I was trying to figure out how to best phrase this.

I was reading a story about how a Mobee user was taking pictures near registers and how he got detained by security and was accused of "casing the joint." The cops were called. He was banned from the store.

Has anything like this ever happened to you? Have you ever had the cops called? Have you ever been detained or threatened by security?

(The worst I have had was at a car dealer, the manager told a sales guy that I was a shopper, loud enough for me to hear, and it was incredibly awkward. I left before I was helped. This was minor, of course. Another car salesperson asked me if I was a shopper, I acted like I did not know what he meant, he explained it, and we moved on.)

When dealing with security, I just leave. They can ban anyone from a store, but they can't detain you unless you have committed a crime. However, some stores hire security guards who think they're cops. I don't give them a chance to escalate the situation.

That said, I have never been approached by security about mystery shopping. The worst was a guy at Best Buy who wanted to help me with electronics. I did get followed by some good old boys after taking pictures of a gas station but they lost interest when I got to the interstate.

No. Not with security; not with police. But, I do not do gas stations or convenience stores, which appear to be the places where people who work/manage there are most on edge. I once was told that I could not take pictures in a grocery store. I told them it was for a community college project on merchandising. They politely told me to get lost.

I was strongly told at Sbarro I could not take pictures and they threatened me. Never did a Sbarro's again, not even the bonused one I saw last month!
I know the following is not what you are asking but I felt it was trouble with a mystery shop. On a very quiet late afternoon I did a job at BJ's years ago. The manager came over to my table and plopped himself down in my booth and chatted with me while I ate. He told me his whole life story. When I turned in the report I was told the manager knew who I was. I think it would have been pretty easy to pin point since there were only a few people dining there the whole time. I was not only banned from that location but from all of them. I could not do that shop for years until finally it moved to a different msc.

We did the Sbarro's. The picture that was the hardest to get was for a sign near the register or on the register. Taking pictures of the pizza seemed like something someone could do for Yelp, the register picture, not so much. I always wonder how they figure us out. I recently was supposed to go to a bank but was told they knew I was a shopper from last year and I could not go.

Never.

Never for mystery shopping, but I was doing an inspection of a home, when a nosey neighbor wanted to know why I was taking pictures. I politely told them it was none of their business, unless they were the homeowner. About 5 minutes later as I was starting down the street, a police car came up behind me and pulled me over. I showed the officer my authorization letter from the bank, and he asked me if I had yelled at the woman and used curse words to her, as that is what she told them, and I was a burglar, when she called on me. I told him exactly what I had told her and then was on my way.

I met a lot of local police when I was inspecting vacant home as a real estate agent. One more reason RE agents tend to have their pictures on their business cards.

Long ago I did repos. Compared to which shopping has been trouble free. So far.

Me too, in real estate foreclosures. . Heartbreaking in most cases. Very scary in a few.

I was doing a freeway gas station (limited access highway) in the dead of winter one night. As I took pictures of each pump, shivering and freezing my rear off, I noticed a car parked off to the side with its motor running, lights off.
That's not unusual when its that cold around here. My car was parked and running too. Everyone leaves their cars running (locked of course). AAMOF all of the semi trucks were parked in the truck lot - all were running.
There was a guy sitting in this one though. I didn't notice that until I was almost nearby.
He rolled down his window and asked, "just what do you think you're doing?"
I was brave enough to ask him what he thought he was doing, preparing to tell him to myob.
He showed me his badge. He was an undercover cop. "Oh!" I said dumbly. "I'm doing a job for E/M and they wanted pix of every pump," I explained stupidly.
He said he was parked there to watch for drug dealing and other illegal activities. "Like "lot lizards", he said. He winked his eye when he said that.
"Oh," I said dumbly again.
I didn't bother to ask what a "Lot lizard" was.

Agreed. I had a good ol' boy swing his gate open and sic a razorback hog on me. Another guy threw a TV at me. I could go on, and no doubt you could too. But, yeah, the sad cases are the most memorable. I wasn't sorry to move on.

@walesmaven wrote:

Heartbreaking in most cases. Very scary in a few.

went to try to take some pictures and change signs to the newer ones , one time. I got yell at and told to leave by the manger after I had show him my letter for headquarters with the ok to do what I was doing. He said he did not care and get out and if I ever stepped foot back in the door , he would have the cops called at once. Well I get out of there as fast as my two short legs would carry me. The funny thing the station has since be sold to another gas station comacy.

