The weird world of mystery shopping/ The weird world of the mystery shopper.

I felt we needed a fun thread so I started this one. What are some strange or bizarre things you have been asked to do for shops or run into on shops. It can be almost anything. Lets have at it.
Here is one: Buying an item going outside to take a picture of the receipt only to walk back in a minute later and return the item.

Edited for Grammar and to update title

Shopping Western NY, Northeast and Central PA, and parts of Ohio and West Virginia. Have car will travel anywhere if the monies right.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2015 05:50AM by BuffaloNY101.

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Change the title of your post from 'shopping' to 'shoppers' and that would be an entertaining post based on some of the way, way, way off-topic posts lately...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

Cheating on the GMAT may have been the strangest assignment.

I don't know that anything kooky or weird has happened during an assignment.

I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks

There was a bar in NYC that used to make the shopper report on the activities of known prostitutes in the bar. That was an interesting narrative.

I also had to once search for an objective way to explain a driver running over a dog in the street on the way to the hotel when they sent a car to collect me from the airport.

I have been chased by a horny goat, found a dead body in the bushes, had to out-run an over-zealous meter-maid, been covered with asbestos powder from a dumping garbage truck, had to take a restaurant's restroom sink apart to retrieve my wedding ring, and that's just a few of the things that have happened in the last 23 years of shopping.

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

Wow.

Please give details on the dead body scenario.

I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks

Cettie wins.

I did some video shops for a chain of upscale adult toy stores. We had to have interactions about two different products (of our choosing). After the 3rd fleshlight/lubricant discussion I got a bit bored and had a little fun with the last ones.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

I followed the Guidelines and went to the server after my coffee and handed him $20. I told him I was in a rush and hoped that covered everything. Another time I gave the cashier $5 and asked for a bottle of Coke. That was after I had paid for our dinner. When he was about to open the bottle, I told him I wanted to take it home. And the restaurant was the same specialized one.

Oops, you mean some weird happening during a shop, not weird instructions. Well, I had a wireless shop but I could not do it because the location was in a mall where there was a shooting; one died and another, wounded. So, around it was like a movie scene with police and crime scene investigators going to and fro. When I reported it, it was rescheduled a few days after.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2015 03:17AM by risinghorizon.

I went to a gas station shop that is 100% mystery shop (with letter of authorization if needed, I have never needed it before this).

The place looks abandoned, I walk into the store that has just a few things on the shelves and an associate there. I buy one of the few remaining items and walk out. I proceed to begin taking pictures of all the non-compliant items. The associate (who ends up being the owner) sees me, comes out, and asks in a friendly way, "You're either with the demolition company or a mystery shopper with all those photos." I retrieve my letter of authorization and show the guy. We end up having a conversation for a few minutes and he tells me they're tearing the station down next week. (Eventually they will rebuild and modernize it). It was supposed to have been torn down already but has been stuck in legal red tape.

Still submitted the report with the non-complaint photos, but did pass all of this information along as well.

@retrodaddy wrote:

Cheating on the GMAT may have been the strangest assignment.
.

That's not really a weird assignment. It's an integrity shop, essentially, and those are taken very seriously. For good reason, too. They need to make as sure as they can that important tests are being passed legitimately and that cheating does not occur. Good for you for taking that assignment.

I'm not really asked to do all that much that's strange----sometimes I've had to ask some weird questions, though, and some places want you to take notes in the restroom. Granted that it's a good place to do things discreetly, but it's not really the most sanitary spot to do it, and there's all of the usual public restroom awkwardness. The strangest shop I ever had was one where an associate seemed to be doing practically everything wrong, and there's evidence to suggest that it might have been on purpose.

I dunno. If I go into the shop with a clear understanding of why the client wants me to do something in a certain way, it typically doesn't seem strange anymore.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2015 05:21AM by OceanGirl.

So I find some alcohol brand audits on a job board and I see they have named several bars the auditors can pick. One of them was a strip club but the mystery shop company did not mention that. I only knew it was a strip club because friend of friend went to a bachelor party there. I picked up the audit and went there in the afternoon before it got busy. It was actually quite depressing.

For a bar shop report, I ended up having to describe a game involving cocktail waitresses, their cleavages, male patrons, nuts, and hand-eye coordination.

@bgriffin wrote:

I did some video shops for a chain of upscale adult toy stores. We had to have interactions about two different products (of our choosing). After the 3rd fleshlight/lubricant discussion I got a bit bored and had a little fun with the last ones.

Oh, do tell the details of, "a little fun."

Wow, I just can't... even.

@OceanGirl wrote:

@retrodaddy wrote:

Cheating on the GMAT may have been the strangest assignment.
.

That's not really a weird assignment. It's an integrity shop, essentially, and those are taken very seriously. For good reason, too. They need to make as sure as they can that important tests are being passed legitimately and that cheating does not occur. Good for you for taking that assignment.

Well, most of my shops have been pretty pedestrian and cheating even in a pretend scenario was unexpectedly nerve-racking, so it was weird / strange for me.

I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2015 02:31PM by retrodaddy.

@retrodaddy wrote:

@OceanGirl wrote:

@retrodaddy wrote:

Cheating on the GMAT may have been the strangest assignment.
.

That's not really a weird assignment. It's an integrity shop, essentially, and those are taken very seriously. For good reason, too. They need to make as sure as they can that important tests are being passed legitimately and that cheating does not occur. Good for you for taking that assignment.

