So I randomly met a mystery shopper

March 23, 2016 09:19PM

In my 14 years in this industry (the last 12 as a scheduler), for the first time ever I have "found out" and then actually met a mystery shopper. I was at the gas station a few minutes ago and saw a lady outside jotting down information at a pump and then taking pictures of the prices sign. When she started walking my way, I walked to her and asked if she was a mystery shopper. Yes, she said that she was. I asked if the gas station employee knew (I didn't want her to blow her cover!) and she told me that they did know as it was a two part where the 1st part is a mystery shop and the 2nd part is a brief audit.

It was a neat experience for me as while I have met shoppers at conferences and some due to becoming friends (Yes I've even had mystery shopper stay a couple of nights at my house years ago with her family) this was my first random meeting of a mystery shopper and it was quite pleasant.

Deva Roberts
Director of Operations
shoppers@acemysteryshopping.com
ACE Mystery Shopping
[ace.shopmetrics.com]
[acemysteryshopping.com]

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March 23, 2016 09:41PM

That's kind of cool. I had a similar experience when I was the one auditing a gas station. There was what appeared to be an employee cleaning one of the pumps. After talking back and forth for a couple of minutes I realized she was not a store employee. She was a merchandiser and she was cleaning the pumps off in the spot where she was attaching some POP. Not exactly another shopper but pretty close!

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

March 23, 2016 10:14PM

I did an assignment at a restaurant where the server was supposed to offer a certain brand of beverage (mystery shop for the beverage supplier, so they knew if the restaurant was offering their goods). Too bad it wasn't for the restaurant, because my server provided terrible service. Anyway, I wasn't offered the beverage, so after lunch, I revealed myself to the Manager and gave them the "Sorry" certificate. During my reveal, my server admitted that she was a mystery shopper herself. I was somewhat surprised, due to her performance during my visit. I would think a person who did mystery shopping would think to provide stellar service themselves, knowing they too were shopped.

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Could I have a receipt please?

March 24, 2016 12:33AM

One MSC trains shoppers at restaurant locations (a burrito place and burger joint), with restaurant managers in attendance! It is odd meeting other shoppers in front of the MSC clients like that. Kinda fun though.

March 24, 2016 12:35AM

@IMTrashman wrote:

One MSC trains shoppers at restaurant locations (a burrito place and burger joint), with restaurant managers in attendance! It is odd meeting other shoppers in front of the MSC clients like that. Kinda fun though.

Hey Trashman!

March 24, 2016 12:39AM

Things must be slow in the trash biz if you've taken the time to grace us with your presence

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2016 12:39AM by LisaSTL.

March 24, 2016 03:10AM

i haven't MET her yet in person, but one i know now from this site has moved here. It's so fun to shop talk b/c no one knows anything about it.

March 24, 2016 04:22AM

I've done loads of those two part gas stations and never had anyone ask if I was a mystery shopper. Sometimes people ask what I'm doing, and I say auditing.

March 24, 2016 11:06PM

When I did that training I met eight other mystery shoppers. it was interesting talking shop with them. One, an older gentleman, said he had been shopping for more than a dozen years. That day he was dressed SO memorably I'm surprised he'd been able to maintain his anonymity for so long.

@IMTrashman wrote:

One MSC trains shoppers at restaurant locations (a burrito place and burger joint), with restaurant managers in attendance! It is odd meeting other shoppers in front of the MSC clients like that. Kinda fun though.

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

March 24, 2016 11:30PM

I do merchandising work and met another merchandiser who also is a mystery shopper. She is in my area and we have a little bit of friendly competition going on, and we stay in touch via email and text. A few times she wasn't able to get ahold of a scheduler about a shop that I had done and I was able to give her some clarification on the guidelines and report form. She sends me emails about shops I might like to do when she doesn't have time to do them. It's cool.

March 25, 2016 06:30PM

I'd like to meet some fellow mystery shoppers!

When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
Alexander Den Heijer

March 25, 2016 06:51PM

I was doing a supermarket shop (counting gift cards) and was "recognized" by another mystery shopper who'd done that before at a different location. She recommended a few more companies to sign up with, which I did. Thanks, nice random lady!

March 31, 2016 12:59AM

For the first time a couple weeks ago I met some fellow shoppers during the training at one of the above-mentioned types of restaurants....was nice to talk shop and swap stories of our adventures.

I've messaged a few folks on here....one of which we exchange emails from time to time (but have not yet met in person)...turns out I knew her brother from another group I was involved with for several years. Talk about my worlds colliding!

My mom does mystery shops too so we trade company info back and forth.

Silver certified (since 2009) and willing to do shops all around the greater Chicago, NW Indiana, and Southern Wisconsin areas (including airports!.

March 31, 2016 10:56PM

A few months back I was doing an audit at a storage facility and arrived as another shopper/auditor was in the midst of a different audit at the same location. After some back and forth between the other auditor and the employee, we determined that it was just a great coincidence. I tried but could not get the name of the company she worked for. I don't blame her for not telling me, but I was 2 hours away from home and wanted to do those audits near me!

April 01, 2016 02:23AM

Gosh it was not me....

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I do merchandising work and met another merchandiser who also is a mystery shopper. She is in my area and we have a little bit of friendly competition going on, and we stay in touch via email and text. A few times she wasn't able to get ahold of a scheduler about a shop that I had done and I was able to give her some clarification on the guidelines and report form. She sends me emails about shops I might like to do when she doesn't have time to do them. It's cool.

April 02, 2016 02:36PM

And I am so glad of that. Could you please quit stalking me CANADAMOMMY? Go find something productive to do besides going through all of the posts I write and making snide comments. Geez.

April 02, 2016 03:01PM

Okay, enough. This is a public internet forum. Anyone can post and read here. There is no way to limit posts to a certain group of readers and no way to block any reader from posting and commenting. Although I find the constant comments a bit tiresome, CanadaMommy has not bashed or said anything attacking in any way in recent comments. Her comment in this case was not even what I would consider snide.

Perhaps many of us consider it productive to read and go through the posts made by all posters and make comments. Sometimes snide is in the interpretation of the reader. An option to reduce annoyance would be to use the "Toggle User Visibility" feature to block the posts of chosen forum members from your view. To block all posts from a particular forum member, click on that forum member's name. From the drop-down menu, select "Toggle User Visibility."

Viola! Problem solved. After toggling, no posts from that forum member will be visible to you.

April 02, 2016 03:20PM

Have you ever had anyone follow you around before? It's much worse in person, but stalking is stalking. Go ahead and condone it if you think it's acceptable. At least she doesn't know where I live.

April 02, 2016 03:30PM

Use the Toggle feature. If you toggle her and you are no longer annoyed and constantly commenting on her, I may not need to toggle you. Your posts have become far less valuable since you have begun to fill many of them with your annoyance that CanadaMommy is posting .

Stalking is an over-used term as is bullying. You are both (and, yes, IMHO your behavior has become worse than hers) behaving badly. I suggest you toggle her and the problem would be solved. This was suggested previously but you have chosen not to do it. Instead, you continue to read the comments with annoyance and post your own complaints and attacks. Tiresome.

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