On your own time shopping

August 23, 2015 01:21AM

Do you ever wish that you were "on the job" when shopping on your own time? You know, like when you go into a restaurant, get horrible service and wish that you had someone to tell about it.

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August 23, 2015 01:29AM

Trust me, I have told them about it. The most recent 'on our own' it was 18:36 before we were greeted. Another 8:14 our beverages were brought. The server indicated he would be 'right back'. When he wasn't after another 10:12, we got up to leave. I stopped with the hostess and told her we just couldn't wait longer for someone to take our orders so I would like to pay for our beverages. She went pale, stammered a bit and asked me to wait while she went for the manager. I gave him my timings and reason for leaving. He comped the beverages and gave us BOGO coupons for entrees and a free appetizer card for next time. He asked me to point out who our server was, and I did. He requested that next time we arrive we ask the hostess to send him to our table and he would see that we were properly served.

August 23, 2015 02:12AM

Actually Flash's experience is why I much prefer to be on my own time when receiving bad service. Bad service on a shop means a lot more work and never knowing if the issue was addressed.

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.

August 23, 2015 02:19AM

The flip side of that, LisaSTL, is that I usually don't get bad service or bad food on restaurant shops because management has been clear with staff about their expectations and are enforcing it.

August 23, 2015 03:32AM

Absolutely not.

It is good for me to get out of the vigilant mode that we are in when we are mystery shopping.

On my time, I enter a relaxed zone. I appreciate. I enjoy.

Great question!

Who said so? Why did they say it?!

August 23, 2015 03:34AM

Oh, yeah. Totally. It's not necessarily so much that I wish I had someone to tell, because you still can do that, but with some of these, you just wish that you could imagine the looks on the schedulers', clients', or editors' faces. Especially when an employee does something funny.

August 23, 2015 04:00AM

We went out for dinner tonight to a nice restaurant for my husband's birthday. I found myself thinking how I would describe the servers if I was on a job. (I need to practice judging height and age because I'm a terrible judge of those.) Then, I snapped out of it and just enjoyed the meal, as well as the service.

August 23, 2015 04:06AM

Nope, because I report bad service and such if it is enough to rankle me. I have no qualms about asking for a manager, either when I'm there or later via a phone call. ;}

August 23, 2015 04:11AM

I shop at a grocery store that I also periodically "mystery" shop. Sometimes I grin at my sister as we shop and say "it's a good thing". She knows that means it's a good thing I am not mystery shopping at that moment or the store would not be getting a good report.

August 23, 2015 09:59AM

Why were you timing when you were out on your own dime? :-) When things like that happen to me, I always wish I had noted the time, because by the time I've waited long enough to get annoyed, it's too late to start timing.

@Flash wrote:

Trust me, I have told them about it. The most recent 'on our own' it was 18:36 before we were greeted. Another 8:14 our beverages were brought. The server indicated he would be 'right back'. When he wasn't after another 10:12, we got up to leave. I stopped with the hostess and told her we just couldn't wait longer for someone to take our orders so I would like to pay for our beverages. She went pale, stammered a bit and asked me to wait while she went for the manager. I gave him my timings and reason for leaving. He comped the beverages and gave us BOGO coupons for entrees and a free appetizer card for next time. He asked me to point out who our server was, and I did. He requested that next time we arrive we ask the hostess to send him to our table and he would see that we were properly served.

August 23, 2015 04:36PM

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. (Aesop)

My personal eating/shopping/whatevering is better without shop requirements which preclude spontenaity, flow, relaxation, and good digestion.

Who can digest food while secreting the knowledge that a measly second may mean someone's failure or relegation to reeducation?!? Where is the pleasure in that?

Who said so? Why did they say it?!

August 23, 2015 05:54PM

@Roxie wrote:

Why were you timing when you were out on your own dime? :-) When things like that happen to me, I always wish I had noted the time, because by the time I've waited long enough to get annoyed, it's too late to start timing.

Some habits are automatic, such as automatically glancing at my watch with various occurrences and making a mental note of it. When this is obviously going to be a bomb I do write the information down because, as in this instance, somebody needs to deal with it.

August 28, 2015 08:28PM

@sillysister74 wrote:

Do you ever wish that you were "on the job" when shopping on your own time? You know, like when you go into a restaurant, get horrible service and wish that you had someone to tell about it.

An interesting post.

Interesting because it assumes that a mystery shop report is the only way to tell them about the service. Flash's example above is a great example of how to report poor service. However, have you gone out of your way to recognize terrific service? How about telling the manager on site? Writing a letter to the corporate office? I have.

The point is service that needs to be reported can and should be reported. Good or bad, go for it!

Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut

August 28, 2015 09:02PM

I have always reported good and bad service. I like to make sure that workers who go out of their way to be helpful get recognition and those who are slumming are reported.

August 28, 2015 09:07PM

@Shop-et-al wrote:

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. (Aesop)

I thought I had read all of his fables but I don't recognize that quote. Which one is it? I want to read it.

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

August 28, 2015 10:24PM

It is from "The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse"

@LJ wrote:

@Shop-et-al wrote:

A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety. (Aesop)

I thought I had read all of his fables but I don't recognize that quote. Which one is it? I want to read it.

Shopping South Jersey, Southeast Pennsylvania, and Delaware above the canal since 2008

August 29, 2015 12:27AM

@LisaSTL wrote:

Actually Flash's experience is why I much prefer to be on my own time when receiving bad service. Bad service on a shop means a lot more work and never knowing if the issue was addressed.

I have actually had non-shoppers say things like, "So you like getting people in trouble?". 1. If they get in trouble, they did it to themselves. I just observed. 2. NO, I don't like it when they screw up because I have to type up 10X more detail and some MSCs asked why whatever it was happened. I don't know "why" and they won't accept that or "they did a poor job of hiring?".

August 29, 2015 03:03AM

I don't have that worry because no one knows I'm a shopper. :}

August 29, 2015 12:32PM

I've had that experience too. It seems most non-shoppers seem to think the job is strictly to catch employees being overtly rude or dishonest, and getting them fired. They also seem to think it's a super easy job too.
If they only knew!

August 30, 2015 09:22PM

Thanks Myst.

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

August 30, 2015 09:53PM

I had terrible service at a GS that does their own mystery shopping in-house. Normally it's my favorite rest-stop on regional routes. This location was uniquely terrible... ridiculous wait for MTO food, super-long line at the register, unsat restroom. No seating available. Why? There were twenty employees crammed into the seating area listening to a regional manager conduct training. It was like junior high, with rolling eyes, whispered snide comments, phones being checked under the tables, etc. I wrote it all up like a report and sent it to the company HQ. Received two phone calls, a handwritten apology, a $20 gas card and five coupons for free coffee.

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