Mysterious?

Well, I took the plunge and started doing a little mystery shopping. Having worked for Asda and been subjected to the mystery shopper on a number of occasions, I thought it'd be a little fun and moderately profitable to have a go myself.

I think the interesting thing here is that as part of the job, you get an insight into the internal practices of the client that you are shopping. For example, if you buy a pub meal, do you know how long you should expect to wait? Probably not, but as a Mystery Shopper you need to know this so that you can report back whether or not a service standard was met.

So far I've done seven shops, and it's pretty hard work, albeit good fun in the process. Sadly, a couple of my reports have been critical in that the client didn't meet their own high standards. I'm a little concerned when I'm critical because it makes me sound like I'm a whinger, but at the end of the day, I'm not there to make friends or gloss it up. I'm just there to express my view, and objectively assess performance.

If you have the odd weekend free, I suggest you have a go at this. Great fun.