My sister, Jen, was really the one who got to be a secret shopper, but I was invited along for the ride.
What's that, you say? You don't know what a secret shopper is? My explanation of it being secret and awesome wasn't enough? Well, aren't you a snippy little blog reader.
I imagine that secret shoppers are slightly different wherever you go, but I will explain how it worked this time. Buffalo Wild Wings was using secret shoppers to do employee evaluations. Our job was simple, we show up at the restaurant, we request the server that they assigned to us, and we eat food. They gave us a voucher that we used to pay for our meal, so it was completely free. After the meal is over, there is an evaluation form that we fill out. It has questions like, "how long did you wait before your server talked to you?", "Did the server offer you dessert?" and various other questions.
The word is that if they pass the evaluation from the secret shopper they get the wonderful reward of keeping their job. If they fail, there is a second secret shopper sent from the corporate office. If they fail the second time, they no longer have a job. (It's the age old 2 strikes and you're out system.)
The system may seem a little harsh, but I was happy to be a part of it by eating a free meal.
I had never eaten at Buffalo Wild Wings before. Upon walking in, the first thing I noticed was the awesome crowns that you can wear. How could I not grab one? I'm clearly a wing man.
Robyn commented afterward that they would have never guessed that our table was evaluating their service, because clearly someone important would never wear a hat like that. But she's totally wrong. Doesn't that selfie make me look important?
I'm not gonna lie. Our server did an awesome job. She took good care of us and my burger was delicious. (They didn't even take away my hat when I ordered a burger instead of wings.) She passed with flying colors. She is still employed to this day!
The moral of the story is that secret shopping is way better than regular shopping. I really want to do it again. Do you need the services of a secret shopper? Because I will secret shop for food.
It's fun if you're not the one filling out the evalution of the experience. My free meal was definitely earned during that hour of paperwork. The best secret shoppers are those with gift certs and check marks on a paper. Haha.
ReplyDeleteI suppose surveys and secret evaluations are a good checks and balances. I worked at a place that was harsher than that. Every customer got to take a survey rating their service. It doesn’t matter if you got one million superior ratings and then all of the sudden you get the unsatisfied customer no matter what that gives you a bad score than your job was seriously on the line. I would take you as a secret shopper any day. You’re too kind. I loved the hat by the way.
ReplyDeleteSweet! I want to be a secret shopper. Though I want to secretly shop for free clothes! (sounds like stealing...)
ReplyDeleteYou are such a cute wing man!!
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