@Flash wrote:
It does get easier. I use a little spiral pad as my 'grocery list'. I note the departments I need to visit as well as the time I must spend so 'M*2/1' tells me that in the meat department I need to make a special purchase (the *), I need to browse 2 min and look for help 1 min. As I go into the department I reset and start the stopwatch on my wristwatch. When I am assisted I can shut down the stopwatch without looking at it. When I leave the department I add '2:28 SEQTY' which tells me I was in the department for 2 min and 28 sec before being assisted. I got a smile, eye contact, they answered my question, which was the cooking temperature question and yes, they handled my special request.
If in some department there was nobody during the time I was required to be there, that department's line gets just an N. If they didn't smile or give eye contact, the S or E will have a / through it. If they answered my question with help the Q becomes QLU if they looked up the information or QOA if the asked another associate. Things that don't fit normal parameters will get a note.
The front page of the spiral has the acceptable questions by department in case I go brain dead, the page for the shop has space at the top for time in/time out as well as the address and the hours I can be in store. That stuff and the lines for the specific departments are set up at home. If there is something 'odd' like stock checks, they are on the back of the page before the shop's page so I can just turn the pad over and cross off items as I find them.
As I go to enter the store I double check the address above the door of the store (this has saved me from shopping the wrong location more than once). I check my watch to make sure I am solidly in the time window and note my entry time. The pad and pen go in my pocket as I get a cart and get myself organized. My pad is not necessarily set up with departments in the order they exist in the store, so as I enter I glance to make sure I am or am not doing Customer Service and then as I pass other departments I glance to see if I need to interact there. Before I arrive at checkout I make sure everything else is covered or planned for (restrooms are sometimes after checkout).
You shouldn't be failing on these shops because you can have all the notes you need on your phone or on your 'shopping list'. It is just a matter of getting systematic note taking such that you can quickly and unobtrusively make your notes. Because my codes have not changed in years, I probably could acceptably fill out a report from 3-4 years ago based on the sheet from my spiral notebook. Sometimes with some MSCs I need names, noting them on my spiral's shopping list makes these forever available as well.