In many parts of the world, it’s safe to assume that you’re being watched more often than not. While that might sound a little unnerving, it also means that moments which would otherwise be lost to time get a chance to live on.
For example, there’s a thread on Reddit where security guards describe the weirdest things they’ve seen on surveillance footage. Who knew that a year or two working at grocery stores, museums, hotels, and other “normal” places could provide memories that last a lifetime?
#21
So there might be weirder stuff, but the most memorable that I recall is from my time working at an Art Museum.
There's two of us watching the screens, and a couple of others who go on regular patrol inside the museum, but this time it was a slow day and almost no guests so most of the other guys were hanging around inside the guard room.
Gotta admit that we weren't exactly staring at the camera feed with the highest focus and attention that we, uh, usually do but while I was sitting there I noticed this old, 50-ish woman who was walking around and watching some Dutch paintings from a specific era that I can't recall. There wasn't anything particular about her, in fact she was basically the epitome of our usual guests, but I noticed here because I realized we actually had guests inside and thought to myself "Huh."
After she'd passed around a corner, though, I noticed something was off. She suddenly ran out of the camera-view but came back, she stopped right there and just looked around frantically for a moment. That's basically when all of us guards started paying attention to her.
What she did next was basically drop down her pants, panties and squatted right next to these Dutch paintings and started [urinate] as if that was somehow a sane option at all.
My boss (who was assigned on the floor, i.e doing the patrols) let out a huge groan and yelled "Oh not again!" and then ran out like a lightning bolt. The two of us remaining noticed that when she was done she had just put up her pants and strolled away as if nothing had happened. Literally a second or so later another guest came walking by and was admiring these Dutchy paintings, suddenly realizing she was standing in a puddle. I have no idea if she knew immediately what it was but she kinda hurried away from the camera-view as well.
*Then* we saw our boss basically walking along with our offender, carrying a heck of a lot of paper and some washing stuff and basically pointed at the puddle and gave her the washing stuff and she seemed to without protest to begin washing up and then left!
Apparently she'd admitted immediately though without any explanation that she did it and was more than happy enough to wash up after herself, she didn't seem particularly bothered or flustered according to my boss. What he meant with "not again!" was never explained, but life at an Art Museum is filled with excitement such as these.
There's two of us watching the screens, and a couple of others who go on regular patrol inside the museum, but this time it was a slow day and almost no guests so most of the other guys were hanging around inside the guard room.
Gotta admit that we weren't exactly staring at the camera feed with the highest focus and attention that we, uh, usually do but while I was sitting there I noticed this old, 50-ish woman who was walking around and watching some Dutch paintings from a specific era that I can't recall. There wasn't anything particular about her, in fact she was basically the epitome of our usual guests, but I noticed here because I realized we actually had guests inside and thought to myself "Huh."
After she'd passed around a corner, though, I noticed something was off. She suddenly ran out of the camera-view but came back, she stopped right there and just looked around frantically for a moment. That's basically when all of us guards started paying attention to her.
What she did next was basically drop down her pants, panties and squatted right next to these Dutch paintings and started [urinate] as if that was somehow a sane option at all.
My boss (who was assigned on the floor, i.e doing the patrols) let out a huge groan and yelled "Oh not again!" and then ran out like a lightning bolt. The two of us remaining noticed that when she was done she had just put up her pants and strolled away as if nothing had happened. Literally a second or so later another guest came walking by and was admiring these Dutchy paintings, suddenly realizing she was standing in a puddle. I have no idea if she knew immediately what it was but she kinda hurried away from the camera-view as well.
*Then* we saw our boss basically walking along with our offender, carrying a heck of a lot of paper and some washing stuff and basically pointed at the puddle and gave her the washing stuff and she seemed to without protest to begin washing up and then left!
Apparently she'd admitted immediately though without any explanation that she did it and was more than happy enough to wash up after herself, she didn't seem particularly bothered or flustered according to my boss. What he meant with "not again!" was never explained, but life at an Art Museum is filled with excitement such as these.
