Candyland Security

With all the buzz concerning security in recent days I was reminded of my own adventures in that area. For most of the 80's, I worked in a managerial position for a large specialty retailer. I was responsible for the entire operations of a store with gross annual sales exceeding five million dollars. My store had what we called a mezzanine in one of the storerooms. It was really an attic-type space where we stored off season merchandise and supplies.

One day I was in the mezzanine checking inventory levels of Halloween candy. I found some empty candy bags and a few candy wrappers dispersed among the stored merchandise. My first step was to check my managers' job assignment sheets to see what employees had been assigned to work in the mezzanine area. I also wanted to see if any managers had recently been working up there. My search yielded two possible candy eaters. Of course, I realized it could have been anyone in the store though probably not a customer. But the fact that two people had recently been working in that area gave me two people to start watching for suspicious activity involving candy. That very afternoon while lurking in a storeroom I observed a department head, we'll call him DH, stuffing something inside a bicycle box. As soon as DH left the area, I checked out the box. Voila! An empty candy bag.

Over the next several days I kept a close watch on DH. I continued to find candy wrappers and an occasional empty candy bag concealed in areas where he had been working. He spent 30 minutes in the mezzanine one afternoon supposedly performing a task that should have taken all of 5 minutes. After DH left work that evening, I went upstairs to investigate. I took a flashlight with me so I could thoroughly search every nook and cranny of the mezzanine. I found a nice little hideaway area surrounded by huge boxes of Christmas giftwrap. One side of the area was the cinderblock wall that separated the storeroom from the sales floor. I used the flashlight to look down in the cinderblocks and what I saw was rather surprising. I was expecting to see candy wrappers, but instead I saw ashes caught on spiderwebs in the blocks. Further investigation yielded used pipecleaners that smelled strongly of an illegal substance known for producing the munchies. And I found an entire box of pilfered candy. It was time to call in the Big Dog.

Big Dog was our area head of security. I brought him up to date on all my covert operations. He met me at the store the next morning in the wee hours before the store opened. I showed him all the evidence I had collected, the hideaway area in the mezzanine, the used pipecleaners and the ashes. We installed a video camera in a box of the Christmas giftwrap with a live feed to a monitor and recorder in my office downstairs. I have to tell you....this was so cool! I totally felt like 007 sneaking around with hidden cameras and the like. It was so clandestine.

I came back to the store that same morning at my regular time. A couple of hours later, Big Dog came in and we did a little security tour together then announced that we were going out for lunch. What we really did was sneak back to my office through the side door. We sat in my office in the dark and stared at the monitor. It didn't take long. DH sauntered into view. We watched as he removed a joint from his wallet and lit up. I knew that's what DH had been doing, but it still was such a shock to see him actually smoking a joint on the job in my store!! We also watched as he opened a bag of candy, ate a couple of pieces and put more candy in one of his pockets. Unbelievable!

I left my office to fetch DH. When Big Dog confronted him, DH denied any wrongdoing. We had to show DH the video before he finally confessed to all that he had stolen, eaten and smoked in the store. Big Dog called the cops and DH was escorted from the store. Oh, yeah, I had to fire him before he was arrested.

Candyland was once again secure.