Secret Shoppers Suck

[Ironclad Alibi]

... Other things, like offering to help them find stuff (and we KNOW everyone wants help with that, no-one ever complains) are up there, too; they just do not take "every single floor person was already helping somebody else" into account...

Those aren't Secret Shoppers, they are Sucky Secret Shoppers that expect to be treated as though they are the only customer in the store, regardless of how many real customers are in there.

A few of the others described in this thread could be called Super Sucky Secret Shoppers.

[EricKei]

....Secret shoppers aren't always that bad.....

<hides>

True. I wouldn't mind doing it...but then again, I'd be FAIR about it. In the end, it's not (usually) the SS's that are the issue -- it's the way Corp intentionally warps the tests/results. Silverstaff's story is a perfect case in point.

..Hm, what's that, voiceinmyhead?...You think Seraph is suggesting something?...Nope, no idea what yer talking about, I don't see it.

[Seraph]

Very true, some SSers abuse their power. You're not supposed to do that of course, but you know humanity.

On the flip side though, there *could* be SSers out there who are perfectly fair about everything....and possibly even make a cashier's day by surprising them with a $50 bill for asking about a combo upgrade. You never know.

..Hm, what's that, voiceinmyhead?...You think Seraph is suggesting something?...Nope, no idea what yer talking about, I don't see it.

Oh look, a cookie over there!!

[notlovinit]

Is there anything to keep Secret Shoppers from lying just to be nasty and vindictive, or to keep them from flat-out lying? It seems that corporate takes these surveys/reports very seriously so their should be some sort of way to validate the information.

Nope, not a thing. That's what got the secret shopper from my story fired, but that's such a rare case and if I hadn't been so batshit crazy over it, she would probably still be there.
Corp. does have ways of verifying the information if they want to, but why would they believe a lowly employee over a secret shopper who is like a CUSTOMER?! We know they are always right.

[mikoyan29]

It's one thing when stuff like this is used to drive process improvement but it's another thing when it is used as a tool of punishment. I don't understand the purpose of using those black marks against people who have nothing to do with the customer in the first place? On the flip side, if you have good scores, is there a bonus?

[Mad-Bassist]

I think the sucky secret shoppers should be a very rare thing. Other than friends of the owner, I'd think these people would be trained by their employers and have a specific routine.

On the other hand, there are the 800 complaint numbers. The funny thing about those is (at least in companies I've been in) they just forward everything to the manager, and he ignores most of it because it's the same people that hate certain employees and think they have an effect upon them.

[EricKei]

On the flip side, if you have good scores, is there a bonus?

Not in my experience. Falling slightly short of expectations that are unrealistically high is a tragedy and a disaster of epic proportions. Meeting or exceeding those same expectations by a huge amount is simply "the absolute bare minimum we ask of you". >_<

PS it has been my experience that, at least at stores where I've worked, that they intentionally send SS's in during the worst times of the year (Just after dinner on Black Friday, et al) and use that as a measuring stick for how customers are treated during the 99% of the time when the staff is NOT stressed out of their minds from exhaustion and overwork (at GameStore, the (Salaried) store manager would typically work no less than eighty hours a week during Black Friday thru New Years..being on salary meant he would be paid for only forty of that)

[CalyCoRose]

When I worked Fast Food. The Secret Shoppers always came only during the day, and I was the only front line cashier at our local FF restaurant.

We never got anything less than a 100% on every SS that I worked there.

And there were only 3 of us on shift during the days. (Manager, back line cook, and me).

The DM we had was awesome. I'd get free food, but nothing else. Didn't matter to me. I actually enjoyed working there. But that particular FF restaurant would be the only one I'd work at (I probably wouldn't work at the other bigger FF restaurants like Mickey D's or Burger King, etc.).

[siead_lietrathua]

Sort of off-topic, but the creepy ones are store owners who park down the street and watch their store with binoculars.

we had a DM who would sit itn the parking lot during night shift to check up on the store. made alot of those girls (mostly highschool teens) very uncomfortable at the thought of a signifigantly older male waching them from the lot. corperate or not, it just made them very uncomfortable. so every cashier went to the manager of our store and told her that if she didnt make him stop she would have a staff-wide harrasment claim to deal with.

[mikoyan29]

Not in my experience. Falling slightly short of expectations that are unrealistically high is a tragedy and a disaster of epic proportions. Meeting or exceeding those same expectations by a huge amount is simply "the absolute bare minimum we ask of you". >_<

PS it has been my experience that, at least at stores where I've worked, that they intentionally send SS's in during the worst times of the year (Just after dinner on Black Friday, et al) and use that as a measuring stick for how customers are treated during the 99% of the time when the staff is NOT stressed out of their minds from exhaustion and overwork (at GameStore, the (Salaried) store manager would typically work no less than eighty hours a week during Black Friday thru New Years..being on salary meant he would be paid for only forty of that)

And how does that actually drive improvement? I know this is pretty much a rhetorical question because it doesn't seem like the corporate folks really care about improvements. They just care about perceptions and probably figure that if the current crop of employees don't meet whatever goals, they can always get a new bunch. Granted, experienced employees cost more because they are theoretically getting raises but still. It seems like it would be better to have a bunch of highly motivated employees versus ones who don't give a crap. And setting unrealistic goals pretty much guarantees that is what you will get.

