Among hundreds of shops, I think my most interesting shop was one in which I was to determine whether or not a particular individual at a gas station store was stealing. I was to pick three or four items off the shelf, carefully noting the displayed prices, add them to a total, then go to counter and pay the fellow on duty what he told me I owed. Sure enough he charged an extra dollar or two. All his change was on a table a few feet out of customers' reach. He did not open or use the register. There was no printed record of the transaction. He did not offer a receipt. Maybe he rang up a receipt with the correct total after I left. I don't know.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2017 05:04AM by Richard94611.

My shop was rejected when I reported that the employee was stealing.

I do 15 to 30 cash integrity shops per month. The first time that I spotted a sophisticated method using ticket fraud at a parking garage, the hair on the back my arms literally stood up.

I bet this goes on a lot more than we think.

According to the national organization that represents parking management companies, it is the most cash intensive sector of the economy now. I have learned at least a dozen ways that cash can be made to disappear by a garage attendant and that cannot be detected without onsite observations and records (pix) of the claim checks. And, there are methods used by thieves to keep tabs on how much they actually put into the cash drawer they can remove by the end of the shift. That will go undetected without cash integrity observations. One of my shopper colleagues uncovered the source of what turned out to have been an average of $800 per week missing at just one garage.

I've done a few in high end retail stores where a certain scenario had to be followed and I was met in 'secret location' and given loads of cash and gift cards to use to tempt the suspect...not for me to keep! Once, Loss Prevention was actually watching via cameras and called my cell phone when I was at target. It was exciting, but really called up my acting skills..which I highly doubt are that good, but it was definitely interesting, especially the secret rendez-vous in Barnes & Noble to receive the goodies.

Wait, did I understand correctly? Loss Prevention from Target called you while you were on location? How did they have you phone number? Or they knew you were a MSer and were double checking? If I'm asking for more detail than you want to give, I apologize. I'm just a bit confused but this also sounds like something you'd see in a movie

I didn't catch it on a shop, but when I was a manager at a Burger King, I would catch employees/other managers doing something similar. For example, ring in the order, add a small cup of coffee, tell the customer the total, delete the cup of coffee before totaling out (or change it to a free senior coffee), keep the extra $1. They were always updating the registers to keep stuff like this from happening, but people always found a new way to skim.

No, it wasn't the Target store. I was referring to the "target" employee whom was suspected of stealing. Yes, it was so funny..like a movie, especially when the Loss Prevention person walked by me in the mall and gave a quick head nod to follow to the secondary location behind book shelves in Barnes and Noble where I was given several hundreds in cash and gift cards and shown a photo of the "target." It truly was the funniest shop I've ever done. BTW, Loss Prevention people were highly serious, no joking around and this was a very upscale department store. They had my cell phone number to keep in touch during the process.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/16/2017 07:01PM by MsJudi.

My favorite jobs were (don't do many anymore), evaluating Chanel and upscale clients having to try something on. I tried on a 4,000 coat and it fit like a glove..now how do I leave with it on..LOL. Appreciating fine clothes and
coming from a garment Industry family, my uncle made woman's coats and suits and being the tallest in our family, I modeled and learned about good clothes, going to designer fashion shows etc. Being once again in this environment makes me happy until I had to take off the coat....same with the Louie Vuitton shops.

Driving that Porsche Cayenne.

OH! I did enjoy about a dozen shops where I drove the Porsche Cayenne. But they were not the most interesting.

I think for me it was driving down the freeway at 65+ in a Tesla with a destination pre-set. I was in self-driving mode but your hands still need to be on the wheel, and feeling the car merge two lanes over and exit the freeway was weirdly fun. That and they offered to let me take it home overnight. Damn that was tempting.

Oh!! Now I understand. Wow! Yeah, I can see why they'd be so serious, though. Its a pretty serious situation.

@MsJudi wrote:

No, it wasn't the Target store. I was referring to the "target" employee whom was suspected of stealing. Yes, it was so funny..like a movie, especially when the Loss Prevention person walked by me in the mall and gave a quick head nod to follow to the secondary location behind book shelves in Barnes and Noble where I was given several hundreds in cash and gift cards and shown a photo of the "target." It truly was the funniest shop I've ever done. BTW, Loss Prevention people were highly serious, no joking around and this was a very upscale department store. They had my cell phone number to keep in touch during the process.

I would say the strangest shop was a chicken fast food restaurant where I had to dine in. It had been raining and the ceiling tile fell out of the ceiling and water was pouring down into a 5 gallon bucket. I am to photograph any damage and so I take pictures....

A few minutes later a woman comes in and they are out of her favorite chicken. She starts raising her voice.... then yelling and asking them what the %#%& is wrong with them, not having any chicken thighs? They explain it's been busy and they have run out of that type of chicken. She gets really loud and obnoxious.... They told her to leave. She said in the most angry, menacing tone, "I'll be back! I have something for you when I get back here!" I was pretty darn scared, afraid she was coming back with a gun and I got the heck out of there!

Wow, over chicken thighs? Geeze.

You've heard of road rage chicken rage.....

