I do not live in NV or NJ, so my experience is relying only on "day shops" here in Arizona.
Know this: After I start writing up the report, I always whine that I will NEVER EVER do another casino shop. But call me a sucker for punishment, because yeeup, I'm back the next month.. (in fact, I am working on the days for October that we are open so the AM can assign us, LOL)
Normally we will complete 2 casinos back to back. We do not have a set time we have to *stay* there - such as 8 hours, or 11 PM - 3 PM. My husband does 3 per month, I do 3 per month. He and I work in tandem doing the shops. I will have my cell phone, and after each interaction, I text the information to his phone, so I now have the info and the "time" of the interaction. The only time I don't pull out my phone is when we are at the table games, as you cannot. (which I found out when a dealer kindly informed me)
When the shop is assigned in my name, I am the one who goes to the Players Club, and asks all of the questions of the employees/interactions. When the shop is assigned in my DH's name, he is the one who will complete the interactions. Same for the gambling - in my name, I do the gambling, in his name, he does the gambling. We don't combine winnings & losses (that's cheating the MSC & Client). Now, of course the other will play. I'm cheap, so I usually will only spend $10, but whomever is the "non-shopper" gets a small allowance of course.
The Shopper's "gambling money to lose for reimbursement" is what each of us is reimbursed from the previous month. eg: DH was reimbursed $55 in August at Casino A - so he had $55 to play at Casino A in September. At Casino B, I was reimbursed $60 in August, so I had $60 to play with at Casino B in September.
Basically, the reimbursement is our "fun money" for the month. Even though I have to write up the reports - I at least get paid for it. We don't go out much, we can't afford to do so. By going to the casinos - even as a shop - we at least can get out of the house and have some "fun time".
There are typically 9-11 interactions per casino for the shops that we do.
Since DH and I have been doing these for months together, we know exactly which way to proceed on the shops. We've recently changed things up. Our two biggest issues: (1) making sure we interact with a different employee each time; (2) trying to come up with another "open-ended question" to ask the employees. We feel like we have run the gamut of questions to ask Casino Employees, LOL! (if anyone reading this has any suggestions, please post!)
The hardest part is the write up of the report. The report is due within 24 hours. I have never, ever, ever turned in a report in less than 36 hours. I just cannot get it completed. When we get back from the casino, I need the next day to literally decompress. Some of the report forms have over 500 questions on them, including narratives on the interactions. I think that of all of these shops, all of the questions and narratives, I've only had 2 questions from the editor over the past 10 months. Both were clarifications on the names. It just so happened that one of the servers had the male spelling of her name, and the other question was because a tech and valet both had the same - unique - name.
If you can get past the fear of not remembering the interaction and what was said, the time, etc - then they really are not that bad. I personally don't mind narratives, I actually LIKE writing up the narratives. If you are not a narrative person, then they are not for you.
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Proud To Be A Soldier's Mom