I had a food service shop today, during which I observed a person who wasn't in company uniform cleaning the dining area. Happened to look up just as he was apparently blowing his nose in a napkin, and then watched him wet his fingers in the soda fountain and wipe the area around the nozzle off with the same napkin he'd had up to his face.

*sigh* Into the report it goes, and I'm officially off the list for that location. No shop fee/bonus is high enough to get me to take another one there.

I shopped a steakhouse (bar shop) and every time the bartender bent over to make drinks her "crack" showed. . . .it wasn't very appetizing!

I was shopping an inner- city McD's. It's one I wouldn't go to normally. As I was sitting there, there was an trashy looking couple sitting at another table, not eating anything, but instead they had a machine used to roll cigarettes and they were laughing and rolling and listening to very loud music. Too the manager at least 10 mins to shoo them out of there but that was a very long 10 mins.

The toilet overflowing and sending a river (complete with "boats" into the dining room....

The employee doing something personal in a bathroom stall that was not related to going potty....Always assume someone could be in the bathroom and don't walk out with evidence very evident!

A customer passing out, hitting his head, and the staff doing absolutely NOTHING. They would not even call 911! The manager refused to come out to the dining area. I administered care until the EMT's/paramedics arrived and I could successfully do a hand off.

Then got back in line and started the timings all over again as though I had just walked in. (Emailed the scheduler about the incident and asked for guidance on the report. Got dropped from the company over this. Sorry - if someone has a medical emergency and needs help, I am going to help. If the staff couldn't be bothered to even acknowledge the incident, do you really think they are going to remember me???)

Reporting that I had paid for a very nice dinner and dessert and never received it. Yep. Server brought the wrong entrees out, when I brought it to her attention, she brought the check (complete with a dessert charged on it), waited for the cc and immediately processed it, but never brought out the correct entrees or dessert.

Hearing incredibly personal conversations about illegal activities occurring at work. Yes. For real.

Employees stealing from customers.

Does these count as awkward?

The other awkward things, but not included in reports (no specific place for this/company not interested), receiving life stories, seeing awkward photos, being told "confidential" or proprietary information, being asked out, witnessing PDA...

I didn't exactly "report it" but I did once have a new home salesperson flirt with me so much during a video shop that the editor questioned if we knew each other prior to the shop.

Maybe if there is a medical emergency such as that above, it could be mentioned and said that the manager didn't care. That wouldn't put the shopper in a bind as it wasn't said that the shopper was the first responder.

They were doing major construction at McDonald's and in the middle of me timing in the drive-thru, a dump truck pulled into the drive-thru lane blocking the access to the drive-thru (no, he wasn't ordering anything, he just sat there 5 minutes) and I could not see what he was doing, but I think maybe passing something up to the roof area... but until he moved, I could not get to the window to pick up my food.

One time I was doing a car dealership and the salesman suddenly became very flirty and then asked me out to lunch at a neighboring restaurant. The whole time I was thinking 'please don't do this! please don't do this! because it will have to go in to my report. Luckily he did not push it, the rest of the shop went well and I did not include it in to my report. But, it was VERY awkward for me!

"TRASHY?"

WOW.... disrespect.....

@Hoju wrote:

I was shopping an inner- city McD's. It's one I wouldn't go to normally. As I was sitting there, there was an trashy looking couple sitting at another table, not eating anything, but instead they had a machine used to roll cigarettes and they were laughing and rolling and listening to very loud music. Too the manager at least 10 mins to shoo them out of there but that was a very long 10 mins.

I was doing a trailer check in one of the largest theatres in the city and while waiting for the next show, I went to the lone washroom near the pool table. It was occupied for a long time and I waited and waited because I did not want to go to the main washrooms near the auditoriums, as it was early for the start of the show. A staff wanted to use the washroom so he knocked but there was no answer but some weird sounds.

The movie trailer was about to start and I was about to leave when out came a man and a woman, both straigthening their clothes and hair, obviously very embarrassed. I then recognized them as the couple in the food area who could not keep their hands off each other. Thank God it had nothing to do with my shop because I don't think I knew what I didn't see. Of course I didn't see anything.

