Hypothetically, if you performed a shop and something occurred during the course of the visit that was unethical on behalf of the staff - would you report it? What if the unethical part of your visit had nothing to do with your guidelines?

For example, let's say you are mystery shopping a restaurant and per the guidelines you only are supposed to report on the actual dining experience and nothing else. Then, let's say, that during the course of your visit you first go to the bar and order a drink - which is acceptable to do, but not to be reported on.

You ask what their drink specials are and the bartender says 'oh, you can have one of those expensive drinks on the menu - or I can make you a personal special for only five dollars'. The bartender makes his 'special' and then charges you five dollars which is, like, half price of the other drink prices on the menu. You hand him the cash and take your drink. You do not see him actually pocket it ~or~ place it in the register as he walks away and around the corner to an area where you cannot see him. (There is more than one register in the bar area, which is very large.)

Note: the bar visit is acceptable, but not a part of the shop itself and there is no reporting on the bar whatsoever.

You 'know' that the bartender is pretty much pocketing the cash himself but you never see him do it, and again - this has nothing to do with your MS visit.

You then do the dining portion of the shop and everything else goes very well.

Do you report it, or no? Has anything like this ever happened to you? Just looking for personal opinions.

Thanks!

OP, this is pretty serious. If the bartender did pocket the money, then it's theft. By the same token, if you did not see him actually stick the money in his pocket, you could cause that employee to lose his job and any future jobs.

I would email the scheduler or if there is a separate narrative for extra comments (that the client does not see) I would comment there. But I would be careful. Not only could the employee be hurt if it did not happen but you could be hurt by the MSC and client not wanting to work with you again, if it turns out they count his cash register till and it comes up correct.

Unless your doing a bar integrity audit, and your sitting at the bar for an hour watching to see if the person is following a pattern, and know they have a cash drawer that they did not go to, it's pure speculation. You don't know if they have a drawer that is on the other side of the bar, as you said. If they made that "personal special" using approved alcohol for that price point and mix that management finds acceptable is another thing. A good bartender can make a good tasting drink with the bar vodka or rum.

What was the pour count and were top shelf drinks used to make this $5 drink?
Did you pay cash?
Was it a fiver *EXACTLY*?

If it was any good, I would have went back to the bar and ordered a second one and then asked for a receipt after it was made to see how they handle it, or at the very least follow them to see if they go to a POS terminal on the other side of the bar.

If you report it exactly as it happened, including "I didn't see him pocket it but I also didn't see him put it in the register and I watched him for xx minutes after handing him cash" then I'd think you're off the hook as far as accusing him of anything.
If nothing else, it would prompt the client to check video and/or keep an eye on that bartender.

It does not belong in the report. You might choose to include it in an email to the scheduler, but be sure of your facts. IF you have done bar integrity shops before, then presumably you know what to look for (pour count, etc.) and can provide objective information in the email. But IMHO, it does not have any place in the report sicne you were not asked to evaluate the bar. In fact, you said it was alright to go to the bar. Did the instructions say that? Even bar integrity shops have a limitation on the number of drinks you can order to make sure that you remain competent to make the observations.

I'm between two places on this one. You said the bar visit was okay but not reported on. Does that mean that you were reimbursed for the drink you ordered or that the drink was purchased on your own, completely outside the shop. You were there to do a restaurant shop, which did not have a bar component?

If I went to a restaurant to do a restaurant shop, and, while there, I stopped in at the Bar on my own dime for a drink, which was not reimbursed, I am wavering about reporting or not. If, however, the price of the drink was covered in my reimbursement, regardless of any requirement to report the bar visit, then I would be providing a receipt or a reason why I didn't have one. I'm guessing you were not provided a receipt. In that case, I would report it. If the drink was not reimbursable and there was no bar report requested, I may not, depending on how it struck me.

As you said, there is more than one cash register in the bar. If I did not see him pocket the money, I would not report what might have happened to the money. In my mind, the restaurant does not want to hear what I "know," only what I see. If I reported it, I would report exactly what happened, explaining about the "special" drink that cost half what the other drinks cost. Then I would say I did not receive a receipt and I did not see the drink rung up.

I also would not report it but I would send off an email to the scheduler and relay the incident. I would stress that I did not see him pocket the money but that it generally appeared suspicious. They may get someone to go in for a bar integrity audit after that.

If the bartender does not ring up a drink through the system and pockets the money instead, then his till will still come up correct.

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

... if it turns out they count his cash register till and it comes up correct.

