A cashier exposed an old man for falsely claiming he’d been short-changed and it divided TikTok

TikTok user @angelcorado2 exposed an elderly man for falsely claiming he was short-changed via TikTok - but viewers are divided.

In the clip, which reads “short change con artist gets caught” via text overlay, an elderly man is seen approaching the cash register questioning the too-little change he had gotten back.

“Did you put it in your pocket?” asks the man filming, who then proceeds to reach into the elderly individual’s pocket and pulls out a $10 bill.

The man, who has been caught, at first tries to deny knowing the money was there. “I didn’t put it there,” he insists. But after some back and forth — during which the cashier reminds the man of the “last time he did it,” asking “why do you do this?”— the elderly man confesses, “I’m broke.”

“Why are you broke,” the cashier responds with a laugh. “I live on social security,” the man responds. “I have to do this. To eat.”

The cashier continues to mock him after his admission, and instructs him to “stop doing this” as he walks away.

The cashier reaching into the elderly man’s pocket.Photo Credit: angelcorado2/TikTok.

Viewers of the video are understandably torn, acknowledging that while what the man did was wrong, it’s unkind to mock someone at their lowest and broadcast it for the entire world to see.

“I get what he did was wrong but maybe not posting it on TikTok would be a good idea,” one viewer replied. “Bro you should have given him twice the amount and told him not to do it again instead of getting it on camera he is an old man,” said another.

“No need to record it & put it in TikTok bro,” a third concurred.

“Yeah he was in the wrong. However, no need to embarrass and exploit a man who is struggling. No need to ask him personal questions,” added a fourth. “If he denied it, fine post it. But he’s telling u his situation and he has to. Ban him from the shop fine but posting this is too far,” yet another pointed out.

Some users insist they would have just let him keep the money.

“Poor guy u can tell he feels bad and ashamed,” one said, while another wrote,“this is actually sad. America doesn’t take care of their old people. One day we will all be old.”

“I wouldn’t care if he had 10 I would’ve just gave it to him.” “He’s too old to work he probably doesn’t get a lot of government assistance he can be homeless poor guy has no other options kinda feel bad.”

Photo Credit: angelcorado2/TikTok.“I’m broke...I have to do this. To eat."

“Did you happen to catch his name? I’d be happy to help him instead of making fun of him for the world to see while he’s trying to figure out ways to to feed himself and asking, ‘why you broke?’ What he did isn’t right by any means but why not offer him some help instead of making fun of him,” a sympathetic viewer shared.

However others don’t feel any sympathy for the man, some even questioning if the sea of empathetic comments is in response to his skin color.

“So for all y’all sayin give him the money keep the same energy when others run in the store rob it and run away,” another wrote.

“This is not right, whether he’s broke or not. A lot of us don’t have money to put food on the table but that doesn’t me we go trying to scam,” a user wrote, to which another replied, “It’s not right to steal. Period. No excuses.”

Click here to watch the TikTok in full, and you can decide for yourself.