The guy who growled when I asked for help. The employees who were drinking shots with customers at a bar.

It was the return part of a shoe shop. I was asked why I was returning it and I said I changed my mind because when I tried it home, the fit was not right. The manager's face was red with anger. He asked why I purchased it if I did not intend to keep it. He was shaking when he dumped the shoe box on the table. Everything on it rattled, including the table. For a while I thought he was going to hit me when he shoved a piece of paper in front of me and said, "Sign this." Then he dropped the money on the table, and you could hear the clinking of the change. He walked abruptly towards the back door. I wrote up the report and noted exactly what happened. He looked so weird, I was really afraid he was going to have a heart attack.

So in two months, I was asked to do this shop again. As they do not usually specify the location, I accepted. I thought they would have noted it and disqualified me from that location.

When I realized it was the same location, I explained to the scheduler that I did not want to do the shop because of what happened previously. She said she did not know about it and apologized for my experience. She removed the shop from my log without penalty for cancellation.

@rising - ach, that must have been some report to write up!!

I had another one this week: two employees standing around discussing recent terminations in their store, complete with names and all the gory details. Hi there, privacy violations!

Oh, that's gross.

I do a lot of grocery shops for one particular chain of stores. One of the questions on the report deals with if the cashier engages with you outside of the basics of the transaction.

I bought a package of chicken breasts, and the cashier made some terribly suggestive comments to another employee while scanning and bagging it.

That was the first and last time I saw him there.

@CANADAMOMMY wrote:

"TRASHY?"

WOW.... disrespect.....

@Hoju wrote:

I was shopping an inner- city McD's. It's one I wouldn't go to normally. As I was sitting there, there was an trashy looking couple sitting at another table, not eating anything, but instead they had a machine used to roll cigarettes and they were laughing and rolling and listening to very loud music. Too the manager at least 10 mins to shoo them out of there but that was a very long 10 mins.

Sorry. I didn't realize that was you.

Probably not that dramatic in the grand scheme of things, but a toilet that was filled with .. uhh... excrement and couldn't flush. And this MSC wants pictures of the bathroom condition, so I had to angle the camera very carefully to show as little excrement as possible. Poor editor.

I once did a shop for a sporting/athletic apparel store where the 4 employees ignored the store full of customers and chatted away loudly. Conversations ranged from complaining about how "stupid and annoying" a customer on the telephone was to how much more lucrative one employee's "real job" was (selling illegal substances). I had to approach for assistance and was told at least 3 times that I would be better off going to a competitor store down the block. It was a struggle to stay in the store for 20 mins (as per shop requirements) because he kept pushing me to try the other store. I emailed the scheduler and explained what happened. She said I should include all of this in my report so I did.

Not so awkward but hard to report: I did a convenience store shop today. The store was open during renovations; dust was everywhere. The store interior was halved so there was no coffee available, the aisles were barely wide enough to slip by sideways, I couldn't see the sandwich selection because materials piled in front. There were workers doing things to the ceiling standing on top of the ATM machine. To top it off, a someone had slipped on their accelerator pedal in the parking lot and slammed in between the store and it's garbage bin, so there were 2 police cars handling that as well. The poor clerk did amazing, all things considered.

I did a shop where the associate did everything right at first, then ruined it at the end. After asking if the site did installation, he whispered to me that he could give me his number and that he could install it for me for less money than the company. Awkward! I had to report it in additional comment section. I really wanted to give him a good report at first.

@sun&fun wrote:

I shopped a steakhouse (bar shop) and every time the bartender bent over to make drinks her "crack" showed. . . .it wasn't very appetizing!

If you see a sign that says "Crack kills" and it reminds you to pull up your pants... you might be a redneck.

@AlexG wrote:

Probably not that dramatic in the grand scheme of things, but a toilet that was filled with .. uhh... excrement and couldn't flush. And this MSC wants pictures of the bathroom condition, so I had to angle the camera very carefully to show as little excrement as possible. Poor editor.

