Secret Shoppers Suck

[sweetj82]

My company doesnt do SS but my last store manager hired one out of his own pocket.

She was a bitch. I got knocked points once for tieing my shoe.

The report said CSM J sat down in customer space. I am not sure why she sat down.. maybe she was tired or had to fix her shoe.

I think she should find somewhere else to do it out of the customer space and veiw. -5 points.

How dare I sit on a bench to tie my shoe.


I had to write a statement on why I did it and how I would fix it.

I daid I tied my show because it came undone and I didnt want to fall. I said I would fix it by banishing myself to the bathroom just to fix my shoe.

[EricKei]

I would have been sooo tempted to say "I will fix it by not wearing shoes anymore"

[wolfie]

When there is a line of people five deep at the registers and two of the three registers are manned, we aren't going to call for another cashier. The third register is only for severe line problems (like Black Friday) as people tend to line jump, and since the third cashier's back is to the line, s/he won't be able to know if that person truly was next or not. (Bad register layout, I agree, but it's not something we can correct.) We didn't have enough personnel to cover a third register anyway. But since we didn't call for a third cashier, we got docked points for that.

Presumably it's corporate that sends the secret shoppers. Any chance of the manager creating a "code name" employee who doesn't exist, who can be paged (but never show up) to take over the third register?

[draco664]

How dare I sit on a bench to tie my shoe.


I had to write a statement on why I did it and how I would fix it.

I daid I tied my show because it came undone and I didnt want to fall. I said I would fix it by banishing myself to the bathroom just to fix my shoe.

"Instead of stopping to tie my shoelace, I will continue to work. When I trip and smash my head or drop heavy boxes of stock over small children, crippling them for life, I will be hold tight to the knowledge that I did not potentially offend a curmudgeonly bitch of a Secret Shopper for daring to take 5 seconds to fix my attire."

How's that boss? Will that do? Are you sure you don't want me to run it by Health & Safety first?

[Sapphire Silk]

If the secret shopper gives a failing report, it goes as a black mark on the record of every employee in the store at the time, even if they had no part in the customer's experience (the logic being that the employee should have done something to help the customer).
<snip>
The third time she was the cashier, and did everything by the book . . .but since someone in the aisles didn't properly greet her as she was walking around, it was a third black mark, and her termination for-cause.

I would so fight that tooth and nail. If I've done nothing wrong, I don't deserve to be fired for cause.

[taxguykarl]

Sort of off-topic, but the creepy ones are store owners who park down the street and watch their store with binoculars. Their point of view is understandable, and I'd want to know my store is going well

Our franchise owner did that for a time. This is one for how to get fired: He called the office he was watching. The worker said there was no traffic...she was, in fact, sending the considerable flow to a BF who did returns in a van parked nearby.

[Estil]

but the manager said there was nothing he could do, it was fire her and deny Unemployment benefits since it was "for cause" or he would be fired himself.

That doesn't sound legal. You must be fired for deliberate misconduct to not get unemployment benefits. What she was fired for doesn't count.

[Lumina]

My Brother gets secret shoppers where he works at. But how they have thier system is NICE.

It's done on a Month Basis. 3 SS's are hired; they are given a area of time of which to go in.
They are required to get the NAME of EVERY SINGLE employee they spoke to; along with a time.
See where this is going already? Try have a SS remember all peices of this and not bring something to write upon. It's like a beacon of saying "I'm a secret shopper!!!"

All 3 SS's Scores are Marked and a Average is given. Average is marked Againsit sales of that day (Higher sales = more people. can't expect 100% service in a department that obviousally sold enough that they were running like rabbits everywhere trying to get customers handled and work done. Thier not stupid. they can see every item thats sold!).

This gives the manager a nice picture (head office only pokes thier heads into HIS office if they see a problem and work with HIM to solve it. Not just target an employee that might of scored low, but fix the problem working with the stores manager.)

Sofar from what my brothers been told. This for thier store has resulted in one department being audited (loss prevention reasons) and His department getting a extra hire (They are a heavy hands on sales department, they needed 1 more person to actually stage Stuff, put up displays, empty trucks, etc).
Anything else has been minor training issues that was easily fixed. (one month they went' from the lowest rated store in chain to the highest for the next 5 months).

Thats how secret shoppers should work. Firing somebody on a SS's Report is Buuuuuuuuuuuuuullll.
Unless it's the cherry on the top of a employee already on the managers list of bull**** anyways.

[Sapphire Silk]

All 3 SS's Scores are Marked and a Average is given. Average is marked Againsit sales of that day (Higher sales = more people. can't expect 100% service in a department that obviousally sold enough that they were running like rabbits everywhere trying to get customers handled and work done. Thier not stupid. they can see every item thats sold!).

That system makes MUCH more sense.

In my profession, errors are systems errors. When a nurse makes say, a med error, the issue is far more likely to be a problem with the system not the nurse. That's why a lot of hospitals implemented bar code scanners for giving meds; they fixed the system and error rates are now non-existent in those facilities.

Sounds like your brother's employer is using a similar philosophy; fix the systems issue and the employees can better do their jobs, which results in higher patient satisfaction and less turnover. Taking a non-punative approach to minor problems encourages employees to work harder to improve their performance.

Why is it so many managers can't see this?

[Kristev]

Because mismangement can't reach out and hurt a hard worker below them on the corporate totem pole to justify their own unimportant job if they have to be fair and even-handed.

[ngc_7331]

Sofar from what my brothers been told. This for thier store has resulted in one department being audited (loss prevention reasons) and His department getting a extra hire (They are a heavy hands on sales department, they needed 1 more person to actually stage Stuff, put up displays, empty trucks, etc).
Anything else has been minor training issues that was easily fixed. (one month they went' from the lowest rated store in chain to the highest for the next 5 months).

This is what a secret shopper should be for, to help in identifying where more help or training is needed, not to give reasons for firing someone who had nothing to do with the situation or for denying someone a bonus or raise.

[silverstaff]

That doesn't sound legal. You must be fired for deliberate misconduct to not get unemployment benefits. What she was fired for doesn't count.

You would think that, and if she fought it she might just have got them, but she found a new job fairly quickly.

I think the entire system was there to encourage employee turnover so they wouldn't have to pay employees more. The company handbook/policies said they got annual raises for seniority and they liked to pretend there was a lot of upward mobility in the company. However, in reality few employees lasted more than a couple of years and this way they could hype up how they have great pay and benefits (if you last more than a few years), without having to actually pay them.

In my experience, companies will do anything to avoid having to pay unemployment, including cooking up the flimsiest rationales for "for cause". I saw worse when I was working at a call center and their policy was to always deny unemployment and make the former employee have to fight to get it.

[Kristev]

And guess who they'd rather believe? The employer.

[Lumina]

That system makes MUCH more sense.

In my profession, errors are systems errors. When a nurse makes say, a med error, the issue is far more likely to be a problem with the system not the nurse. That's why a lot of hospitals implemented bar code scanners for giving meds; they fixed the system and error rates are now non-existent in those facilities.

Sounds like your brother's employer is using a similar philosophy; fix the systems issue and the employees can better do their jobs, which results in higher patient satisfaction and less turnover. Taking a non-punative approach to minor problems encourages employees to work harder to improve their performance.

Why is it so many managers can't see this?

More often then naught? They were taught their job that way.Doesn't Help were in a job market they could probably hire somebody within a day to replace you that doesn't know any better than to take the .