shopperpro

Okay so I just had to share this little tidbit - there I was on a shop where I had to go into a warehouse type place and observe the folks demonstrating inside - you know the ones with their little food samples. I walked back out to my car and since I was parked in the back of the lot took a moment to jot down some notes on my ever present clipboard. I was taking a short pause formulating my thoughts when I noted three women approaching with a shopping cart. They proceeded to load up all of the goodies they had purchased into their SUV that was parked nearby. All well and good, but when they were done unloading their purchases they then started to fill the shopping cart back up - with trash from their car! I just couldn’t believe my eyes that people could be so tacky as to treat a shopping cart as some kind of roving trash can. Needless to say it didn’t surprise me one bit when they just left said cart in the middle of the parking lot and didn’t even bother to push it the five feet into the cart return.

I don’t know why I keep being surprised by the new lows we seem to be hitting as a society, but it hits me anew at times like these.

I received an email today - the title was ‘Henry & Chucks Loan Service’. What followed was a poorly written assurance that ‘we are not bank’ and ‘we loan to any pat of world’. The gist of the email was supposedly to offer me a loan at a paltry 3% interest. Is there anyone reading this who doesn’t immediately think that this is a phishing scam to get my personal information?

What scares me is that the economic times are so difficult right now that there are people who might actually consider applying for this ‘loan’ although frankly if I was entertaining the thought of procuring a loan for myself I would have difficulty trusting any institution with ‘chuck’ in the name. Scams like these hurt the people who can least afford it the most.

I don’t know what kind of list I’ve gotten on, but I am now getting about a dozen or so emails a week that are fraudulent. Most are of the ‘you’ve inherited money’ variety with a few ‘your account has been suspended’ for good measure. From my research these email scams have been floating around on the internet since 1997 at least. You know they wouldn’t still be around if they weren’t successful - I find this depressing that people are can be so blinded by greed that they ignore all common sense.

I had a question about my new digital so here’s the answer - I’m in love despite it’s color. If you have no clue what I’m talking about at the start of the month I bought a new digital camera. It was on sale because it’s pink and the sales associate confided that no one wanted to buy a pink camera. I don’t care what color it is - it takes lovely pictures even with my novice handling.

Being me, I did research the model number of the camera when I got home to check prices. I couldn’t find it anywhere for less that $40 over what I had paid and that doesn’t even take shipping into account so I am one happy shopper. I also saw it in Wal Mart last week - the black model was $20 over what I had paid the other colors were $40 over what I paid so yaaaaay me!

I have used it several times on mystery shops since its purchase and have had no problems whatsoever with the picture quality. I have to admit I was a bit daunted by its many picture modes - there’s even a specific setting for fireworks - but have had no problems with it so far. One charge of the included battery takes over 200 pics on the highest quality setting, and with the 2GB memory card I have it holds over 400 pics also on the highest quality setting.

I am now busy plotting my next vacation/outing so that I can take some truly awesome photos. I’m thinking a little day trip to a local wildlife preserve might just be the ticket. I’ll keep you posted.

So where was the mystery shopper this week? Shopping for an apartment! I adore most of the apartment shops although the reports can be a bit lengthy. There was also some sandwich shopping, some cleanliness inspections, and some uniform shopping to keep things interesting. I also got a rare night off from the day job and was able to sneak in a visit to a local movie store to buy some movies.

I’ll be blogging in more detail about apartment shopping in the coming week, but suffice to say mystery shoppers in general either love them or hate them. I can definitively state that there is one company that I will never do another one for but on the whole I do enjoy them. Hmm? Why won’t I shop for Company XX? Because the form I had to do was an absolute nightmare. It was six pages long of mostly narrative questions and by the time I finished it I felt like I had given birth to a leasing consultant! I also found the questions a bit repetitive and had my creativity sorely taxed trying to come up with new ways to describe the same dang things.

Due to the glut of apartment shops that I was able to pick up so far this month I am also pleased to report that I am almost to my new year’s resolution to pick up $500 in shop fees per month. It is just past the halfway point of the month and I have earned $450 in shopping fees already with two weeks to go. I am one tired, but happy shopper. With reimbursements the total is over $600. Reimbursements for the current month include a car wash, a clothing purchase, and much food in the forms of subs and pizzas. Not as useful as cash, but I’ll take it!

Okay so on paper this was the simplest assignment - all I had to do was visit a store and get an associate in two departments to recommend an item. If they didn’t suggest an item with a particular material I had to ask about it and see what they said. The report form was a scant two pages long with extremely minimal comments. So what was the problem?