Well, most of my shops have been pretty pedestrian and cheating even in a pretend scenario was unexpectedly nerve-racking, so it was weird / strange for me.

It would feel weird for me, too. I think the importance of this shop being performed outweighs all of the weirdness, though. It would feel weirder than it was to me, if that makes any sense. They're not asking you to do anything wrong, but they're trying to make it look like it. That's acting, though. It takes a brave shopper to really commit to that job. Nobody likes feeling evaluated from a moral standpoint, which can and most likely will happen on that shop. I can understand the nervousness.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/09/2015 03:30PM by OceanGirl.

@retrodaddy wrote:

Wow.

Please give details on the dead body scenario.

I was shopping of of those gas stations and while taking photos I was off to one side taking the overall from a distance view and I saw someone lying in the brush alongside their parking lot. The location was right next to a busy highway off-ramp. I looked closer and it did not appear to be someone just taking a nap. I have a background in healthcare and could see that things were not right and ran like mad to the store on-site. There the manager told me "Corporate already knows about it and they said not to get involved." Well, there was NO way that I was just going to overlook it and I scurried off their property and made that phone call to 911. The manager was beyond angry that I dared disobey "corporate" but I also reminded this horse's patooty that I did NOT work for him or corporate and I was jolly well going to call this in as an emergency. My everyday persona is actually as Reverend "Cettie" and I wasn't going to overlook someone in distress.

It made the evening news that someone had died along the roadside while hitch hiking.

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

I got locked in the bathroom stall of a very upscale hotel restaurant in another country, which happened to be a tropical locale and there was no AC in the bathroom. I spent about 30 minutes in this very narrow space and started to have a bit of a panic attack - which wasn't helped by the heat. I had to scream my head off to get someone to come in and rescue me and they had to jimmy the lock with a kebab skewer. I was met with my apologies for my inconvenience and the GM sent an apology note and a bar of soap to my room the next morning. The bar of soap seemed 50% appropriate and 50% wrong.

on another hotel assignment, I stupidly left the balcony door open while I enjoyed room service dinner in my room after the sun had set. I was working on the report and noshing when I looked up and saw a skunk advancing towards me and my room service tray.

@MickeyB, the driver running over the dog doesn't make your list? (she was in the car with me when that happened!)

I had to walk the length and the width of each store and report how many paces it took in each direction. Then I was to simply leave. No proof of visit, no purchase, nothing else. I did not even have to report how long my stride was. I did this for over 50 little independent mom and pop groceries.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@MickeyB, the driver running over the dog doesn't make your list? (she was in the car with me when that happened!)

Steve: "Maybe the dog is okay?"
Me: "No, that dog is not okay." (I saw it dead on).
Driver: "It happens." (as he turns to look at us briefly)

Sadness.

@scanman1 wrote:

@bgriffin wrote:

I did some video shops for a chain of upscale adult toy stores. We had to have interactions about two different products (of our choosing). After the 3rd fleshlight/lubricant discussion I got a bit bored and had a little fun with the last ones.
Oh, do tell the details of, "a little fun."

Let's just say among other things I was very surprised at both how enthusiastic and how knowledgeable they were about things that were made to go places that aren't made to have things go there.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

@bgriffin wrote:

Let's just say among other things I was very surprised at both how enthusiastic and how knowledgeable they were about things that were made to go places that aren't made to have things go there.

One of the adult stores I shopped used to have me ask a question about a product and then quote the exact answer provided. One of favorite mystery shopping quotes ever reported came out of that:

"This bad boy will make your girlfriend c*m like a banshee!"

I did a revealed healthcare audit where it was just me and the agent. He kept talking about how he'd been doing this job for years, but his last audit was so bad he was on probation with the carrier. As the presentation went on I figured out why. It was sad to type up the report, knowing that might have been the last presentation he'd ever do.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

I feel like I haven't lived yet after reading some of this stuff.

Cettie, thanks for the explanation. "Corporate knows about it...". What a jackass.

I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks

@Cettie wrote:

@retrodaddy wrote:

Wow.

Please give details on the dead body scenario.

I was shopping of of those gas stations and while taking photos I was off to one side taking the overall from a distance view and I saw someone lying in the brush alongside their parking lot. The location was right next to a busy highway off-ramp. I looked closer and it did not appear to be someone just taking a nap. I have a background in healthcare and could see that things were not right and ran like mad to the store on-site. There the manager told me "Corporate already knows about it and they said not to get involved." Well, there was NO way that I was just going to overlook it and I scurried off their property and made that phone call to 911. The manager was beyond angry that I dared disobey "corporate" but I also reminded this horse's patooty that I did NOT work for him or corporate and I was jolly well going to call this in as an emergency. My everyday persona is actually as Reverend "Cettie" and I wasn't going to overlook someone in distress.

It made the evening news that someone had died along the roadside while hitch hiking.

Holy ****.

@MickeyB wrote:

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@MickeyB, the driver running over the dog doesn't make your list? (she was in the car with me when that happened!)

Steve: "Maybe the dog is okay?"
Me: "No, that dog is not okay." (I saw it dead on).
Driver: "It happens." (as he turns to look at us briefly)

Sadness.

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The weird world of mystery shopping/ The weird world of the mystery shopper.

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