See, this is where our styles differ... to me, "pictures of the bathroom condition" includes everything, and turds in a non-working toilet don't strike me as something to make an exception for. I'd probably take an extra picture with the turds cropped out "just in case" but if this is the MSC I think it is, they want all the pictures.

I think I know who youre thinking of squash - not thatbshop. This was a shop that was combo compliance/customer service and actually just changed to no longer require the toilets. Lol

Had a shop i did recently where the manager was attemoting to kick someone out with a service animal. Claiming that because the animal didnt have tags or papers. I pointed out to the manager that she couldnt do that and she verbally attacked me telling me to "shut up and mine my own business.". Really???? Not only did it go in the report but o also have a friend who works for Himan Rights Commission that got a phone call for 'education' at that establishment. Hahahahaha!!!

Just being curious...did you notice if he had a ring on? <smirk>

What are you talking about, wintersilke?

I did a bank shop, used a preprinted deposit slip, and deposited cash into my account. I checked my receipt - my account number and my deposit appeared correct. The bank did "real time" banking. Got home. I always check the bank account before entering the report so I can honestly answer the question "was the transaction accurately and efficiently processed?"

This time, it was not. My cash deposit was nowhere to be found. Nowhere. I double checked my receipt against my account number. It was correct. Called the bank and they informed me I had NOT made a deposit and had nothing "pending." They also verbally verified that a cash deposit is immediately available and immediately visible online.

Yeah. I had to report that my cash deposit was missing. That was awkward! (And frustrating and concerning...and because this was a shop, the scheduler said to be quiet about it and give the bank a a chance to correct the mistake.)

Four days later, the cash deposit was still missing. Two weeks later, with proof of the deposit, I was able to get my cash back. I did it quietly at a different branch, in person, like "Hi, I was going through my receipts and maybe I am reading this wrong...but I thought I had deposited some cash into my account about two weeks ago..."

I no longer work for that company. I have no idea if the company actually reported the discrepancy to the bank or if they changed my report to say everything was done correctly. And being that it took me going to the bank, with proof of deposit, to get my cash back, I no longer have any financial transactions with that bank. If it had been a real, honest mistake, they should have caught the mistake that same day when they closed out their banking day. Unless the guy canceled the transaction and then redeposited the money into his own bank account, but even that should have raised a flag...cancelled transaction...him making deposits into his account...

In the last ten years, I have had three cash deposits go missing and one put in the wrong account (teller mistake and the cash still ended up in one of my accounts.)

Anyone else had bad banking experiences?

I have a $100 threshold that causes an email to be sent in real time to my phone if any transaction exceeds that. It don't matter if it's a Market Force deposit or a purchase with the Visa card in a store.

It's real time and accurate. I would not have left the bank without a cash deposit showing up. I would not go back to the teller that deposited it and would attempt to speak directly with the bank manager. My deposits are worth more than the payment of a teller shop and if the company really wants an honest report, they will get one this way.

I had a really awkward shop- a casual dining one. I had to order a specific item from a new promotional menu, and take pictures of the entrees. that seemed easy enough. The restaurant was no longer running the promotion! And I didn't know what to do, so I emailed the scheduler from my cell, not realizing I was emailing her under a gmail account instead of my usual email. I thought she didn't email back, so I was stressed the whole meal.

We ordered, and the waiter stayed nearby and we had to take pictures of the food anyway. The manager's whose name was required was MIA. When I got home I saw the email and was happy to see that I proceeded as she said to- just order something and report what the waiter told me. I did get calls from that company later on in the week, and I told them just as I had in my report- the promotional menu was no longer available. A few emails later, it seems things are squared away. The feeling was awful, and not worth it. The leftovers were really good though, and easy to reheat at work. plus, the waiter was nice.

The other awkward ones are the fast food drive thru photo audits. As soon as I'm about to approach the signs, a customer will pull up. Sometimes I say"I'm looking for something I dropped" then snap away, and know I must look strange. It's also awful when the order taker realizes someone is there and starts talking to me .I'm never doing those again. I passed on those for years, relented recently, and have my regrets.