And all this time I thought my turning 42 was the new 22. I have been awarded age limit shops for under 27 just because I barely look 25-27 when I take the time to do my hair and makeup. Though when I was pregnant 14 years ago, I did look hilarious doing a liquor store shop.

These guys have given great advice. I've been in this line of work 16 years now. I had taken a few years off due to some personal things happening, but have recently gotten back in it full force. For me I live right on a state line so I'm able to do jobs in both states. I did almost mess up when I first found ISS. I scheduled a full day in the neighboring state with jobs from ISS and some from several other companies. I double checked everything on my computer before heading out that day and was asked to pick up another job by another company, which I agreed to since I'd be all over the area and it'd only take 5 minutes. At 4pm after I've already had a full day, with a million headaches due to weather and sitting in traffic for hours on end in different areas due to accidents, I picked up a last minute job from the scheduler calling me and basically begging. After dark I was still in that state working, it was raining and I was ready to just go home, I actually got in to an accident. I got ran off the road by another vehicle. I still had 3 shops to finish before I could go home. I did the one that was right next to where the accident happened, emailed the scheduler for the others still left as well as a few that closed things several hours before they were supposed to close (I called directly to be sure of the hours). One scheduler out of the many I dealt with that day, gave me negative marks, even after seeing the police report.

Start out small!!! Do not grab more than 1 or 2 for the first few times until you get a feel for it. If you grab a new one that you haven't done before, make sure to allot yourself plenty of time not just for the shop itself but for the report section too. Double check the turn around time for each shop between doing it and the time frame for the report to be completed. Thanks to my disaster that day, several schedulers were able to extend the report due times. Don't be afraid to talk to your schedulers either!! The vast majority of them are great and if you let them know of any issues as it happens they will work with you! Just don't let things like that be a habit.

You can do this!!

I do a LOT of the gas station reveals as well as some that aren't revealed. I've had some I wish I could look at them and inform they are being watched because they were just that out there acting ridiculous! Actually had an assistant manager ignore the fact they had over 10 customers in line, just walk around behind the counter like she owned the place, then kept complaining about how tired she was and how much the job was bs. The VERY few customers she did help with self checkout she was over the top nice. It was crazy. You could tell she was putting on a show when she did interact with a customer.

On a mystery shop then reveal I did a few weeks ago, I had the guy yell at me that he wasn't informed I'd be coming and I could come back in the morning. I tried to nicely explain to him that isn't how it worked, the point was that it was unannounced and if I came back they would know I was coming. Even one of his customers tried to tell him I was just doing what I was asked to do. He started cussing at me. At that point I politely asked him to please don't cuss at me and to call his brand rep so they could explain it to him. At that point he told me to get the F out. The customer then said, he'd been coming in there for x amount of years and would never step foot back in the store or gas pumps due to how he acted towards me, that he was over the top rude for no reason while I was being nice the entire time.

I left, went across the street so I wasn't on his property, took my required pictures and reported it immediately to my scheduler.

I've been doing this over 16 years total. I could seriously tell y'all some stories.

Staszak @ Mar 14, 2021, 4:23:49 AM

Hello, this is my first time here and I have an assignment on Monday. Once I finish it I will check back in with y'all. Thanks

Good Luck!! It can be a lot of fun! I love doing my mystery shop with reveals or the ones that don't have to be shopped first. I've been asked by most of them to please be the one to come back because I'm friendly.

Where can I go back to check the payment times for the different companies? I read so many the day I signed up and now it seems to only be 2 companies I've been working for. I can't for the life of me remember what their pay times were. I work for many other companies besides what is listed under this program. I recently found ISS.

Thanks!

Apparently I'm still blind even after going to the eye doctor last Friday, or I'm just still THAT tired from how busy I've been the past 2 weeks, with no end in sight.

I found it!

Martin_Canada @ Mar 17, 2021, 12:36:40 AM

Worst gas reveal shops I stopped doing as managers were awful if they were there on site. I found out later that every "No" answer the station was fined by head office! I had no idea this was done as a mystery shopper.

That was actually the only one I've ever had be flat out nasty to me. The rest are usually like "Ok Cool, go for it" I really like the ones I'm able to talk with them afterwards and share what I've found. 

It's amazing what our findings cause to happen.

I've had a few be fired over the results of the shop. In my defense, they have to be pretty bad for me to give a bad review. I'm always 100% honest, but if they make a small mistake, I'm not going to mark them for it.

Yes!

Definitely sign up with other companies. Keep in mind you should never have to pay to get listings. I stay busy, and could work 7 days a week 10+ hours a day, if I chose to, but I limit myself to just 5 days a week with an occasional job on the weekend if I had a very busy week like this past week. I'm actually going to finish up a series of shops today as soon as we finish volleyball with my youngest child, that I am the head coach for.

I've also rode around 800-900 miles this week in just a 3 hour radius of my home.

So there is plenty of work to do, just have to find it :)

Todd_16047448261872 @ Mar 21, 2021, 2:54:23 AM

I agree @Tina. I'm not there looking to cost anyone their job, just to answer the questions. I'll cut as much slack as possible and not nit-pick, but if a pump screen is unreadable or all the trash cans are overflowing I have to pick "No" and take the picture.

Exactly. I'm going to give them every chance I can within reason and the scope of my abilities, but I will never lie for sure!!

If the attendant is plain out rude, not nice/friendly or just blatantly not doing their job, I have to report it. That goes back to the whole not lying thing. lol

But I honestly DO try to work with everyone, especially if they are nice/friendly, doing their job well etc.

MFJohnston @ Mar 23, 2021, 8:00:58 PM

Your survey: None of the above.

Agreed

I like my 5-10 minute c-store shops, but only when I can get several together in a few mile radius!