“Nastiest” Bloomingdale’s Worker Won’t Validate Parking, So Shopper Buys Item Then Returns It

A miffed shopper who was denied parking validation at Bloomingdale's offered up a workaround for folks who don't want to pay for parking without having to make a purchase at a store.

Daus Mendoza (@daus_mendoza) shared his strategy in a viral TikTok that's accrued over 2.8 million views on the popular social media application as he walked through a Bloomingdale's store.

"Y'all so I wanted to validate my ticket and I asked the girl at the cashier if I can validate here in Bloomingdale's. And with the nastiest f*cking look in her eyes. And the nastiest f*cking attitude she said, only with a Bloomingdale's receipt."

He seemed very taken aback by the employee's behavior.

"When I tell you the nastiest f*cking attitude. So I'm...petty. What I'm going to do is buy something, return it, get that f*cking receipt, and then go back to that same weird a*s b*tch and be like here. Validate it."

Next, Daus records himself buying something at the store. "I can purchase here?" he asks the employee, who responds with, "yeah!"

Next he asks, "I have a question, how long are your guys' returns? No, no, I'm gonna buy it, but does it's just I have a cousin that I think somebody already bought it for her. So I'm just like wondering..."

The worker replies: "They don't like it whatever, just bring it back. Make sure it's not used."

"Okay," Daus replies. Next, he cuts to the POS system, which reveals he spent $35.00 on the item.

At this point in the video, he films himself walking through the store after the purchase, where he states, "got it," with his receipt in hand. Next, he walks up to another counter, telling the worker there that he just made a purchase of a product. The worker informs him that the total amount, $38.32 would be going back to his Visa card, which Daus confirms.

"Have a good day," the person tells him as he takes the refund receipt. Following this, he records himself on a mission to find the "nasty" woman who ended up grinding his gears when he asked to get his parking validated.

"Now where the f*ck is that b*tch at," he whispers into the camera. "F*cking tried it with her attitude." Next, the video cuts to him looking at the counter, where he initially fears that she's no longer there.

However, his eyes change as he confirms that she's indeed still working in the same area of the store.

Holding the receipt in his hands, he approaches the counter asking: "So do you guys validate up here, or?" Next he hands his receipt along with the parking ticket to an employee behind the counter.

His video then cuts to him looking in the direction of the worker. "Thank you," he says walking away.

In the final section of the video, he holds the stamped parking ticket up to the camera. "I got my sh*t validated," as the video comes to a close.

Jokes about parking validations can be found in a litany of TV shows and movies.

Even Woody Harrelson's character in the Coen Brothers epic, No Country for Old Men features this same quip. If you've never frequented a business that offers this service you might be wondering just what it means, much like this same curious Redditor who posted a query about the process in the site's r/NoStupidQuestions sub.

One person who replied to their question, broke down the process as such. "There are machines that give you a ticket when you enter a lot. At the end you pay to exit. Some businesses will cover the parking for you if you are visiting them so rather than 'validating' your parking aka paying for your time at the machine they do it there and you don’t need to pay to exit."

You might be wondering why an establishment would offer such a service. That's because if a paid parking lot is located nearby local businesses or connected to them via the same structure, this could offer an incentive for shoppers to pick these retail locations for their purchases than other stores.

Upon buying something at a retailer, offering validated parking could be a good way to draw in potential customers. However, the "nasty" attitude from the Bloomingdale's employee could be attributed to folks attempting to utilize the parking lot next to the store despite not making any purchases at the store in question.

Several commenters who replied to Daus' video enjoyed his parking validation hack, but some offered up an alternate method. "I would have made her validate the ticket then asked her to process a return instantly."

Which was a sentiment echoed by someone else who penned: "You should have made her ring it up...made her validate your ticket.... then made her return it."

One person said that they've never encountered any resistance from a store employee to validate their parking, however. "I've never had anyone make it that deep of an issue to validate my ticket."

While someone else remarked that they believe this is a phenomena directly attributed to Bloomingdale's workers. "Bloomingdale’s always have rude ppl," they penned.