Overall, I'm somewhat torn on this. I think the correct thing to do would be report what you observed, and only what you observed, to the scheduler and suggest that the MSC may want to suggest to the client some bar integrity audits at this location. By "suggesting" the audit, you are saying that you think something is wrong without actually making an accusation that the bartender is doing something wrong.

Just don't be surprised if you don't get any of the audits.

I think it's important to note that we are not robots. We don't want to be replaced by robots or cameras or anything. We add value. If, as non-robots, we see something that the report and guideline doesn't expressly cover, and we feel it's notable, we should mention it.

If you see another waitress stealing credit card numbers, but your report doesn't cover other waitresses, you should still mention that you saw it happen. But you need to report only what you saw and not what you speculated.

Why do we feel we need to act like robots and only do our job with blinders on to anything that isn't expressly within the guidelines? Do we really think that if one of us pointed out that there's a possibility one of the employees is stealing that the client would say "Well, I wish I hadn't heard THAT!!"

I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.

Our "job" is to report on what the client asks us to report on. If there is a place to report on "anything else you want us to know?"" then you can do so. Otherwise, it does not belong in the report, and you run the risk of a low score and even of not getting paid. In this "hypothetical" case, the instructions are quite clear, "in the guidelines you only are supposed to report on the actual dining experience and nothing else."

You are always free to communicate additional informatioon to the scheduler. There are cases when I might make an observation (let's be extreme and say that I witnessed a murder) and I would decide that being a witness was more important to me than maintaining anonymity. I would do so, but I would be prepared for the shop to be rejected. One might argue that the client would want to know about the murder on the premises, but be prepared to have the shop rejected. Within the last day, someone posted that they reported that their dining companion (not part of the mystery shop) found a piece of glass in their food and the shopper reported that. The shop was rejected (or at least down-graded) because they had reported on something which was not in their food and was not asked about.

Aside from whether a bar visit should be in the report, that is actually beside the point. You did not see him pocket the money. Therefore you have nothing to report. I really dislike accusations without proof, and if you didn't see it then you have none. (IMO)

I am in agreement with Coffee Queen. If you did not actually see him pocket the money and you have no idea if there is a "drink special" this bar actually offers to customers then this is not something reportable. Had you asked for a receipt and met with resistance, which would have been awkward had the bartender been skimming the money, you would have had something to base your feelings on and then could report this to the scheduler. But as I read this I do not think it is unusual for a drink special to be at a bar. Bars where I live often have half price drinks with long and almost all day happy hours and other daily specials. At one of the upscale places I shop where fancy mixed drinks are in the $12-14 range if you just get a straight shot with a mixer it is $5. I once asked if they make margaritas since it was not on the menu and would have been one of the $12 drinks. The bartender made me one as a shot with a mixer since he did not have margarita mix per se and charged me correctly by menu price $5.

I agree with those who said to report only what the MSC asked you to report about. It is for that alone that both we and the MSC are being paid by the client. If you report about something that the MSC, on behalf of the client, did not ask you to do or observe, then you are doing something for free for the client. But if you witness a crime being committed, then, of course, you would report that to the police.

here's another approach you might take:

Call the restaurant, ask for the manager. "I was in there Monday around (time of day) and I went to the bar. The bartender made me this great drink, I think he called it his "personal special." It was only $5 and it was really good so I'm wondering if that's available every day or only certain hours. He didn't give me a receipt so I'm not sure if that was its real name though."

Mission accomplished. Don't give your name. If it's on the level, the bartender has nothing to worry about. You communicated the price, the time of day you were there, the day you were there, and the fact that it probably wasn't rung up. He can figure out the rest.

You weren't mystery shopping at the time this happened. You were just a customer of the bar.

Block the caller ID on your phone before making the call, don't give a name (or give a fake name), and hang up if he gets intrusive.

For all you know the manager himself might have been tending bar and had latitude to discount a drink if he wanted. So don't mention that you didn't see where your five dollar bill ended up.

Of course having that drink would mean you where "shopping under the influence". None of my employers ever appeared to want me to have a toot while I worked for them.

@Vlade wrote:

Of course having that drink would mean you where "shopping under the influence". None of my employers ever appeared to want me to have a toot while I worked for them.

Vlade many restaurant jobs do require ordering alcohol. So, sometimes we are expected to have a drink while working for a mystery shopping company.

