Just royally bombed a shop. What should I have done differently?

I was doing my very first gas station pricing audit, the one where you have to take photos or video. I went in wearing headphones and chewing gum and trying in every way to look like a screen-addicted Millennial who was absolutely not doing anything but texting, but unfortunately, the dude at the register decided I was suspicious and, unbeknownst to me, started watching the CCTV. Spotted me taking photos of the coffee station, came and confronted me, and kicked me out.

I've emailed my scheduler, obviously, but where did I go wrong? I was keeping my phone close to my chest and even sent a couple texts to friends like "on a shop, want to be seen texting so it looks like that's all I'm doing, talk to you soon" so he'd see me operating a text screen when I was close to the front of the store. Apparently that wasn't enough to keep him from watching me like a hawk.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

Oh, wow. Sorry this happened to you.

I've tried many different stories. I always have one in mind before I enter the store -- otherwise, if confronted, I'd be "deer in headlights" stunned. I have successfully used, "Oh, so sorry, I should have asked -- my daughter just gave me this phone, and she's trying to teach me how to use the camera". I'm an old, harmless looking lady, and that hasn't been questioned by store personnel. I've also used, "I just got this phone. Do you know how the camera works? Thanks --- do you mind if I practice for a few minutes? Thanks."

But again, I'm very, very good at acting the absolute tech idiot -- I've had lots of practice!

I have a friend, much younger, successfully use, "I'm taking an economics/marketing/advertising/retail merchandising course in college, and I have to write a paper, and this is research for the paper". She actually tells the manager this before taking any photos, and has never been denied permission.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2021 05:33AM by ceasesmith.

I'm in my 30s, so I'm totally going to borrow your friend's if I do this again. My story was "One of my friends asked me to pick something up for her but she couldn't remember the name so I was trying to show her what you have." Dude just kept asking over and over why I was shooting video.

I've actually used that one, too! But I say my better half can't make up his mind -- he's driving me CRAZY!

Apologizing and saying you should have asked permission first, that you didn't know it was against any rule, also can go a long way. Comes easier to me than to a young male! Or is that sexist? Well, to any younger person. I'm from a generation taught to apologize graciously and with meaning!

Best of luck.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2021 06:45AM by ceasesmith.

You could turn on the camera and pretend to be talking on the phone (or hearing a voicemail) and hold it up your ear. I have an iphone, so I can use the volume buttons to take a picture.

@ceasesmith Not going to lie, I'll agree to disagree on that one. What I find is that the older people are, the more entitled they are. People my age and younger whose options are "food service," "retail," and "Amazon" will apologize for breathing because it's literally required for us to keep our jobs.

@007 YOU HAVE TO TELL ME HOW THAT'S POSSIBLE. I have an iPhone. I didn't know you could do that.

How long were you in the store? I tend to break these up a little bit if I'm going to be there more than a few minutes. I also do things like going to the bathroom and I make a purchase for myself.

I also have used a hidden camera for these.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/06/2021 06:01PM by foodluvr.

My answer, as an older person, is that we are more often than not ignored completely, treated like a child and not given much info probably due to others thinking we have no brains to understand anything the least bit complex, and in the world of mystery shopping locked out of many jobs because some clients seem to think older people (over 50 in some cases) do not buy food, clothing or a whole list of other things. Entitled indeed?????

@ninamason wrote:

@ceasesmith Not going to lie, I'll agree to disagree on that one. What I find is that the older people are, the more entitled they are. People my age and younger whose options are "food service," "retail," and "Amazon" will apologize for breathing because it's literally required for us to keep our jobs.

@007 YOU HAVE TO TELL ME HOW THAT'S POSSIBLE. I have an iPhone. I didn't know you could do that.

I don't try to hide my picture taking. I'm there doing an audit, they know they are being audited. They discretely tidy the men's bathroom and I discretely take pictures of the register area. They smile when I buy a piece of candy for $0.35 and ask for a receipt.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

@sandyf my answer as someone who works in food service is that I have been physically assaulted six times in my job and only two of those were by people under 40. One was a teenager who threw a cup at me and one was a teen parent of a teen parent who didn't like being told her daughter wasn't allowed to carve curse words in our tables. The other four--the older ones--did things like throwing lit cigarettes at me for saying a side of sour cream was 35 cents or trying to beat me with a cane for no other reason than because the dude thought it was funny. So . . . yeah, entitled.

@HonnyBrown I was doing one of the ones where you're not supposed to reveal yourself, so in this case I did need to hide the photo taking.

They see you "trying to be discrete." It doesn't work.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

@foodluvr According to the timestamps on my video, eight minutes. I was *almost* at the end when the guy confronted me.

I often use a hidden video app. They run in the background and you can have other screens open, even the screen turned off. If youme need pictures, you just replay and screenshot. It's great for the pricing audits, Google pay shops and the non reveal audits where you need discrete photos. You just need to practice your speed moving the phone around and accuracy of your picture angle.

Pat yourself on the back and accept some praise. You acknowledge that something went wrong, you sought feedback, and you didn't blame anyone. Good on you!

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

@Shop-et-al I mean, I blame the cashier *a little.* He was just doing his job too danged well! But, you now, kudos to him because especially in this part of town I could've been up to A Whole Lot Of No Good.

I want to get better at these. In the job I do, any extra spending money I need has to come out of a side gig. So . . . that means putting on my grownup undies and admitting sometimes I just don't know what I'm doing!

Getting caught is one of the built-in risks of some gigs. I don't even start with some of them. Have you ever tried merchandising gigs? These let you be you, right out there in the open, and there is no risk of getting caught in some surreptitious action that could cause you to miss out on a payment or future work.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Just royally bombed a shop. What should I have done differently?

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine