A cruel prank on a hardworking Michigan dad stocking shelves at a grocery store gloriously backfired — when the father-of-four turned the tables on the dim-witted Instagram trolls.
The dad, wearing a Red Baron pizza shirt, was packing a freezer when the pranksters approached him and asked for the time, according to a clip of the interaction that has since gone viral.
When the Red Baron rep, who has only been publicly identified as Walt Z, kindly took out his phone to check, one of the social media fools pretended to skim money off him.
The buffoon whipped out his phone and held it near Walt’s device, triggering a fake Apple Pay chime and mock money transfer animation.
“I just took $10,” the Instagram idiot says in the video.
“I just took your money,” he continues, holding up the phone to the worker, laughing and trying to provoke a reaction.
A fed-up Walt then teaches the trolls a lesson.
“My life is hard enough as it is, okay? I don’t need this crap,” he responds.
“Bro, bro, it’s just a joke! It’s just a prank,” the Instagrammer in the video hits back.
But the frustrated employee didn’t let them get off easy.
“I got kids at home that went to bed without me right now! I was supposed to be off an hour ago! I gotta wake up at 5 in the morning and do 10 more stores!” Walt shouts.
The prankster attempts to calm the employee down, while keeping the camera rolling.
“I’m sorry, bro, chill. We’re just filming a video, it was just a joke—” he says, before Walt cuts him off and steps forward.
“No, you don’t! You’re probably making money off of this! I can’t even pay my goddamn mortgage! And I got four kids at home! So not funny!” Walt says.
“Alright, my bad, bro,” the prankster says, before Walt orders the pair to get away from him, and the video cuts off.
The pair uploaded the video onto their Instagram channel before taking it down and deactivating their account following a huge online backlash.
“Real people have real emotions and they shouldn’t have to become content just so someone can get views,” wrote one X user, describing the stunt as “the end of prank culture on the internet.”
“In America, hard work is punished while laziness and goofiness are rewarded,” added another.
A verified GoFundMe page set up to raise money for Walt in the wake of the foolish prank had raised more than $250,000 as of Thursday afternoon.
“This fundraiser is about standing up for a working person who is busting their butt and should not have to fear losing stability because someone wanted content and clicks,” the page’s creator Luke Oakenshield wrote.
In an update, he said that Walt had been found and made aware of the fundraiser.
“Walt Z out of Michigan sends a heartfelt thank you, and is absolutely blown away by how much people have cared over this,” Oakenshield wrote.
“They are requesting privacy, and GoFundMe is taking the lead in transferring all of this to him. You’re all Rockstars, and it shows,” he added.
Red Baron did not respond to requests for comment.