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13points
#22
Been working as a correctional officer for the last 6years at a mental institution. My top 3
1. Guy chopped off his [testicles] and proceeded to flush them down The toilet cause he didn't need then any more.
2. Guy ran face first into a wall because his face was itchy
3. Dude was bored so he cut his stomach open with a pen and proceeded to pull out his intestines and play with them.
1. Guy chopped off his [testicles] and proceeded to flush them down The toilet cause he didn't need then any more.
2. Guy ran face first into a wall because his face was itchy
3. Dude was bored so he cut his stomach open with a pen and proceeded to pull out his intestines and play with them.
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13points
#23
Working retail and we're told not to pursue shop lifters about a million times. One day, my boss had enough from a habitual thief and grabbed the lady's bag on her way out to prevent theft. Bad move. The lady punched my boss in the face several times.
So we watched that footage almost everyday on the security cameras to boost morale.
No one liked that [jerk].
So we watched that footage almost everyday on the security cameras to boost morale.
No one liked that [jerk].
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13points
#24
I'm not a security guard, nor do I have access to surveillance cameras or footage, but as I was walking to my car after a rough day at work, I saw a huge meteor shoot through the inky night sky. Thing was bright as hell, and a noticeable chunk broke off and burned up seperately. Seeing that after a [bad] day, I got super excited after seeing it, and jumped around like a maniac. there HAS to be some outside camera outside the building, and footage in some computer of me jumping like a moron with my goofy tie.
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12points
#25
Buddy of mine was working mall security. They got a call to the nail salon. Black lady ran up a big bill and said her husband, Lionel Richie, would pay for it. Yes, that one. Buddy has no training whatsoever and decides to cuff the 300 plus pound black lady. Gets one on and she starts screaming and slinging him around. He won't let go so she bolts, dragging him along with her. The constable on duty was laughing so hard he was no help. They showed me the tape over and over and now use it as how not to do things for new hires.
11points
#26
I used to work for a company that did security for a university, but the university also had their own police (University of Toronto Campus Community Police). While working at a residence at night, one of the security cameras picked up someone going into a small stairwell to do some [illegal substances]. As per our instructions, we called the U of T police to deal with the situation.
When the U of T police arrived, we were following them with the security camera and watched them start going down the stairs. Suddenly, the camera turned and looked away, looking onto the street, even though I had not used the controls to do that. I turned to my supervisor, who explained that the U of T police had remote control of the cameras and they had did that.
When the cops came back up, the person they arrested looked like he was beaten severely (he did not look like that previously). When I asked around later, the report said he "fell down the stairs".
When the U of T police arrived, we were following them with the security camera and watched them start going down the stairs. Suddenly, the camera turned and looked away, looking onto the street, even though I had not used the controls to do that. I turned to my supervisor, who explained that the U of T police had remote control of the cameras and they had did that.
When the cops came back up, the person they arrested looked like he was beaten severely (he did not look like that previously). When I asked around later, the report said he "fell down the stairs".
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10points
#27
Not a security guard but I used to work retail and was buddies with loss prevention. Got a phone call warning me to not shake hands with a customer or touch what he touched because he was itching his [privates] for a solid 10 minutes while walking around the store.
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10points
#28
Not me, but my co-worker who had the weekend shift. I got to see the recording of it afterwards.
I guess some drunk Canadians got into our part of the building somehow from the hotel as we had just closed it down. The kids are probably 19-20 years old. They're laughing, stumbling everywhere, and then all of a sudden they start throwing water coolers at each other and from the second floor onto the first floor.
They all go down to the first floor and at this point the escalator was still on as it wasn't too much past closing time, all of a sudden on the screen one guy decides to ride the escalator while hanging from the side of it. Once he reaches the top, drunk Canadian has nowhere to go and he falls off from the second floor.
