My All-Time Favorite Job ...

Cassie commented on my Friday Five - Five Jobs You've Had blog about thinking that those mystery shopping ads you see are bogus. I used to think they were all scams, too. Found out quite by accident that there are legit companies out there when we had a "shop" done on us when I worked in a service station as a cashier. The business owner let us read the report. On the letterhead I found not only the "agent code number" (worthless to me, LOL) but also the name and phone number of the company. I called them that night (from work) and asked how to go about becoming a mystery shopper. The rest, as they say, is history.

I do have to say here, though, that *not all* of those ads are legit!! Some are total frauds. Anyone claiming they'll sell you a list of companies to apply to for mystery shopping I'd recommend staying away from!! In fact, any ad saying send money to work for them, RUN!!!!

If you wanna get real bold, call up some businesses in your area that you'd love to be a mystery shopper for. They may be able to tell you what companies they hire for mystery shopping.

I never had the chance to do some of the big shops. Hotels, expensive restaurants, high end clothing stores ... only because they usually have their own corporate mystery shoppers. Might wanna call them, too, to see how to go about doing the big shops. I'd love to do monthly "shops" on places like Muer Restaurants, Hilton Hotels, and Macy's!

Without naming names (against company policy to discuss WHO you did shops on), I did a hardware store chain (six stores every month), sweet shop (yum, eight regional stores, half of them every month), child's play land (Alien was my "cover" for this one. Hand me an aspirin please! Three stores, only one a month thankfully), and an import shop (my *big* expensive shop, five regional stores every month). Average pay was $15 a shop, average time of "shop" was 75 minutes including drive time. The play land shops were THREE hours in length, though . Mileage only after 20 miles, I no longer recall the rate per mile. Some "shops" I'd have to buy something to evaluate how the cashiers handled customers. Sometimes I got to keep the stuff (reimbursed for purchases). Sometimes I'd have to return things a week or so later so that I could evaluate how their staff handled refunds. Pay was monthly.

There's a lot of paperwork involved. Since I mystery shopped before the internet was popular, my paperwork was always mailed to me. Now they're mostly emailed. LOL, some shops I had 24 page packets, other shops it might be five or six pages long. Reading through the packet first I knew what they were looking for. Appearance of parking lot, store, employees, clean windows, etc. How'd the employees interact with you when you asked them product questions? Where they wearing name tags, uniforms (where applicable)? What was their appearance? Attitude? Knowledge of products? Were food products hot and fresh? Did cashier greet you? Ask if you found everything you were looking for, etc. Did they close the sale with "Thank you. Come again" or "Have a nice day"? Refunds - how where they handled? Was cashier pleasant about refunding your money? Etc. Some reports were more detailed, some less - it all just depended on what the business owners wanted to know.

I learned so much on this job. Not only about *spying* without getting caught, but how customers perceive a business. It helped in future jobs as a cashier or customer service supervisor. It's actually good training for any type of job, as you learn to LOOK through the eyes of the customer or client. I also learned to never, ever do paperwork near the business - you're more likely to be *busted* as a mystery shopper that way! LOL ... I kept a voice recorder with me. I'd say the names of each person I ran into (paperwork wants to know who you talked to), and key things I needed to remember. And for Pete's sake should anyone ask you if you're the mystery shopper play stupid!! I was asked a few times because I was a frequent shopper at the hardware stores - yeah a frequent female shopper in a hardware store sticks out like a sore thumb I tell you! LOL ... I lied through my teeth, looking puzzled, when I said I had no idea what a mystery shopper was. I don't remember now the story I gave them as to why I was in their store once or twice a month!

It's funny, typing all this I realize how much I miss that job!! I'm gonna have to hit their website myself and re-apply! Well, after the semester ends and I have some time again! LOL!