Coyoc books the appointment for 9 a.m., but the woman arrives 15 minutes late.

    While the woman booked a partial highlight, she changed her mind and requested a full highlight when she arrived at the salon. The full highlight service takes longer than the partial.

    Coyoc asks the woman for an inspiration picture, and she shows her a neutral blonde Coyoc did for a previous client.

    “We always ask for an inspiration picture because for me, a platinum is basically white, but a platinum for somebody else could be something different,” she explains.

    Coyoc acknowledges the woman’s requested tone and color, and foils her hair. However, the woman’s attitude changes after Coyoc’s co-worker washes out the toner.

    Why did the woman leave without paying?

    As Coyoc works with another client, her co-worker approaches her and says the woman angrily snatched the blow dryer from her.

    “She goes, ‘She wants to talk to you. She snatched the blow dryer away and said that she needed to leave,”” Coyoc recounts. She notes that the appointment ended at 1 p.m. and the wedding was at 2 p.m., just 10 minutes away.

    When Coyoc asks the woman what’s wrong, she insists that her blonde looks “orange.”

    “She goes, ‘You don’t see my hair? It’s orange,’” she says. While Coyoc says the hair did not have an orange tone, she offers for the woman to come back to the salon after the wedding to re-tone the hair ashier.

    The woman agrees to return to the salon the same evening.

    As she walks towards the entrance, she asks Coyoc how she should pay her. Coyoc gives her a Venmo QR, but the woman suddenly bolts, saying her Uber has arrived.

    Did the hairstylist file a police report?

    In a part two video, Coyoc says she waited at the salon until the agreed-upon time to fix the woman’s hair. However, she never shows up.

    She shows a screenshot of a text chain, asking the woman to pay $240 for the service, and asks whether she plans to stop by the salon to be retouched.

    “$240???!?! My hair is a disaster!” the woman responds, berating Coyoc and calling her “unprofessional.” She tells Coyoc that she won’t return for a touch-up and refuses to pay the $240 for the service. She even suggests sending the bill from another salon to Coyoc to cover the cost of “ruining” her hair.

    Coyoc notes that during the appointment, the woman bragged about her high-paying finance job in New York.

    “At the end of the day, I did call the cops. I did file a report,” Coyoc shares. “So, I did file a warrant for your arrest for theft of service.”

    In Georgia, business owners can file a criminal warrant against customers who refuse to pay for services, according to Clement Law. Then, a judge will review the application and hold an initial hearing before issuing the warrant.

    How did viewers react to the woman walking out?

    In the comments, viewers praise Coyoc for escalating the situation to the police and not allowing the woman to get away with not paying.

    “100% scammer, I know you didn’t [expletive] her hair up,” one writes.

    Another viewer says, “This is soooooo crazy omg, definitely seems like it was calculated now! I’m so sorry this happened to you, you did amazing for me that day, don’t let her make you question or doubt your work! I’m so happy you filed the police report because that is like robbery for real!”

    “How sh-tty !!!! You deserve better. Don’t let this dip your motion,” a third adds.

    @edgyhairbyemy Lady runs out on her hair service bill pt1 #augustaga #hairtok #scammed #augustasalon ♬ original sound – edgyhairbyemy

    The Mary Sue reached out to Coyoc and the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office via email for further comment.

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    Rebekah Harding

    Rebekah Harding is a reporter and content strategist based in Philadelphia. You can contact her at rebekahjonesharding.com.

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  • ‘I was encouraged to post during Yellow Envelope Week’: Colorado server gets fired from Texas Roadhouse. She revealed something that infuriated her bosses

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    A server at Texas Roadhouse just got fired. The reason why? She kept posting on her social media account, which led to ongoing tension and hostility throughout her workplace. Eventually, she snapped at a co-worker, quickly leading her out the door despite her dedication to the restaurant. 

    In a video with over 1.7 million views, Brittany (@brittanyspurlock627) explained how she was recently forced out of her workplace—where she was a server for almost eight years—due to her social media presence and a few hostile comments from co-workers. She and her spouse, Brett, worked at the same Texas Roadhouse. For a while, they made positive content showcasing the restaurant. They followed “all of the rules and guidelines” the company established. 

    Then, she started getting pulled into the office for different posts she was making. 

    Management starts to have issues

    It started off with food posts. Her management let her know that she wasn’t supposed to show steaks, salads, or appetizers on her personal account. Then, she was brought into the office and told she couldn’t showcase any alcoholic beverages on her account. She complied, limiting her content further. 

    Although she and her husband were some of the company’s strongest workers, she said she started to get called out for “little things.” She would answer a TikTok comment and offer advice on beer picks. However, she got told she was trying to “sell company recipes.”

    “I showed a beer menu and I got in trouble because they were accusing me of trying to share recipes, which was not the case at all. I was just showing draft [beers],” she said. 

    She also would post about internal issues with the company, something management quickly tried to control. When other servers got four sections at a time, she would point it out in her comments section. 

    Brittany stops filming altogether—but she’s still in trouble

    Eventually, she felt so deeply uncomfortable that she decided to only film off the clock. “And then it got to the point where I was trying to stop the social media altogether,” she said. “No more filming on the clock, no more at work. Only before and after our shifts, mainly in our vehicle. And that was still an issue.”

    She would go to work feeling paranoid. “ I would still go to work [and] not even touch my phone. I was being watched like a hawk to the point where I was even having photos taken of me. [Those photos were] being sent to my boss,” she added. 

    She noticed other employees were allowed to use their phones during “legendary hours.” These were times when Texas Roadhouse required its employees to focus on their guests and keep screens away. 

    It all chipped away at her, but it got worse when the company monitored her posts further. 

    Brittany continues to get berated for making TikToks

    Brittany made a post on her platform about a cash tip she had lost while working one night. That’s because another table grabbed her tip before she could actually get it. 

    News outlets such as The Mary Sue ended up covering the story, popularizing it enough for Texas Roadhouse’s upper management to become aware of it. Around “three or four” different publications shared the incident within a matter of days, according to Brittany. Instead of siding with their own staff member and looking into the incident, however, Texas Roadhouse spoke with her about it. 

    “I  was fully aware that I was getting in trouble for talking about the guests, but I wasn’t trying to necessarily talk about the guests,” Brittany said.

    The 18-dollar tip that Brittany received meant a lot to her, she said. This was because she only had a few tables that day. It was a slow day with few to no tables. 

    Halloween: the breaking point

    Then came Halloween. Brittany asked for permission to film all of the Texas Roadhouse staff in their Halloween costumes, an idea that management approved. One of the staff members, with whom she had multiple tense run-ins, ended up reporting her to upper management. This is despite her explicitly asking to take the video beforehand.

    “ This was also the same person that was taking photos of me and trying to send them to my boss. [She was] trying to get me in trouble. So at this point, I’ve had a lot of frustration built up toward her,” Brittany said. 

    Brittany asked the other employee whether she had reported her to her boss, and the other employee “flat out lied.” She called the other woman, who had been to her birthday parties, personally spent time with her, and was a “friend,” a snitch. The other employee very quickly reported her to management, and management fired Brittany that very same day.

    “ My boss asked if I had called her a snitch. I admitted to it, and I was fired right then on the spot. That’s… it. Obviously, calling her out at work was probably not the best case [scenario], but it was before my shift started.”

    Brittany cited growing hostility in the workplace as an issue that eventually led her to snap. 

    “ Over the last few months, it’s just become… so stressful to the point I’ve even come home crying. I’m the type that doesn’t really like crying online or really in front of anyone,” Brittany said. “ I truly love[d] my job… I never [tried] to drag anyone through the mud.” 

    @brittanyspurlock627 I will miss working with Brett & my coworkers ? Part 2 later today!! I had about 6 higher ups watching my account through secret accounts!! #fired #texasroadhouse #texasroadhouserolls #fyp #husbandwife ♬ original sound – brittanyspurlock627

    Brittany’s final update—what now? 

