A shopper live-tweeted their experience after getting locked inside a WHSmith shop that had closed for the night.
The young woman's tweets went viral when she told her followers that she'd become trapped inside the shop and the shutters had been dropped and locked for the evening.
After initially asking for help, she then began updating observers on the situation, as friends offered her tips on how to survive the isolation and boredom that come with being sealed deep inside a stationery store overnight.
Highlights included pictures of confused bystanders looking through the shutters at her like some sort of bizarre zoo animal, and a security guard telling her to grab herself a drink and not worry about paying for it.
WHSmith has apologised and made a point of reminding staff to thoroughly check their stores before they lock them up at night.
Basically, the woman went into the Templars Square shopping centre WHSmith shop in Oxford at about 5.30pm on Tuesday afternoon.
Suddenly, whilst she was perusing the shelves, the lights went out.
There had been no announcement, she claims, the shutters had been lowered, and everyone had gone.
She took to Twitter to say: "I AM LOCKED INSIDE A WHSMITH WHAT THE F*** IS HAPPENING."
She immediately called the shopping centre security team, and was told they were 'calling the staff that locked up' - although security added that those staff were 'on their way home already'.
As she remained trapped in the store, a friend suggested that she 'read a book whilst you wait'.
Another said that she should: "Eat sweets, play a board game, paint a picture, read a book!"
A third offered: "Ring a Twirl through the till, use chocolate for a quick energy fix and wrap yourself in the 30ft long receipt to keep warm."
Eventually, a WHSmith customer service person tweeted her to ask if she was still stuck. However, outside the shop she was becoming something of a celebrity.
She tweeted: "The security guy has proceeded to tell passers-by.... they are now congregating to peer through the shutters and look at me."
She went on: "I literally was just in the shop looking at stuff and the lights turned off. When I got to the front the shutters were down. No announcement, nothing."
"They've called someone from the other Oxford store to come and open the shutter because the other store assistant wasn't available.
"The shopping centre security has stayed by the store with me."
Luckily, this story has a happy ending. The woman ended her story less than an hour after it began. She said: "I was eventually freed by a lady who worked at a different branch across town. I'M FREEEE."
A WHSmith spokesperson said: "We sincerely apologise to this customer.
"We are carrying out a thorough investigation into the circumstances which led to this incident and have reiterated to all our store teams our best practices when locking up."
Featured Image Credit: PA