Drunk Canadian is laying on the floor and his friends surround him. He's moving a little bit. My co-worker goes out to see what the hell is going on. Drunk Canadians reassure they've got this. My co-worker goes to get an incident report form. Drunk Canadians pick up their drunk Canadian friend and lift him out of our part of the building and back into the hotel. We have no idea what happened to them after that but the video is forever saved on our work computer.
I guess some drunk Canadians got into our part of the building somehow from the hotel as we had just closed it down. The kids are probably 19-20 years old. They're laughing, stumbling everywhere, and then all of a sudden they start throwing water coolers at each other and from the second floor onto the first floor.
They all go down to the first floor and at this point the escalator was still on as it wasn't too much past closing time, all of a sudden on the screen one guy decides to ride the escalator while hanging from the side of it. Once he reaches the top, drunk Canadian has nowhere to go and he falls off from the second floor.
Drunk Canadian is laying on the floor and his friends surround him. He's moving a little bit. My co-worker goes out to see what the hell is going on. Drunk Canadians reassure they've got this. My co-worker goes to get an incident report form. Drunk Canadians pick up their drunk Canadian friend and lift him out of our part of the building and back into the hotel. We have no idea what happened to them after that but the video is forever saved on our work computer.
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10points
#29
Late to this party and on my way to bed, but what the hell. I worked in IT for a small software dev. Because it was a small business, we IT guys did all the technical stuff, including manage the security system.
One day, one of the programmers walk in and says, "Hey, did you guys get footage of the fight in the parking lot?" This was the first we'd heard of it, so we immediately started queuing up the camera system.
Sure enough, two guys had pulled into our (rather secluded) parking lot in the middle of normal business hours. They got out of their separate cars, and just started wailing on each other. They didn't look like they were falling-down drunk. Just really pissed at each other. At one point, one guy tried this half-assed flying kick. Then they decide they had reached a good stopping point (or so it seemed), got in their cars, and pulled out of the parking lot.
It was nuts. We saved the video. Legal very quickly chimed in and said not to share it with anyone.
The next day, we get a visit from the local cops. They asked us if we had any footage of the event, so we burn them a CD with the footage on it. While I'm waiting for the file to finish, I ask the cop if they had any idea who they were. He said they were two Russian gangsters. I tell him that it's good that at least no one got hurt, and he responds that no, after they left our parking lot, they parked somewhere else and one stabbed the other. He was in the hospital. Wild.
One day, one of the programmers walk in and says, "Hey, did you guys get footage of the fight in the parking lot?" This was the first we'd heard of it, so we immediately started queuing up the camera system.
Sure enough, two guys had pulled into our (rather secluded) parking lot in the middle of normal business hours. They got out of their separate cars, and just started wailing on each other. They didn't look like they were falling-down drunk. Just really pissed at each other. At one point, one guy tried this half-assed flying kick. Then they decide they had reached a good stopping point (or so it seemed), got in their cars, and pulled out of the parking lot.
It was nuts. We saved the video. Legal very quickly chimed in and said not to share it with anyone.
The next day, we get a visit from the local cops. They asked us if we had any footage of the event, so we burn them a CD with the footage on it. While I'm waiting for the file to finish, I ask the cop if they had any idea who they were. He said they were two Russian gangsters. I tell him that it's good that at least no one got hurt, and he responds that no, after they left our parking lot, they parked somewhere else and one stabbed the other. He was in the hospital. Wild.
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10points
#30
I'm no security guard, but I used to work as a night manager in a Backpacker Hostel in Sydney. I once witnessed a grown man aggressively plant his face into a pizza at 3am after a night out, as I approached him to check the situation he ran up the stairs. I go back to the reception only to see him walk into the restroom on the cctv, with the pizza. Not sure what happened after that.
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10points
#31
I saw 3 casino floor waitresses go to a storeroom behind a bar the pulling their tops down and comparing [chest] sizes and feeling each other for bounciness. Apparently one of them just got implants and they were comparing them to the real thing. This went on for over 5 minutes then they pulled their tops back up and went to work like it was nothing.
