I sure have, some of them seem really way out there, things that the average customer would probably never say. What was the most strange thing that you had to say for a shop?

If the requirement is too bizarre, I don't even take the shop, pammie. Silly arsed stupidity is just not worth the $12 fee shop!

I mostly get to make up my own, but the old TGI Friday's scenarios were freaking LUDICROUS. How many times could I possibly get fake-engaged or fake-promoted, and how exactly does "in a rush to eat because HULK HUNGRY, HULK WANT FOOD" work with "take your time ordering and make sure to receive each course before ordering the next"?

They also wanted you to show up at night in workout clothes and claim you just came from the gym . . . . and the closest gym to my location was like 15 miles away, with roughly a zillion restaurants in between.



OH WAIT I LIED. The weirdest one ever was shopping the Apple store, not because of the scenario itself but because of how it unfolded. I was allowed to choose my own scenario, but made the mistake of picking "I'm starting a small business with a couple of friends and we're looking into getting a smartphone network we can write off on taxes, since I currently have, well . . . a dumbphone." The Apple rep was super-excited because omg entrepreneurs who met on the Internet and don't live in the same state in fact not even in the same COUNTRY in one case (all I did was pick a couple of real friends from online! Randomly!) and so I spent an hour in a game of Lie Faster Nina trying to make it sound like yes, I really was starting a small business, with a budget and a plan and a lawyer for our legal papers and everything. I was amazed at the end of it all when I went back over my story and realized it all hung together. (And even more amazed when I went back six months later for another shop and the guy didn't recognize me. I was a little terrified he would.)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2014 04:32AM by ninamason.

Yep. Had to do one today where "the man of the house" said I could paint the kitchen any color I wanted -- as long as it's GREEN.



cease

ceasesmith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yep. Had to do one today where "the man of the
> house" said I could paint the kitchen any color I
> wanted -- as long as it's GREEN.
>
>
>
> cease

I want that emoticon that another forum has--the one that shows someone rolling on the floor kicking her heels in hysterical laughter.

bestofbothworlds Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If the requirement is too bizarre, I don't even
> take the shop, pammie. Silly arsed stupidity is
> just not worth the $12 fee shop!


LOL! I know what you mean, but most of the time you don't always have the option of knowing what the scenario is before you accept the shop. I have had some doosies lol!

Hi pammie,

To answer your original question: I think that the MS Companies come to agreement with the client as to the scenario whether they think it's a good idea or not. Afterall, they know which side their bread is buttered on.

I had to fake my way into a restaurant food expo using fake credentials supplied by the MSC. They went with (replacing with my real name) "Hoju's Taco Joint."
Seriously, I'm half French and half English. Which part of me says "Best Fish Tacos Around???" That was supposed to be my tag line or something.

I modified it slightly and hid my badge com view all day. After I was done shopping the client I figured, no point in letting this opportunity go to waste. I spent an other hour or so walking around sampling all the foods and testing out my ridiculous, completely implausible scenario of other suppliers.
It was a massive test of my acting skills but also a lot of fun since at that point it didnt matter at all.

The best taco I ever had in my life was from a food truck on the beach in Hawaii. It was"Goldberg's Taco".

What's in a name?



cease

ceasesmith Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The best taco I ever had in my life was from a
> food truck on the beach in Hawaii. It
> was"Goldberg's Taco".
>
> What's in a name?
>
>
>
> cease


I have eaten a Wong Fu's mexican food it was DELICIOUS!

The ones that come to mind:

The Home Depot shop where I was to enter the cashier's line with a shopping cart full of light bulbs, pretend I didn't have my wallet, and when the cashier suggests opening up a HD card, I have to tell her that I need to think about it, and leave the cart there without buying anything.

The Cartier jewelry store where I have to inquire about purchasing a $10,000 watch, ask if they will give me a discount, and ask if they can ship me an empty box so I can save on the sales tax.

How about the very upscale watch shop where they want photos of the jewelry cases. LOL, yeah with security guards at the door and ultra attentive associates. No way.

Phoebe70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The ones that come to mind:
>
> The Home Depot shop where I was to enter the
> cashier's line with a shopping cart full of light
> bulbs, pretend I didn't have my wallet, and when
> the cashier suggests opening up a HD card, I have
> to tell her that I need to think about it, and
> leave the cart there without buying anything.
>
> The Cartier jewelry store where I have to inquire
> about purchasing a $10,000 watch, ask if they will
> give me a discount, and ask if they can ship me an
> empty box so I can save on the sales tax.


Wow, I think that is very unusually, I don't get how getting the box shipped to you would save on the sales tax.

I think some hot shot in New York in some high rise is thinking of all these dumb scenarios.

This is NOT reality, buster, hahahah

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2014 04:55PM by Canuck.

Canuck, you hit it on the head. They should have folks lower down in the company, who actually know what's going on with something more than numbers, writing the scripts.

Hey, for that matter, make my student loan payments for each month and I'll write your scenarios and not ask a penny more. It'd run about $300/month and I guarantee it'd be cheaper than whatever said company heads are making!


While we're here can we also mention questions that just make no bleeding sense? As in, questions that don't appear to have anything to do with anything, are pure word salad and to which you always give the answer you think is going to come down in favor of the shoppee because there is no way anybody actually proofed said question, much less actually knew what it meant when they wrote it?

I did a cafeteria mystery shop once where I had to ask the manager what kind of things they were doing to help save the environment. Those cafeteria shops sit on the boards forever because nobody wants to do them, lol.

Ishmael Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> ceasesmith Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yep. Had to do one today where "the man of the
> > house" said I could paint the kitchen any color
> I
> > wanted -- as long as it's GREEN.
> >
> >
> >
> > cease
>
> I want that emoticon that another forum has--the
> one that shows someone rolling on the floor
> kicking her heels in hysterical laughter.


Since when the "man of the house" get to say what goes in the house? I get so sick of stereotypical commercials and this sounds like the beginnings of one. Scenarios like this make us sound like we are living in the 1950's and the "man of the house" is the king.

I won't do shops that don't make me feel right and that would be one of them for sure.

pammie8223 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't get
> how getting the box shipped to you would save on
> the sales tax.

If you purchase an item online (or on the phone or via regular mail) from a business that does not have a physical presence in your state, they do not collect the sales tax. However, you are supposed to self-report such purchases to your state of residence, and pay the sales tax to your home state.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2014 07:26PM by barnabas1969.

barnabas1969 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> pammie8223 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I don't get
> > how getting the box shipped to you would save
> on
> > the sales tax.
>
> If you purchase an item online (or on the phone or
> via regular mail) from a business that does not
> have a physical presence in your state, they do
> not collect the sales tax. However, you are
> supposed to self-report such purchases to your
> state of residence, and pay the sales tax to your
> home state.

Oh, thanks for the information.

My dumb scenario nominee (it was a choice from several options for the shop, and not the scenario I chose) was to go ask the helpful hardware guy, "So what's the difference between buying paint here or at Lowe's?" Who would ask something like that, as a real life scenario? I could see someone asking about return policies, guarantees, refunds on mixed paint -- after laying out a scenario involving mixed paint, changes of mind, or ordering errors. But just to walk up and ask that question? Without setting the stage first? But that's how the scenario presents in the instructions, and you are required to choose one of them. (And the green kitchen paint scenario I'm pretty sure did not require the shopper to say her husband had mandated it, at least it didn't say that on the one I did the other day. Maybe they changed it due to protests from liberated female shoppers....)

Asking questions at a grocery store like "Is this store brand as good as the national brands?" Please, paint a sign on my head that says "Mystery Shopper".

Kamarkim, not necessarily. I don't do grocery store shops (yet) and I ask those questions, although not in such stilted words. If you're allowed to namedrop, I'd imagine that helps. I've asked a lot of questions over the years about Keebler vs. fake-Keebler.

Yes, I agree, and I try to make it "natural". But it doesn't come naturally to me. The rest of the shop is something I would do normally (look at expiration dates, ask where something is, use the restroom, etc.) but it's just this one question that stresses me out because I don't usually interact with employees like that.

In the begining I too worried about the 'dumb' questions we were expected to ask during a retail shop, but both of my kids who work/ed in grocery stores, said customers ask dumb, obvious, inane questions all day long. So now I just ask and move on to the next department.

Hehe, this is true. Kamarkim, if you'd like me to make you feel better I'd be happy to share some old "dumb customer" stories from when I worked in a gas station. My favorite:

CUSTOMER: *looking right at the shelf with the bread on it* Do you carry bread?
ME: Ma'am?
CUSTOMER: I need bread.
ME: It's on that shelf, right there, ma'am.
CUSTOMER: Don't you have it anywhere else?
ME: No, ma'am. If you're looking for buns, I think we're--
CUSTOMER: Did I say buns? What are you, stupid? I want BREAD.
ME: Ma'am, all of our bread is right there. You're looking at it.
CUSTOMER: Well, this isn't bread. I see white and wheat. I only eat MULTIGRAIN.
ME: I'm afraid we have to stock what's most popular because we have so little shelf space.
CUSTOMER: Well then you should stock something that's actually healthy, not this garbage. I want to speak to your manager.
ME: I'm the assistant manager, ma'am, the manager is already home for the evening.
CUSTOMER: You're lying!

[This exchange continued for some time while I tried to explain that corporate decides what goes on the shelves, my manager had gone home three hours before, and that I did not appreciate being disrespected this way and would like her to leave . . . . now . . . . really, ma'am, before I have to call the police . . . . when she finally left the store it was while talking the ear off a police officer and telling him I should be arrested.]


Asking if something is as good as a national brand? Would hardly register on my what-the-eff meter. You can see what your competition is . . . and that wasn't even the craziest thing I ever had to deal with.

Nina, share some more!

As for the national brand question, I've known people who took for granted that a national brand had to be better than the store brand. So, how could there be anything strange about people wondering if the store brand was as good? (I know I skipped a couple of links in my logic, there. I'm too lazy to fill them in, now.)

HAHA! Nina, thanks. That does make me feel better! When you have time, post some more stories!

Nina's story proves that truth is stranger than fiction. Whether or not we think the scenarios are plausible or doable, the people who come up with them have a reason to impose them. Not that I happen to agree to all of them, but some whack job must have done it at some time!

HAHA! Nina, thanks. That does make me feel better! When you have time, post some more stories!