Retail security systems are only as good as the people and tools behind them.

So at one grocery store, a missing piece of security equipment opened the door to theft on a massive scale.

And one employee could see it coming long before it happened.

Read on for the full story.

The time I inadvertently masterminded the largest theft in store history…

This story takes place when I worked in the garden center of a large grocery store.

We were able to process all transactions through our register, so many people would come to check out here as the line tended to be shorter.

But there was one big problem.

This was all fine and well except for one thing: when people brought items with electronic security tags, we were unable to deactivate them as our portable scanner had been left in the rain and ruined.

This meant that any time an item with one such tag was purchased, the security gate would go off and we would simply wave the person through as we had just checked them out.

So like a conscientious employee, they spoke up about the problem.

On a day in which the alarm had gone off several times, I decided to discuss it with my manager.

Me: So is there any way we can get a new security tag scanner? I’m tired of hearing the alarm all day.

Which, of course, was promptly ignored by management.

Manager: We’ve decided it isn’t cost effective to replace it since you people keep leaving it in the rain. You deserve to have to listen to this all day, and when we finally get a new one maybe you won’t take it for granted.

This set me off a bit as I had not even been employed when the original scanner was damaged.

I went to a party with my friends that night and began to vent about how dumb my boss was.

The employee saw a glaring problem with this approach.

I told everyone how we were going to end up losing more money from theft because it was so easy to steal from us.

All someone would have to do is actually purchase one item with a security tag and stuff their purse or bag with other items.

When the alarm went off, the cashier would assume it was due to the purchased item and wave them through.

But one day, management finally heeded their warning.

After two days off, I walked back into work and saw we had a brand new security tag scanner sitting on the counter.

Me: So you decided to get us a new scanner after all?

All because of a massive theft that was entirely preventable.

Manager: Yeah, we had hundreds of dollars worth of stuff stolen this weekend from Electronics. LP thinks they were simply buying an item or two through here and stuffing their bags since we have been waving people through the alarms.

Me: Oh… you don’t say…

Oops.

The store paid the price for ignoring the obvious signs.

What did Reddit think?

Turns out, employees with nothing to lose are the best accomplices when it comes to pulling off a retail theft.

The people who put rules in place often have very little understanding of how ineffective they actually are.

This commenter seems to think the whole thing was just a coincidence.

Some stores are practically begging to get stolen from.

By the time the scanner was replaced, the damage was already done.

All it took was a little negligence for everything to spiral.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.