    In a final update, Brittany let her audience know that her boss had a discussion with her regarding her termination. Ultimately, Brittany vied to get her job back. But unfortunately didn’t receive any updates from the team that she could rejoin the Texas Roadhouse staff. 

     “ I [got] a text back saying he’s talking to his team and that… he will reach out to me with a date and time of when we can meet,” she said. She ended up taking full accountability for her role in her termination, including some of her TikToks and comments to a fellow employee. 

    Her boss let her know that he wouldn’t have any problems taking her back. However, some managers didn’t necessarily want her to return. He also let her know that Texas Roadhouse was unlikely to hire her again.

    The company then ghosted her, not letting her know anything regarding her employment status despite speaking with her a bit more about the termination. She chose to share her entire story online because “no response is a response.” She was tired of getting in trouble for “every little thing” and feeling unwelcome in her workplace. 

    Despite all of the trouble, Brittany is looking ahead and hopeful about her future employment. Her TikTok content may change, but she’s hoping her audience will follow along on the next part of her journey. 

    The Mary Sue has reached out to Texas Roadhouse and Brittany via email.

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    Rachel Thomas

    Rachel Joy Thomas is a music journalist, freelance writer, and hopeful author who resides in Los Angeles, CA. You can email her at [email protected].

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  • Shelter dog finally gets adopted—and has the birthday he deserves

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    Hearts have melted at how a family celebrated their rescue dog’s first birthday with them.

    Koba the Rottweiler was adopted by a new family less than a year ago, and it’s clear he’s been a huge hit, as they’ve since set up a TikTok account dedicated to his life with them.

    The account, @kingkoba25, shows the family—who live in the United Kingdom—cuddling with the giant dog in bed, taking him for walks to the park, and exploring the countryside.

    In one video, his new owners describe their pup as having “changed our lives”—and now a new video has seen Koba proving a hit with millions of online strangers.

    Posted on November 11, it shows Koba marking his first birthday since coming into the care of his new owners. And they’ve gone all out for him, as multiple gift-wrapped presents litter the floor, Koba curiously sniffing at each one.

    And though they encourage him to “rip” the wrapping paper off, the dog does it his own way: gently, and needing plenty of encouragement along the way.

    Loading tiktok content…

    Finally, after ripping the paper off bit by bit, revealing layers of cardboard and more layers underneath, he opens his first present: a new ball. And he knows it’s for him, as he picks it up in his mouth and runs happily away, his tail wagging, before lying down beside his owners with the ball between his paws.

    His adoring owners captioned the video: “His first birthday with us. Adopting him was the best decision we’ve ever made.”

    TikTok users loved it, watching the video more than 2 million times and awarding it more than 420,000 likes, as one wrote: “I’m sorry how the hell did he know how to unwrap it? He was so gentle?”

    Another admitted: “I could watch dogs opening presents all day, I think this is my new favorite pastime.”

    And one moved commenter wrote: “The smile I needed, thank you. Extra thank you for adopting such a handsome boy and giving him a loving home.”

    “He is so handsome,” another said. “A proper rottie head!”

    Rottweilers are known to make good guard dogs due to their great strength, courage and loyalty. However, they are also described as being hugely affectionate towards their owners, with a playful and often silly nature, making them popular as pets, according to the American Kennel Club (AKC).

    In 2024, Rottweilers were eighth in the AKC’s annual list of the most popular dog breeds in America, behind the French bulldog, Labrador retriever, golden retriever, German shepherd dog, poodle, dachshund and beagle.

    Newsweek has contacted @kingkoba25 for comment on this story.

    Do you have funny and adorable videos or pictures of your pet you want to share? Send them to life@newsweek.com with some details about your best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the Week lineup.

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  • Meta gives Australian kids 2-week warning to delete accounts as world-first social media age restrictions loom

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    Melbourne, Australia — Technology giant Meta on Thursday began sending thousands of young Australians a two-week warning to downland their digital histories and delete their accounts from Facebook, Instagram and Threads before a world-first social media ban on accounts of children younger than 16 takes effect.

    The Australian government announced two weeks ago that the three Meta platforms plus Snapchat, TikTok, X and YouTube must take reasonable steps to exclude Australian account holders younger than 16, beginning Dec. 10.

    California-based Meta on Thursday became the first of the targeted tech companies to outline how it will comply with the law. Meta contacted thousands of young account holders via SMS and email to warn that suspected children will start to be denied access to the platforms from Dec. 4.

    “We will start notifying impacted teens today to give them the opportunity to save their contacts and memories,” Meta said in a statement.

    Meta said young users could also use the notice period to update their contact information “so we can get in touch and help them regain access once they turn 16.”

    Meta has estimated there are 350,000 Australians aged 13-to-15 on Instagram and 150,000 in that age bracket on Facebook. Australia’s population is 28 million.

    Account holders 16-years-old and older who were mistakenly given notice that they would be excluded can contact Yoti Age Verification and verify their age by providing government-issued identity documents or a “video selfie,” Meta said.

    Terry Flew, co-director of Sydney University’s Center for AI, Trust and Governance, said such facial-recognition technology had a failure rate of at least 5%.

    “In the absence of a government-mandated ID system, we’re always looking at second-best solutions around these things,” Flew told the Australian Broadcasting Corp.

    The government has warned platforms that demanding that all account holders prove they are older than 15 would be an unreasonable response to the new age restrictions. The government maintains the platforms already had sufficient data about many account holders to ascertain they were not young children.

    Social media companies will face fines of up to 50 million Australian dollars (about $33 million) if they are found to be failing to prevent people under 16 from creating accounts on their platforms.

    Meta’s vice president and global head of safety, Antigone Davis, said she would prefer that app stores including Apple App Store and Google Play collect the age information when a user signs up and verifies they are at least 16 year old for app operators such as Facebook and Instagram.

    “We believe a better approach is required: a standard, more accurate, and privacy-preserving system, such as OS/app store-level age verification,” Davis said in a statement.

    “This combined with our investments in ongoing efforts to assure age … offers a more comprehensive protection for young people online,” she added.

    Dany Elachi, founder of the parents’ group Heaps Up Alliance that lobbied for the social media age restriction, said parents should start helping their children plan on how they will spend the hours currently absorbed by social media.

    He was critical of the government’s only announcing on the complete list of platforms that will become age-restricted on Nov. 5.

    “There are aspects of the legislation that we’re not entirely supportive of, but the principle that children under the age of 16 are better off in the real world, that’s something we advocated for and are in favor of,” Elachi said. “When everybody misses out, nobody misses out. That’s the theory. Certainly we expect that it would play out that way. We hope parents are going to be very positive about this and try to help their children see all the potential possibilities that are now open to them.”

    There was significant resistance to the legislation last year, however, including from  some children’s advocacy groups.

    The CEO of the Save the Children charity Mat Tinkler said in a statement a year ago, when the ban was approved by Australian lawmakers, that while he welcomed the government’s efforts to protect children from harm online, the solution should be regulating social media companies, rather than a blanket ban.

    He said the government should “instead use the momentum of this moment to hold the social media giants to account, to demand that they embed safety into their platforms rather than adding it as an afterthought, and to work closely with experts and children and young people themselves to make online spaces safer, as opposed to off-limits.”

    The Australian Human Rights Commission, an independent government body, also expressed “serious reservations” over the law before it was approved, saying last year that there were “less restrictive alternatives available that could achieve the aim of protecting children and young people from online harms, but without having such a significant negative impact on other human rights. One example of an alternative response would be to place a legal duty of care on social media companies.”

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  • This 26-year-old was laid off from his ‘dream job’ at PwC building AI agents. He’s worried the tech he built has led to more job cuts | Fortune

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    Titans of industry like Salesforce, Microsoft, and Intel have all been slashing staff, and employees are hand-wringing about being next on the chopping block. Donald King, a 26-year-old who built AI agents for PwC, never thought he’d be the next one out the door—but he soon realized why consultants are called “hatchet-men.”

