An older man who looks clean and well-off comes into the store about five minutes to close and buys some eggs and bacon.

Customer: *To the cashier, after paying* “One of those eggs looks slightly cracked.”

Cashier: “So it is! Would you like to walk back and switch out the cartons?”

Customer: “Yes, I will.”

It turns out that he purposely bought a carton of eggs which had one egg slightly cracked. He goes back into the store knowing we will be closing up shop soon and that he is going to be let out without us looking him over too much after getting those eggs.

What he doesn’t know is that there is a security guard who overhears his inquiry to go back into the store and starts watching him. When he stuffs two extra packs of bacon and an extra carton of eggs into his bag, the security guard calmly walks to the exit to intercept him.

He makes it one step outside, and while being questioned by security and escorted back inside, he puts the items that he actually paid for down on the ground. The security guard hands me the stolen food, but the thief LEAVES HIS PAID-FOR FOOD OUTSIDE.

Soon after, a couple appears banging on the door a few minutes after closing.

Couple: “WE ONLY NEED SOME EGGS, PLEASE!”

I couldn’t help them as there was no way to cash them out, but they did notice the still-cold eggs and bacon outside the door. And, well, beggars can’t be choosers, am I right? 

Instant Karma for the thief, and something I have never seen since that day, and will never ever see again! Too perfect!

I used to work in a consumer electronics pop-up store. We had rather valuable products on display, and being in quite a visible spot in a busy shopping centre, we were quite an enticing site for shoplifters.

We normally only had two staff members on the floor, so when one of us was out to lunch, the other would be alone at the store, so we would constantly have to be on the lookout for shady customers.

During one particular shift, I was by myself on the floor and was serving a family of five, so my visibility of the other side of the store was obscured.

Whilst I was serving this family, I noticed a rather scruffy-looking man on crutches looking at one of our products on the other side of the store. He was intently looking around every few seconds and looked very nervous so, naturally, he immediately raised a red flag with me, but I couldn’t just leave my customers before completing their transaction.

I kept a keen eye on this shady man throughout the transaction, and just as I was about to complete it, I noticed him starting to leave. I couldn’t see anything missing from where I was, so I breathed a sigh of relief and finished the transaction. Then, I made my way over to the products the man had been standing near.

Much to my shock and horror, not only was one of the products missing, but the security cable attached to it was flaming!! This man had clearly used a lighter to sever the cable and then just walked off with the product. I was able to put out the flames but not before it damaged the products around it

I called security afterward, but I didn’t have any real hope of them finding the shoplifter as, more often than not, they would get away. Much to my surprise, though, within twenty minutes, they had located him. It turned out that he didn’t get far because he was missing a leg!

Related:
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 17
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 16
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 15
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 14
The More You Read The Worse It Gets, Part 13

CONTENT WARNING: Blood, Scary

I’m opening the store in the morning, so I’m the only clerk. There is an assistant floor manager in accounting, a few stockers, and a security guy there, but no one is within twenty feet of me.

A guy comes in right as we open, in a white tee, jeans, and a dark hoodie. He keeps his head down, slowly walks away, and returns with some cheap food. I scan his ramen and then look up to give him his total to see he is already holding money out.

It is covered in blood. So is his shirt and pants. I am completely alone at the front, and the only way I could get anyone over would be to scream, generally not a good idea when a violent person is around.

I stare at him for a second. He drops the money, picks up his couple of items, and slowly walks away. As soon as he is far enough away that I have room to run if necessary, I make an emergency page for the manager and security. I’m sure I sound unhinged as I just keep calling for help.

It is several minutes before anyone comes over; I run across the whole front calling for help until security comes. I tell them what happened, and they shrug.

Security: “Too late to do anything about it now.”

The worst part is what the manager says in response to me running from a guy covered in blood that was still bright and sticky:

Assistant Floor Manager: “You shouldn’t have left the money unsecured!”

I don’t think they even called the police because when I called in to check they didn’t know anything about the incident.

I work in internal IT for a retail company. A friend used to work in the same department, but she and her husband relocated. At the time, we didn’t have remote options for tech, so she transferred to work in one of the stores.

In the middle of her first week, I got a direct message from her.

Friend: “[My Name]!”

Me: “How’s [New Store]?”

Friend: “Security violations everywhere!”

Me: “Oh?”

Friend: “The store manager has her username and password written on a sticky note on her monitor. I asked her why, and she said it’s so if someone needs her computer when she’s not here, they can get on. Apparently, she’s told all the managers to do that, too.”

I sent a face-palm emoji.

Friend: “She’s also got the safe code written on another sticky on her monitor. And I’m pretty sure I saw the door codes on another one.”

I sent a string of facepalm emojis.

Friend: “And one of the shared laptops had its BitLocker key taped to the lid.”

Me: “What? Who would do that?! [Onsite Support] should know better!”

Friend: “Pretty sure it was one of the customer service people who thought she was helping because this device keeps asking for it. I already checked, and [Onsite Support] is going to be reimaging the device, but they had to go help with [Other Store].”

Me: “I know I always tell people they cannot write it down. But I also know people don’t listen. I just really hope it wasn’t one of our people who told her that was okay.”

Friend: “I don’t think it was because of that. Based on some conversations I’ve had with her, she’s really nice, but she doesn’t understand technological security at all. She also has her password written down and hands it out to any employee who asks.”

Me: “Oof.”

Friend: “I will whip this place into shape!”

She ended up going to another job a few months later, but by the time she left, the store understood: A) you do not, under any circumstances, give out your password, B) for something that might need to be documented somewhere (like a safe combination or door code), you don’t put it on a sticky on your monitor, and C) you never attach a BitLocker key to the computer it’s used for, especially when said computer sits on a counter where anyone could potentially snatch it without being immediately noticed.

At one company I worked for, there was a secure site I had to visit from time to time. It was a pain to visit because, before I even arrived, I first had to get written permission from an authorised person on-site, give a date and time when I’d arrive, and potentially be subject to body searches. The person I’d meet would have to come round and escort me. And there were various other restrictions. However, these were the rules for all outsiders with no exceptions, and the company was strict about requiring all staff to ensure that any potential visitors were aware of the rules.

On one visit, I arrived at the gatehouse with all my documentation, etc., in readiness to be escorted through. Ahead of me were two other visitors who were arguing with a security person.

Visitors: “We just want to do [certain physical work]!”

Security: “You need to have an invitation. You can’t come in without authorisation.”

Visitors: “But we’ll be done in twenty minutes, tops!”

Security: *Getting exasperated* “No, you have to get authorisation first. You cannot just turn up!”

That was just a summary of the back-and-forth discussion I overheard.

After a while, some phone calls were made, and someone was willing to give the visitors an authorisation there and then. The person escorting them said pointedly:

Escort: “We can’t do an emergency authorisation every time; you have to get authorisation before you come.”

Some weeks later, I heard that the two visitors had turned up a second time. Once again, they didn’t arrange an appointment and insisted on arguing with gatehouse security. Again, someone gave them emergency authorisation.

However, after they left, the company decided to simply cancel the whole contract. The two visitors had been doing some basic groundwork in advance of the installation of something expensive. The whole contract would have been a major piece of work for the contractor.

It seems senior management, on the basis of the haphazard behaviour of the two visitors doing initial work costing perhaps a few hundred quid, felt it was too much of a risk. The contractor had effectively thrown away a contract worth many millions because they wouldn’t supervise a couple of people doing a couple of quick and simple jobs.