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9points
#32
I saw a 15 foot cactus fall on a motorcycle in the middle of the night and smashed it pretty good...unfortunately it was my motorcycle.
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9points
#33
So not me. But my coworker, he showed me the video.
There was a group of steryotipical white, teenage, girls wandering around the store. He was keeping an eye on them because young folks in large groups.
He sees one girl hand something to the other. Thought it was odd, but moved on.
Not shortly after...one of the girls gets on her hands and knees like a dog.
She had been handed a leash and collar and proceeded to be led around the whole store like a dog.
There was a group of steryotipical white, teenage, girls wandering around the store. He was keeping an eye on them because young folks in large groups.
He sees one girl hand something to the other. Thought it was odd, but moved on.
Not shortly after...one of the girls gets on her hands and knees like a dog.
She had been handed a leash and collar and proceeded to be led around the whole store like a dog.
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9points
#34
I had left the company by this time, so I learned of this second hand.
I had worked for a security firm that managed a beef-packing property. There were two guards who off and on got along with each other, one of them notorious for having sliiiiight anger management issues.
I was blessed having to work with the second one for two months straight before I had my fill (bosses son, you know how that goes). That November while I'm helping manage an event a former coworker of that old firm with a friend still on that site told me something interesting.
Not too long after I left, Guard B had his tires slashed. I mean all 4. Multiple jabs each. Guard A (For Anger Issues!) was caught on our CCTV slashing said tires.
Always wanted to be the fly on the wall for that conversation between the big boss and mine. Boy howdy.
I had worked for a security firm that managed a beef-packing property. There were two guards who off and on got along with each other, one of them notorious for having sliiiiight anger management issues.
I was blessed having to work with the second one for two months straight before I had my fill (bosses son, you know how that goes). That November while I'm helping manage an event a former coworker of that old firm with a friend still on that site told me something interesting.
Not too long after I left, Guard B had his tires slashed. I mean all 4. Multiple jabs each. Guard A (For Anger Issues!) was caught on our CCTV slashing said tires.
Always wanted to be the fly on the wall for that conversation between the big boss and mine. Boy howdy.
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9points
#35
Retail security here and I've seen some [things].
The single weirdest thing was probably when a [bare] guy on PCP was being chased by police. He broke through the thick window glass on the driver's side of a Mercedes to evade capture. The officer said he didn't even flinch when he got tasered.
I do a lot of theft research at my store and while I was reviewing video for those gel bra stuffer things I noticed that every single woman would check their bust size when they walked past.
The single weirdest thing was probably when a [bare] guy on PCP was being chased by police. He broke through the thick window glass on the driver's side of a Mercedes to evade capture. The officer said he didn't even flinch when he got tasered.
I do a lot of theft research at my store and while I was reviewing video for those gel bra stuffer things I noticed that every single woman would check their bust size when they walked past.
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8points
#36
Not a security guard, but I frequently review video for situations that happen at my work. I'm one of the most adept people in my building when it comes to using our camera system.
We had a situation that happened outside of our building that needed reviewing, but nobody was sure of the exact time. Queue to me watching a 12 hour block of footage (with as much as 16x fast forward) to get some details. I had my boss's boss in the office with me while he was working on something else as I stared at the computer monitor trying not to fall asleep. After half an hour or so, I finally spot the person I'm looking for and get excited so I lean forward right into the screen, scouring for previously unnoticed details. Right at that moment, a spider ran onto the camera lens.
Keep in mind, the recording I was looking at was days before when I was watching it and the camera was outside on the opposite side of the building from me. That didn't stop me from screaming so loud I could probably have been heard outside, causing the boss's boss to jump on his chair as if there was a cartoon mouse in the office. When I tried to explain it and rewind the video, I couldn't find the spider again and he just thought I was insane.
He always looks at me funny when he comes by to visit our building. He interacts with thousands of people in my same position all across the country, yet he remembers me for screeching about a spider that was never anywhere near me.
