Mystery Shopping

A few years ago, I signed up with a mystery shopping company.  Over the years, I added other companies and am now signed up with about 20 different entities.  I don't do a lot of business with all of them.  But, I manage to keep a steady volume of shops with fewer than half of them.  While the initial research and curiosity definitely was based on earning a few extra dollars, that was never the sole reason that I wanted to be a mystery shopper.

I have always been a huge critic of bad customer service and a huge proponent of the opposite.  While most of us would feel the same way, I tended to be passionate about my views in this regard.  I remember when I first heard about the "Unattainable Triangle" years ago.  That was the triangle made up of three components that a business can strive for, quality, price, and speed.  The principle is that most businesses that are successful are really good at doing at least one of these three things and maybe even a second.  But, that doing all three is "unattainable".  For me, the third component, speed, is more than just speed and I have always thought of the third component at a much broader level, as customer service.  And, of the three, I think this one is more critical than the other two.  In fact, I think a business can make up for shortcomings with good customer service more than it can by being stellar at any of the other two components.  Over the years, when I worked at Loaf 'N Jug, everyone would have to listen to me drone on in our strategic planning sessions about improving our customer service.  I repeated this mantra annually to anyone who would listen to me.  I always felt that, as a former waiter, I was good enough at it myself and had the right to be critical.  Like most, I would be left shaking my head after most of my customer service experiences.  

To me, the chance to improve customer service was the biggest reason I was mystery shopping.  I wanted to make a difference... and get paid while doing so.  If you asked me to put percentages on it, I would have said I was doing it 60% to critique and possibly improve customer service, 30% to make a few extra dollars, and 10% because I like to eat for free.  And, I felt like these percentages were pretty fair because I had fun doing it and the payments were an afterthought.

While that may have been my intent, somewhere over the years, that must have changed.  While I have done other types of shops - hotels, golf courses, retail purchases, phone inquiries, etc. - more than 90% of my shops have been restaurant shops.  Now, don't judge me too hastily.  Restaurant shops probably make up 60-70% of the shops that are available.  Yet, I still found myself always signing up for the quick fast food shop over anything else and that percentage began to change.

I think I would be lying to say that those percentages are accurate.  If I had to be honest and update those, I would go with 20% customer service, 40% financial, and 40% free food.  I have realized that the restaurants I have frequented have not improved in the slightest.  Nothing I have done for four years has improved any aspect of service in Pueblo.  So, the little satisfaction I still get is from knowing that the management of these companies is aware of their poor performance.  The money is a nice bonus and I have found that I do fewer shops and wait for them to be bonused before accepting in many cases.  

So, the variable that increased the most was the free meal.  Yes, I love to eat for free.  At my best, I try to still eat decently while getting a free meal.  At my worst, I have eaten so much food that it is embarrassing.  

Let me share an embarrassing story about the depths of despair and gluttony that I reached a year or so ago.  Because, after all, that is what this blog is about... embarrassing Anthony with the hope of maybe helping someone else and providing me with some motivation.  A typical McDonald's shop consists of two meals.  First, the drive-through is evaluated and then the dine-in part of the restaurant is evaluated.  My plan, and what I have done recently, is to eat a Filet-O-Fish sandwich in the drive-through, a handful of French fries (required to order), and have iced tea.  Inside, I get a Quarter Pounder With Cheese, eat a bite just to taste, eat a few fries to taste, and then get another iced tea.  With a sensible dinner later that day, I can even still manage to lose weight.  But, that wasn't going according to plan while I was gaining weight.  I would eat the fish sandwich.  I would eat the medium French fries.  I would order a Coke instead of the tea.  Then I would go inside.  I would order the Quarter Pounder and plan on eating a bite.  Then it would be gone.  I would eat a couple of fries and then take the container to the car along with the second Coke I had ordered.  While driving back to the office, I would slowly finish off the fries.  Then I would get back to my desk feeling disgusted and gross.  I should be eating 1,200-1,500 calories a day and I was eating 2,000+ calories at lunch alone!

I am back to eating fairly decent at my shops.  For the most part, I have lost weight the next day on 9 out of 10 shops over the last six months.  But, last week was different.  I got a bunch of e-mails and signed up for a bunch of shops and then realized I was going to have eight restaurant shops within six days.  I even did pretty good at most of these restaurants.  But, eight is just too many.  It is amazing how eating bad foods, even in moderation, can affect your moods, emotions, sleep, and how you feel.  By Monday of this week, I was in a funk.  My body felt almost nauseous after about three days of fast food eating.  

I had a chicken and egg debate with myself while trying to determine if my funk was causing me to continue to eat bad or if my eating was causing my funk.  Hard to believe I could be confused about such a thing.  I know the answer.  After a single day of not eating poorly, I feel incredibly better.  But, that funk left me heavier, lazier, and uninterested in sharing my sad story with any of you.  So, I stopped blogging.  I didn't want to write the same thing every day.

But, I am back again.  It was a short vacation.  My wife, my brother, my good friend, all e-mailed or messaged me within about a 10 minute window today to remind me that I need to be blogging and that they were concerned.  They all said it differently, but I am choosing to believe they all care no matter how they said it.

I was 233.4 this morning.  That puts me up 2.6 from the last time I wrote.  We won't discuss my September 1 goals.  But, I will begin posting my weight again tomorrow.  And, I have finally learned that even though I thought I could do it, mystery shopping and losing weight don't mix.  So, I have put my side business... and all the good I do for our restaurant-going public here in Pueblo... on hiatus and will only be doing non-food shops for the foreseeable future.

Here's to admitting I am not strong enough and continuing to build a world with fewer temptations...

Starting weight (this time): 278.4
Current weight: 233.4
Change from previous: +2.6 (via +3.0, -1.0, -3.2, +2.6, +0.6, +0.6, no change)

Total: (45.0)
Total Days: 203