have the police called on them while shopping?

Snagged a bunch of local Phillips 66 shops last week cuz they are my favorite gas station jobs.

At one stop, my purchase rang up higher than the clerk quoted after I checked the price with him on a 5-Hour Energy. I like to take full advantage of the flexible reimbursement policy, and will charge $3 or $4 of gas on the Fuel Forward app and then build my inventory of 5HE's with the in-store purchases.

Turns out there was a 3% credit card surcharge that he failed to inform me of before processing payment.

I commented on the uncoolness of it all before heading out to grab my vest and the LOA.

After revealing, I went about my business taking pictures outside when 2 cop cars pulled up. Highly unusual in the sleepy SLC suburb I was working. They head into the C-store and I continue walking around grabbing photos.

Next thing I know, one of them is heading straight for me. We exchange pleasantries and then he informs me that a customer called in about someone "fitting your description and acting suspiciously."

I explained that I was in the process of mystery shopping 13 P66 stations, to which he replied, "I wouldn't think there were 13 of them in the entire state."

We kinda chuckled, and he assured me the employee had no issue with me whatsoever.

While I was sitting in my car finishing the report, the owner came up and confirmed my purpose for being there, and re-confirmed that it was his customer who had called the cops on me.

Another chuckle was shared before I called out said customer for being a paranoid @#$%&.

Sounds like you're fortunate the customer didn't take particular exception to being called a "paranoid @#$%&" or there might have been a second interaction with police, with far fewer chuckles being shared.

Not very long ago.. like in the last month or so. I was doing an EM shop. I did everything, took all my pictures and then sat in my car to fill in the report. And just as I finished a cop drove up, walked up to my car and asked what I was doing. I didn't understand the question, because I wasn't actually doing anything at all, just sitting in my car and getting ready to drive away. He said that someone said that I was taking pictures, and I said yes, I took pictures. I'm an IC, doing a gas station audit, that is now complete, and I was just about to drive away. He said, not to worry, you're ok, but the rich lady in the Mercedes over there is who called, and I'm showing her that I'm "investigating" her call. Small towns are very interesting places.. lol

I was doing a Sonic shop in a small town. I drove around once to count the cars and parked. I noticed a woman in sunglasses across the way staring straight at me. She was in my age range and attractive, and I allowed myself to be flattered momentarily. wondering if I was supposed to send a milkshake to her car or something. Maybe this was the local pickup spot? You know, small town, Happy Days and all that. I eventually snapped out of my reverie and tried to ignore her. But she just kept staring, and staring, and staring. It got a little creepy. My carhop came and I forgot all about it.

While waiting my 10 minutes, I see a policeman approach her car and talk to her. He meanders over to my car and asks what I am doing there. I asked if this was about the lady in the red car. He acted like he didn;t know what I was talking about, like I couldn't see him talking to her. He said someone had said I was acting suspiciously, circling the parking lot. I showed my reciept and said the lady was just crazy, explained that I had only driven around once to find a good parking spot. I kept telling him how ridiculous this all was.

It turns out he wasn't actually a cop for that town, he had just been nearby, and the actual officer for that jurisdication shows up, an older guy. I explain to him once what was going on, and he thanked me and sent me on my way. As I was driving off they were both questioning the crazy lady. I got the impression they were doing a mental welfare check.

And it had nothing to do with photos.

My daughter called me once saying a police officer had knocked on our apartment door and wanted to speak with my husband. The officer had left a business card with his number on it. Since my husband doesn't like to make phone calls, I made the call. Turns out, a friend of the clerk at an unrevealed mystery shop gas station 200 miles away had seen me taking pictures, took down my license plate number (that was registered to my husband), and called the police. That policeman called our local police department to send an officer out. I explained why I had been taking pictures and was told that the actual clerk, not the friend who had called, thought I was the shopper and that was the end of that. So, officers from two PD were called for one incident.

Another time, I had an EM clerk in Western NY come storming around the pump, demanding to know what I was doing taking pictures. This was in the days before we had an LOA and we were to deny, deny, deny. She said she was going to call the Sheriff because I might be a terrorist and was looking to blow up her station. I told her to do what she needed to do before driving across the street to finish taking the required pictures. If she had called, I was long gone before they showed up. All the while I was thinking that blowing up this filthy and disgusting station would be doing the neighborhood a favor.

@KokoBWare wrote:

Sounds like you're fortunate the customer didn't take particular exception to being called a "paranoid @#$%&" or there might have been a second interaction with police, with far fewer chuckles being shared.

I had no interactions with the paranoid @#$%&. I simply referred to them as such when the owner approached me about the situation.

The customer had no clue as to my comment, just as they apparently have no clue when it comes to being a rational human being. Yeah... a guy walking around in a freaking neon orange vest is suspicious as all get out.

