I'm pretty sure I got ID'ed as a mystery shopper today. I do the same convenience store/gas station every few weeks. Today I think they saw me snapping a picture of the gas pumps. One of the employees made up an 'excuse' to come outside and take a look at me too.

Sigh...what do I do now? I really felt that I got ID'ed... I guess I have to stop going to this place now. I'm upset I got caught and I really liked this shop; it was quick, easy, on my commute home, and was very repetitive....

It happens to the best of us! They will act like you are a customer; and you will act like it's normal to take pictures in a gas station.

Just report it anyways.... You don't know if you've been outed.

If it is a well kept station that is in compliance with what the are supposed to do, they won't acknowledge that they think you are the shopper and you won't acknowledge that you are anything other than an ordinary customer. If the location is doing it right and getting good reports as a result, there is little reason for them to rock the boat. Who knows, their next shopper might have the mistaken notion that a gas station needs to have hospital level cleanliness and high end retail level of service.

I was also spotted at a gas station that I pass everyday on my work route. After being spotted taking pictures of graffiti on a pump I now stop by every so often and when not in my work uniform refuse the receipt. "I'm not working today so I'm paying not the boss." When asked why I was taking pictures of the pump. "I have a friend in NY who does not believe gas is $1.92."

It would be pretty amazing if they didn't recognize the shopper. Even if they don't catch you taking photo's, the purchase of small in-store item needing receipt along with bathroom visit and for some shops using the tire air/water, makes a shopper stand out no matter how great of an actor they are.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2016 04:34AM by wwin.

Thinking about it, the clerk NOT recognizing the shopper is probably information​ of true value to a client. If a clerk isn't observant enough to recognize a shopper what other observations might they be missing?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/23/2016 04:41AM by wwin.

I wonder if I was recognized as a shopper when I took a picture of the convenience store clerk not wearing the correct shirt? Of course, I tried to be discrete.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

I wonder if I was recognized as a shopper when I took a picture of the convenience store clerk not wearing the correct shirt? Of course, I tried to be discrete.

That's a crazy requirement for a gas station mystery shop.
The requirements make us very suspicious. I have found though that when I pump a little more then the gas requirement, usually $2, at a mystery shop, no one even looks at me twice. I did have an astute gas station owner two months ago while fuel sticker spotting come out and say, "So I bet you shop us too! I really wish our shoppers would use gift cards and not credit cards. The fees on $2 purchases really make it pointless for us." I had only shopped this station one time before, and it was about six months prior. So I felt safe in saying, "Never been here, but I will make note of that if you want." That station is officially crossed off my list now for shopping purposes!

@HonnyBrown wrote:

I wonder if I was recognized as a shopper when I took a picture of the convenience store clerk not wearing the correct shirt? Of course, I tried to be discrete.

In these cases, I hold my phone up to my face as if it's time for a selfie, turn off my flash, and start smiling and making faces. Sometimes I'll even talk to it like I'm facetiming. I also have a bluetooth headset that is actually dead/broken, but I'll stick it in and pretend to be talking to my boyfriend, mom, etc. Whatever we gotta do to fake it and get that photo.

clinen, that's what I did. I took a "selfie" while getting a picture of the clerk. He did a GQ pose anyway.

I do a lot of gas stations. I like doing them and the pay is reasonable, at least the ones I do. However, I will not do a pure mystery shop station taking stealthy pictures. In fact I won't do the one that pays for only $2.00 in gas. That's less than a gallon. I use a gift card for all of my stations. I'm sure the CSR has no suspicions when I hand him a gift card, with as much as $50 on it, and ask for $2.00 worth of gas. And then go inside, ask for the key to the restroom and then buy a $1.00 product asking for a receipt. The CSR knows why I am there long before I give him the LOA.

Honestly, these types of threads always make me smile. I worked in restaurants for a long time and have a friend who worked in banks. 90% of the time, we ALWAYS knew who the mystery shopper was... unless it was a phone call because those are waaaaay trickier. I actually had no idea, before I started doing this, that if you were identified at any point then you had failed. But honestly, the questions and circumstances, the way we all carry ourselves and just the general vibe given off makes employees at least QUESTION that we MIGHT be a shopper. Sure, you're never sure but you mostly know. At least that's been my experience. Either way, unless you're positive, I'd report anyway. He might have suspected but then again, he may have had no clue.

I'm sure that I had been tagged as the shopper at one high end grocery store because the report required the actual question I asked the associate. Well, the associate that I happened to interact with on one visit was the store manager. I'm sure the manager received the report and probably put 2 and 2 together. So, every time I'm doing that shop and if that manager was present, he will come over, say hi, and offer a sample of any kind.

We are told, from Trendsource, not to question a Manager as one of the required Grocery Associate evaluation, right? I'm going to go look. I stay away from the store Managers always.

It is best to lie low. You may be excluded from all of the shops for the client.

On second thought, it might be good to sow seeds of confusion. I was told by a customers at a grocery store that they thought I was a mystery shopper. A friend picked up the shop. I would go there at a different time but within the time frame. I did this for a couple of months. I noticed at first I received attention, then it tapered off as time went by.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/25/2016 07:50AM by whosear.

@spicy1 wrote:

We are told, from Trendsource, not to question a Manager as one of the required Grocery Associate evaluation, right? I'm going to go look. I stay away from the store Managers always.

Not for the shops that I have done for them (about five different grocery store chains), but they shop so many places with different requirements that I would not be surprised if that is a requirement for some of them.

