“Who the Heck Are Bob and Lisa?!” — TJ Maxx Shopper Finds Notes With Same Names in All Purses in Store

A woman kept finding bizarre notes in a TJ Maxx store inside of handbags she was thinking about purchasing. Each and every bag included a note that had two names on it: Bob and Lisa.

The shopper, Mads Steffano ( @madssteffano ) posted about the strange experience in a viral TikTok that's garnered over over 2 million views on the popular social media application. The "unhinged and happy" content creator recorded herself showing off one of the notes, but there were several former and current retail workers who knew exactly what the esoteric notes meant.

"Someone explain to me right now why I keep finding a piece of paper that says Bob and Lisa in purses at TJ Maxx?? It's in all of them and I need answers now," Mads writes in a text overlay of her video.

She records herself fishing through a purse and then extricating a sheet of yellow paper from it. She holds the sheet up to the camera, then looks at it again, closely, seemingly confused as to what the hidden message could mean.

Mads then proceeds to stuff the note back inside of the purse, followed by the tissue paper placed inside of the items to ensure that they aren't becoming overly saggy. Still unspeaking, she closes the clasp before the video ultimately ends.

The TikToker further expanded upon her confusion in a caption that reads: "Please help?? Am I going crazy? Like why is this a thing?? And they all say Bob and Lisa."

If you're the kind of person who watches too many thrillers or you just have an overactive imagination, then your mind might run amok with different ideas as to what this could possibly mean.

Is there some type of stalker couple that's going around and predicting Mads's shopping patterns? And they're writing their names down as portents of doom for when they are finally going to strike?

Or maybe there's a pair of folks who are resellers trying to lay claim to items in the store they want to come back and purchase at another time. And if you just so happen to buy something and they come and protest to you that they wanted it, they may be hoping you'll say something along the lines of: "Well, I don't see your name on it."

This, of course, was their plan all along — they then let out a joint laugh and highlight that their names, indeed, were on the very product you purchased.

Several TikTokers who responded to Mads's video revealed what the Bob and Lisa notes really mean.

Apparently its an acronym to help employees remember specific protocols that'll ensure they're always checking bags and the bottom of baskets as a means of ensuring customers aren't stealing products.

Commenters who replied to her video had this to say: "They stand for Bottom of Basket and Look Inside Always. Probably put there by store manager to test the cashiers," one penned.

Another wrote: "I think it means “bottom of buggy” and “look inside always” to remind the cashiers to look under the carts and check inside bags for any merchandise tucked inside?"

Another commenter who indicated that they work for TJ Maxx penned that these notes are used as a means of ensuring folks aren't stealing from the store. "Tjmaxx worker — it’s for loss prevention. Cashiers must check 'bottom of basket' and 'look inside always' to make sure nobody is hiding anything/stealing!"

Apparently, finding the notes and turning them in to management is also a way to lock in some bonuses while you're on shift. Apparently, if employees find these notes and hand them over to their supervisors, they get entered into a raffle.

This loss prevention measure helps to ensure that they're always scoping out the bottoms of bags and to "Look Inside Always." The more of these papers that they find and turn in, the greater chance they have at winning something in a store raffle.

"When I worked at Target they did this too and you could win prizes for finding them (like dinner from the food court)," one person remarked.

Someone else wrote: "If the cashiers find them and turn them while ringing you out they get entered into a drawing cause that means they did their job and checked inside!"

Numerous retailers seem to engage in this practice. Shrinkequation wrote about Bob and Lisa as a "silly, free, and incredibly effective loss prevention initiative" that businesses can implement." If you’ve heard the terms before, you know that Bob and Lisa are not actual people, they’re in fact acronyms that remind associates how to conduct proper bag checks."

This TJ Maxx Quizlet put up online also references the Bob and Lisa practice in one of its flash cards to help folks remember how to help minimize stolen goods.