    After graduating with a degree in finance from the University of Texas at Austin in 2021, King landed a job at one of the “Big Four” consulting giants: PwC. He packed his bags and moved to New York to start his role as an associate in technology consulting, working with major clients, including Oracle, during his first year. But everything changed when PwC announced a $1 billion investment in AI; King was already intrigued by the tech, so he pitched himself to join the company’s AI factory team. Working 60 to 80 hours a week, he immersed himself in the tech, even throwing knowledge-sharing AI agent block parties within the firm that drew up to 250 participants. King logged a ton of hours—sometimes at the expense of his weekends—but was confident he was excelling in his role as a product manager and data scientist.

    “I was coding and managing a team onshore and offshore. It was crazy, it’s like, ‘Give this 24-year-old millions of dollars of salary spent per month to build AI agents for Fortune 500 [companies],’” King tells Fortune. “[It was] my dream job…I won first place in this OpenAI hackathon across the entire firm.”

    Although King was proving himself as a key AI talent for PwC, he did begin to question the impact of his work. The AI agents King was building for major corporations could undoubtedly automate swaths of human roles—perhaps even entire job departments. One Microsoft Teams agent his group created mimicked an actual person, and King was a little spooked. 

    “We had a late night call with all the boys that are building this thing, like, ‘What the hell are we building right now?’” King says. “Just saying ‘Treat them like humans’ is probably not the best way to think about it.”

    Behind the scenes, a layoff was brewing—but this time, for King. In October 2024, just eight months into his final role at PwC, the Gen Zer presented his winning project from the OpenAI hackathon: a fleet of AI agents that automated manual tasks. King was proud and felt confident in his place at the firm, but two hours later, PwC called King to inform him he was being laid off. The 26-year-old recorded the meeting and posted it on TikTok, raking up more than 75,000 likes and 2.1 million views. Commenters under his videos expressed shock that King would be let go after winning the hackathon.

    “I thought I was safe, especially after I won first place,” King says. “I just got a little blindsided.”

    King clarifies he doesn’t think there were any “nefarious” intentions behind his layoff, reasoning he was likely a random staffer dismissed after the firm had overhired in previous years. However, he does connect the dots between the AI agents he built for PwC customers and the layoffs that soon ensued at those client companies. 

    Fortune reached out to PwC for comment. 

    King believes his AI agents may have been connected to layoffs 

    While King doesn’t believe his former role at PwC was automated, he recognizes that the AI agents he built likely had an impact on others. The year after his layoff, King observed that some of the Fortune 500 clients he served were implementing staffing cuts. Those AI agents he helped create may have had a hand in the layoffs. 

    “It’s 100% connected,” King says. “I knew that consulting was a hatchet-man type job, I knew you’re going in to potentially lay people off, but I didn’t think it was going to be like this.”

    While King believes AI agents are akin to the reasoning power of a five-year-old, they still know “all the corpus of information in the world” and can automate mundane tasks. Oftentimes, that means entry-level jobs are most at risk of being disrupted. 

    “It’s automating tasks, 100%, those are gone,” King says. “If your job is doing those menial types of things, if you’re just emailing a spreadsheet back and forth, you can kiss your job goodbye.”

    Pivoting to his new life purpose: founding a marketing agency 

    While being on PwC’s AI team may have once been his dream job, the layoff didn’t crush his spirit. 

    “I’m grateful for it happening…It was the worst thing that ever happened to me, but then it turned into the best thing,” King says. “Overall, [I’m] very grateful that I got laid off.”

    In the aftermath of being let go, King says he was inundated with job offers from major tech companies to join their AI operations. However, the scrappy young entrepreneur sidelined the idea of returning to a nine-to-five gig; instead, King started his own marketing agency, AMDK. The business officially launched in December last year, less than two months after being laid off from PwC. 

    So far, King says AMDK has roped in clients ranging from small companies to billion-dollar enterprises, many of whom are looking for AI agents of their own. His end goal is to build a swarm of agents that help companies with their back ends—but after his experience on PwC’s AI team, he says he’s being cautious about the ramifications of his creations. He’s still learning the ropes of entrepreneurship, but wouldn’t trade the highs and lows for a salaried corporate job.

    “This is my purpose in life, versus this is someone else’s purpose,” King says. “[I’m] way happier.”

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  • ‘OK that was actually way worse than I was expecting’: Walmart releases a ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ T-shirt. Why is it so controversial?

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    Walmart recently got in trouble for selling a ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors’ t-shirt on its website with some extremely concerning implications. That’s because the shirt, sold online for a brief amount of time, featured a Nazi salute printed on it. The grocery store has since apologized for the mix-up. However, it left many people wondering, is the great value store turning alt-right?

    The shirt ended up on Walmart’s site through the Walmart Marketplace program. Posts on the Reddit page r/MarchAgainstNazis subreddit mass-reported the t-shirt, creating a viral outrage that’s ended up on platforms like TikTok.

    That’s where Allie (@cirqueduallie) posted about it. “Did y’all see the new Walmart rock, paper, scissors shirt? They’re not even trying to hide…” said Allie, in a video that’s gotten 13.4 million views. 

    What was on the t-shirt? 

    Many people wondered how bad a “rock, paper, scissors” t-shirt could be, but then they saw it. 

    “It can’t be that bad can it? oh…oh it is that bad,” said one commenter on Allie’s video.

    That’s because the t-shirt clearly depicts a Nazi Salute “triumphing” over a raised fist, a signal of empowerment within the Black Panther movement. The shirt’s lettering reads, “paper over rock,” with the paper being the salute in question. In essence, the shirt’s messaging is “fascism over activism.” 

    Why would Walmart post a shirt like this?

    It’s important to know that Walmart itself didn’t create the shirt; a third-party seller using Walmart’s platform did. Walmart’s Marketplace program allows third-party sellers to apply and sell various goods using their website.

    Based on Walmart’s policies, the company investigates third-party sellers before marketplace approval. We don’t currently know whether Walmart individually inspects any additional items that the seller posts on the platform past that point. But, it seems as though the primary vetting process happens toward the beginning of a seller launching on the site. 

    Sellers control their own inventory and shipments unless they’re partnered with a Walmart fulfillment center or program. Generally, that means third-party sellers are completely in control of handling the product—not Walmart. Walmart can pull items off its platform almost immediately if it see an issue, something that happened with the ‘Paper Beats Rock’ t-shirt. 

    This particular third-party seller, which has since been removed from Walmart’s platform, also sold t-shirts depicting events from protests across the country. “The account is just profiting off of outrage and current events,” said one Reddit user. “They also have shirts of the inflatable frog guy from protests and the guy that threw the sandwich at a cop.”

    TikTok and Reddit commenters debate—Boycott Walmart?

    Despite Walmart taking down the product immediately, many people wondered whether it was worth investing in large corporations that would allow this to happen in the first place. 

    “‘Walmart shirt’ and it’s a weird third party seller,” said one commenter on TikTok. They pointed out that Walmart, indeed, did not approve or handle the t-shirt. Then, a person replied, “Not unreasonable to boycott Walmart for fueling these companies.” 

    Another person added, “Do you know how difficult it is to get a contract with Walmart to sell your [company’s] items on their shelves? Please understand that there are checks and balances in place… this was a choice… Don’t believe me? Give it a try. That’s genuinely insane.”

    @cirqueduallie Did yall see the new Walmart rock paper scissors shirt? They’re not even trying to hide … #walmart #rockpaperscissors ♬ i like to think you’re the leaves – mage tears

    Walmart’s response 

    A spokesperson from Walmart responded to Snopes, saying, “We have zero tolerance for any prohibited or offensive products appearing on our Marketplace. The items in question were listed by a third-party seller and have been removed from our site and the seller terminated for violating our prohibited products policy. When issues like this are identified, we act immediately to remove them and strengthen our systems to prevent a recurrence. The trust of our customers and the integrity of our platform remain paramount.”

    The Mary Sue has also reached out to Walmart for comment. We’ve sent a message to Allie.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

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    Rachel Thomas

    Rachel Joy Thomas is a music journalist, freelance writer, and hopeful author who resides in Los Angeles, CA. You can email her at [email protected].

