Few things in life are free—and some things that look free might actually end up costing you a lot of money.
The internet is filled with stories of people thinking they found something for free, only to face disastrous consequences. For example, a woman says she found $20 on the ground at Walmart, only to be confronted by police for taking it home with her. Even those attempting to legitimately use self-checkout machines have reported being charged over simple mistakes.
Now, a woman on TikTok says that she almost committed a crime while at Lowe’s. The reason? She was trying to get some paint.
What Happened To This Woman At Lowe’s?
In a video with over 241,000 views, TikTok user Michelle Virgilio (@michi_smallz) recounts an embarrassing experience she recently had at Lowe’s.
“The lady at f—– Lowe’s thought I was stealing because I didn’t know you had to pay for paint samples,” she starts.
According to Virgilio, she had asked the cashier about how many paint samples she was allowed to take. The cashier responded, “You can get as many as you want.”
“I was like, ‘Really? Wow! That’s awesome,’” Virgilio says. “I got, like, seven or eight. And she didn’t say s—…In my defense, in what other area of life do we have to pay for when we get a sample?”
When she went to pay for a different item, she was informed that she did, in fact, need to pay for the samples.
“Thank god I was buying a Lysol wipe as well; otherwise I would have just walked the f—- out,” she shares. “I’m at self-checkout. I was paying for my Lysol, and the lady comes up to me. She’s like, ‘You have to pay for that.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that. Well, in that case, I don’t need all these.’”
Do Paint Samples Cost Money?
In the comments section, many users were confused about what the TikToker meant when she mentioned paint samples. Consequently, it’s probably best to distinguish what exactly she means when she claims she got several paint samples—and why the staff had such a shocked reaction.
If you go to a paint store, you might get a little card that has a variety of paint options on it. This is not a paint sample. This is a paint swatch. These cards allow shoppers to bring a selection of the paint color home and compare it to the thing they wish to paint. For example, they can hold the swatch up to a wall and see how the color might look if the room were painted in its hue. Some stores even offer peel-and-stick paint swatches to enhance this effect.
However, most of the time, paint swatches are free.
In contrast, paint samples are exactly what they sound like. It’s a little bit of paint that you can bring out of the store. From there, you can paint a section of whatever you’re interested in painting and get a sense of what the paint looks like, how it behaves, and how it will appear once it dries. The amount of paint they give you is typically pretty small—usually between 2 and 8 oz.
Paint samples usually cost money. That said, they’re fairly cheap. On the Benjamin Moore website, an 8 oz. sample of paint can be purchased for just $5.99.
Commenters Get Her Struggle
In the comments section, many users shared in the TikToker’s confusion.
“They should call them ‘swatches’ not samples cuz I would think a ‘sample’ means sample,” a user wrote.
“Why call them samples?! Call them mini paint buckets,” another echoed.
“I’m concerned now cause I walked out with a few of the small containers from Home Depot,” stated a third.
@michi_smallz Am I stupid
BroBible reached out to Virgilio via email and Instagram direct message, and Lowe’s via email.