Called out for Photo Taking - Story for Why?
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I take photos of advertising in stores to send my daughter. I have offered to show my phone to anyone who is concerned about what I captured. I also take photos of food I order because my daughter & I are on a dare this week about what we are each eating.
My son is a Google local guide. He takes pictures everywhere he goes and posts them on google. It gives the businesses good advertising. And it gives him an excuse to take pictures when he's supposed to be covert.
And when I'm doing gas audits if they make a fuss, I tell them, I gave you a chance to get out of the picture, but you chose to step in front of the camera anyway. I am standing here in a traffic safety vest and obviously taking pictures. If you don't want your picture taken, maybe you should have some kind of spacial awareness or pay attention to your surroundings.
I avoid taking pictures of people, and especially their faces as often as I can, but I can't be responsible for folks from the planet oblivion.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2026 02:43AM by Morledzep.
And when I'm doing gas audits if they make a fuss, I tell them, I gave you a chance to get out of the picture, but you chose to step in front of the camera anyway. I am standing here in a traffic safety vest and obviously taking pictures. If you don't want your picture taken, maybe you should have some kind of spacial awareness or pay attention to your surroundings.
I avoid taking pictures of people, and especially their faces as often as I can, but I can't be responsible for folks from the planet oblivion.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/09/2026 02:43AM by Morledzep.
I've had people jump in front of me while taking pictures, wanting their picture taken and smiling big. I've even had people strike a pose and tell me to take their picture. But I've never had pushback.
Shopping Arkansas, Louisiana, & Mississippi.
If you turn an iPhone ringer off, it won’t make the shutter sound when you take a pic. I don’t use a flash. I pretend I’m texting and just hit the button. Sometimes you can see the screen light up so I just make a joke about friendship keeps texting even when I’m out. Taking pics of food has become normal.
I forgot my glasses and I am using the pics to make the lettering larger.
That's a good one
I often take photos of the prices on the bottom grocery shelf. I can't bend down far enough to see them
I often take photos of the prices on the bottom grocery shelf. I can't bend down far enough to see them
When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower.
Alexander Den Heijer
Alexander Den Heijer
Playing old & tech-ignorant, sometimes it's, "I just got this phone and it keeps telling me to take pictures of everything! Doesn't yours do that?"
I have my shutter sound off and I am constantly texting someone. If it's obvious that I took a photo, I was admiring someone's (purse/shoes/outfit...) and wanted to do an image search for it. "Have you tried "circle to search yet?! It's SO COOL!!! I really like their shoes and I need to find something similar (for yourself or that imaginary person you are texting).
@ArkLaMissshopping wrote:
I've had people jump in front of me while taking pictures, wanting their picture taken and smiling big. I've even had people strike a pose and tell me to take their picture. But I've never had pushback.
I had to take a photo of the interior dining room of a pizza place (in addition to the menu board and bathroom, and of my food when I was eating it before I left). A table of 3 was the only table occupied. Of course, one of them must have seen me snap the dining room photo. I go directly out to the car, and start it up. Next thing I know, an irate older guy wearing overalls is standing next to my driver's side door with his hand inside my window preventing me from backing up without hitting him. He was adamant about me deleting his picture (even though his back was turned to me in the photo). I am aware of the laws of my state that do not prohibit someone from taking a photo in a public space that you do not have an expectation of privacy...but this guy was not going to take "no" for an answer, and I didn't want to end up calling the police (talk about blowing your cover as a mystery shopper by not being discreet!). So I humored him by showing him my camera photo album with his photo deleted. LOL..of course, he wasn't watching me the whole time I was sitting in my car with my phone, and he wasn't tech savvy enough to know that I had not only texted the photo to myself before deleting it, but also after he finally walked away, I simply went to the trash folder and undeleted the photo.
Dang! And I get nervous just taking menu board pictures. I feel for you guys, those are awful stories.
Shopper since 2005
I had a guy question if I had just taken his picture as I was trying to get a photo of the shuttle before it drove away. And since he was just an employee at the hospital, I explained that I was evaluating the shuttle service and he gave me lots of dirt on that particular driver which I passed along to the mystery shop company as well as the comments I over heard about his driving before boarding the shuttle.
I forgot a photo doing one of the visa checks before and it was the counter photo. Imagine, walking in just to take a photo of the counter where the person who sold you something a couple minutes ago is standing?! I went back in and walked past the counter and took a couple super obvious photos of their menu board like I needed to be able to share that with someone. I noticed the counter person was no longer watching me so I grabbed my counter photo and got the heck out.@Hockeymoose wrote:
Dang! And I get nervous just taking menu board pictures. I feel for you guys, those are awful stories.
I was taking pictures at a gas station once (an audit). A customer compained that i was taking pictures of peoples license plates and was going to complain to management.
@pegleg2000 wrote:
I was taking pictures at a gas station once (an audit). A customer compained that i was taking pictures of peoples license plates and was going to complain to management.
I tell them to go ahead, tell the management, call corporate. I'm taking pictures of the branding and advertising for the parent company, they know I'm here, on this day during this time period. And your license plate probably isn't legible in the pictures if it's in the pictures at all.
@Deedeezthoughts wrote:
I forgot a photo doing one of the visa checks before and it was the counter photo. Imagine, walking in just to take a photo of the counter where the person who sold you something a couple minutes ago is standing?! .
Yeah, I hate those counter pics. Often times, there's someone standing behind me, so it's tough to sneak one that captures the whole counter area while waiting your turn in line - and then look at it to verify it's a clear pic. If you had to go back in, next time maybe ask them a question about something on the shelf behind the counter - then as they turn around to look at it or grab it, take a quick picture. Or, pretend you're reading something on your phone (like a text message from someone) and ask the employee about the product that's in the text message you're pretending to read on your phone as you're taking the photo.
I did think of that but the counter had a bakery box on it and nothing but a blank wall.behind them. I thought about pretending to take a photo of the bakery box so my friend could maybe choose something (there were some amazing treats in there) but it wasn't close to the POS and I was afraid that would gain more attention when I wanted less attention. Looking preoccupied with something that didn't require any assistance FTW.@STL_shopper wrote:
Yeah, I hate those counter pics. Often times, there's someone standing behind me, so it's tough to sneak one that captures the whole counter area while waiting your turn in line - and then look at it to verify it's a clear pic. If you had to go back in, next time maybe ask them a question about something on the shelf behind the counter - then as they turn around to look at it or grab it, take a quick picture. Or, pretend you're reading something on your phone (like a text message from someone) and ask the employee about the product that's in the text message you're pretending to read on your phone as you're taking the photo.
I tried a few of those counter picture jobs and decided I just don't like it. I quit doing them.
Most of my shops these days are merchandising or auditing / inspecting. No one's ever given me grief for any pictures taken.
If that were to happen in a mystery shopping scenario, I'd prolly make something up on the fly. A lot of these people are being whiny just for the sake of being whiny, so my answer really isn't that important. People take pics of all kinds of stuff in retail stores. It's the world we live in, get used to it
If that were to happen in a mystery shopping scenario, I'd prolly make something up on the fly. A lot of these people are being whiny just for the sake of being whiny, so my answer really isn't that important. People take pics of all kinds of stuff in retail stores. It's the world we live in, get used to it
I don't think there are any Russians / And there ain't no Yanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks
Just corporate criminals\ / Playin' with tanks
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