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  • Meta’s victory over the Federal Trade Commission shows the market moves faster than antitrust enforcement

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    The federal government’s yearslong case to label Meta a monopoly ended on Tuesday when a federal court ruled in favor of the tech giant. The ruling sets the important precedent that the current market in which a dominant firm competes is the relevant one to consider when determining whether or not it is a monopolist.

    The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) first brought the lawsuit against Meta in December 2020, during the first Trump administration, alleging that the tech giant had run afoul of the Sherman Antitrust Act by monopolizing the personal social networking market through its acquisition of then-nascent Instagram and WhatsApp in 2012 and 2014, respectively. The case was dismissed in 2021, but refiled later that year. In April, Lina Khan, who served as the FTC chair when the case was refiled, said that “there’s no expiration date when it comes to the illegality of a transaction.”

    On Tuesday, Judge James Boasberg of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia contradicted Khan in his decision, saying the FTC must prove Meta continues to wield monopoly power “whether or not Meta enjoyed [such] power in the past.” Citing Heraclitus’ philosophy of universal flux, Boasberg says, “while it once might have made sense to partition apps into separate markets of social networking and social media, that wall has since broken down.”

    Determining whether Meta is a social networking or social media company was the critical point of contention. The FTC argued that Meta occupied the “personal social networking” (PSN) market, which comprises Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and MeWe. (Even the FTC excluded WhatsApp from its PSN market, despite complaining about Meta’s acquisition of it.) Successfully arguing that Meta was only a social networking company would make it easier to prove that it was a monopolist. Meta argued that, as a social media company, its competitors also include TikTok and YouTube, as well as social networking platforms.

    Boasberg found the FTC’s market definition to be overly narrow, and agreed with Meta that TikTok and YouTube should be considered its competitors in the social media market. Boasberg determined this to be the case based on the preponderance of controlled and natural experiments that found strong evidence of substitution between Facebook and Instagram, both of whose most popular feature is short-form video content, with TikTok and YouTube.

    By this more inclusive and accurate market definition, Boasberg ruled that Meta’s “modest share cannot establish monopoly power.” Even excluding YouTube from the social media market, Boasberg found that “Meta still would not hold a monopoly.”

    While Boasberg redacted market share estimates from his opinion, we can be confident that Meta’s is at or below 33 percent, given his citation of U.S. v. Aluminum Co., which found 33 percent market share insufficient for monopoly power. Boasberg noted that the Supreme Court has never found a party with less than 75 percent market share to be a monopolist.

    Meta’s victory over the FTC shows that markets evolve faster than antitrust litigation moves. In this case, antitrust enforcers assumed that Meta was immune to competition and that its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp would foreclose the social networking market to newcomers. In reality, social networking and social media have become so intertwined that, if Meta hadn’t acquired Instagram and pivoted to focus on short-form video content, it could have gotten its lunch eaten by TikTok and YouTube.

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  • TikTok will now give you badges for limiting your doomscrolling | TechCrunch

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    TikTok is rolling out new digital well-being features like an affirmation journal and a background sound generator aimed at improving the mental health of its users. The social network said it will also give users badges for controlling their TikTok usage.

    The company is redesigning its screen time management page and adding new features to it. These include an affirmation journal with more than 120 positive prompts that let users set your intent for the day, a sound generator that can play calming sounds like rain or ocean waves, and a breathing exercise module. The company said that the page will also feature content from creators who talk about limiting screen time, using parental tools, and customizing their feeds.

    TikTok is also debuting new badges to reward people who use the platform within limits, especially teens. The company said it reviewed academic literature on digital well-being and found that overly restrictive tools can have a negative effect on teens.

    Image Credits: TikTok

    To earn these badges, users need to complete different missions. Users can complete the sleep hours mission by avoiding using the platform at night. They can also use the new meditation tools to get a badge. TikTok is also rewarding people who set a daily screen time limit and use the app within those bounds with a badge. There are other badges for viewing the weekly screen time report and inviting others to complete these missions.

    The company said that during its early testing, it observed that more people visited the new well-being screen compared to the previous version of the screen time menu, with the affirmation journal being the most popular tool.

    TikTok said it will display a link to these tools when someone is using the app at night or when they hit their daily screen time limit.

    The company launched new parental control tools in July, giving guardians the ability to block certain accounts and get notifications when teens upload a public video or a story. In the past month, tech companies including Meta, YouTube, OpenAI, and Discord, have added new safety tools with an aim to increase teen safety.

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  • TikTok will let users tone down the amount of AI content in their feed

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    TikTok is the latest social platform to hand users more control over the amount of AI-generated content they see. The app is experimenting with a new setting that will allow users to request to “see less” AI in their “For You” feed.

    The new toggle will be available in “the coming weeks” in the app’s “manage topics” section that lets people personalize the types of videos more likely to appear in their feed. In a blog post, TikTok says the control is meant to help users “dial things down” if they want to see less AI content in their recommendations. The update follows a similar move from Pinterest, which has faced complaints about AI slop drowning out authentic images on the platform.

    TikTok, like most other platforms, has seen an influx of AI-generated content in recent years. The company, which requires users to label such creations, says that there are more than 1.3 billion videos with these labels. At the same time, the company notes that its existing methods for detecting AI content aren’t perfect, Currently, TikTok relies on a widely-used watermarking system called Content Credentials that adds metadata to AI-generated content. But these signals can get harder to detect when images or videos are edited in other apps or copied and reshared to other sites, as often happens with viral content.

    To address this, TikTok says that it will also experiment with an additional “invisible watermarking” system that could help it identify and label AI content more reliably. “‘Invisible watermarks’ add another layer of safeguards with a robust technological ‘watermark’ that only we can read, making it harder for others to remove,” the company explained.

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  • TikTok now has an in-app ‘affirmation journal’ and sound machine

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    TikTok is replacing its screen time management page with a Time and Well-being space, which also comes with new wellness features. You can now find an affirmation journal, where you can set your intentions for the day using the 120-plus cards the app provides. You can, say, choose the “grace” card that reminds you to be free of the expectation of others. The card is downloadable on your device, and you can share it with others.

    You’ll also find an in-app soothing sound generator that you can use to listen to relaxing audio, such as those featuring the sound of rain, waves and white noise. The sounds stop after a few minutes when the timer ends, so you can play them to induce sleep when you go to bed. TikTok says its users are 14 percent more likely to listen to music to help them relax or go to sleep than non-users. You’ll also find different types of breathing exercises you can do in the new space.

    In addition, TikTok is rolling out new well-being missions, expanding the original set it launched in July. These missions, which are particularly designed for teens, will reward you with badges for completing challenges related to balanced digital habits. The new Sleep Hours Mission will award you with a badge if you stay off TikTok at night, while the daily screen time mission will earn you another if you set a screen time limit and manage to stick to it. There’s also a new weekly screen time mission that will prompt you to check your screen time report every week, as well as a well-being ambassador mission that will earn you badges if you invite others to do the missions.

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  • What’s Trending On TikTok This Week: Kesha, Paramore, Madonna, & More!

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    It’s Monday, November 17, 2025, and last week’s trending TikTok audios gave us all the nostalgic feels! Throughout the week, we continued to see a rise in RAYE’s ‘Where The Hell Is My Husband?’ which we definitely used on our own accounts a few times. We’re heading into this new week hoping for some fresh hits from our faves and nostalgic tracks we haven’t heard in forever!

    Here are the viral trending TikTok audios we’ve been obsessed with this week.

    ‘Ain’t It Fun’ By Paramore

    Hayley Williams and Paramore have proved time and time again that their music is simply timeless. While we’re streaming Hayley’s new album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, we’ve been hitting rewind on our favorite Paramore tracks, including ‘Ain’t It Fun.’ We’ve been seeing it being used up and down our FYP, and we couldn’t be happier!

