People Can't Believe How Much This Costco TikToker Says She Gets Paid

We've known for a while that Costco is supposedly one of the best places to work. Costco workers get benefits like a 401k plan as well as health, dental, and life insurance. According to USA Today, this year Costco increased its starting hourly wage to $16. CEO Craig Jelinek has even claimed the average employee makes around $24 an hour. (Both are way above the national minimum wage of $7.25.)

In addition to benefits and good pay, Costco workers also enjoy perks like shopping after hours and extra samples. This isn't to say that the job doesn't have its downsides – cough, cough, rude customers, cough. But despite the occasional pizza-fueled shouting match, at least some employees seem pretty content anyway.

And how do we know Costco workers are happy? Um, by their TikToks, of course. That's where everyone's posting about their jobs nowadays, for better or for worse. In the case of one young Costco worker, though, life at this supersized warehouse store seems to be pretty good. Though to be fair, everything's better with a smiley face. 

Costco worker and Tiktoker referred to as Natalie seems to have the best job in the world: drawing smiley faces on people's receipts. She recently posted a TikTok video of herself and a coworker jamming out at Costco. Text overlaying the video says she makes $29.50 ... to draw smiley faces. This did not put a smile on everyone's face.

With the video racking up nearly 18 million views, of course, people had a lot to say. Many comments were positive, but not everyone could believe what they had just read. "I'm an EMT and my starting pay is $15/hr. smh," a seemingly incredulous commenter said. Someone else seemed to rethink the value of their education: "I went to school to get paid $17/hr? BRB applying to Costco." Others wondered if Natalie lived in a place with a high cost of living or simply wasn't giving an accurate figure.

Some commenters framed the post as a reflection on employers that pay lower wages. TikTok user dred392 said, "Don't be mad at (employees), be mad at your employer and demand better." User icegrillzzz said, "Y'all mad someone making more, be mad at your employer who underpays you and makes you work hard for a raise."