I did my first mystery shop ever today, and I was so proud of myself! It was an alcohol compliance one. I was really thorough about checking my watch for each of the times I was supposed to note, I counted the registers open, I noted her name tag, I made my small purchase of gum and got the receipt... and when I got home, I realized that the part of the guidelines highlighted in yellow that said "VERY VERY IMPORTANT," I'd forgotten to do. I was supposed to count the number of items for sale in the warmer/grill, and I completely missed that part.
I accepted a second alcohol compliance shop with the same company that I'm doing later this afternoon, so I obviously won't make that mistake again.
What would you do in this situation?

Go back and do it again, if it isn't too late. If it is too late, send my scheduler an email, requesting forgiveness and asking to redo.

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Would you wait until much later (the only restrictions are that it has to be before 2 AM), so that the cashier doesn't recognize you from earlier? I had to give her a card saying "Great job for IDing me!" essentially.

Yes, for that very reason.

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Okay, thank you so much for calming my nerves
One more quick question from a beginner: There weren't too many times to remember, but I could see in some cases where it could get cumbersome. This shop emphasized not making or receiving a cell phone call during the shop, which is actually how I'd planned to log times (pull up a timer with hours, minutes, seconds and screen shot each time one of the events occurred that needed to be logged), so how do you keep track of when everything occurs, down to the second, during a shop?

I'm old school, so I use a watch, which has a stopwatch feature. I'm certain there is a much better way. If you take some time and search the forum, you'll find it.

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I use my cell phone and pretend I'm texting. I don't do a lot of these types of shops but I did when I was a new shopper. Eventually, when you have done enough of them you will just do it like it was second nature. The trick... like you said, is finding a comfortable and memorable way of doing things for you, personally.

I use an Android app called Mystery Shopwatch LITE. I use the free version for now. It is useful on fine dining shops that require A LOT of various timings.

Went back and completed it! Very sad that the guy did not ID me though =/ Thanks everyone for your help, I really appreciate it

Jesus!!!

ohoneo Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Okay, thank you so much for calming my nerves
> One more quick question from a beginner: There
> weren't too many times to remember, but I could
> see in some cases where it could get cumbersome.
> This shop emphasized not making or receiving a
> cell phone call during the shop, which is actually
> how I'd planned to log times (pull up a timer with
> hours, minutes, seconds and screen shot each time
> one of the events occurred that needed to be
> logged), so how do you keep track of when
> everything occurs, down to the second, during a
> shop?


Sounds like there aren't any restrictions on having a phone out altogether, just restrictions on talking on your phone. If that's the case, still proceed with screenshot method. I'd strongly suggest screenshotting the clock on your phone, if it shows the time down to the second.

What I do personally is use a combination of my watch AND cell phone. When I need to make note of a time, I quickly look at my watch and capture the exact second it's on. I try to avoid having my phone out in front of employees (especially when I am interacting with them), unless I can look like I'm texting. From there, I take a screenshot on my phone when no employees are looking. At the same time, I take a look at my watch and note the timing delay I need to account for when I do my report.

I do this to avoid looking suspicious all the time with my phone out and I don't have to stress about remembering the time logs (but instead, have a set of screenshots to analyze when I get home).