Most of the time it the shirt to look for not the pants, you could has mentioned the color of the pants and not wearing the badge.

@NTALAN wrote:

I have the opposite issue with Five Guys - there's usually two people with the grey polos, so I never know which one it is. If I see one of them doing managery things then I include that in the report.

i did shop yesterday w/2 employees dressed like managers. After ease dropping to their convo, it was 2 managers during a shift change. They were both doing "managery things" & I put that in my report.

When I see someone who could be a manager but isn't wearing a name tag or perhaps isn't wearing the correct clothing, I mention it. I will say, "I did not see anyone I could certainly identify as a manager, but there was one who <describe what he did>." Then I describe him (or her, or them) and let the company decide from the information I provide.

In this type of circumstance, I would have noted this somewhere in the comments section. Whenever I am in doubt or something is questionable on a shop I conduct, I always note this in the comments where appropriate and everything always goes fine.

Hello everyone, I am new to mystery shopping. I would like some help as to how to proceed. Thank you in advance.

@MrYappers wrote:

Why would he want to feel contrite? He thought he did the best job that he did. It sounds, to me anyways, that the constructive criticism/reprimand seems very harsh for this company with very little one can do to defend themselves. I haven't been doing this for this company very long but I have been in the field of installing movie standees for a company in California. Same thing, they give you work, you have to do it, submit it, etc. I've never ever been treated like they ASSUME I am telling a lie. I am respected and treated as such. It seems, after reading this, and this is just my impression, that the company assumes you are a liar or screw up.

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I agree, I would not have liked the tone of that comment. They wouldn't have to worry about deactivating me I would probably just put them at the bottom of my list.

I was at a fine dining shop and I had two people present themselves as in charge.

1. He was wearing a three piece suit and it didn't come off the rack of the Men's Warehouse. He was doing everything from busing tables to refilling non bar drinks across the whole dining room. He did not appear to be doing table touches as a manager would and waited on every table he touched including refilling my drink.

2. He was much older than every other employee and was dressed in a comfortable pair of khakis and a loose button down shirt with the top three buttons open. He occasionally would randomly walk through the dining room and perform table touches and chat with what appeared to be regulars. I managed to get his name.

Sure enough, when I was fumbling with the mints at the front of the restaurant, I saw the business cards and without touching them I determined that #2 was the franchise owner and that left #1 to be the manager. I left #2 out of the report, as they don't want to read descriptions about themselves.


I have also had the manager wear the standard uniform at a fast casual before. For example, If they come to work wearing a grey shirt and it becomes soiled, they will have plenty of red shirts to change into in the back.

At another fast casual, the manager is often identified only by them performing manager type activities. The manager can be young and female. Never discount someone as being a manager because of age or gender. They are reaching manager status at a younger age than before.

Why would the gender ever make any difference whatsoever?

For age, especially at fast casual/fast food restaurants (especially Subway), I have seen teenagers in a manager role. Usually they are not the store manager but a shift leader acting in the manager role (so for the shop purposes, they are the manager). If a teenager starts at a restaurant when they are 15-16, by the time they are 17, they have more seniority than anyone else except the store manager usually. When my son worked at Hollister, his regular manager was 19 and they asked my son (who was barely 18 at the time) if he wanted to get into a managing role.

@lbw1000 wrote:

Why would the gender ever make any difference whatsoever?

It doesn't, and it shouldn't. But I'm guessing that scanman was alluding to the still-common (though not nearly as much anymore) perception that the men are the managers. Especially in the food-service business, because that's how it used to be. As shoppers, we're more aware that that stereotype no longer holds true. But, unfortunately, some people may still subconsciously hold on to that misconception. So, for them it might be important to not assume who the manager is, but judge only by dress or behavior. Same with age.

I have done lunch shops at a steak and rib place (casual to high-end). At lunch, this place is very quiet. They usually only have 2-3 on staff. 2 servers who act as hostess as needed, and maybe a bartender, though I haven't been in the bar. I state that there is no manager because nobody was visiting tables other than the server. There is usually no more than 2 other tables occupied. I observe the roles of anybody I can see from the dining room and go by that.

Don't lie, EVER!

I have had to tell a few schedulers that I'm positive I've been found out. They have worked with it.
And then they work with it when assigning me other assignments.

Do Not Lie EVER!

@1JJ wrote:

I've been doing the best buy announced audits for about the past year.

Side question: how long do those really take? I've considered them, but $90 for 8 hours work isn't enough. If it really only takes 4 or 5, it might be worth it.

@NTALAN wrote:

I have the opposite issue with Five Guys - there's usually two people with the grey polos, so I never know which one it is. If I see one of them doing managery things then I include that in the report.

I did a shop the other day where there were only four crew members in the store, all with grey shirts.

I was told that when they can't schedule "regular" employees, that managers are called in to pick up the slack. So, it is quite possible to have multiple gray shirts, or just gray shirts. The only thing that should be impossible is no gray shirts.

@myst4au wrote:

I was told that when they can't schedule "regular" employees, that managers are called in to pick up the slack. So, it is quite possible to have multiple gray shirts, or just gray shirts. The only thing that should be impossible is no gray shirts.

I believe that. I had just never had it happen before that day.

@must4au I recently had the same thing happen. There were four managers and no red shirt staff. Apparently this location is having a lot of issues hiring/keeping staff so the managers had to cover shifts.

I just kept noting that no red shirt staff members were present and all four were wearing the manager "Gray" shirts. The report was accepted without question. The truth is the truth and if explained properly in the report, there shouldn't be any issue .

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/02/2016 04:09PM by coleejo13.