Walt Z was past the end of his shift, stocking a freezer, when two pranksters walked up filming and pretended to skim money off his phone. The internet answered them with a quarter of a million dollars.
The clip is Walt, a father of four who stocks Red Baron pizzas at stores around Michigan, snapping on the pair mid shift. His kids had already gone to bed without him, he was an hour late getting home, and he had ten more stores waiting after a 5 AM start.
“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 Z, in the clip
A man named Luke Oakenshield started a GoFundMe for Walt, and it took off. The verified page had passed $250,000 by Thursday afternoon, and the goal has since been raised to $400,000. The pranksters deleted the original video and deactivated their account as the backlash hit.
Oakenshield says he tracked Walt down and video chatted with him and his partner. In an update on the page, he wrote that Walt “sends a heartfelt thank you, and is absolutely blown away by how much people have cared,” that the family is asking for privacy, and that GoFundMe is taking the lead on transferring the money to him.
Schwan’s Company, the parent company behind Red Baron, says it is aware of the video, has spoken with Walt directly, and that he is doing well and remains a valued member of the team. The company says the run in itself happened back in August. The clip only blew up this week, and the fundraiser blew up with it.
The pair filmed a tired man hoping he would give them a moment. He did, and then everybody watching decided the moment was worth paying for.