Impossible Starbucks Audit

I agreed to do a Starbucks audit where I had to photograph the menu (discreetly) and write down the prices for drinks, pastries and sandwiches. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. The spotlights are angled in such a way that when you take a picture, it comes out white. Also, the pastry case displayed prices in such small print, I would have had to take a close up of each individual muffin and cookie to be able to see the prices in the photo. It was awful. How does the MSC expect me to include "a picture clear enough for us to verify your prices"? There was no seating in front of the menu, either only a long bar with seating on one side looking out the window. No way I could have done this. So I ended up recording myself saying all the prices. I looked like a total weirdo and I'm not even sure it will be accepted. Grrr.

Mystery Shopper since 1998; Author of Make Money Mystery Shopping available on Amazon in the Kindle Store.

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Oh, and I was so flustered about the photos that I forgot my receipt, so I don't get my reimbursement for the $8 I spent. Not a good shop day.

Mystery Shopper since 1998; Author of Make Money Mystery Shopping available on Amazon in the Kindle Store.
This sounds like a nightmare. I applaud you for your ingenuity and for not giving up. smiling smiley

Best of luck!

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
With light, the angle of incidence equals the angle of reflection, meaning that light will reflect off an object at the same angle that it hits the object. If you had moved a few feet in either direction, it's likely the "white out" would have disappeared.

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Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
I encountered the same problem with the FA app so opted to not try to take pictures surreptitiously. Manager came out asked me for authorization letter wHicham I of course could not provide. I was nicely and firmly asked to leave and did so.

"She was not quite what you would call refined. She was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the type of person who would keep a parrot." Mark Twain
I did the exact same thing with the exact same shop. After reading all those prices into my voice recorder and lamenting the crappy photos that I took, I went to enter the report at home, and it was supposed to have been for the Panera next door!

P.S. I got to go back and do the Panera, and said that my child had a school project and asked me to take photos of Panera displays for their pretend business to consider when formulating their own pretend marketing displays. I was granted free access with my camera instead of having to sneak pics with my phone and the photos were perfect.
So sorry to hear! I take pictures, regularly, of items in stores, etc. to text to my family - hey, do you want this? so that it would not be too unusual.
They are for a major restaurant menu consulting company that does menu analysis, price trends, etc and asks for photos of the menus in order to see the prices, menu presentation, in both regional and national level. You had to have the flash off, large size photo, and keep snapping sections of the counter display with your phone, and of course have asked for a good bonus.
a good way to possibly get by it would say to the starbucks associate that your friend who is a know it all swears that the venti Mocha is $5.50 and you need to prove that it is actually $4.65. Something along those lines...or if they have the feature picture up there, tell them that your friend is OBSESSED with pumpkin and it made you think of them so you wanted to get a picture of the latte and scones to make them jealous.

I am not exactly sure why at this day and age taking pictures is so difficult. We are in the cell phone era where kids are taking selfies left and right and taking pictures of everything to snapchat and instagram. Taking a picture of a menu board is really just potential for more marketing.

Trouble is with these, re. surreptitious photos, is that every section of full-wall-spanning menu boards needs a photo. Every display, including coolers and baked goods, needs a photo with any signage identifying items and their prices showing in the photos. If items are not on the menu board, they need prices recorded as well (e.g. the price tag on the bottom of a pre-made sandwich).
That would be a 10' pole shop for me. It was hard enough for an airport shop where I had to take a picture of the full cooler in front of the register and the pop at the register.

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~
That is exactly how I felt when I had to do a Cinnoban. I had to take a picture and do you know how hard it is to be sitting in the middle of a Military PX trying to take a picture of their facility stand without them noticing? I was afraid someone would think I was casing out the place...lol
I am not one to complain to much because I was the one that accepted the shop, but after that shop, I let them know that, that was utterly stupid..lol And after me not accepting any for a while, they must have had others express their concern, because they stopped asking for the picture of the facility stand.
FYI, you can go to the register and ask them to print a reciept. They just ask what you had or just tell them you want any receipt. I've never had them care.
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