A lot lizard is a prostitute at truck stops. I saw one washing her hoo-ha with puddle water. Straight nasty.

@French Farmer wrote:

I didn't bother to ask what a "Lot lizard" was.

The first MSC problem was over a shop with a bedding and bath accessorizes in Phoenix about sexual harnessing the associate. It took three months later before they banned me from that company. Next was over being recognized as a shopper for a major bank in the area. And finally a gas station shop in a town of 350 people in UT. The shop was being done in the 7 am hour and I was to take the associates picture for not being in uniform. Screaming match broke out and the sheriff called. It took him an hour to show up and I made sure I talked to him and showed him the paperwork and guide before he went in. It goes to show you that when you do a shop the people that you are shopping will do anything from getting a bad report.

The picture in my mind of you "sexually harnessing" a store associate at a bedding store is pretty funny.

The only time that I've ever gotten in trouble was doing video shops for a regional builder that sold mobile homes. The salesman was doing fine until he wanted me to meet his sales manager for the final word. All of a sudden, their demeanor changed, to the point where both of them starting saying ridiculous stuff such as "Let's sell you this unit for $1, what do you think of that?" After being pretty much insulted by both, I responded by saying "Ok, we are done", and walked out of the sales center. The sales manager followed me to my car, all of a sudden getting serious. I indicated to him that I don't deal with anyone that acts unprofessional, or insults me.

The MSC watched the footage that night, and was not happy with either the salesman or sales manager. The MSC owner indicated that I didn't do anything wrong, and suspected that the client may have tipped off offices into indicated that a shopper would be in the area this week. It also didn't help that the client wanted me to ask certain types of questions, which doesn't help a shopper go undetected.

Needless to say, I never shopped for that client again. This was my choice, in that I was fairly disgusted by what had transpired. I'm not sure if that particular client ever ordered any more shops with the MSC, much less with any MSC in general.

People can be such jerks sometimes. I wonder what he would have done if you had handed him a dollar and said, "Sold!." You got it on camera that he offered to sell you one for a dollar.

I was told I could no longer shop a certain location because I was looking for bad behavior. Pretty funny because I did 2 locations that day and gave one of them a 5 star rating. The “bad” location was just strange. I walked up to the counter and the employee left to do another task even though she saw me. Then another employee stepped up to help me but didn’t have the product knowledge so she asked the 1st employee across the room for the info to deliver to me. I was told by the MSC that this client requires their employees to drop all of their tasks to assist a customer. I reported it but they didn’t like that. Then I asked another employee in a different department for help finding an item. The employee was supposed to walk me to the item and put it in my hand. Instead, she stood at the end of the aisle directing me verbally so I could locate it myself. Sometimes it just gets silly. The client was not happy that I gave those two employees a bad rating.

I drove 50 miles to a gas station and the store was closed. I got out of my car and started taking pictures. I managed to get most of them done and had a few pump pics left. This employee drove up and went inside the store while I was taking pictures.

He yelled out the door at me and asked me what I was doing? I produced my LOA letter and I felt embarrassed.. as if he thought I was some weirdo! I had to go inside next and get all the pics in there and report POP that was in the store. I felt so weird until I talked to him and calmed him down. He was nicer towards the end....

Several years ago when I would take a lot of jobs that I won't even look at now I was approached by the store manager while taking pictures with an app for an "audit" shop. He told me I couldn't take pictures and needed to leave. I told him I was being paid to do this by his corporate company to check on things. He told me I wasn't and he would know about it. I just laughed and left the store. I was almost done when I left and was still paid when I told the scheduler what happened. Won't do those anymore that make me look like a creepy customer.

I had a Hostess audit where it was done all by my phone (loved it) but I also printed all my paperwork and a letter of authorization in case I was approached. This one involved walking in the store and taking pics of all the Hostess displays. I took my photos and left the store. Only once did I have to ask someone where they were (super large big box store) other than that, I was never approached as to why I was taking pictures. But I always have the mentality that a manager could approach me and ask me what the heck was I doing? I was ready!

Once, I have been asked by an employee why I was taking pictures. It was a revealed audit in a big store. I had signed in and produced my letter, but he was not accepting my explanation.

NEVER, but I don't do gas stations or seedy places where problems could happen. Worst was being told no pictures in front of our BJ's Brewery in the upscale part of town...not a biggie, just left and reported it, pictures there no longer asked for.

If Security shows up and asks questions and will not go away, I just whip out my PILB card (which looks just like the one he also has but with his picture instead of mine), and there is no issue. This has happened very rarely.