A lot of people are paranoid these days...maybe it's the maryjane they're smokin' or they're taking the "If you see something, say something" mantra quite literally.

Some gas stations use a company that provides remote monitoring for their security system;
Remote Video Surveillance Live Monitoring. And then there's paranoid people and cops who have time to follow up on a report of a suspicious person wearing a safety vest and taking pictures. What a bizarre experience. Glad to hear you made it out OK.

I've had the police called on me a few times when I was doing a property verification of a house. The nosey people wanted to know what I was doing and I told them if they didn't own the property then it was none of their business.They called the police on me and told them I was "casing" the house to rob it. Each time I was sitting in my car finishing up my report when I saw the cop coming, so I got out my LOA to show them. They read it, told me no problem and went on their way.

@CoolMusic wrote:

@KokoBWare wrote:

Sounds like you're fortunate the customer didn't take particular exception to being called a "paranoid @#$%&" or there might have been a second interaction with police, with far fewer chuckles being shared.

I had no interactions with the paranoid @#$%&. I simply referred to them as such when the owner approached me about the situation.

The customer had no clue as to my comment, just as they apparently have no clue when it comes to being a rational human being. Yeah... a guy walking around in a freaking neon orange vest is suspicious as all get out.

OK. Where I'm from, when you "call someone out," it's implied that the person being "called out" knows it.

Every single time I've had the cops called because I'm looking "suspicious" in my traffic-cone-orange vest at a gas station, it's been a woman customer. As a woman myself, if I was at a gas station and saw someone who merely made me feel uncomfortable , I'd be 99.999999% more likely to just *drive away* than call the cops.

Marnette, I agree. But I live in a deep red state and the hatred and fear of anything they don't understand is so pervasive you can feel it in the air.

Not too long ago I went to a Taco Bell to use the restroom. I was leaving the restroom and a girl maybe 10 or 12 years old came into the restroom and then ran back out really quick because I was in there. She was scared of being in the restroom with any other human being. You could see the fear in her eyes when she saw me. I am a short fat old woman, I am no threat to anybody anytime ever I can just barely get out of my own way.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/20/2023 06:46AM by Morledzep.

@KokoBWare wrote:

@CoolMusic wrote:

OK. Where I'm from, when you "call someone out," it's implied that the person being "called out" knows it.

Yeah but through context clues we know what they really meant. This isn't Facebook.

13 P66 locations? You must have traveled far from the SLC area.

@football1 wrote:

13 P66 locations? You must have traveled far from the SLC area.

Nope. We have a fair amount of them in the metro area.

In my opinion. your behavior is inappropriate, especially in calling out the customer. You are a representative of the company and you need to act accordingly. I wouldn't be surprised if other mystery shopping companies drop you. The ones that don't pay well like the gas stations will probably keep you because you accept the low pay.

A lot of us take pride in what we do and act in a respectful manner. We act professional at all times. This is why we get a 10 rating and get the higher paying jobs. The companies know that we will complete our assignments on time and submit excellent reports.

My scenario is a bit different. Years ago, my daughter was in school in Florida and I was living in Colorado. I used to send her items all the time with USPS shops. She would get four or five at a time. One day the “postal police” ( I never knew there was such a thing) showed up at her door with the packages and made her open them. They were making sure she wasn’t receiving marijuana. I would send her do many random things, mostly food and toiletries.

Back in 1982 and fresh out of college, I moved from my sister's house in Florida to Denver. I had left a box of fireworks behind by accident. Being the good sister, she mailed them to me!

I was shocked they weren't detected as a bomb! My sister didn't understand what she could have possibly done wrong.

Thank goodness that didn’t go badly!

I've been a potential terrorist, a potential bank robber, and a potential Russian Spy, all while out doing jobs.

The last was a Russian Spy, happened just a couple of months ago when I was out on my regular Tuesday route of hotel visits for Bestmark. One of the events at one of the hotels was the Hardened Electronics and Radiation Technology (HEART) Symposium. While I was taking my usual pictures of the event boards I was approached by 2 men in slacks and blue blazers with a little pin on their lapel that looked like a badge. They asked what I was doing, and I told them that I was gathering data on hotel events for a research project. They seemed satisfied, but as I was walking out of the facility I saw the 2 men talking to their boss about me.

The boss man caught up to me when I was about 4 steps from the exit. He asked me the same "what are you doing taking pictures." I gave him the same answer, and also told him that I had no idea what HEART was and had no desire to learn! He asked me to delete my pictures (um, no way). Then he told me to leave and not return for the duration of the conference under threat of trespass. I told him, "No problem there, sir."

It turns out that HEART is a technology used by aerospace, satellites, and the military! At least the event security people noticed someone doing something out of the ordinary.