Hey, I saw you at the other store!

January 06, 2015 03:27AM

An employee at a fast casual said to me, "Hey, I saw you at our other store a few days ago" I said, "Oh really?" He said, "Yeah, it's weird, but you see that customer over there in the green shirt?"

I looked over and a man in a green shirt was eating his lunch. The employee said, "I've seen you at our other stores and I always see that guy in the green shirt at many of our stores too!" (he said it all so innocently and I did not take it that he though I was a shopper...).

I snuck another look at the guy in the green shirt and thought to myself: '"Could it be?? Could he be a shopper too?" I ate quickly and got the heck out of there! lol

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January 06, 2015 03:34AM

Don't mention that part in your report!!

January 06, 2015 04:38AM

Makes me wonder why the employee was at the other stores.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

January 06, 2015 04:52AM

Hmmm. Sounds like he figured it out. But I tend to be paranoid about these things. I'm always worried about being caught.

January 06, 2015 05:34AM

Why would two mystery shoppers be shopping the same location at the same time? Is that a thing?

January 06, 2015 08:41AM

I'd not even blink before I replied, "I travel all over the metro area for my job <Insert plausible traveling job here>, and know I can always get a good quick lunch at <Fast Casual>, so I probably did eat there the other day." and just move move on as if nothing is amiss.

This guy was trying to rattle you and didn't know if you were a shopper. Especially since he was accusing another person dining at the same time as being the shopper.

January 06, 2015 12:49PM

Just this past Saturday, a customer at the gas station I was shopping, asked me if I was the "Secret Shopper". I just smiled and nodded.

Thankfully, it was after the reveal.

January 06, 2015 03:44PM

@dspeakes wrote:

Makes me wonder why the employee was at the other stores.

He fills in for vacations I think. He said he has worked the other stores...

January 06, 2015 03:46PM

@CoffeeQueen wrote:

Why would two mystery shoppers be shopping the same location at the same time? Is that a thing?

I've actually seen on the job board multiple jobs for the same location, same dates. I wondered too if the green shirt guy was doing what I was doing?

January 06, 2015 04:21PM

I had two grocery shops a while ago. The first shop was on Tuesday at one location. The second shop was Wednesday at another location.

As part of the shop, I asked an associate at the first store about an item and she talked to me for a while about it, what kind of party I was having, etc. When I walked into the 2nd location on the next day, the same girl was standing near the entrance. She smiled and waved at me. I high-tailed it out of the store and cancelled the shop, explaining to the scheduler why I couldn't complete it.

I waited several months before doing the shop again and thankfully, I've not seen the same person at either store again.

It happens and it caused a high level of anxiety for a few minutes.

January 06, 2015 04:45PM

Why would anyone be concerned about being at a different locations of the same store or restaurant? Does everyone only go to the exact same McDonald's, Five Guys or grocery store?

I have never shopped a Starbuck's yet have visited at least a dozen different locations in just the last six months. One of my local grocery stores has three locations within ten minutes of me. There have been many weeks when I have visited two out of the three within days of each other.

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.

January 06, 2015 06:38PM

Sunny, did you put the box around the quotes in your posts above or is that a forum change? I like it. It is much easier to read and determine what, exactly, is being quoted.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

January 06, 2015 06:40PM

It looks like a forum wide change and makes me wonder what's going to happen when some of us try to cut down long quotes in order to address the relevant sections.

January 06, 2015 07:11PM

@LisaSTL wrote:

...what's going to happen when some of us try to cut down long quotes

It will do this.

January 06, 2015 07:13PM

@LisaSTL wrote:

I like change.

Okay, this is an experiment. I quoted the post above and cut some words and letters out of it to see what would happen.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

January 06, 2015 07:14PM

Oops someone beat me to it and now I'm not quoting the post above.

I like it though. Very much.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

January 06, 2015 07:54PM

@LJ wrote:

@LisaSTL wrote:

I like change.

Okay, this is an experiment. I quoted the post above and cut some words and letters out of it to see what would happen.

