You should always assume that while you’re shopping at a major retailer that you’re being watched. Heck, even local businesses have security cameras installed in their establishments, which has helped them catch thieves.

But major retailers spend a lot of money on loss prevention every single year. Take Walmart for example the global chain recently plopped down over half a billion dollars to ensure that folks aren’t burgling from its stores.

Granted, a lot of the loss prevention solutions aren’t as complex as the Sam Walton established brand, which incorporates a series of A.I. cameras and weighted self-service checkout stations. And of course, there are camera systems manned by folks who are paid to ensure that big-ticket items aren’t being lifted out of the respective locations where they work.

Apparently, some of these loss prevention set-ups are a bit more involved than others, like this “amphitheater” of sorts that a TikToker showed off in a now-viral clip at a Target location that gives whoever is in the room a Skybox view of the entire store so they not only presumably have live video monitoring feeds of the location, but an actual grand view of the retailer’s layout.

Santi, who posts under the handle @santi._s gave viewers a sneak peek into what many are speculating is a part of Target’s loss prevention process, after spilling the beans on the suspicious look elevated mirrors that can be found in some locations.

At the onset of the now-viral clip, she shows the mirrors and then we see her head through some doors in the back of the store. Through this pathway, Santi ends up at a stairwell, which she traverses to ultimately end up directly behind the mirrors.

As it turns out, they’re the kind of mirrors you’d recognize from any police movie interrogation scene. The two-way glass allows whoever’s inside the box to covertly snoop on anyone who is ambling about the store while all we see are our own mugs staring back at us.

A text overly on the clip simply reads: “If you see mirrors like this in a Target they are watching you” along with a caption, “They really do be watching us from above.”

It’s worth mentioning, however, that there actually weren’t any employees manning the “spy station” while Santi was recording, so the room may only be in use during high-volume shopping times or when a specific situation needs to be monitored by staff.

And while the prevailing belief is that the rooms are being used to watch potential shoplifters, or to spy on employees in the store to make sure that they’re doing their jobs, there were many who thought that since there was no one up there during the time of Santi’s filming, that those particular spaces are just offices that aren’t in use anymore.

Instead of knocking them all down, the construction team responsible for putting the Target together opted to just put up some mirrors in an attempt to try and make things more aesthetically pleasing. However, why would there be two-way mirrors, and not just some key art showing the Target dog or other imagery/promotional materials for the store?

Other people chimed in and said these are simply offices for the store’s managers, and the reason why they’re empty is that they’re probably on the floor assisting customers or other members of the location’s team.

According to folks in the comments section, they’ve said that other retailers, like CVS and supermarkets do the same thing. The two-way mirrors are there for visibility, but also offer some privacy for employees who are on break.

Being a manager who has been tasked with “running a tight ship” can often be a daunting and thankless task. Sure, you receive a pay bump that comes with greater responsibilities, but oftentimes you can be put in a position where the employees who work under your supervision can resent you, and your workplace superiors will often give you an inordinate amount of work to do.

You’re put in a position where you’re receiving flak from both sides, which can lead to some pretty high-stress scenarios. And while there are some bosses workers absolutely adore, there are others who are doing whatever they can to make a company profitable and allow that to cloud their judgment when it comes to enforcing certain policies.

And then there are those who act in ways that leave people wondering just how in the world they were ever even considered for a promotional experience in the first place. Like this encounter, a TikTok user had with her boss that many people are saying was entirely out of line and possibly illegal.

TikToker Abby Gebo, who posts under the handle @thegebos, uploaded a now-viral clip about an interaction she had with her boss regarding her insulin medication. She captioned the video with the following: “diabetic storytime.”

Abby said that her manager had looked through her backpack for whatever reason and found a syringe in there. Maybe because he was watching a lot of The Wire or just saw Trainspotting, but he instantly assumed that the syringes were being used for intravenous recreational drug use.

Abby says that her manager spoke to a coworker about the backpack, stating that he was going to look into the needles further. When he confronted Abby about the bag, she said that he told her he “really expected better from her.”

The statement left the TikToker bewildered.

Then her manager asked her outright if she was doing drugs. “Do I look like I’m doing drugs?” Abby rejoined. She went on to remind her boss that she was diabetic, a fact about her that Abby says he was already aware of.

He didn’t immediately accept that explanation, however, stating that his own niece was a diabetic and never used needles, just pumps in order to give herself insulin.

“OK um, I can’t wait to sue you, but some people can’t afford pumps and have to use like vials and syringes,” Abby retorts in her video.

The TikTok user’s interactions with her manager only got worse from there when he demanded that she prove to him she was using insulin. She noted to her viewers on the social media platform that even though she didn’t have to offer up proof of her medical condition, she did so anyway, presenting her vials of insulin to him.

“You’re lucky, but I’m watching you,” Abby says her boss told her, adding that he was ensuring that none of the staff under his employ were abusing recreational drugs.

Abby quit her job that very day and many commenters who responded to her TikTok mentioned that it was illegal for her boss to not only look through her stuff, but question her about her medical condition.

In fact, under the Americans with Disabilities Act, it’s illegal for any employer to discriminate against a worker for having a disability or medical condition. Many who saw Abby’s video believe that if what she’s saying is true then her manager was in direct violation of this law, which could fall under a Federal offense.

The Gist:

• iOS17 is going to come with 118 new emojis, but those emojis have not been rolled out to the software yet.
• Among the new emojis are a phoenix, a brown mushroom, a broken chain, and a bunch of new configurations for family and people.
• Users are eagerly anticipating the rollout of these new emojis to their software.

Every new version of Apple’s operating software brings plenty of cool features with it, so much so that regular people actually get excited to update their devices. In addition to all of the new technologies and tools that these updates have, though, many people get most excited for the new emojis that each iOS update may bring.

Fortunately, those hoping for new emojis with iOS17 got quite a few, including some that are brand new and some that are variations on emojis that most people are likely to be familiar with already. All in all, there are supposed to be 118 new emojis coming to iOS17, although they haven’t actually hit the software yet.

The new emojis were formally confirmed last week, so now it’s up to Apple to get them rolled out.

Among the highlights from the new list of emojis are a head shaking itself up and down and another one shaking its head side to side. Additionally, there will be a new brown mushroom emoji and an emoji of a phoenix that many people are sure to find useful. There will also be a lime and a broken chain.

Additionally, there will be new gender-neutral family configurations including

• Adult, adult child
• Adult, child, child
• Adult, child
• Adult, adult, child, child

There are also some new people emojis coming, including:

• Person with white cane facing right

• Person walking facing right
• The person running facing right
• Person kneeling facing right
• Person in manual wheelchair facing right
• Person in motorized wheelchair facing right

For a full list of the new emojis that are slated to be available on iOS17, you check out this list.

Now that iOS17 has rolled out, many users are eager to actually start using the emojis themselves and are wondering when they might become available.

“Are there seriously no new emojis with iOS17?” one person asked, clearly confused by the delayed rollout.

In fact, this new iOS will actually have way more new emojis than the last update did. When iOS16 first rolled out, it only came with 16 new emojis.

Of course, it remains to be seen how valuable or frequently used these new emojis will be, but what does seem clear is that new emojis are one of the main reasons that users eagerly anticipate iOS updates.

There are other new features that come with the new software, including NameDrop, Stickers, and Standby Mode.

For many, though, these new technologies pale in comparison with the ability to add a little phoenix to a text or post on social media, and understandably so.