There is a difference between being "optional" and "can get away with missing it." This will vary more by client than MSC.
If you miss a single photo with any MSC, they will want to get your report approved, anyhow. The last thing they ever want to do is reject a shop, upset the shopper, and have to reschedule it. So, if you do a restaurant shop with required photos of your food and the restroom, but miss one, it's always worth a try to submit the shop anyhow -or at least check with the scheduler. A missed shop of the food is likely fatal - the client almost certainly wants to see how the food is presented to the customer, making this one of the most important aspects of the shop. However, if you forget to get the beverage into the picture, you *might* be okay. As for the restroom, the client likely has very little interest in assessing toilet photos. You are likely going to be just fine if you explain that the restroom was in great shape. Of course, if the restroom has issues, it might be different.
Every experienced shopper has missed photos and/or observations and had shops approved anyhow. If the missed photo or observation is not part of the client's primary objective of the shop, there is a strong chance that the shopper will be okay and get paid anyhow. (Of course, we don't get told whether specific observations are a primary concern or just a "you're-there-add-on," so we don't dare miss something intentionally.)
@Equine24 wrote:
I don't think the restroom photo is ever optional with ACL. It is one of the reasons I do not take some of their retail shops
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