@elcarev68 wrote:

@LisaSTL wrote:

...what's going to happen when some of us try to cut down long quotes

It will do this.

We're getting there... but still a couple more years out-of-date.

It's about time the forum migrated to using HTML. Now to add multi-quoting and additional HTML options such as bolding, italicizing, underlining, etc.

Very infrequently shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado these days.

January 06, 2015 08:04PM

Didn't mean to hijack the thread, so I'm going to start a new one in the forum meta.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

January 06, 2015 08:08PM

elcare68 wrote:

"We're getting there... but still a couple more years out-of-date.

It's about time the forum migrated to using HTML. Now to add multi-quoting and additional HTML options such as bolding, italicizing, underlining, etc." (/quote) (I somehow screwed up the new-fangled box.)

Elcarev68, you should start a thread in Meta, saying exactly that.

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2015 08:35PM by stilllearning.

January 06, 2015 08:13PM

I wouldn't think eating at different locations of the same fast casual restaurant is odd for a "regular" customer to do.
I frequent the same 3 Paneras and 2 Starbucks when not shopping. It just depends on which area I'm in that day and who is accompanying me.

I think that the employee was trying to "out" you.

January 06, 2015 08:34PM

I run into the same employees at different locations quite frequently, especially gas stations and banks. I did a gas station one day in one town and another gas station in another town on the following day for the same client. The same employee waited on me at both locations. Neither one of us said anything besides the usual "hello" and "thank you."

January 06, 2015 08:39PM

@Tatjana wrote:

Just this past Saturday, a customer at the gas station I was shopping, asked me if I was the "Secret Shopper". I just smiled and nodded.

Thankfully, it was after the reveal.

I never admit to being a mystery shopper even on reveal shops. I just say that I am an auditor hired by XYZ Company (aka the client.) Some businesses/locations do mystery shops and revealed audits or special program arise from time-to-time. I will never out myself as a MS'er.

January 06, 2015 09:39PM

@stilllearning wrote:

elcare68 wrote:

"We're getting there... but still a couple more years out-of-date.

It's about time the forum migrated to using HTML. Now to add multi-quoting and additional HTML options such as bolding, italicizing, underlining, etc." (/quote) (I somehow screwed up the new-fangled box.)

Elcarev68, you should start a thread in Meta, saying exactly that.

(heart)

I'm flattered that you thought that I would be capable of such a thing, but that was Tarantado that you're quoting.

January 06, 2015 09:56PM

Hahaha! Yes, I admit, I do believe in you, elcarev68.......and admire you.

So-o-o-o-o.........Tarantado, LJ has already started a thread in Meta and I recommend that you post your valuable suggestions, since it appears Jacob definitely reads Meta.

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.

January 06, 2015 10:36PM

I gave a suggestion once on making the webpage easier to read on mobile devices in response to that very subject. If he's not using up to date HTML that is probably why it came up in the first place.

Kim

January 06, 2015 11:26PM

I love the box quotes!

January 07, 2015 01:46AM

@Sybil2 wrote:

I never admit to being a mystery shopper even on reveal shops. I just say that I am an auditor hired by XYZ Company (aka the client.) Some businesses/locations do mystery shops and revealed audits or special program arise from time-to-time. I will never out myself as a MS'er.

Same here. Sometimes the employee will even say something like, "Oh, you're the shopper?" I just respond with, "No, I'm here to complete an audit," or something along those lines. It feels wrong to ever admit to being a shopper, even after the reveal.

January 07, 2015 02:06AM

@SunnyDays2 wrote:

I love the box quotes!

You could always use the box quotes by putting the BBCODE {QUOTE=name} and {/quote} in by hand, but it's now implemented automatically.

Look at this test post to see how to do all of the formatting:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

January 07, 2015 02:28AM

I like the box quotes also. It makes it faster to read instead of having to wade through a long quote just to get to the commentary. By the way, what does HTML stand for?

January 07, 2015 02:30AM

Hyper Text Markup Language

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

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