Internal/external theft is very serious and there are four elements, minimum, required to report same. You must see the person take the item (cash/merchandise), you must see them conceal it, you must have a complete visual of them 100% of the time while they have the cash or merchandise, they must leave the required area with the cash or merchandise. That could mean leaving the establishment and stepping out the last set of doors or passing the last point of sale, where the money or item could be left. Missing any one of these steps corrupts the crime scene. But, I agree, you were not there as a Loss Prevention Officer.

@purpleicee wrote:

Internal/external theft is very serious and there are four elements, minimum, required to report same. You must see the person take the item (cash/merchandise), you must see them conceal it, you must have a complete visual of them 100% of the time while they have the cash or merchandise, they must leave the required area with the cash or merchandise. That could mean leaving the establishment and stepping out the last set of doors or passing the last point of sale, where the money or item could be left. Missing any one of these steps corrupts the crime scene. But, I agree, you were not there as a Loss Prevention Officer.

That may hod true to physical goods theft, but a bartender can steal in may more subtle ways. It is still theft regardless of how he does it.

1. The over pour. (Mostly to regulars - Get a larger tip)
2. The drink on the house after 2 drinks, get 3rd free (A very short timer bartender move, tip me 1/2 price of drink please!)
3. The under pour for customers that annoy you to get rid of them. Keep mental score and use that to give free drinks to your friends and still have the bottles add up. (This works where they nightly track bottle levels even)
4. Most classic, If paying cash, do a "No Sale and put the money in the drawer and take it out before closing the drawer in large bills. Keep mental note of stolen drinks."
5. Bumping up to a top shelf spirit when charging for a bar drink. (Harder to catch)

This list goes on and on......

There are variations on the above and if there is a shared tip system and the tips are to go into a bucket or such and be divvied out at the end of shift, this leads to a whole new level of tip theft against co-workers.

1. Pocketing some tips instead of putting all in the kitty.
2. Making change from the kitty and short changing it. (To get rid of too many little bills, supposedly)

It's all theft. Plain and simple. Bartenders are fired every day for one of the above.

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

Aside from whether a bar visit should be in the report, that is actually beside the point. You did not see him pocket the money. Therefore you have nothing to report. I really dislike accusations without proof, and if you didn't see it then you have none. (IMO)

I disagree. This is not an accusation. It is a factual report of what you observed--you specifically state you did not see him pocket it. It will be up to the restaurant management to evaluate and determine the following: Do they have any drinks for $5? Which register is the bartender supposed to use? If you report the facts, they can decide if this warrants further investigation.

@prince wrote:

@Vlade wrote:

Of course having that drink would mean you where "shopping under the influence". None of my employers ever appeared to want me to have a toot while I worked for them.

Vlade many restaurant jobs do require ordering alcohol. So, sometimes we are expected to have a drink while working for a mystery shopping company.

which I kinda figured but I wonder how liable or willing to help you out your company/agent is if you blow above legal BAC or get in an accident. It dont take much to be legally intoxicated in most juristictions nowadays. One drink would do it for some body types.

As an independent contractor, you're on your own.

If you don't know what your own limit is, I suggest you don't take any alcohol shops.

You can have a drink at 6, have a nice meal that takes an hour, linger over coffee another half hour and that drink should be out of your system by then.

I'm a lightweight. If I got a drink at six, the ice would still be melting in 3/4 of it an hour later while I ate my dessert. I know alcohol affects me quickly and hard so I rarely drink at all and if I do have a drink I rarely finish it.

@Vlade wrote:

@prince wrote:

@Vlade wrote:

Of course having that drink would mean you where "shopping under the influence". None of my employers ever appeared to want me to have a toot while I worked for them.

Vlade many restaurant jobs do require ordering alcohol. So, sometimes we are expected to have a drink while working for a mystery shopping company.

which I kinda figured but I wonder how liable or willing to help you out your company/agent is if you blow above legal BAC or get in an accident. It dont take much to be legally intoxicated in most juristictions nowadays. One drink would do it for some body types.

As an independent contractor, you assume your own liability. As an adult, each person should know his limit and should use common sense. When you take a shop that requires ordering alcohol, you are required to ORDER it. You are not required to DRINK it all. I llove the frozen drinks like Margaritas, Grasshoppers, etc., but most bar drinks are not so great to me. I'm not much of a drinker, and when I do bar shops, I rarely drink the entire drink. I have at times carried my bar beverage to the restroom and dumped some of it.

@myst4au wrote:

Our "job" is to report on what the client asks us to report on. If there is a place to report on "anything else you want us to know?"" then you can do so. Otherwise, it does not belong in the report, and you run the risk of a low score and even of not getting paid. In this "hypothetical" case, the instructions are quite clear, "in the guidelines you only are supposed to report on the actual dining experience and nothing else."

