I think Pyschology majors should do a retail-workshop, because it is a great way to observe the behavior of strangers. The way they interact with store employees, other shoppers, what they choose to browse. You can learn a lot about a person by the way they shop. Are they slow and deliberate, do they scan the area quickly and know exactly what they are looking for, or maybe they are perpetual browers - always looking and asking questions but never making a purchase.

My retail experiences have helped me learn to size people up quicker. The one thing I could be better at is spotting thiefs. I always underestimate how many people shoplift. It seems like such a strange thing to do. The people who end up shoplifting are usually the last people you would suspect. I am sure the psychology majors would have an answer for that!

I wonder what it must be like to be security personnel for a big mall or shopping plaza? Spending your days watching strange, scary maybe even crude things go on. People always seem to forget there is a camera on them.

Next time you are at a mall sit on a bench and watch the shoppers go by. It is an interesting and weird parade of people. No wonder so many hidden camera shows go to malls to pull pranks!

Ever catch Girls Behaving Badly doing their volleyball at the mall prank? They must have known that a mall would be the perfect place to find the kind of people who would fall for it!

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