‘We got a Karen in here!’ Winn-Dixie shopper accused of stealing crab, despite receipt
A confrontation flared up at a Winn-Dixie store over the weekend in Hudson, Florida, and it wasn’t over face masks or social distancing.
Jay White, a Florida man with the Instagram handle @unclepookie__813, told his followers in a video that after purchasing snow crabs, an employee followed him out to the parking lot, accusing of him of not paying.
“I saw you walk right out the door,” says the worker to White, who gained Internet fame in February when he took footage of raw meat thawing outside a Chinese restaurant in Port Richey where he worked. Li’s Chinese Kitchen closed down shortly after White’s video made its way to a health inspector.
In the latest clip, White produces his Winn-Dixie receipt, which clearly shows he paid $28.58 for two bags of fresh crab legs.
“What does this receipt say?” White screams at the employee.
He then follows her back into the store. At the register, the employee tells him he was caught on camera walking past without paying. Another staffer corroborates the story.
“We got a Karen in here!” says White, who yells, demanding to see the camera footage. “My s--t paid for! Check the camera!!”
A customer in line at the register says she saw White buy two bags of the seafood, then re-enter the store and leave without paying for the other two bags. “Check his vehicle,” she says.
And then directly to him, while pulling down her mask: “I think you’re a thief!”
He then calls the other woman a “Karen.”
“Check the camera,” he repeats, then yells expletives.
A spokesman for Winn-Dixie, based in Jacksonville, told the Miami Herald that the matter was handled internally.
“We take incidents such as this extremely seriously, as the health and safety of our customers is our top priority,” read the statement. “Please rest assured that our team has taken the appropriate internal actions, as this behavior clearly contradicts our existing policies and expectations of our associates.”
Last month, Winn-Dixie said it was considering a name change due to ongoing racial tensions but most recently said the chain has “no immediate plans” to do that.
This story was originally published July 8, 2020 at 1:50 PM.