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT PARAMORE:
    DISCORD | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | WEBSITE

    ‘Just What I Needed’ By The Cars

    Showcasing all our favorite things on TikTok and IG reels is what we live for. Use this popular 70’s song, ‘Just What I Needed,’ on your next video of your favorite thing – it could be your favorite new lip gloss, a new album you’ve been loving, your local Friday night pizza spot, or even just a cute shot of your puppy! We wanna see it all!

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CARS:
    FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TWITTER | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE

    ‘4 Minutes’ By Madonna (Feat. Justin Timberlake & Timbaland)

    2008 was the birth year for all the best pop songs! Every now and again, ‘4 Minutes’ by Madonna resurfaces on TikTok and all the baddies come out to play. Put on your favorite going-out dress and strut with your friends with this trending audio. Bonus points if you’re also a Justin Timberlake and Timbaland fan (I mean, who isn’t?).

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MADONNA:
    FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE

    ‘You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home’ By Miley Cyrus

    Hannah Montana songs trending in 2025? Yes, yes, yes! Whenever we’re feeling nostalgic, we always return to Hannah Montana: The Movie and our favorite tracks from Miley Cyrus‘s iconic career as Hannah. ‘You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home’ hits home (no pun intended) every time. To see this song on our FYP has warmed our hearts, and we’re definitely making our own video soon!

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT MILEY CYRUS:
    INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER

    ‘Blow’ By Kesha

    Again, nostalgia is certainly a theme this week on our FYPs. Kesha’s ‘Blow’ has found its way onto our feed, and let’s just say it’s resurfaced our 2010 girl crush. We’ve always been huge Kesha fans here in the hive, and have been supporting her every step of the way since we were in middle school. ‘Blow’ has always been one of our favorite OG Kesha songs – which 2000s Kesha songs do you still listen to?

    TO LEARN MORE ABOUT KESHA:
    FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | TIKTOK | TWITTER | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE

    That’s a wrap on this week’s trending TikTok audios! Have you participated in any of these trends? If you do, make sure you tag us on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

    Find more trending music news here, honeybee!

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  • Police warn of dangerous TikTok ‘door-kicking’ challenge

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    Police in Pennsylvania are warning residents about a viral TikTok challenge where kids record themselves kicking in the front doors of people’s homes. Similar instances of door-kicking have been reported in other states.In Pennsylvania, Multiple police departments in the Susquehanna Valley have reported these incidents. The Lower Swatara Township Police Department said officers responded to a report of disorderly juveniles just before 3 a.m. on Sunday. Police reviewed video camera footage, which showed one juvenile kicking in a front door while recording on her phone before running off with two other juveniles. Watch: Ring camera footage of the incident Officers walked through the neighborhood and spoke to several residents who said the same incident had happened to them. Anyone who recognizes the individuals in this video is asked to contact Lower Swatara Township police. Police said this incident is likely related to a viral TikTok trend where kids are kicking in the front doors of people’s homes, warning that this challenge is very dangerous. Adams County Crime Stoppers reported a similar “door-kicking” incident where a male kicked the front door of a home in McSherrystown Borough, Pennsylvania, multiple times the night of Halloween, Oct. 31. Authorities said the male fled with two other individuals after causing damage to the door. Police released a photo of the male suspect. KCRA reports that police in the Sacramento, California, area have warned residents of an uptick in cases of kids kicking the front doors of strangers’ homes. In Baltimore, WBAL reported that two teenagers were arrested while carrying out the trend in July.In September, a “ding-dong ditch” prank in Houston, Texas, resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy when the homeowner exited the house and shot him.Anyone who experiences similar activity at their home is advised to call the police immediately.

    Police in Pennsylvania are warning residents about a viral TikTok challenge where kids record themselves kicking in the front doors of people’s homes.

    Similar instances of door-kicking have been reported in other states.

    In Pennsylvania, Multiple police departments in the Susquehanna Valley have reported these incidents.

    The Lower Swatara Township Police Department said officers responded to a report of disorderly juveniles just before 3 a.m. on Sunday.

    Police reviewed video camera footage, which showed one juvenile kicking in a front door while recording on her phone before running off with two other juveniles.

    Watch: Ring camera footage of the incident

    Officers walked through the neighborhood and spoke to several residents who said the same incident had happened to them. Anyone who recognizes the individuals in this video is asked to contact Lower Swatara Township police.

    Police said this incident is likely related to a viral TikTok trend where kids are kicking in the front doors of people’s homes, warning that this challenge is very dangerous.

    Adams County Crime Stoppers reported a similar “door-kicking” incident where a male kicked the front door of a home in McSherrystown Borough, Pennsylvania, multiple times the night of Halloween, Oct. 31.

    Authorities said the male fled with two other individuals after causing damage to the door. Police released a photo of the male suspect.

    KCRA reports that police in the Sacramento, California, area have warned residents of an uptick in cases of kids kicking the front doors of strangers’ homes.

    In Baltimore, WBAL reported that two teenagers were arrested while carrying out the trend in July.

    In September, a “ding-dong ditch” prank in Houston, Texas, resulted in the death of an 11-year-old boy when the homeowner exited the house and shot him.

    Anyone who experiences similar activity at their home is advised to call the police immediately.

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  • Young People Are Tripping on Benadryl—and It’s Always a Bad Time

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    There’s a figure who may greet you during an intense Benadryl trip.

    Faceless, shrouded in black with red eyes and a top hat, it ominously lurks in the corner. The Benadryl Hat Man is a shared and recurring hallucination that people report witnessing when taking dozens of the antihistamine at a time. The figure, depicted in Halloween costumes, POV-Benadryl trip memes, and Walmart graphic tees, has become the symbol for a new drug trend that sees young people deliberately taking large doses of the drug, not to ward off allergies, but to get high.

    John, a 21-year-old college student who used to trip on Benadryl, never saw the Hat Man. Yet, he says, “I could see how that could happen. It’s [Benadryl] digging in the depths of your brain to find whatever’s making you scared. So, if you’re scared of the Hat Man, I’m sure you’re going to see the Hat Man.” This searching for the unpleasant to reveal itself, while sounding horrible, is, in fact, the purpose of recreational Benadryl use. (John does not want his real name used due to fear of friends finding out.)

    When used in high doses, diphenhydramine, an ingredient in Benadryl, functions as a deliriant, a hallucinogenic class of drugs, which appear to be becoming increasingly popular among young people for nonmedical purposes. Unlike psychedelics or other hallucinogens, there’s no real potential for a good trip on a deliriant. According to the people I spoke to, every trip is bad, every trip is brutal, and that’s the point.

    In 2020, the “Benadryl challenge” gained traction on TikTok, daring participants to take doses of at least 12 Benadryl pills for an intense trip. The trend, which resurfaces every few years, drew attention to the psychoactive effects of deliriants. “I saw a video about it on TikTok once, so I knew it could be used recreationally,” one user tells me.

    With little to no harm reduction information readily available about high levels of consumption, problems began to rise. In May 2020, three Texas teens were treated for Benadryl overdoses in just a week, one of whom was just 14 years old and took 14 pills. The 14-year-old recovered and returned home the next day. In August 2020, a 15-year-old died from a seizure after overdosing on the drug in Oklahoma. In September 2020, the FDA issued a warning for parents to hide and lock up their Benadryl supply, warning of the potential risk of heart problems, seizures, and, less commonly, comas and even death. Despite the warning, the trend seems to have persisted. In 2020, there were 4,618 cases reported to US Poison Centers for Benadryl usage; that number climbed to 5,960 in 2023, according to a study published in Pediatrics Open Science in August. Benadryl and deliriants in general have embedded themselves as staples on the fringes of the American youth—a cheap and easy way to get fucked up. WIRED reached out to Benadryl manufacturer Kenvue for comment. A spokesperson for the company stated, “This behavior is extremely concerning and dangerous,” and encouraged consumers to “carefully read and follow the instructions on the label and contact their health care professional should they have questions.”

