13 retail employees reveal the strangest things caught on security cameras

As we’re walking through a shop minding our own business, it’s easy to forget that there are surveillance cameras following the moves of every customer to ensure safety and prevent theft. But not every day is an average one for these security cams. These are some of the wildest things employees have seen through the lens.

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Whenever we do something clumsy, we’re always hoping no one is looking. Unfortunately in the case of retail stores, there are cameras everywhere. “I worked in a shop that had entrance and exit doors spaced with a floor to ceiling window that was well cleaned,” says a Reddit user in a forum about wild security camera footage. “So many people on their phones or just not paying attention would smack into it at a walking pace. The store manager recorded quite a few of the good ones for quick access on bad days.”

The whole point of security cameras in retail environments is to help aid in loss prevention and to catch thieves in the act. One would-be robber in Siberia was his own worst enemy while trying to steal from a service station when he actually pepper sprayed himself in the face, according to Today. The service station clerk saw the opportunity to begin hitting him with a mop before the robber fled.

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Well, this gives the term “dumpster diving” a new meaning. Employees at a shop in Canada were shocked by their security camera footage when a bear sidled up to one of their dumpsters (which was outfitted with a bear-proof lock) and tried to open it. Then the bear, who employees have since nicknamed “Cheeseburger,” reportedly pushed the dumpster down the street, according to a news report. Now that’s truly something you don’t see every day.

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“The place where I saw the weirdest stuff on camera was when I worked at a service station,” says one former employee. “A random totally normal guy walked in and asked where the hairspray was.” She pointed him to the aisle where the store stocked small cans of hairspray, then went back to watch the camera. “He casually walked over, sprayed his face for a good minute, put the spray down, and walked out like it was the most normal thing in the world.”

One woman admits she saw a lot of bizarre things on the security cameras during her time as a manager of a US department store, particularly when a person was trying to get creative with how to shoplift. One situation, in particular, stands out: “A young, very thin girl wearing large maternity clothes was basically stuffing the entire store in her ‘bump,’” she recalls.

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We certainly wouldn’t want to work the night shift at The Guitar, Amp and Keyboard store in Brighton, England – it’s allegedly haunted. Their security cameras caught guitars seemingly moving on their own in one instance. In another, a price tag was seen getting thrown to the ground when the music shop was closed (perhaps the spirit didn’t care for the cost?). And in truly creepy footage, a ghostly figure is spotted walking towards a customer standing in the shop.

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In a comic book store in Spalding, Lincolnshire, England named Strange Apparitions, workers swear they caught a ghost of sorts on their surveillance camera. Store manager Alex Hunt described the scene to newspaper Spalding Today: “I looked at the security feed at home and I saw this tennis ball-sized orb floating around. At first, I thought it was nothing, but then the alarm kept going off and I sat there for hours watching it. There is no explanation.”

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You might not expect a high-end jewellery store like Tiffany to have a lot of strange security footage, but one location in Bthe US had a particularly unusual visit. “A woman walked in wearing very little clothing in winter,” recalls a former employee of the Maryland store. “She was wearing Minnie Mouse ears. She asked for a bag, which we don’t usually give away without a purchase but in this situation, something seemed off so we gave her one. She took off whatever clothing was left and walked out. The operations guy in the back was watching the cameras and couldn’t believe what had unfolded.”

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No one wants to see their business robbed, but when vape shop owner Cam Rochon saw the security footage of two ridiculous thieves stealing from his shop while the place was closed, he had to share the clip with the world…because they were not very bright. For starters, one of the robbers can’t seem to figure out how to unplug a laptop from the wall and fights with it for a lengthy period of time. They also awkwardly use a sledgehammer in an attempt to grab more loot. The entire security camera footage looks like a bad comedy.