First Mystery Shop Jitters (An Amusing Anecdote)

Hi All--

One of my blog readers, we'll call her "A", was kind enough to share the following amusing story about her first mystery shopping assignment. It's a good read--enjoy!

My first shop was a very simple bank assignment. I practiced my "scenario" diligently for days before performing the shop. Of course I was under the assumption that, as long as I did my part, the bank employees would do theirs. And we all know what happens when we "assume".

The day of the shop came. Because the instructions said to dress well, I went the whole nine yards and even borrowed some major "bling" from my mother in law. Instead of parking in front of the bank I parked down the block and staggered and stumbled in unfamiliar high heels into the bank.

I was greeted just like it said in the shop instructions. But then everything went haywire. Instead of referring me to a teller, the person that greeted me offered her assistance. I stated scenario number one and the employee answered it. Then I went to scenario number two, which was also answered by this person. Within a few minutes I went through all the scenarios listed and finally had to make something up, just so I could interact with a teller. The beautiful clothes I had worn were now soaked with sweat.

The teller, after taking care of my business, was supposed to refer me to a sales associate. I dropped frequent hints that I did not yet have an account there, had just moved into town, needed an account that offered direct deposit options, etc., etc. Nothing worked. I had to ask for the sales associate. I was certain little puddles of sweat would now start to form under my feet.

The sales associate turned out to be...the same person who had greeted me. I somehow stumbled through the rest of the shop, certain that I had been discovered. When it was over I ran to my car, drove down the block and collapsed at a table in a nearby fast food restaurant.

I laugh at this now, because since then I've done a ton of shops just like this one and things like that don't make me nervous anymore, but it sure wasn’t funny then.

By the way, I never did get discovered during this assignment. And now the scheduler called me and asked if I want to do the same location again.

Note From Coach Melanie: Whether it's our first shop, or one that feels like it is going awry, we all can feel like we must certainly have a big red "M" on our heads, and that everyone must know we are a mystery shopper. This is almost always not the case. So stay calm and go for it!

Note: If you have an amusing mystery shopping anecdote that you would like to share and have considered for future postings of this blog, or for my e-zine "Perfect Work-At-Home Job Update" (subscribe by e-mail to: mscoach@aweber.com), e-mail me at mysteryshoppercoach@cox.net with your permission to use the story, and let me know if you would like to use your initials and city and state on the piece.

Have a great day and happy shopping!

Taking the mystery out of professional mystery shopping--Melanie Jordan http://www.mysteryshoppercoach.com

Copyright 2005 Melanie R. Jordan E-Publishing