"I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873?”

Updated August 2, 2026

Example 10:07

What is the "I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873?” trend?

A two-line dialogue trend. The first text overlay reads "I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $[amount]?" and the second reveals the absurd context: "you left me alone in [a store or brand]." The joke is that the brand or product is so good, unsupervised access leads to an unplanned haul. Brands use this to play up the pull of their shop, a new drop, or a sale that no one can resist.

Where did the "I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873?” trend come from?

"I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873?”

Updated August 2, 2026

Fashion Beauty Tech

Example 10:07

View on TikTok

What is the "I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873?” trend?

Where did the "I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873?” trend come from?

The trend originates from a TikTok video posted in December 2022 by @dalecsander (Daniel Alexander), in which the creator voices both sides of a conversation: one character asks "I left you alone for five minutes and you spent $873?" and the other replies "You left me alone in a Costco." The audio, titled "Costco Escapades," accumulated 1.8 million views and 232,000 likes before surging in early March 2023 after @quinnspolaroid used it in a video that reached more than 4 million views. The two-line structure proved highly adaptable: brands including Capri Sun, Cinnabon, Sour Patch Kids, and Waitrose adopted the format by substituting the store name and dollar amount, and the sound spread to approximately 125,000 TikTok videos.

What should brands post with the "I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873?” trend?

Shopping or browsing footage on a product website or app
Haul or unboxing b-roll showing multiple items
Cart or checkout screen recording
Close-up product b-roll showing a large or varied selection

Examples

"I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $340?" "you left me alone on the new skincare drop page"
"I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $220?" "you left me alone in the candle shop during the fall restock"
"I left you alone for 5 minutes and you spent $873?" "you left me alone in the sauce aisle at the specialty grocer"