First of all I walked into the store and started browsing. Ten minutes later I still hadn’t gotten any assistance even though three associates walked right past me. Sniffle - and I was even wearing my best ‘clueless’ expression. The funniest part about this was that one of the associates who passed me by was with a trainee and he was instructing him on ‘proper customer service’ as they walked right past me without even making eye contact.

Okay, fine - no problem the rules state that I can now approach an associate and ask my question. Easier said than done as now every time I get near an associate they walk the other way! Eff. Twenty minutes into my shop and still nothing accomplished. I finally get an associate to speak to me and ask my question. He just shoves me, not literally, into a clearance rack of merchandise and he’s off again. You’ve got to be kidding me. Now realize that this is a fairly high end store where the cheapest item still costs over $50. I am dressed appropriately and still can’t get any help.

Thirty minutes are now gone and nada for my efforts. I have never had this much trouble trying to get someone to sell me something. Looking around the store the associates aren’t helping anyone. They’re too busy talking to one another or straightening up stock to speak to mere customers.

I finally get my original associate to come back and help me out and what do you think he does next? Give me a twenty-minute, not kidding, lecture about how everyone should be made to work at least two months in retail because they wouldn’t mess up the displays so much then! OMG you’ve got to be kidding me! Then he segues off into every freaking retail job he’s ever had and on and on and ON. Now while he’s speaking he’s also looking off to my right! He’s not even looking at me! I just can’t believe this.

At this point I just want to get the hell out of here, but professional that I am, I make him assist me through my two required departments once he FINALLY stops for air. Theoretically I should have gotten two different associates to assist me in the different departments, but after the waiting nightmare of trying to get help in the first place I just couldn’t go through that again.

Final tally - store associates 6 - mystery shopper 1 I have no idea how I’m going to write this one up. I have the bare minimum for my report, but not much else apart from the job history of one of the associates and one whopping headache!

I swear - this is why I take the complicated assignments. The simple ones always turn out to be not so simple and you expect the complicated ones to give you headaches.

Okay so it wasn’t too long ago that I did a blog about maximizing your earnings by not impulse shopping right? Check this out - I’m in a local mall and one of the stores there is closing. I can’t resist a store going out of business sale - I think it’s genetic. Anyway I picked up two pair of lounging type pants and this cute little tank top for less than $8. Nothing in the store was over $3.33. I’m sorry, but there are just some times when you have to break the rules. Plus, cough cough, you look more like a regular shopper when you have a shopping bag right? I mean it was helping me blend in at the mall and be a good anonymous mystery shopper right? I know…excuses excuses… At least I managed to successfully avoid that Dairy Queen…

Come on, doesn’t everyone do this introspection around the year’s end? Looking back over the past year, well, it pretty much sucked. Between massive financial worries, moving, job uncertainty, and personal trauma I think I pretty much covered the bases. The weird thing though is that while I’m a little bummed about what has gone I’m still oddly hopeful for the future. Despite everything that happened to me and mine in the past year, I feel that things are finally starting to get back on track, so to speak, and the New Year to come will be a much better one. Of course that’s just an open invitation to that guy Murphy to prove me wrong, but we’ll see about that.

I got an email recently from a family member that went like this:

I am thankful: For the wife who says it’s hot dogs tonight, because she is home with me, and not out with someone else.

For the husband who is on the sofa being a couch potato, because he is home with me, and not out at bars.

For the teenager who is complaining about doing dishes, because it means that she is home and not on the streets.

For the taxes I pay, because it means that I am employed.

For the mess to clean up after a party, because it means I was surrounded by friends.

For clothes that fit a little too snug, because it means that I have enough to eat.

For my shadow that watches me work, because it means that I am out in the sunshine.

For a lawn that needs mowing, gutters that need fixing, and windows that need cleaning, because it means that I have a home.

For all the complaining that I hear about the government, because it means we have freedom of speech.

For the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking.

For being stuck in traffic, because it means I have been blessed with transportation and the gas to power it.

For my huge heating bill, because it means I am warm.

For the lady behind me in church who sings off key because it means I can hear.

For the pile of laundry and ironing because it means I have clothes to wear.

For weariness and aching muscles at the end of the day because it means that I have been capable of working hard.

For the alarm that goes off in the early morning hours because it means I am alive.

Happy New Year to one and all - I hope things only get better and that you are thankful.

