I had one a very rare occurence on my last route a few days ago while shopping a very popular retail store deep in Texas. While going to the dressing room, I turned the corner and came face to face with a guy that I had previousy shopped at his store in Florida only 45 days before. It had appeared that this guy may have been on vacation, due to the fact that he was in regular clothes.

When I first saw him, I just said "Hi", as did he and kept walking toward the dressing room. I looked back briefly, hoping to see if he may have recognized me. I do not think that he did, yet based on this man's appearance, it was clearly the same person that I had shopped. The feeling that I had was one of being punched in the stomach while thinking to myself "How in the world could this be possible?"

One of the biggest reasons why this guy stood out was the fact that while in his Florida store, I was very much ignored for the entire duration. This was an interesting thing, considering that I was the only person in the store that day. Of course, the Florida report did not go very well. While the Texas interactions with the other store employees went very well, I had the slight feeling that the Florida guy may have tipped them off that I was the shopper. Again, none of this was ever confirmed, yet this was a hunch that I felt.

I contacted my scheduler immediately, and she had a laugh about it. Considering that this was a video shop, I asked if having the same employee on video at 2 different stores that were 1200 miles apart and just over 30 days apart would make a difference in that MSC accepting the shop. She noted that it more than likely wouldn't, considering that the guy was on his day off and on vacation.

The morale of my story is that you just never know what you may see while shopping, even when separated by cities that are 1200 miles apart. Just thought that I would share this experience.

Good thing you have video. Otherwise, who would believe this! lol

If he ignored you like you said he did at the first store, he might not have recognized you consciously. His subconscious mind might have registered, "I know that guy from somewhere," or perhaps just, "I wonder who he reminds me of" without him actually realizing, "Dang, that's the shopper who fried me last month."

But what a coincidence. It truly is a small world sometimes.

That's definitely a WOW!


Jimmymc25

eric I think you may be paranoid lol

It's said that everyone has a doppelganger.

Hardly paranoid, phreespeechlives. This experience was very much unexpected. Its one thing to see one a person that you have shopped in another town nearby. Its quite extraordinary to see the same person that you had reported negative results in the same type of store almost halfway across the country. All on video, no less. My biggest concern was more of what the client and the MSC would have said if this person knew that he was shopped before, recognized me as the shopper, and then ruined the integrity of the visit by tipping off the shopped employees of this store. What was at stake was making certain that I wasn't "made" nor diminishing the quality of the shop interaction in the eyes of the client, where I would not have gotten paid for this shop or future shops in this particular store chain.

To accuse a video route shopper of paranoia is proof you know nothing of that part of our industry. Just because we are on the other side of the camera does not mean we are guaranteed anonymity. If a target reviews the video they will hear our voices and have a view of the interaction that goes beyond even the most detailed of written reports.

It's not being paranoid when they're really after you, and they are.