    John started taking Benadryl recreationally in November 2024, when he was 20, after using it to sleep and then hearing about the potential to trip online. He was depressed at the time and would take 12 pills for a big trip, multiple times a day, with each trip lasting four to six hours. Instead of the Hat Man, John saw eyelash mites, small bugs that form in clusters at the base of your eyelashes, alongside “shadows that would dart across your peripheral.” The trips were also tactile; John would see and feel spiders all over his body, describing feeling a “foreboding tingling.”

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  • ‘That’s $30,000 right there’: Texas man gets prosthetic leg stuck while trying on Ariat cowboy boot at Boot Barn. Then the worker comes over

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    A trip to Boot Barn turned into an unexpected situation when a man’s prosthetic leg got stuck inside a cowboy boot. 

    But instead of panicking, the store employee grabbed an exacto knife and made a call that probably saved everyone a whole lot of trouble—and money.

    Boot Barn Worker Gets the Exacto Knife

    In a viral video with more than 3.2 million views, amputee @amplife360 captured the moment a Boot Barn employee named Mike saved his leg from an unfortunate destiny.

    In the video Mike is seen using a retractable exacto knife to carefully slice open the back of a brown Ariat cowboy boot. The customer’s prosthetic leg had gotten lodged inside during what was supposed to be a normal try-on session.

    “I just didn’t wanna damage the prosthetic because, man, them things are [expensive],” Mike says as he frees the leg.

    “That’s $30,000 right there,” @amplife360 shared.

    Mike added that he’s rather count a loss on a $100 boot than risk damaging such an important medical aid.

    In the caption, @amplife360 joked about the predicament: “Excuse me sir, we’re gonna have to keep ur leg, Excuse me sir, u gonna have to cut this boot OFF!!!”

    He also thanked Mike for the stellar customer service.

    “Big shoutout to Mike at @Boot-Barn for amputating the boot and not my leg,” he said in the caption.

    Prosthetic Legs Can Cost as Much as a Car

    Mike’s $30,000 estimate wasn’t an exaggeration. According to PrimeCare Prosthetics, prosthetic legs range anywhere from $3,000 to more than $120,000, depending on what kind of tech you’re dealing with. Below-the-knee prosthetics run between $3,000 and $24,000, while above-the-knee models cost $5,000 to $70,000.

    OPC Centers breaks it down further: Advanced prosthetic legs for athletes or highly active people—the ones with microprocessor-controlled joints that adjust on the fly—start at $15,000 and can top $50,000. Even basic models for people who aren’t super active cost $5,000 to $7,000.

    And that’s just the upfront cost. Insurance coverage is all over the place. Some plans cover most of it, others barely cover anything. If you don’t have insurance, you’re paying out of pocket. Plus, prosthetics usually need to be replaced every three to five years, and you’ve got to budget for maintenance, repairs, and physical therapy sessions that run $50 to $400 a pop.

    Finding the Right Shoes Can Be Tricky 

    Shopping for boots when you have a prosthetic leg isn’t as simple as walking into a store and trying stuff on. 

    According to isBrave, getting the right fit is crucial because a boot that’s too tight can put pressure on the residual limb or, you know, trap your prosthetic inside.

    The guide says low or flat-heeled boots work best for prosthetic users because they help with balance and don’t mess with your posture. High heels? Not ideal. You want boots with good cushioning around the ankle and sole, solid traction so you don’t slip, and adjustable closures or zippers that make it easier to get the prosthetic in and out.

    Some brands have caught on to this. Ariat, the same company that made the boot in the video, actually makes prosthetic-friendly boots with full back zippers designed specifically for easier entry. 

    “this is a real employee… cares about the customer and his company,” a top comment read.

    “buy the boot and have a zipper put on!” a person suggested.

    “They should really shout the company out and the dude there cause this is insane level customer service dude is a legend,” another wrote.

    Gee Thanks reached out to @amplife360 for comment via TikTok direct message and comment and to Boot Barn via email.

    @wildandwantedd Come cross border shopping with me! @Boot Barn ♬ Revival – Zach Bryan

    This story was produced by our friends at Gee Thanks.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

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    Stacy Fernandez

    Stacy Fernández is a freelance writer, project manager, and communications specialist. She’s worked at the Texas Tribune, the Dallas Morning News, and run social for the Education Trust New York.

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  • ‘Never in a million years would I know that’: San Diego woman buys clams from grocery store for seafood pasta. Then the worker tells her to poke holes in the bag

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    If you have ‘making seafood pasta’ on your to-do list today, maybe add ‘shellfish manslaughter’ under it. A San Diego woman thought she was just grabbing clams for dinner–only to receive the craziest advice from the grocery store worker.

    Suddenly, she’s standing there, bag of ice, live mollusks, and a whole new understanding of marine biology she never asked for. According to her, it might be “common knowledge,” but she’s pretty sure no one handed her the Clams 101 manual.

    They’re Alive!

    Kels (@kelsiosterbuhr) (and many other viewers) learned something new that day. Her minute-long recounting of her story has already gained 23,000 views. She begins the clip with, “So, fun fact. I didn’t know this, maybe this is common knowledge. I go to the grocery store to buy some seafood to make seafood pasta. And as I am obtaining the clams, he hands me a bag full of ice and clams.”

    Kels explains how knowing herself, she wants to prevent a catastrophic mess in her car with the seafood. So, she ties the bag closed. This is when she receives the weirdest line ever: “If you’re going to tie the bag, make sure to poke a hole  in it so the clams don’t suffocate and die.” Kels then stares at the camera in silence for a few seconds before saying, “So…that blew my mind.” This is where the video ends.

    Do Clams Need to Be Bought Alive?

    If you’re on the same boat as Kels, allow us to fully burst your bubble. Clams are, in fact, sold live and definitely do use oxygen. Sara Moulton shares on her cooking website, “Clams are purchased alive and must be kept alive. If you do purchase them several hours in advance, they should be kept cool and moist on ice or in the refrigerator. Don’t wrap them in anything airtight; they need oxygen to survive.” Alongside this advice, she also shares how to tell if they are alive or dead before cooking. 

    For those scared and trying to avoid killing any animals, unfortunately, clams should always be bought alive. Yahoo posted in February 2025: “Dead clams start to decompose quickly, making them susceptible to bacterial growth that can lead to food poisoning and no one wants that.” Therefore, all clams should be purchased alive, should have oxygen prior to cooking, and must be cooked until they’re dead to be safely consumed. 

    @kelsiosterbuhr #funfact #fyp #clams ♬ original sound – kels

    The Viewers Argue

    Interestingly enough, Kels’s viewers have two opposing views. One, that this should be common knowledge, or two, the wrong assumption that clams don’t need oxygen…duh!

    One viewer says, “This can’t be real? Clams live in water they don’t breathe air.” Another says, “Don’t they breathe water?”

    Lastly, a viewer says, “Do people put a hole in a gold fish bag? I would think it would be fine for the short ride home.”

    On the other hand, people are bewildered at the ignorance of others. One viewer says, “They are living things. There is literally no hope for the world.” 

    While another writes, “Did you think you were buying dead sea food? They’re bivalves. You don’t buy dead oyster’s and you don’t buy dead lobsters and don’t buy dead crabs. Clams are the same.”

    Finally, one viewer says, “Me coming to the comments assuming this is common knowledge, but alas…..”

    The Mary Sue reached out to the creator via email.

    Have a tip we should know? [email protected]

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    Gisselle Hernandez

    Gisselle Hernandez-Gomez is a contributing reporter to the Mary Sue. Her work has appeared in the Daily Dot, Business Insider, Fodor’s Travel and more. You can follow her on X at @GisselleHern. You can email her at [email protected].

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  • ‘Home run’: Tennessee Woman orders Too Good to Go seafood bags from Whole Foods. Then she sees what she gets for $9.99

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    When opening a bag from Too Good To Go, you never know what to expect. It’s a roll of the dice to score something you like. This is why the odds proved to be in a Tennessee woman’s favor after she snagged $30 worth of Whole Foods seafood for $9.99 through Too Good To Go.