It wasn't a shop but it was at my regular job. I work at a club warehouse. We have special codes for "special situations" like a possible shoplifter or someone being disruptive.One time some teenagers were trying to steal 3 electric carts at closing time. They drove around the parking lot and used them like bumper cars. They then drove off to a nearby store and probably tried to take them home. Management call the cops. Electric carts were later found.

Again like Cat said my most intresting experience did not have want I was shopping but when I use to be a manger at a ladies clothing store. One day a lady come in and she was looking at the store surouding more then the fashion. I said her if everything was ok , she said yes. But later she come up to me and said one of the clarks had been rude to her , I asker how . She said the clark had pointed ou the way back in to the mall to her , coming to found out this lady was worry about getting catch in a burning building because it was the week of the big fire in the Rhode ISland night club. I point out the enteance again to her and told my clark did not mean to sound rude and say I was sorry. She look at some fashion and then left the store. She had not been gone more then 2 minutes when the mall aralms were going off. I close up the store and lead the clark and on other shopper to a safe place , We found out later some rats in the basement of the mall had hit a wire. She had nothing to do with it but it was odd still.

I loved doing the Six Flags shops. After you learn your way around the park to get to the different stands, it's a blast because you get to hang out for free afterwards.

I do bar integrity shops all the time...can't believe how many ways they have to keep the cash.....and then get fired...it just isn't worth it for them in real life...they will not be able to get another bartender job.

@22172 wrote:

I do bar integrity shops all the time...can't believe how many ways they have to keep the cash.....and then get fired...it just isn't worth it for them in real life...they will not be able to get another bartender job.

You would be surprised about that unless they are charged through the courts the past employer cannot say that they are thieves.

My most interesting shops are very high-end Vehicles such as Porsche and Tesla. I also enjoy doing high end products such as Rolex and Lancome.

I too have done cash Integrity audits for parking valet Representatives. I have been asked to do them for bars but have refused to do so. I have also done cash integrity at casino involving cocktail waitresses.

Cash Integrity audits are my least favorite. The reason for this is I enjoy giving positive feedback rather than negative. I know the outcome of several of my shops have resulted in termination of people's employment. I understand these people steal but it still hurts me to be the one that finds out for the company.

I recently had to do a cash Integrity audit for a valet parking garage at one of the highest class Hotel brands. Sure enough, the valet was giving me a ticket and charging me. However, he was not turning the money in and putting it in his pocket right in front of me. It was so obvious that they sent me back a second time to check to see if he did it the second time. It was confirmed from the employer that it was done on two occasions. This of course made me feel better knowing somebody was going to lose his job for stealing at least two times from the company just on me alone. Who knows how many other times the representative stole.

This as in several occasions I have been contacted from the mystery shopping company with specific questions from the employer. For example, the employer wanted to confirm my full-time employment as an attorney. This of course just concerned me that I will be a witness if this person decides to sue his employer for wrongful termination.

I warned the shopping company this time that I do not work for $20 or $30 an hour as an attorney. I want them to be fully aware that I will charge my hourly fee of several hundred dollars per hour for preparation, travel, phone calls, depositions and trial if I become a witness.

@MsJudi I hope you were compensated well for that shop. It sounded complicated and like lots of effort was implied.

The most unusual shop I had was posing as a concerned parent hoping to enroll my child into a special school for kids that have emotional problems, runaway, trouble in school, etc. It involved actually going into the MSC office for a training session with a handful of other shoppers, and then, basically, an all day shop, since the school was in a remote area. My husband and I drove there, took the tour, interacted with teachers and administrators. It was particularly meaningful for us, because we adopted children from foster care, so we had some experience with kids who had emotional problems and struggled in school. We were able to draw on our own experience with a little tweaking to make the interactions seem real.

What if the party who requested the subpoena is not willing to pay your fee and opts instead to just pay a statutory witness fee and travel expenses?

My most interesting shop was when I had to try and steal something from a high end bag shop. I was instructed to put a small item, like a wallet, inside of an expensive bag and purchase it. The employees are supposed to search inside of bags when checking customers out. After purchasing the bag I was instructed to return it 30 minutes later. Fortunately the employee found the wallet and I pretended like I didn't know it was in there. It was scary for me trying to steal something. I had a letter from the company CEO in my pocket with his personal phone number on it in case I was accused of stealing.

Shop, schmop. Nothing interesting ever happens during my shops. However, I love the wide open spaces. If an assignment needs me to pass through wide open spaces in order to get there, it wins.

Wow. that's not one I am sure I could have pulled off even wtih the letter. I had to turn one down because they wanted me to try to see if I could wire funds for fake purses and it just wasn't something I felt I could pull off anymore...maybe years ago I could have...

My most interesting shop, at least that I can recently think of, was a bar integrity shop at an upscale hotel bar. I used a shop earlier in the day to buy some fancier clothes so I felt like I belonged better. The one shop I've performed where I actually had to drink the alcohol. I even got to order all three alcoholic drinks for myself, because it seemed more natural. BTW, I did bike home after but I was hardly even tipsy. I hold my liquor very well.