That's one way you can do it!

We were at Chili's doing a shop, and I'm pretty sure the family seated in front of us was doing a shop. This particular shop has some unusual photo requests, causing some of you not to want to touch this one with a ten-foot pole.

You need to take an overhead photo of the entire table. It's hard doing this without being obvious.

Either you:
(1) stand on the booth, which would not be obvious at all in the middle of the dining room (kidding!)

Or

(2) take a picture standing at the end of the table (just as obvious!)

OR!!! Do as these people did. And, I am not kidding at all. Dead serious.

(3) ask your waitress to take an overhead photo of your table, but over your shoulder, so it looks like you took it.

This happened.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2018 01:54AM by Niner.

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I have done a couple of Chillis shops with no problems

That's hilarious!!

I suck, but I'd probably email the scheduler and fill her in (with the location and times) just in case it was a shop. People like that ruin it for real shoppers that do a good, honest job. Clients get word of the nonsense and cancel accounts, not just for the current MSC, but forever.

Feel free to hate me.

@Niner wrote:

We were at Chili's doing a shop, and I'm pretty sure the family seated in front of us was doing a shop. This particular shop has some unusual photo requests, causing some of you not to want to touch this one with a ten-foot pole.

The MSC that has Chili's as a client usually assigns these shops at a particular location for a particular day and a particular time period. If you were doing a shop at that Chili's location, it would be extremely unusual for the MSC to have scheduled another shopper at the same location on the same day and during the same time period to do a shop. I'm betting the group you observed didn't include a mystery shopper.

I hope that's the case. It was pretty funny though seeing a waitess take an overhead shot like that.

That isn't the awkward shot, the awkward shot is when you take a picture of your finished but uncleared table. No way you can sell that to a wait staffer as something you would put up on Yelp or where ever.

Orlando - lightly shopping NC

Since you are leaving anyway, that one does not phase me. The whole table shot to me is awkward though.

Unlikely, yes, but possible that the client had a different MSC doing a shop for the same location, or it was a competitor client shop. But yes, very unlikely for Chili's.

@roflwofl wrote:

@Niner wrote:

We were at Chili's doing a shop, and I'm pretty sure the family seated in front of us was doing a shop. This particular shop has some unusual photo requests, causing some of you not to want to touch this one with a ten-foot pole.

The MSC that has Chili's as a client usually assigns these shops at a particular location for a particular day and a particular time period. If you were doing a shop at that Chili's location, it would be extremely unusual for the MSC to have scheduled another shopper at the same location on the same day and during the same time period to do a shop. I'm betting the group you observed didn't include a mystery shopper.

@Niner wrote:

Since you are leaving anyway, that one does not phase me. The whole table shot to me is awkward though.

On my last two shops I just got up after the entree was delivered for a quick trip to the restroom. It was easy to get an unobserved picture from the end of the table when I did so. Also, on previous shops I have taken the pictur3 while seated and just leaned back as far as possible. A view of the table from an angle is also acceptable.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/10/2018 03:04PM by kenasch.

"That isn't the awkward shot, the awkward shot is when you take a picture of your finished but uncleared table. No way you can sell that to a wait staffer as something you would put up on Yelp or where ever."

But but but when my husband and I have a tidy yet uncleared table I always announce I want to take a photo to send to our daughter with three preschoolers who leaves tables looking like a tornado just blew past.

The end of the meal shop isn’t the most awkward for me, I just pretend I’m taking a picture of my husband and son. The hardest for me is taking a pic of the whole dining area lol.

@JessicaV1979 wrote:

The end of the meal shop isn’t the most awkward for me, I just pretend I’m taking a picture of my husband and son. The hardest for me is taking a pic of the whole dining area lol.

If I have a booth on the edge of the dining room, I take the whole dining area photo right from my seat. If not, I take the picture as I am returning from the restroom. The two locations I visit are sort of divided into rooms so its virtually impossible to get the whole dining room. I have not had a photo/shop rejected yet. I do wonder how they would feel about a panorama photo but that might be too conspicuous.

They sent an email asking for a wider shot. This location was divided also, you could not get it all.

@kenasch mine is the same way, I just submit multiple photos with enough overlap that they get the idea. They were fine with that.

Orlando - lightly shopping NC

That's a good idea.

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