    What is Too Good To Go?

    According to the website, the social impact company focuses on reducing food waste. Through the app, customers can connect with local businesses that have unsold meals about to be tossed or nearing their expiration date. Because of this, the food items packed in a Surprise Bag are discounted. Since 2016, the company has prevented more than 1.1M tons of CO2e from entering the atmosphere. This is a total of 400 million meals that would have been wasted. All in all, it’s a win-win for customers, businesses, and the planet.

    What is in the bag?

    Popular TikToker Ellie (@jungbtseok) typically unboxes her Too Good To Go goodies from Whole Foods for over 13,000 followers. While leaning over her kitchen counter, she drags a large folded paper bag in front of her.

    “I got a Too Good To Go seafood bag from Whole Foods. Smells fishy. I love fish,” she says. “Let’s see what we got. I think it was $9.99.”

    Next, she tears open the bag and pulls out a small container of Wild Smoked Salmon Salad. “Smoked salmon is my favorite,” she gasps. Immediately, the content creator is off to a good start.

    Then, Ellie looks away, rummaging through the bag, “Oh, my god. If this is a thing of smoked salmon.” When she takes out the two items, her eyes widen and her jaw drops, her intuition proving her correct. “I got two!” she says, revealing the two packaged smoked salmon: one $11.99 Whole Foods brand Cold-Smoked Salmon Gravlax Style with Open Fire Oak and the other $7.99 Acme Alaskan Wild Smoked Salmon. Normally, this would be a $30.97 purchase, which would make it a $20 discount. Needless to say, she is happy with her items. 

    “I’m a salmon fiend. So I am very excited to by this,” the content creator says. “$10 for two things of smoked salmon and a smoked salmon salad? I don’t think you can get much better than that.”

    What did viewers say?

    The clip has racked up over 203,000 views. Many were happy on Ellie’s behalf for snagging one of her favorite foods.

    “Fantastic bag for somebody who loves salmon! So happy that you got it and will enjoy it,” one viewer commented.

    “That matched what you like!” another applauded.

    “Home run,” a third stated.

    Meanwhile, some didn’t have the same luck with their Too Good To Go bag from Whole Foods.

    “I got 4 containers of sturgeon pate. I was so disappointed,” one commenter remarked.

    “Got a meat bag yesterday, it was disappointing. 1 marinated chicken thigh and 1 beef skirt steak,” another shared.

    How to use the Too Good To Go app

    All you need is a cellphone and internet access. Too Good To Go lists instructions on how to get started:

    • Download the app
    • Browse surprise bags from local businesses
    • Reserve and pay for the bag
    • Head to the business during the allotted time
    • Once inside, swipe the receipt
    • Collect the bag 
    • To cancel an order, do so a mimium of 2 hours of placing it
    @jungbtseok PLS READ CAPTION! ? HOW TO DO THIS: Download the Too good to go app to see what options are available in your area. The concept of Too good to go is to reduce food waste so most of the items will be at their sell by date and potentially after. If this bothers you please do not use this app. If you click the store that you’re wanting to get a bag from and they are not available it should tell you the time to check back for when they upload the next bags. If you look at your map and there’s nothing there, make sure to filter for sold out to show the bags that are not currently available. As they mention in the descriptions on the app, variety is not guaranteed. What they put in the bag is what they have left over that night so there is a chance that you will get multiples of stuff. If you are a picky eater, this is not for you. Whole Foods specifically values their bags at the original price. Don’t get one and expect to get fresh food and a wide variety. You can only pick up in the time that it is listed for pick up if you come before or after you cannot get the bag. Make sure to pay attention to ratings if there’s anything under a 4.5 or even a 4 star maybe don’t go to that one especially if you’re prone to complaining. Moral of the story don’t be upset if you don’t get exactly what you want and it’s stuff you don’t like. If you’re that picky just go to a restaurant. ALL IN THE NAME OF REDUCING FOOD WASTE ? #toogoodtogo #toogoodtogobag #toogoodtogohaul #tgtg #wholefoods ♬ Club Penguin Pizza Parlor – Cozy Penguin

    The Mary Sue reached out to Ellie via TikTok comment and direct message and Whole Foods via press email.

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    Melody Heald

    Melody Heald is a culture writer. Her work can be found in Glitter Magazine, BUST Magazine, The Daily Dot, and more. You can email her at: [email protected]

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  • ‘All this over some Coors light’: New York Instacart shopper has to call the cops on a customer. Was he valid?

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    An Instacart shopper has gone viral after calling the cops on what he described as a ‘Karen.’ In a two-part TikTok series, which has amassed over 1 million cumulative views, Max Kanner (@maxkanner15) shared how his dealings with an Instacart shopper quickly went off the rails.

    In essence, Kanner claims that the woman “flipped out” when he asked to scan her ID on his phone, saying that she was uncomfortable with this. He says that while he repeatedly explained that it was Instacart’s policy to do this, the woman refused to relent. He notes that while she was obviously overage, Instacart wouldn’t let her keep her order if she didn’t have her ID scanned. So, he started grabbing the shopping bags to return this order.

    As he started grabbing bags, he claims she started grabbing too, and began recording him. At this point, he called Instacart and explained that the customer refused to have ID scanned—and Instacart, he said, agreed with him, saying that they would need to refund the order.

    At this point, the woman threatened to call the police—but Kanner got there first. He said he decided to record her too, and then shared footage of the encounter, where the woman reiterates that she didn’t want her ID scanned.

    “I don’t know why you’re being difficult with me,” the TikToker said.

    “You are at my house,” the woman shot back.

    As he tried to take another bag, the woman could be seen intervening, with Kanner asking her not to touch him. He reiterated that he was doing what Instacart told him to do, and as the woman accused him of “making things up,” he retorted, “When I was grabbing the bag you came at me.”

    @maxkanner15 PART 1. HAD TO CALL POLICE ON CUSTOMER BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO LET ME SCAN THEIR ID ON AN ORDER CONTAINING ALCOHOL. I kept calm the whole time and they flagged her account for what I had to go thru. #instacartshopper #instacartstorytime #copscame #instacartdelivery #karensgonewild ♬ original sound – Max Kanner

    What happened next?

    In the second part, Kanner shared more footage of himself and the woman in conversation with the police. According to him, the woman lied several times to the cops. Her first purported lie was that he tried to take the order back, with Kanner noting that she was “missing the part” when Instacart told him to do so.

    The second was when she told the police that she was telling him what to say to Instacart, when, in actuality, Kanner says that she was “screaming” at him. The woman also allegedly claimed that the man gave her “misinformation,” and that she used her phone to call the police, when she was actually using her phone to record him.

    Kanner also claimed that the woman insulted him by implying that he was a “he/she” and that he came from a poor neighborhood. At one point, the TikToker called the woman a ‘Karen,’ which, in turn, irked both the woman and the police. Despite the woman now saying she’d scan the ID, Kanner said he was uncomfortable and that Instacart was already processing the refund. So, he left.

    He says that he later showed his parents the video. They noted that she comes from a wealthy area that has its own police force, and questioned whether the cops sided with the woman because of this.

    Ultimately, he says that Instacart was “really helpful.” The company flagged the woman’s address so that he would never have to deliver to her again.

    Kanner didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via TikTok comment. Instacart didn’t immediately respond to The Mary Sue’s request for comment via email.

    In the comments, users took Kanner’s side. “She doesn’t want a random person to have an her ID, but she gave a random person her address mind you,” one wrote.

    “It’s not just Instacart policy, it’s the LAW to ID for alcohol purchases,” another added.

    “It’s honestly that age range,” a third remarked. “They feel [like] everyone is trying to steal their info. Not sure how we can steal info from scanning their ID. I don’t think like a criminal, though.”

    While a fourth speculated, “I bet it’s not her first time doing this, she must’ve gotten away with it other times if so.”

    A fifth theorized that “100% her ID is expired or suspended. She’d have to do the same thing if she went in person and thought she could work around it.”