Well said, myst4au. If there is a section for additional comment, I would report on what I saw but it there is none, I would not! However, that depends on what I saw. I learned a lot from my experience as a rookie, especially as I was doing a lot of fine dining, a while back.

I did an upscale breakfast shop. There was a section on additional comment and I commented on school kids in their school uniforms with two in restaurant uniform, occupying the table across us. One was lying on a sofa near the table. Another was doing her homework. The others were busy with their cell phone. I was told I was identified, but I was paid.

This was another of my boo-boo. It was a bar shop at the airport. The service was so slow that I commented on some customers leaving without waiting for their order. I was paid but I was told to comment only on the service I received.

From then on, I have stuck to my policy. Never volunteer any information. Less is more. They ask more than enough,
so just answer the questions. Stick to facts that pertain to the scenarios. Think twice before adding any information that might endanger the validity of the report or enable them to form any bias. I do not want to be accused of leading the staff or changing the scenario. If in doubt, I contact my scheduler. I also avoid being more popish than the Pope.

If it were a bar shop, it is understandable that your attention would be on the bartender. But it also encourages one to be judgmental. What one suspects may not be a fact, so why report on what you think and not what actually happened?
And if it was not even part of the shop, why even report on it except as a passing comment?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2015 03:40AM by risinghorizon.

In the original the MS was not directed to drink, therefore he was violating the script he could only be digging himself a hole. In the other scenario we've theorized on. I do know my limitations, as a proffesional driver at one time, a motorcyclist. I refuse to partake of any alchohol at all unless I'm home at the house with 8 hrs to spare. Even if you dont blow the legal BAC you are still impaired with even slight amounts. I need every bit of skill I can muster to negotiate todays road system and lackluster drivers.

I think if you direct someone to order/drink alchohol, self employed or not you should also require the use of a taxi and be willing to pay for that.

Legislation in this state has made anyone who has a PRIVATE party that involves alcohol liable, for any undue accidents and damages resulting from any of their guests after leaving the party. I think this should cause some concern for those that require its purchase and possible consumption to complete a work assignment.

Well, Vlade, that's not how it works in the mystery shopping world. Sometimes the consumption of alcohol is allowed and sometime it is prohibited and sometimes it is required. I have answered many times on an MSC application: Are you willing to drink alcohol on a shop?

Either do the job or don't take the job.

In the real world, people go out to dinner, have a drink, have a meal, have coffee and then drive home an hour or more after having the drink. Or they have a drink and their partner doesn't and the partner drives home.

Adults are responsible for their own behavior. "Causing concern" does not mean we must not do it. It means we must act responsibly and be careful.

@MW wrote:

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

Aside from whether a bar visit should be in the report, that is actually beside the point. You did not see him pocket the money. Therefore you have nothing to report. I really dislike accusations without proof, and if you didn't see it then you have none. (IMO)

I disagree. This is not an accusation. It is a factual report of what you observed--you specifically state you did not see him pocket it. It will be up to the restaurant management to evaluate and determine the following: Do they have any drinks for $5? Which register is the bartender supposed to use? If you report the facts, they can decide if this warrants further investigation.

Yes it's a factual report of what you observed, but the clear implication is that you think he may have pocketed it. Otherwise you wouldn't be commenting on it, especially as bar service is not a part of the report.

My worry would be. How do I know the person I contracted is as responsible as you. Because in the real world not everybody is. Ive seen "responsible" lawyers and doctors end up running down children on bicycles. or killing carloads of people. Heck one of em (lawyer) got off scot free an comes to my POB twice a week with a roll of cash.

Vlade,
I seriously doubt the extreme cases you mention are the result of the driver having had only one or two drinks over the course of an evening out. The MSC limits the number of drinks the shopper can have.

Almost every shop I have ever done said something like:

"There is a Maximum Limit of 2 alcoholic beverages per person during this visit."

"Beverages of your choice - at least 1 simple/generic alcoholic beverage (no doubles)"

"You must order an alcoholic drink from the menu. Never drink more than 2 drinks during your shop."

Usually you order drink#1 at the bar before your guest arrives and the second drink during your meal. Your visit is going to last at least 1 1/2 hours. Your going to be consuming an appetizer, soup or salad, main course and possibly a desert with coffee.

An average person will process one drink per hour. Add all that food to the mix and you will not be impaired by the time your done with the shop. Figure in another 10 minutes before you drive as you make quick notes in the parking lot.