So I was performing my first shop, which happened to be an announced audit. I was nearly finished with the shop and was back in my car when the assistant manager knocked on my window. Since my car wasn't on, I opened the door to speak with her. She was pleasant and was asking me how I thought they did. That's when I noticed that she had an open box cutter in her hand. 0.0

I made the quick decision to put the results on someone else and told her that it was really only my job to take pictures, that someone else would determine whether their location measured up. We talked for a few minutes about the difficulties that she and her manager had encountered at the location, me commiserating appropriately until she left, satisfied with my responses.

Now I know she had been stocking during part of my visit, but did she know she was still carrying the box cutter? Was it a threat or an innocent mistake? I can laugh about it now, but it was certainly unnerving at the time.

I was once doing a shop at a mailing service place and the cashier said to the customer ahead of me, "you know, they have been sending in mystery shoppers. If i find out who they are, I will kick their "a*%#!". I had to refrain from laughing or giving off any obvious body language.

II wonder why they would get mad? It helps their company.

Michele_15032031952719 @ Oct 9, 2020, 12:27:22 AM

II wonder why they would get mad? It helps their company.

Some employees are super awesome and work hard to do a great job. Not all employees are doing what they should be doing, though. Mystery shoppers "catch" them misbehaving (or behaving admirably). Rather than the 1-10 receipt survey ratings, employers get actual feedback about their businesses and employees. For those that lack work ethic, that could spell doom. That's why some employees get upset. They don't necessarily care about the company, just their paychecks.

Call me naive, but I don't think someone would carry a box cutter intentionally as a threat in that situation - she probably felt embarrassed about it later :)

How did they know you were a mystery shopper????

It was a revealed audit. I had to give them a letter that announced the audit and my presence there. It wasn't a "typical" mystery shop

Christi_9 @ Oct 26, 2020, 3:15:18

I would suggest never doing there again. If the audit was bad you may want to move to another state.

I have done those shops before with a ton of pictures you need. I had to go back once as did not take the right pictures. I felt awful having to see the manager again. :-(