    Does Instacart always require an ID for alcohol purchases?

    According to an Instacart website targeted toward drivers, the shopping service only delivers alcohol to those aged 21 or older.

    To release the order, the customer must also present an “Instacart-accepted form of ID” to the driver, along with their date of birth, to verify their identity. The site also recommends telling customers about the policy prior to their delivery because “the customer experience is better if the customer knows what to expect.”

    Other rules from Instacart’s alcohol policy include never leaving the alcohol unattended and not allowing an underage or intoxicated person to collect the order.

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    Charlotte is an internet culture writer with bylines in Insider, VICE, Glamour, The Independent, and more. She holds a Master’s degree in Magazine Journalism from City St George’s, University of London.

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  • ‘I’m gonna have to have security come over and arrest you’: New York woman starts carrying knife. Then she forgets she has it—until she goes through TSA

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    Nothing says “welcome to New York” like accidentally trying to board a plane armed. A woman on TikTok is going viral after confessing she was unaware of the pocketknife in her bag. Why did she have a pocketknife? Her dad gifted it to her for protection when she moved to New York alone. Except, TSA found it while she was checking in for a flight.

    Standing there terrified, she says the agent calmly told her, “Ma’am, I’m gonna have to have security come over and arrest you.” Apparently, bringing along her emotional-support knife on a trip doesn’t exactly fly.

    How Did the Crime Go Down?

    Madison’s (@madisonfadison) blunder has caught the eye of 230,000 viewers. She recounts her horrible mishap in a short one-minute clip.

    She begins the video by saying, “Good morning everyone, I got pulled over by security at the airport and guess why. Because I had a knife–in my purse. He goes, ‘Young lady, do you know why I pulled this bag?”

    Madison then says she was confused and thought it was just a water bottle that couldn’t be passed through. But no, it was far worse than just some liquid.

    Madison continues, “I go, ‘Oh my god. I have a knife!’ My dad gave me a pocketknife because I moved to Syracuse alone and I forgot it in my bag. I go, ‘holy sh-t what happens?’”

    The creator says the agent was “was nice about it.”

    “He said, ‘I’m gonna have to have security come and arrest you.’” Madison then panics and tells TSA that they can keep her knife and that it was just a gift that she used to open boxes. The agent then asks her if she thinks she is able to wield the knife. She says yes, tentatively.

    He asks, “Would you be ready to stab someone three times?” Madison again hesitantly says maybe. She mentions, “luckily I’m not usually a target because I’m big.” She then ends the clip by saying, “It’s 6:30 in the morning FYI. I still can’t believe I did that.”

    What are the TSA Guidelines?

    The official website, tsa.gov, has an extensive list of what can or can’t be passed through the screening process. Surprisingly, it has 494 items on the list. Sharp objects, however, make up only 27 items on the list. Interestingly enough, pocket knives are listed as well. The site says, “In general, you are prohibited from traveling with sharp objects in your carry-on baggage; please pack these items in your checked baggage.” 

    TSA is notorious for its ever-changing rules and regulations. Like whether or not you need to take a laptop out of a bag. It has also been in the news for prohibiting a… snack? The Mary Sue covered a story where a woman was escorted outside of the airport for simply wanting to take a banana pudding through. 

    What do the Viewers Think?

    Many comments pour in about TSA experiences as a whole. One viewer says, “I got pulled to the side because I had a bath bomb. I was flying internationally. so imagine – explaining to someone who may not speak English that its a bath BOMB.”

    Another viewer shares, “I did this it was 4:30 am – I was not worried about it – they acted like I was smuggling drugs. I told them just throw it away – I need coffee!” While another says, “I got pulled over once because I forgot I had chapstick in my pocket.”

    Another goes even further and shares, “Not gonna lie, I’ve had three knives confiscated by TSA. I just always forget they’re in there and my dad keeps buying them for me.”

    @madisonfadison I can’t belive I did this. It was 6:30am mind u #tsa #airport ♬ original sound – madisonfadison

    Moral of the story: Leave the emotional support knife at home the next time you travel.

    The Mary Sue reached out to Madison and TSA via email for comment.

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    Gisselle Hernandez

    Gisselle Hernandez-Gomez is a contributing reporter to the Mary Sue. Her work has appeared in the Daily Dot, Business Insider, Fodor’s Travel and more. You can follow her on X at @GisselleHern. You can email her at [email protected].

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  • ‘They made a vow to protect and care’: Orlando woman speaks out, files police report after medical worker gets inappropriate with her in the back of ambulance

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    An Orlando woman had a horrifying experience taking an ambulance ride to the emergency room. That’s because a medical worker inappropriately touched her, leading her to eventually file a police report to document the encounter.  

    In a video with 270,000 views, @incasethemayanswe explained how the EMT took advantage of her while she was inebriated in transit. She hesitated to make a report because she was heavily intoxicated at the time. Since then, however, she’s filed one with encouragement from commenters and other women.

    What did this EMT do?

    @incasethemayanswe needed an ambulance after attending the Electric Daisy Carnival ( EDC) in Orlando, Florida. After emergency services arrived, things started to go sour. The TikToker noticed that the EMTs who arrived on-scene touched her in a way that felt intentionally inappropriate.

    “ There was a hand that was under my bum, and if I was wearing thinner clothes, a finger would’ve went right in my genitals,” she said. “ I could allow some type of gray area because I was so inebriated and kind of moving everywhere [but] I felt that it was more [than an] essential [touch].” 

    Later, while alone with a male EMT and unconscious, she became somewhat aware of the fact that her body was “aroused.” Surprised, she started to gain a bit more clarity, waking up to realize that the EMT was touching her breasts. She fully woke up, moving her hand to stop him from touching her. That’s when he snapped and told her not to touch him.

    “ I apologized to him because I thought maybe I was behaving poorly during our ride there, and that’s probably why he was like huffing and puff[ing],” she said. But, she quickly realized that she wasn’t frustrating him because she was unruly. She was frustrating him because she tried to stop him.

    After the encounter

    When @incasethemayanswe arrived at the hospital, she tried to tell nurses and other medical workers what happened. They didn’t address the situation, however. They treated and discharged her without asking if she’d like to make a report. 

    After that night, the creator posted to share her experience and warn others not to put themselves in vulnerable positions while going out. “ So to all the girls that are going out there, have fun, be safe,” she said. 

    On Nov. 9, @incasethemayanswe posted to her platform again to give an update and answer a few questions. 

    She clarified that she felt trepidation at the thought of making a report because she thought no one would believe her. “I was filled with so much shame and guilt that I didn’t even know what I wanted to do at that time,” she said. She felt more prepared to record the incident for the sake of other women, worried that a police report wouldn’t do anything. 

    @incasethemayanswe

    FILLING OUT POLICE REPORT TOMORROW!

    ♬ original sound – Birthofvenus

    Filing a police report 

    In her update, @incasethemayanswe wondered whether it would be worth trying to make a report, an unfortunately common worry for many women who’ve experienced sexual violence.   

    But many commenters encouraged her. “Absolutely make the report. It doesn’t matter how much or how little clothes you were wearing, he would’ve done it even if you were covered from head to toe,” one wrote. “You were out of it and he didn’t think he would get caught-he’s 100% doing it to others. Proud of you for reporting it even if it’s the first report made.”

    “I believe you. I’m sick to my stomach for you and filled with rage,” said another commenter. 

    Commenters urged @incasethemayanswe to speak with the police. After some helpful advice and encouragement, she says she spoke with her local department.

    “We’ll see how it goes. I did an oral statement, [a] written statement, and I had to swear that everything was true and correct… I’ll keep you guys updated. Until then, we’re gonna maybe share some more positive things going on,” she said on Nov. 10.

    The Mary Sue tried to reach out to @incasethemayanswe for more information, but she was unavailable for comment.

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    Rachel Thomas

    Rachel Joy Thomas is a music journalist, freelance writer, and hopeful author who resides in Los Angeles, CA. You can email her at [email protected].

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