Weird But True

I work at Target and Walmart — for free — because I love to clean bathrooms

If cleanliness is next to godliness, she’s a down and dirty deity. 

Scrubbing caked up guck, excrement and filth off of public bathroom floors isn’t a popular pastime for most big box store patrons. But one anti-slop shopper is kicking off the new year by dedicating her free time and tidying expertise to beautifying the toilets, shelves and aisle of high-traffic hot spots. 

“I worked at a random Target for free,” announced an online altruist known as @Ugh_Madison, to an audience of over 4.3 million Instagram Reels watchers. 

“I got there at 1:00 p.m. ready to work,” continued the brunette, who isn’t an official employee of the retail giant, “I made sure to go above and beyond for my customers.”

TikToker @Ugh_Madison spends hours cleaning, decluttering and organizing the shelves, aisles and bathrooms of chain stores and fast food restaurants for free. Instagram / @ugh_madisonn

In the click-worthy clip, Madison — who previously struck social media gold after spending 12 hours chowing down Golden Corral’s $12 free refill buffet — is seen sporting a crimson red top while restocking Target inventory, discarding trash left, organizing display tables and assisting customers in locating goods. Neither the store’s staffers nor security team members questioned the Good Samaritan Gen Z as she voluntarily worked a full 8-hour shift sans compensation. 

Madison even lavished a few lucky bargain hunters with $20 gift cards or escorted them to the register and paid their shopping bills in full. 

And in loo of picking up the tab for others, the spic-and-span saint left the restrooms spotless.

Virtual trolls blasted Madison for voluntarily cleaning the filthy bathrooms sans protective gear. Instagram / @ugh_madisonn
Madison shared footage of her 8-hour day as an unofficial Target employee to an online audience of over 4.3 million Instagram users. Instagram / @ugh_madisonn
Madison joked, “I think I saved Target’s company today,” in the trending clip. Instagram / @ugh_madisonn

“The bathroom was really dirty,” said the modern-day Cinderella as she wiped up soggy toilet paper and garbage with her bare hands in the stalls. “But don’t worry,” she chimed, “I cleaned it.”

And this isn’t the do-gooder’s first time doing backbreaking good for super-cluttered superstores. 

In December, Madison spent 9 hours cleaning and curating a Walmart ahead of the Christmastime rush. 

She, too, leant her feng shui shrewdness to the public bathrooms of Popeyes and Taco Bell restaurants, decking out each fast-food lavatory with holiday-inspired cheer — including plastic Christmas trees and signs that read: “Have a nice poop.”

The sweetness of her seemingly selfless gesture notwithstanding, cyber critics managed to find fault in Madison’s market makeovers. 

Madison has previously spruced up the public restrooms at popular greasy spoons. Instagram / @ugh_madisonn

“This is too cringe,” crowed a creeped-out commentator. 

“Girl I know u didn’t js pick up that tissue from out that bathroom floor [with your] bare hands,” said another. 

“Why are people doing this for massive corporations and not like. Food pantries? Free clinics? Literally anywhere besides massive companies,” barked an equally unsettled naysayer. 

“I WISH for this amount of money, free time and boredom,” another spat. 

Fans of the shop facelifts, however, applauded the humanist’s handiwork, calling it “fascinating,” and “rad.”

Madison’s altruism sparked mixed reviews from folks online who struggled to decided whether her acts of kindness were admirable or attention-seeking. Instagram / @ugh_madisonn

Madison isn’t the only twenty-something who gets a kick out of cleaning at no cost. 

Auri Katariina, 29, the self-crowned “Queen of cleaning” quit a full-time job to sponge grim-ridden homes around the world for free. 

“I’m not afraid of dirt, the dirt is afraid of me,” bragged the blonde bombshell, who’s amassed a TikTok following of over 10 million clean-freaks. 

“People that I help are often really struggling, but they want something to change so I come and help them take the first step,” Katariina told South West News Service in November 2022. 

“Many people send me messages after six months or a year, showing me their homes that are still clean,” she said. “It’s great.”