For those of you paying attention in the past week’s shop log I mentioned a shop in a mall scheduled for the day after Xmas that I took because I’m still trying to improve my shopper rating after missing an assignment. If not, well, now you’re up to speed too.

So I left reasonably early to the mall to make sure to get the shop all done and tucked away before having to report in for night shift. If I thought that the traffic heading towards the mall was bad the traffic trying to leave was even worse. Needless to say a shop that should have taken 1-hour max door to door ended up taking 3 due to the traffic/parking/crowds.

I get back home safe and sound, if a little cranky, and what do you think the first thing I do is? Why yes, apart from hitting the bathroom - ha ha ha. I head up to get my report all finished before going to the day job. The first thing I notice is the daypart for the shop. I have just spent three hours in mall traffic completing a shop that wasn’t supposed to be done until after 5PM! Eff. I am starting to think that any job I take for this company is cursed.

Hmm? Oh yes, I immediately sent off a panicked email to the scheduler owning up to my mistake. I stated that I had confidence in my ability to remain anonymous if they would like me to re-do the shop the next day. Lucky me, they have confidence in me too despite the little boo-boo so I get to go to the mall again.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased to have the opportunity to make up for my error, but on the other hand, yuck, back to the mall.

It just goes to show you even experienced shoppers make mistakes.

So where was the mystery shopper this week? Mostly at home sleeping. I did have quite a few opportunities to take some last minute assignments and although the bonuses offered were quite attractive in most cases, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had a day where I didn’t have a shop or my day job scheduled and took several ‘me’ days. I did start booking jobs for next month and it looks like it’s going to be a busy one so resting up was not a bad thing.

I did complete a few assignments - an apartment shop here, an adult store there. I thought I was going to die laughing on that one! Yes, I actually took an assignment to mystery shop an adult-type store with a required purchase! No, I didn’t buy any personal toys, but if I had the store staff would have been required to test them for me to make sure that they worked! Isn’t that a hoot? Due to it’s adult nature the job paid quite well for a mystery shop with a purchase and I look forward to taking more of these not only for the money, but the amusement value in itself.

Don’t ask me why, but I also accepted a job that had me in a mall the day after Christmas. Okay, that’s a lie; I know why I took the job - because I screwed up. I kept noticing that this company always had assignments in my area so I applied with them. I took two assignments from them and promptly overscheduled myself and forgot all about them. I sent an apologetic note to the scheduler as soon as I realized what had happened telling her my mistake and that I wouldn’t be able to complete the jobs. I can still accept jobs for this company, but only one at a time until I improve my mystery shopper rating, and at the moment, due to my low rating, I’m only being offered shops out in the boondocks or malls. I’m just taking the mall shops one at a time and making sure that I do an extra good job on them until I bring my shopper rating back up.

See - no one is perfect. Not even me, but then I never claimed to be right? Actually I’ll have a bit more to say on THAT subject tomorrow…

Coming up this week it should be fairly quiet. I managed to pick up a few last minute jobs so as of now I have six on the books that all need to be completed by Wednesday. Five of them are for pizzas so I know what I’m eating this week!

I admit to being jaded and cynical, but I can’t help it. One of the reasons I’m grateful for Christmas this year is that it’s finally time for my charming neighbors to take down all of those tacky decorations. Every stinking day for the past month when I get home they’ve added something new to their house or front lawn. I swear their electricity bill must be outrageous - a few more days and you might have been able to see their house from space!

While I did have the opportunity to pick up a few last minute shops, I chose to be irresponsible and pissed off to some parties instead. I’ve been to the same party on Christmas eve for the last fifteen years and I didn’t plan on stopping this year for a mystery shop no matter how obscene the bonus fee was! It was a wise choice as the perfect hostess as always had quite the good spread and I came home with more ham - not to mention a huge chunk of her homemade chocolate chip pecan pie!

I was invited over to a friends for Christmas dinner and since I didn’t plan on cooking for myself, off I went. Holy mother of God am I glad I made that decision. For Christmas they made a standing rib roast (prime rib) on the grill that was to die for! I think I’ll be full for the next week not to mention the not-so-little doggie bag I came home with!

The ‘informational’ mystery shopper blog will resume tomorrow pending I’m not still napping off that obscenely large piece of beef I had for dinner. Upcoming topics will include - what the grade on your mystery shopping report is, Mystery shopping by phone, using the Vocazilla system, and of course Sunday’s shop log.

Wishing you all a safe and happy holiday season!
Blessings for a profitable mystery shopping New Year to all!

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