Recognized at gas station audits?

Are you getting recognized at gas stations audits before you reveal? I am. Many of the CSR's are regularly there and wave hello as soon as I approach the c-store after getting gas. I did a Bolla station/store this week and they had a tent offering hot dogs and coffee and soliciting the Plenti program. All three CSR's waved as I parked my car and headed for the store. I got rid of my Outback as it hit 200,000 miles and got a new car. Many of the CSR's not only recognize me but commented on my new car. So much for the mystery portion of the shop.

Which brings up a bit of a dilemma. Part of one of the shops has a question asking if the CSR offers me a Plenti ap. If they recognize me and my car and know I am the shopper most don't play the game and ask. I'm not sure how to handle this. What do you do? How do you mark the question?

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I have never been asked about the Plenti app. If they actually know I am the mystery shopper and STILL don't ask, I'm definitely going to say they didn't ask. At the few stations where the CSRs recognize me, they always play the game or are genuinely helpful, although I haven't done any of those stations since the Plenti program came out.

I had one guy at one station id never been to give me the hard sell on Plenti but he was clearly not into it. It was super obvious he was only going through the motions because he knew who I was.
Then I walked out and came back in to reveal and I asked him if he had me figured out and he said absolutely not- that he was completely unaware of the mystery shopper program. He was very genuine in telling me that. It was all so weird after hitting dozens of stations that act like Plenti doesn't exist to come across the one that takes it to the extreme.

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Seriously, nobody cares that you're offended.

For a long time Shah and I played games with mystery shops. I stopped in his station fairly frequently and he would grin and say, "It too soon for you to bring camera." He did a reasonably good job of keeping up his station so I never really worried that him knowing I was the shopper would made any difference in his behavior.

I frequently stop in some of the gas stations that I shop when I'm not shopping. I've been greeted by, "Are you working today?" Many of them know me. It's not been a problem. Few have asked for the Plenti card. What I do is give them the chance to ask and if nothing is said, I quickly whip out the card and ask if I can use it. Hey, with the price of their gas, I want every perk I can get. I actually do wish they would all ask, because many times I forget about the Plenti card until it's too late.

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The more I learn about people...the more I like my dog..

Mark Twain

I used to do one in a nearby city's "Asian Business District". When I would walk in, everyone would get busy. The owner or his son (the only two employees) actually asked me if I would like them to pose for me. He also said not to ding him for the graffiti in the bathroom because the city would not allow him to distinguish between customers and non-customers who asked for the key, and that he repainted every single weekend. I notified the MSC that they needed an Asian shopper, but I still ended up doing it every month for almost a year until they found a better fit.

I confuse them by going in and buying gas or making an inside purchase when not on a shop. Even if they saw me it confused them because I didn't do any shopper "stuff".

Her Serene Majesty, Cettie - Goat Queen of Zoltar, Sublime Empress of Her Caprine Domain

@MrEToomey wrote:

I used to do one in a nearby city's "Asian Business District". When I would walk in, everyone would get busy. The owner or his son (the only two employees) actually asked me if I would like them to pose for me.

At my guy's request, I stopped by on a particular day with my digital camera to take pictures of him, his wife and his son, then emailed him the pictures so he could send them to his mother for her birthday. This was back in the days when digital cameras were still a bit unusual and the smart phones non-existent.

I haven't been recognized yet, but I'm sure the day is coming. They do after the reveal, but up until that they are not paying attention to me. I do have a knack of being "invisible", resulting from my painfully shy years in my childhood. I'm over that in spades but I can still blend in with the best. I love that a skill developed by childhood difficulty is paying off later in life.

I've been having the same experience---not quite as over the 'shy' stuff as you are, but mystery shopping has been making me less shy, and I can definitely still blend in.

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