While everyone is feeling hohum about being outed as a MS for a gas station, we need to keep in mind that a majority of these GS gets shopped EVERY month or quarter, whether it is by you, me or someone else. If I am OUTED by a GS attendant, then I hope the next time you see me "YOU are in compliance"

While the attendant seems to questions why we are at their station so much. We, as shoppers, can only do what we are required to do. 6 out of 10, attendants will be the same each time you perform the GS shop. Theft is a high cost of living among attendant. I never worry when I do a mystery reveal, because the last attendant won't be there this time. If he is------>ah so well, I have a job to do.

@ggm2016 wrote:

@spicy1 wrote:

We are told, from Trendsource, not to question a Manager as one of the required Grocery Associate evaluation, right? I'm going to go look. I stay away from the store Managers always.

Not for the shops that I have done for them (about five different grocery store chains), but they shop so many places with different requirements that I would not be surprised if that is a requirement for some of them.

Same here. I shop one grocery Client for TS, and there have been MANY times when the ONLY store Associate to be found anywhere in the aisles is a Manager, so I have played dumb and questioned him/her about some item. I've never had any issues with doing that.

My boyfriend works for a cell phone company and he's told me that they know right away who the shopper is because of the requirement to ask for three specific phone recommendations. I'm not saying don't follow the instructions, but you can get the information needed in a less obvious manner if you're creative and put some thought into it.

I am well known as the MS at my local hardware store. I have heard them say there is the mystery shopper as I walk by. I never request the shops and let them know when they call to schedule me. They ask me to do it anyway - usually with a huge bonus. I mean how often can my sink need a new aerator without being replaced?

If the don't rat you out, don't sweat it.

All of my regular gas stations, reveal or not, know me. It changes virtually nothing about their audit.

Me too, since I do the reveal and I pick up the reveal most of the employees know me. I try to go on different days and during different hours for the non-reveal. They are always replacing the second shift people. Also, they change shifts at 2pm so I try to get them right at 2 so their still too frazzled to even notice me.

I went shopping at a discount grocery store and the first thing I pickled up was out of date. I check everything that goes into my cart out of habit.

I tossed it in the cart to show the manager as expired refrigerated breakfast sausage is dangerous.

Then I get to the long row of reach in freezers and and grab a bag of completely defrosted onion rings. The unit with mostly processed meat products was reading 43 degrees and way into the red on the thermometer. Then I walk down the line of freezers and look at the temperature gauges and spot a second unit that is reading 48 degrees and was fully stocked with TV dinners.

I find the manager and show him the three bad violations and he seems to not really seem all that upset about it. I have shopped this chain before where there is an open photo audit after the mystery shop portion and can't help but tell him that I'm going out to my car and getting my clipboard and I'll be right back.

The look on his face was priceless. He then asked me if I was the mystery shopper and got very concerned. I advised him to "waste" the food in the broken freezers and just walked out.

I decided not to buy anything from that store. I shopped a neighbouring store in the same plaza and when I walked past the store and looked inside, there were two employees taking inventory and emptying the freezers. I might have prevented someone from being sick. To mislead him that I might be the a shopper forced him to do the right thing.

I wonder how long he was on edge waiting for me to come back with some paperwork. The manager and employees all changed since I last shopped that location as it has been that long since I completed that assignment as the pay was well below the time required.

I have piercings and tattoos... large tattoos in a lot of places... I did it when I was a teenager and they're not going anywhere... so I use them to my advantage when the guidelines do not prohibit it. I can cover them all up with nice dress casual clothes, closed shoes, and a watch... but occasionally it's fun to do a shop where I'm sure these folks expect it to be a 35-55 year old business professional type and what ends up happening is the 27 year old punk rock, metal looking chick with a lip ring and tattoos everywhere is the sneak that did their audit that day. I know this type of dress could make me stand out, but I keep that in mind on shops. There are some adult shops where this is fun to do, and some punk/metal type shops where this is also fun to do.

Scanman,
I was also in a grocery store once....a major chain in our area....I wasn't doing a shop, but this location is one where I'd MS'd before, and do now when I can. Anyhow, they had one of those "coffins", as they call them, large open-cased freezers in the aisle in the freezer/meat section, full of boxes of brand name breakfast sausages. I contemplated buying a box until I picked it up.....totally soft and mushy!! So I checked several of them....all soft and mushy! I found the meat manager and showed him, and then just walked away. It wasn't 5 minutes till there were 3 managers and several buggies being filled with that product and being hauled off to the back. Like you, I feel I did something helpful. Whether or not they thought I was the MS'er was not in my mind at all. I have been back and MS'd that location since, but no one seems to notice!

I recall that one is not supposed to do that. I've had two shops in which there was only one focus department. I had no individuals on that report even though there was a manager. My guess is that if you only found one person to ask in the whole store and it was a manager, then nothing is going back up the hill to roll down the other side on you.

You're correct. No managers, if you can identify them.

I felt like I may have been pegged yesterday because the store employee was so nice, so helpful, and overly friendly/social. After spending an hour in the store eating, I realized I wasn't identified... and this poor employee was the only one working. She was just bored. The next customer who came in received the same treatment as me and as customers came and went she kept chit chatting. She also cleaned the entire time I was there and rearranged things, etc. The place looked immaculate and the poor girl working looked like she was going crazy for things to do. It was an ice cream shop and it's cold here. Here business was slow and she seemed bored. Of course, as a product of this, I had her in 80% of my secret pictures I snapped. I couldn't avoid it so I used my purse cam and snapped away. Only feedback I received was just to be sure to pick the best shots next time. They appreciate the extra photos but I sent too many haha.