Viral TikTok Sends 82-Year-Old Walmart Worker Into Unexpected Retirement!
By MLC on January 6, 2023 at 3:00 PM EST
One Cumberland, Maryland Walmart employee got the gift of a lifetime to begin the new year!
82-year-old Butch Marion’s life changed forever all thanks to a kind customer and TikTok.
A man by the name of Rory McCarty is an avid TikTok user who goes by the handle @bug_boys. He has 275.3k followers and over 5.6M likes.
One Man Changed Another Man's Life For The Better
He grew to fame for his work on bug infestations and extermination.
McCarty met Marion during a typical quick trip to Walmart for a pack of batteries about three weeks ago.
He noticed how senior Marion was and struck up a conversation with him. After hearing his backstory, McCarty got the idea to start a GoFundMe for Marion to help him retire.
The Maryland employee worked 30 hours a week at the store, and explained to McCarty that he served 10 years in the Navy and had been working since he was 11-years-old.
Marion initially retired to help care for his ex-wife’s husband before his passing. After his death, Marion returned to working at Walmart to help pay his bills. He worked eight-hour days on register #4.
As fate would have it, prior to his Walmart trip, McCarty saw a woman named Liz Rizzo on TikTok raise money for a different elderly Walmart employee.
This employee is named Carman Kelly and she uses a cane during work. She is also 82-years-old.
Rizzo was able to raise over $100k after putting Kelly on TikTok and going viral.
McCarty felt the need to pay it forward to Marion and did the same thing.
He took a TikTok video of Marion on December 16, 2022. The video showed the 82-year-old checking him out.
See The TikTok Video That Started It All!
He asked Marion if he’s ever seen the TikTok videos where people help raise thousands of dollars via GoFundMe for elderly employees to retire.
“Now imagine if that, if someone raised that kind of money or you?” McCarty asked Marion.
He replied with a simple “Phew!”
McCarty captioned the video, “82yr old Butch still putting in work. Has anybody seen the videos where a guy raised 180g’s to help an 82 yr old Walmart employee retire. We ought to do that for Butch. Who would donate?”
I’m sure you can guess what happened next… the video went VIRAL!
McCarty's TikTok Goes Viral and Magic Happens!
Within two days McCarty’s GoFundMe raised over $100k.
On December 18, 2022, McCarty met up with Marion once again and asked what he would do with any sort of extra money.
“I’d go to Florida, see my kids. Do some work around the house. I would enjoy my last 10 or so years I got,” he explained to McCarty.
Marion was in the Navy for 10 years and has been working since he was 11-years-old. Days before Thanksgiving his girlfriend of 13-years left him to get back with her high school sweetheart.
As heartbreaking as this is, Fox 5 Washington DC got ahold of the TikToks and ran a story on Marion and McCarty, which helped the GoFundMe explode.
Marion didn’t want to up and quick his job at Walmart when he got the money, so he decided to put in his two-weeks-notice.
Finally, on January 5, 2023, Butch scanned his last item as a Walmart employee!
He was gifted a personalized check for $108,682.85.
The veteran employee was absolutely beside himself and got emotional upon receiving the monetary gift.
"I feel like a new man," Marion told FOX 5 Wednesday.
"Just never dreamed this would happen," McCarty said, "I’m just so excited for him."
McCarty and Marion are still friends and enjoy time ATVing and getting meals together.