:(.
We had a situation that happened outside of our building that needed reviewing, but nobody was sure of the exact time. Queue to me watching a 12 hour block of footage (with as much as 16x fast forward) to get some details. I had my boss's boss in the office with me while he was working on something else as I stared at the computer monitor trying not to fall asleep. After half an hour or so, I finally spot the person I'm looking for and get excited so I lean forward right into the screen, scouring for previously unnoticed details. Right at that moment, a spider ran onto the camera lens.
Keep in mind, the recording I was looking at was days before when I was watching it and the camera was outside on the opposite side of the building from me. That didn't stop me from screaming so loud I could probably have been heard outside, causing the boss's boss to jump on his chair as if there was a cartoon mouse in the office. When I tried to explain it and rewind the video, I couldn't find the spider again and he just thought I was insane.
He always looks at me funny when he comes by to visit our building. He interacts with thousands of people in my same position all across the country, yet he remembers me for screeching about a spider that was never anywhere near me.
:(.
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8points
#37
I work as a hotel security guard on the weekends for extra money. I was watching the third floor camera one night and saw a white figure that looked like a baby following a woman back to her room. When the woman entered her room the figure disappeared.
Didn't think much of it until I mentioned it to our other security guard. He said a few years ago a two year-old had snuck into one of the housekeeping closets and climbed into the laundry chute. Apparently it fell from the third floor all the way to the basement.
I'll go ahead and say it now; the idea of being stuck in a cut-rate Best Western for eternity sounds pretty [bad] to me.
Didn't think much of it until I mentioned it to our other security guard. He said a few years ago a two year-old had snuck into one of the housekeeping closets and climbed into the laundry chute. Apparently it fell from the third floor all the way to the basement.
I'll go ahead and say it now; the idea of being stuck in a cut-rate Best Western for eternity sounds pretty [bad] to me.
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7points
#38
Hallway light turning off and on by itself at 3am. Got told by maintenance and my boss 'it's just the little girl' and to not worry about it. ಠ_ಠ.
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7points
#39
I work overnights, and I've seen a few weird things, but I think the weirdest thing I've seen was on Friday at around 1 am.
A man walked into the parking lot, sat on the ground outside for a while and was just browsing his phone for maybe 20 minutes. Then a truck came up, picked him up, they left, and I figured that'd be that. Nope.
Maybe an hour later, I see flashing lights on one of the cameras and that truck is back in the parking lot being chased by maybe 3 police cars. This dude was weaving in and out of cars and just being a general nuisance and then left. The whole thing lasted not even 5 minutes. It was pretty odd.
A man walked into the parking lot, sat on the ground outside for a while and was just browsing his phone for maybe 20 minutes. Then a truck came up, picked him up, they left, and I figured that'd be that. Nope.
Maybe an hour later, I see flashing lights on one of the cameras and that truck is back in the parking lot being chased by maybe 3 police cars. This dude was weaving in and out of cars and just being a general nuisance and then left. The whole thing lasted not even 5 minutes. It was pretty odd.
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7points
#40
I worked in a prison as a guard and we recorded the video using our cameras there.
So this guy was working video monitoring at around 9pm, when he saw something moving out in a nearby cornfield. He pans the camera and zooms in on it, and sees a black dog-thing walking through the cornfield. Then as he is about to pan the camera back to its original spot, the thing stands up on its two hind legs, and *sprints* across the cornfield towards the tree line. I called BS, but since the video monitoring saves all its feed for 30 days, I was able to watch it during training with the guy.
So this guy was working video monitoring at around 9pm, when he saw something moving out in a nearby cornfield. He pans the camera and zooms in on it, and sees a black dog-thing walking through the cornfield. Then as he is about to pan the camera back to its original spot, the thing stands up on its two hind legs, and *sprints* across the cornfield towards the tree line. I called BS, but since the video monitoring saves all its feed for 30 days, I was able to watch it during training with the guy.
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6points
