Welcome to the Mystery Shopping Learning Center Blog

Recently, I was shopping (not on a shop) at a local retail store. As the cashier finished the transaction and handed me my receipt, I instinctively said, “Thank you.”  The cashier replied, “You’re welcome. Have a nice day!”

Now, really, that’s not so bad, right? Where this becomes a problem is when you’re answering a question that is typical on many retail mystery shopping reports – “Did the employee thank you at the end of your interaction?”

I didn’t give the cashier a chance to thank me. Of course, she could have thanked me in return and then wished me a nice day. More times than not though, when you thank an employee first, they say “You’re welcome” and the interaction is over.

If that were a shop, how would I rate the question? How would YOU rate it? You can’t say yes, because she didn’t thank me.  Saying no isn’t entirely fair, since you didn’t give the employee a chance to thank you. There usually isn’t a N/A option, so what do you do?

When you’re doing a shop, remember that manners may get in the way of fairly evaluating employees. Next time you’re talking with an employee, remember to wait for them to end the interaction so you can fairly evaluate the process.

Until next time…happy shopping!