Secret Shoppers & Retail Workers Reveal the Infuriating Truth About Covert Employee Evaluations

If retail work wasn't hellish enough, it turns out that even providing good customer service can get you reprimanded by the bosses. One troubled redditor recently shared their experience working as a mystery shopper to r/antiwork, which spurred a lively thread of many other stories from former mystery shoppers and retail workers. The thread reveals that the mystery shopping strategy is much more about snitching on employees for failing to properly scam customers than it is about ensuring quality customer service. Many employees received poor scores for helping customers in the wrong way (that is, helping a customer find the most cost-effective option rather than pressuring them to buy a particular product in the interest of the company). Some of the reasons for getting points docked sounded so ridiculous and arbitrary that I wouldn't be surprised if they were made up on the spot. Keep scrolling for highlights from the thread.

“Recently started as a mystery shopper and honestly can't believe what is expected of these employees!”
Posted by u/DishsoapOnASponge
via r/antiwork
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Former mystery shoppers and retail workers responded in the comment section
via r/antiwork

"Until you get got by the secret employee, a level 2 secret shopper thats actually testing whether the secret shopper is recording the answers correctly!" said u/Hieb.

"Now I'm imagining this devolving into entire staffs of secret shoppers and secret employees until it becomes like a spy thriller where no one knows who is actually acting on behalf of the company as a snitch and who's just trying to get paid without screwing over some poor workers. The Great (Retail) Game." said u/Ab-NoR-maL-.

"Welcome to end game capitalism. Find the real human." said u/Honest_Palpitation91.
via r/antiwork

"I got a 90% once as a waiter (100% got you $100 cash I think) because I didn't use their name when I said goodbye." said u/GabrielVonBabriel.

"I hate it when people I don't know use my name. Ugh." said u/Rainyqueer1.
via r/antiwork

"Yeah i quit BB in 2008? or so after I got 'Secret Shopped.' I did entirely right by the customer and recommended a laptop that was exactly what they needed - for the lowest price. It came with 6 months free antivirus - so I didn't recommend for them to buy it + have geek squad install it. They tried to 'Write me up' for 'Failing' the transaction. I just left. They can find someone else to scam non-tech savvy older people." said u/FutureAlfalfa200.

"I worked for BB briefly in the early 00s. A lot of the things they told us to do were extremely predatory. If I sold a PC, I literally got screamed at if I didn't sign them up for AOL. It didn't matter if they already had it or another provider. That was a personal one for me because my mother had used AOL and canceled it, yet they continued to bill her for another half a year. She only got it taken care of when she got her credit card company involved. Also if a customer bought a printer, we were instructed to lie to them and tell them that the printer didn't come with ink even if it clearly said that it did on the box. This was because their ink had the highest profit margin out of everything in the store. I haven't been to a BB since that whole experience." said u/Taint_Butter.
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via r/antiwork

"I worked in retail for 8 years and I honestly don't understand where this mindset that you need to have a deep and meaningful interaction with every customer came from, my guess is clueless executives who never worked at the store level a day in their lives…" said u/TastyCartographer630.
via r/antiwork

"Yes! I love to fill those out - 5 STARS!!! Excellent employees! I don't care if they were dicks. 5 stars anyway, then mention they should unionize in the comments." said u/anarchikos.
via r/antiwork
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