@cordener wrote:
Suggestion for timings in restaurants - I have a "spy camera" pen which will record up to 90 minutes. I clip it into a pocket or stick it on my purse, turned on and facing the server, and it catches everything for me. I get them myself as well, but if I miss something, I have backup. All the conversation gets recorded. I watch the video when I get home (plug the pen into the computer USB port) and take notes on timing, exact quotes, etc. Best $30 I ever spent. It may not be legal where you are, but where I live, it's legal to video any interaction in which you participate. Great for hotels, checking in and out, too, and for interactions with sales clerks.
I love this idea! I think I will do it.
Op, I'm still "new" time-wise, as I did my first shop in December last year, but I dove in head-first in January and have logged over 600 shops, so I feel like while I still have a lot to learn, I've gained a decent amount of experience in that short amount of time. Honestly, I find resturant shops the most daunting initially. They often require more exact details (like back to back timing to the second) than other shops, and all these observations are supposed to occur back to back, during an interaction that may only last 10 second. How long before host seated you, did they stay servers name? How long til server greeted you? Name of server, description, specials offered, did they ask if you were celebrating something? Did they up sell? Did they state "x" specific greeting...im supposed to remember all those thing without taking obvious notes, and be able to respond and engage with the server without pausing to think or asking them to repeat something because I wasn't listening???...Thats a lot to take in! I don't think I've done a single resturant for the first time without getting to the report and coming across some question that I forgot I was supposed to note. Often I can recall what happened anyways, but I just got lucky. One time I had to admit I forgot to go to the restroom...I got sent back to the location. Fortunately it was a location where I could get in and just go to the restroom without being noticed, so I didn't have to make another purchase.
I also generally dislike shops that require you to take someone. I've taken 4 different people (all close family) on multiple shops. Even when I think I've explained every single thing they need to know, they still often do something to screw it up in some way.
My dad asked at a children's museum food court, when a busser was nearby "how many different booths do you still have?" and "well if Mason wants a hot dog go get it. What? Oh you have to wait another 3 minutes? Why's that?"
Mother in law claimed the very first barstool she got to at the end of the bar, and called out her order before I'd even had time to help the short old lady onto the barstool... All of a sudden I'm supposed to be timing how long it took to make the drink and serve the drink, as well as observing pour count, if the order was rung into the register, and so on... But I don't have a hand free to start a timer, and all the bar tending action is happening behind my back because of the seat she chose, and wouldn't it look odd if I constantly turned away from the person I'd come with? When sitting in the dining room she asked "now what am I supposed to order?"
When we were still together, my husband thought he was helping at a casino shop, and whispered "it's 2:13. Four people in line. 3 Employees but only 2 windows open. Now 3 in line but with 2 open windows." Well, half a second later the other employee (who was the cage manager) opened her window and waved me over. Coincidence? Nope, the look on her face told me she heard some of it at least. Luckily, she just thought he was a impatient jerk (but this made me mortified to be cashing in my 7 cent winnings voucher).
The only guest I've taken who didn't jeopardize a shop was my brother. And that was probably because he didn't really care. All he heard was "meal I don't have to pay for." And wasn't interested enough to care about the details surround how or why.