This is a humorous work of fiction that was inspired by an actual experience of overly-attentive staff. I am sharing it here with the writer’s permission. No mystery shoppers were harmed in the making of this story.
Everything was normal at Zmart until someone heard a rumor that the corporate office was going to check in on them soon and that a mystery shopper was coming any day. Of course the point of mystery shoppers is that they are supposed to be anonymous and thus treated like a normal customer, but rumors had a way of spreading. And it didn’t matter if those rumors turned out to be false, if they happened to be true, the store needed to be ready.
Greg knew nothing of the secret shopper rumors when he walked into Zmart. It wasn’t like the store could unfurl a banner that said “Welcome Secret Shoppers!” There wasn’t anything else about the appearance of the store that gave him any indication that something was going on. But it didn’t take him long to realize that something was definitely different from his usual trips to Zmart.Continue Reading