I'm doing a mattress shop, one for a different MSC than I've done them for and at a different company. As usual, you have to take a photo of the building exterior. These are the instructions: "Take photos of the main exterior sign and signage in the windows after your shop while standing outside, and be discreet."

Yeah, like that's not going to out you as a shopper! Even if you could do it before you walk into the store, it might work, but once the employees see you walk out, they're more apt to pay attention. Also, this particular location is a standalone building, with absolutely nothing around it except parking lot. There are no other buildings so you can kind of hide around a corner as you take the photo, no parking lot filled with cars so you can try to be less noticeable, etc.

I usually take exterior photos while sitting in my car, parked at enough of a distance so that nobody in the store will see me. Or sometimes I'll go across the street and hide behind a tree or something. But there's no "across the street" at this location. And there are never more than one or two cars in this parking lot.

So, any ideas as to how I can discreetly take a photo while standing in front of the building after the shop?

Act like you're texting and snap a photo. Or I try to park facing the front. Just turn off shutter sound and flash.

Try to do it at an angle so they can't see you from inside the store, if possible. BTW, with these I've almost always found that the employees are at their desks in the very back of the store when I enter. Maybe take it before you go in.

I generally do take these photos before I enter the store, but the instructions state specifically to do it after--which I think is more difficult. It's easy to take it right after you've parked and before anybody in the store notices you!

When I did onsite shops, which was a long time ago, I used to smile and pretend that I was taking a selfie. You could try just talking to yourself pretending you are on a video call. Of course, turn off the sound and flash first.

I tell the SA that I am going to take a picture of the outside so I can remember that this location is a fave. After all, I am checking multiple mattress stores that day.

Have a phone mount on your dash. Put your phone there and angle it so that you can take a video with the phone in the mount. Make sure your windshield is clean. Aim your car/phone at the store. When you get home, get some pictures from the video.

@BusyBeeBuzzBuzzBuzz wrote:

Have a phone mount on your dash. Put your phone there and angle it so that you can take a video with the phone in the mount. Make sure your windshield is clean. Aim your car/phone at the store. When you get home, get some pictures from the video.

I always take these photos from inside my car and never have a problem doing it "discreetly." And have never had a problem with these photos being accepted. The issue is that they specifically want you to STAND in front of the store to take the photo. It sounds to me like they don't want shots taken from inside your vehicle.

I'm going to contact the help desk and ask about this.

@Mum wrote:

Of course, turn off the sound and flash first.

I remember the time I did a shop at dusk and forgot to turn off my flash. I took the first shot, and it lit up the front of the building like lightning. I'm pretty sure the store associates couldn't miss it.... Never have done that again!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2021 12:18AM by BirdyC.

@BirdyC wrote:

@BusyBeeBuzzBuzzBuzz wrote:

Have a phone mount on your dash. Put your phone there and angle it so that you can take a video with the phone in the mount. Make sure your windshield is clean. Aim your car/phone at the store. When you get home, get some pictures from the video.

I always take these photos from inside my car and never have a problem doing it "discreetly." And have never had a problem with these photos being accepted. The issue is that they specifically want you to STAND in front of the store to take the photo. It sounds to me like they don't want shots taken from inside your vehicle.

I'm going to contact the help desk and ask about this.

Ugh. Way to out a shopper! I can understand them saying they want a picture from a certain angle but I wish they would not micromanage. We are contractors, not employees. And do they not want shoppers in wheelchairs???

Does it matter if you take a picture after? The shop is done. I just did over 50 shops where I needed pictures of the outside and of ads outside. I just took the pictures after the shop. I did not hide or attempt to hide. People post pictures for Yelp or Google all the time. I didn't think anything of it.

Ok, a situation like this calls for some creative acting. I had to take a picture once and they really wanted me to be SUPER discreet and it was stressed like 5 times.

Color me annoyed and dismayed that the cashier had a BIG floor to ceiling window overlook the parking lot and like OP, mine was a stand alone and discretion was all 100% impossible. There weren't even any customers at the time to distract her!

Luckily this was a gift type store and so thinking on my feet, while close enough for the cashier to overhear me and still "Browsing", I pretended to make a phone call. [HINT: put your phone on DO NOT DISTURB if you do this!!].

It went like this. I call my "mom" and talk a bit excitedly about a present for a family member giving 8-10 seconds pause for someone else to be talking on the other end. I also pretend that mom is a little batty about directions. "Mom, did you find a gift for the party today? I'm at this store called XyzGifts and they have a big display of unicorn stuff here and you are 100% going to find something the birthday girl will like. Yep, it's on Oak, near Main Street right by the park. No, right by the park, mom. [Pause] No, mom, it's not the brick building. You know what? I'm going to send you a picture of the front of the store so you know exactly what it looks like and you won't get lost. Yep, I think they are open until around 5pm but I'll double check and let you know. I have the balloons in the trunk ready for filling and Adam going to pick up the cake. We got it covered. Love you too, see you this afternoon."

The cashier made small talk about how her grandma gets turned around real easy too and she thought it was a great idea to send a picture and she would do that next time too. We commiserated over taking care of older folks for a minute and I told her if she sees an older lady driving a red Buick, that's my mom.

Then I proceed to go outside after paying for my purchase and took the required pictures and pretended to text them. All right in full view of the cashier who was watching me through the window the whole time. She smiled and waved. So did I.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/22/2021 05:41PM by crayon.

@crayon, that's definitely some quick & creative thinking! I haven't heard back from the MSC as to whether or not I can take the photo from my car, so I may use a similar scenario. There are two or three or four (!) mattress stores right in the same area as this one, so I may say that I'll send my husband in on his way home from work and that I just know he'll get confused if I don't send him a photo, since he's visually oriented and not word-oriented. Which is true, and he probably would get lost if this were a real situation!

The MSC said it's OK to take the photo from your car as long as you roll down the window--they don't want you taking it through the car window. Fortunately, the way this parking lot is situated, you park parallel to the building, so it was easy to take the shot through my open window. In parking lots where your car is perpendicular to the building and not parallel, I've taken very clear shots through my window (not for this MSC) and have never had an issue.

@BirdyC wrote:

In parking lots where your car is perpendicular to the building and not parallel, I've taken very clear shots through my window (not for this MSC) and have never had an issue.

I have, too, as long as my windshield is nice and clear. Never had a problem with it.

I'm an IC so I would have just taken it through the open car window to begin with.