Stay at home mom. *shrug*.. I'd rather people assume that my husband's salary can afford all the pandora jewelry, movie theaters, dining out, etc. Ha. Less to explain and less people to compete with for jobs (I'm so rural, there's few jobs as it is)

You could say you were a (freelance or independent) marketing research consultant, as well as any of the other good suggestions given here.

I say something different each time. Kind of practice "lying for pulling off scenarios". One time I told this guy I was a prostitute.

Well, he had previously lied and said he was a fireman. And then the truth came out of his mouth and said he drove the tow truck. Only the truth never came out of my mouth.

LOL

BBird0701 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> imsuzie2 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Is there a reason you don't tell friends that
> you
> > mystery shop?
>
> Mostly I don't tell them because there are only so
> many shops in my area, and I don't want them
> knowing they exist and taking them from me.
> They're hard enough to get at a decent price as it
> is.
>
> Sometimes I don't tell them just because I don't
> want to field a thousand questions about it, and
> have them still misunderstand, or worse, expect
> things from it. "Oh, so you shop for a living?
> Okay, well here's my Christmas list for my kids,
> mind getting that stuff for me, since you get it
> free and all?"

My friends and family are lazy as f***....they think this stuff is easy. If I tell them about it, and they ask to get "in" I say I will send them a link to sign up with some MSCs. I only sent that link once, to my dad, and he's done nothing with it. Everyone else I never followed through and they never followed up. Even if they did figure it out, they wouldn't be good mystery shoppers anyway, so I am not worried about them competing with me. They'd write horrible reports or forget POVs or just flake on the shop entirely.

When I meet strangers and they ask what I do, I say I'm self employed. If they press for details, I tell them my business is in the medical field. Both of these things are true.

Substitute teacher.

I say I am an analyst. Professionally I am a chemist so they think it is related. But most of the time I just say I am
an auditor, which is what is written on my airport badge. Other times I just say I freelance.

If you're old enough to look believable, just say you're retired. If pushed for more info, I describe what I did before which was inspecting and rating campgrounds and RV parks and selling them advertising. That experience made MSing a natural for me since I was used to noting all the details and heard every imaginable reason for not buying.

(Un)fortunately, I'm single and the wrong gender to get away with "stay at home mom." But that's a perfect out if you can use it.

Depending on who I am talking to, I may tell them:

1. I do merchandising including retail auditing,
2. I am an independent contractor in the retail and restaurant industries, or
3. I mystery shop, in as many words.

#1 and #2 are when I don't know the people that well, #3 when I know the people a little bit and they are "cool".

Yes, it does depend on the people.

Canuck Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I tell everyone I work for the IRS.
>
> That shuts them up fast!


HAHA

I bet you are REALLY popular!!