It seems that all of my most memorable experiences as a consumer are when I'm "off the clock". It's rare that during a shopper project I see a "10" performance, nor do I ever see the shop from hell.
Till this past month...
On the 4th of July, I got a text from my favorite scheduler, that a shopper had flaked on a grocery shop that HAD to be completed that day. It was 40 minutes away, but he offered $60 to do the job. I had no plans that afternoon, so I took it and grabbed a convenience store and a small town drive in restaurant along the way to cover lunch and cover gas expenses. The grocery store did fine, the convenience store did fine. The drive in... not fine!
I was one of seven cars in the drive in stalls (capacity) and the drive thru was maybe six or seven deep. It took most of two minutes to get a response from the inside order taker, who did ok otherwise. It then took 27 minutes to get my food! Well, I got my order delivered ten minutes earlier, but it wasn't actually my order, it was somebody elses. Listening to the menu board speakers around me, I learned that three employees didn't show for work that day, so there were three people running the place! Including the manager, who ended up going car to car to verify orders. No apologies and I really expected the manager to be empowered and take advantage of the ability to make the otherwise disastrous trip a little bit better, somehow, but she clearly didn't do that. I suggested in my report that perhaps the 4th of July was an unfair date to do a shop, but then again, they clearly weren't up to the task of customer service and that's always a concern for any company.
Yesterday, I had an experience with a quickly assembled route that began with my favorite scheduler getting me a grocery store that was down to its last two days to do. Another $60 45 minute trip in the opposite direction. I built in a couple of convenience stores, a bonused gas station and a bonused drive in lunch, making the three and a half route worth around $140. The grocery store was it's typical job well done, one convenience store was it's typical pleasant experience. The second convenience store was a shocker! Always a great performer, this brand has a quasi-truck stop location in this town that had less than 50 percent of product in its vast array of coolers, it's bakery was maybe 20 percent filled, the prepared food area had two items and the parking lot was pretty trashy. Finally, the cashier was slow and was complaining to her manager (who was in the office behind the registers) about her schedule for next week, the whole time. I often feel guilty taking this companys money, because their reports could almost always be carbon copies, they're so predictably well run. Not this time!
Last stop, the drive in... Holy cow! Everything was so excellent (same company as the previous drive in experience), with my carhop being just an absolute pleasure! It's almost like they were reading down the checklist for the shopper report and going over the top!
It's nice to occasionally see companies at their absolute best, and I'm glad to be the one to witness this, as well as to witness when they're at their worst. That's what we're here for and I'm amazed I so seldom get to experience the extremes like I've done this last few weeks.

The last months have been during the pandemic. We, as shoppers, have no idea how the pandemic is affecting a particular client. Clients have had to scale down their staff in order to stay in business with generally fewer customers, supply chains have been affected for the same reason. And on a holiday when the already overworked short staff have decided to take the day off by calling in sick? One fast food place or convenience store may have supply chain issues while another may use a different company and has fuller stock. In some states the rules keep changing. I am amazed that so many places have been able to continue to offer stellar service and full shelves. I am also amazed that mystery shopping continues amidst all these issues. Hopefully the clients are giving their locations some leeway due to the issues involved with the pandemic in a particular location. Personally I am grateful that I have shelves to buy from at all and grateful for all the staff who show up every day, risking their health and sometimes having to cover additional shifts to keep the store open.

Not specifically shop-related, just in general: You'd think with the shelves nearly empty, they would take the opportunity to clean the years' worth of dust, grime & sticky stuff off of them. But, no. (Ahem..Dollar General, Family Dollar, Dollar Tree)

@sandyf wrote:

Personally I am grateful that I have shelves to buy from at all and grateful for all the staff who show up every day, risking their health and sometimes having to cover additional shifts to keep the store open.

Me too.