[Seraph]

On the flip side, if you have good scores, is there a bonus?

With some occasional shops, yes. As I mentioned earlier, there's been ones where the shopper is allowed to reveal themselves, and then give the employee(s) bonuses/gifts.

But, out of say, twenty or so shops, there might be one or two of those. Most are just "Go in, note the cleanliness, how the employees react, and how the cashiers act"

[laborcat]

On the flip side though, there *could* be SSers out there who are perfectly fair about everything....and possibly even make a cashier's day by surprising them with a $50 bill for asking about a combo upgrade.

My stepfather did something like that for a company once. I think it was Wendy's or Sonic, where he could go back in and reward for a perfect score with something tangible. He really enjoyed it. He never spoke of anything being seriously wrong. I don't know if he still works as a secret shopper or not.

[Seraph]

My stepfather did something like that for a company once. I think it was Wendy's or Sonic, where he could go back in and reward for a perfect score with something tangible. He really enjoyed it. He never spoke of anything being seriously wrong. I don't know if he still works as a secret shopper or not.

Restaurants are usually the ones with rewards, as its easy to categorize for things like "they asked for a combo upgrade", or "asked you about Sale X". Bit more difficult to do things for a place like, say, grocery store. The smaller the store, the more likely they'll do rewards.

[notlovinit]

To answer the rewards thing, it definitely varies by company. Where my mom works, they don't get anything. Where I work, we get a lot. I don't know what the crew gets (I know they get stuff, but not as much as the manager), but for me personally, if I get a 95% or better I get a new uniform shirt and a bunch of tacky prizes. No matter what the score, if I make times I get $25 gift cert to Walmart. If I make times and get 95% or better I get $100 to Walmart. I forget what I get if I get a 100% and make times - this hasn't happened to me. Not because I suck, but because I haven't had many secret shop visits since becoming a manager. I got them a lot more when I was crew. Ours can also go up to 105%.

[EricKei]

made alot of those girls (mostly highschool teens) very uncomfortable at the thought of a signifigantly older male waching them from the lot. .

I'd love to plead ignorance and call the cops on someone doing something like this >_> "What? Oh, DM, that was you? Huh. We got a number of customers complaining about some dude sitting in the dark in his car outside; they were getting scared, so they asked us to call the police just in case." -- Make it a customer request and there's not much he can do, now is there?

And how does that actually drive improvement? I know this is pretty much a rhetorical question because it doesn't seem like the corporate folks really care about improvements. They just care about perceptions and probably figure that if the current crop of employees don't meet whatever goals, they can always get a new bunch.

You just nailed it. They aren't looking for improvement so much as intimidation, most of the time. Also, it gives them a paper trail to follow.

Granted, experienced employees cost more because they are theoretically getting raises but still. It seems like it would be better to have a bunch of highly motivated employees versus ones who don't give a crap.

Heehee. I did have the opportunity to work with a store filled with nothing but hard-working, dedicated, experienced, friendly, take-no-shit employees who really knew their stuff back at GameStore -- as a direct result of the store closings caused by Katrina. The best of the people who showed up again after the storm (80% of the managers and fewer than half of us peons) wound up redirected to our biggest sales store -- just in time for the launch of the latest iteration of some online shooter game that people seem to like and a system to play it on. Something about a ring-shaped world, I dunno. I think those guys at Red vs Blue made a video about it or something. We were too busy to care, as we opened the Sunday before Thanksgiving. We, quite literally, had all 3 registers going nonstop, and the line stretched from the end of the cashwrap, around the walls of the entire store and out into the mall, non-stop from the 9AM opening time until half an hour after close. Every Single Day...until the end of Returns Season (3rd week of January). Had not everyone there been veterans of the retail wars, the place would have freaking imploded; we had our youngest guys -- meaning, only one year working there -- fixing and facing the walls constantly; at times, they would have to completely fix a 3-foot wall section and then re-do that same section immediately because the customers had trashed it again just that quickly. Our most experienced non-manager was in the backroom all day, doing nothing but unpacking shipments, dealing with trade-ins that the store had purchased (we had to cut these off eventually, just too many people buying stuff), and passing up systems for people to purchase, as ALL of the floor space back there was taken up by boxes (which was fine by him; he didn't really like dealing with people, but DAMN was he good at stock)... Best part: The store first had to be completely rebuilt and reset after the fine folks in HAZMAT gear tore out the rain-soaked wall fixtures a week or two prior (the mall got the new ones up lickety-split).

My stepfather did something like that for a company once. I think it was Wendy's or Sonic, where he could go back in and reward for a perfect score with something tangible. .

I would so love to be a SS for Sonic >_> Mmmmmm, burger....