This exact scenario happened to me, and it cost me my job. How is it that Secret Shoppers never, ever include the fact that the employee is helping other customers in their reports? How do you not comprehend that an employee who is currently helping multiple demanding customers isn’t going to drop everything and help Almighty You?!
CONFESSION TIME!! DON’T HATE ME. I have done and I still do Secret Shopping. Mostly a certain grocery chain these days but I have done other types. Here is the thing. We are told EXACTLY what corporate wants to know. It’s mostly multiple choice (except for restaurants). We rarely have the option to talk about “mitigating circumstances.” But it works both ways. There are times that I want to report something that is negative but because it is not on the questionnaire, it goes unreported. Sometimes I feel badly that I can’t give explanations that soften what I observed but I wasn’t doing it someone else would. If you still work in a customer service role keep it in mind.
This exact scenario happened to me, and it cost me my job. How is it that Secret Shoppers never, ever include the fact that the employee is helping other customers in their reports? How do you not comprehend that an employee who is currently helping multiple demanding customers isn’t going to drop everything and help Almighty You?!
Probably because the Secret Shoppers aren’t supposed to think about mitigating circumstances, only about finding “violations”.
Yep. Otherwise how can they prove they’ve done their job? That’s all that matters to them.
I got written up because the secret shopper bought cigarettes, we had to check ID if they looked younger than 27 she was 26.
CONFESSION TIME!! DON’T HATE ME. I have done and I still do Secret Shopping. Mostly a certain grocery chain these days but I have done other types. Here is the thing. We are told EXACTLY what corporate wants to know. It’s mostly multiple choice (except for restaurants). We rarely have the option to talk about “mitigating circumstances.” But it works both ways. There are times that I want to report something that is negative but because it is not on the questionnaire, it goes unreported. Sometimes I feel badly that I can’t give explanations that soften what I observed but I wasn’t doing it someone else would. If you still work in a customer service role keep it in mind.