Keep up with your requirements

Well I'll keep this post short but I just wanted to share an idea with you. Have you ever been doing a shop and trying to keep up with all of the things you are supposed to be checking for and started to panic that you would forget something important and not get paid??? Or are you a new shopper who is nervous that you will forget what you need to be looking for when you perform your first shop?

Well I have so I came up with a remedy for that. It's simple but works for me when I have one of those shops that pays well but has more than 15 questions or things that I need to look for.What I usually do if I have a lot to remember for a shop is to take a teenie weensie piece of paper and write the information down that I need. Then I make sure that wherever I sit, my writing arm is facing the inside of the booth (Oh yeah, I always get a booth or else I guess I'd be writing in a gross bathroom or something).

So when the time is convenient I take out my little scrap of paper and write down what I need to keep track of. Then I'm super careful not to throw away my little scrap of paper. I would definitely read over the requirements of the shop super carefully whether I'm going with a reminder note or not. In other words, don't just print out the shop requirements and lug that with you to the shop without reviewing it first. You might miss out on something crucial and/or give away your identity as the secret shopper.

My strategy with the note paper just kind of helps me to feel secure with my shop. I hate second guessing myself worrying that I have forgotten something crucial. I don't write down every question, just the ones that I think I might forget. I will warn you though, you can mess up your shop if you are not careful to be discreet. It kind of gives it away when you have a big sheet of paper on the table and are looking around and furiously writing things down- so keep it on the d.l. (do people still use that phrase anymore? I'm so hopelessly uncool so I don't know...not that I ever even used it when it was cool! ). So if you are worried that you might be noticed, I would go into a bathroom stall, as gross as it could be. Hey most bathroom stalls aren't gross...and if you're lucky there will be no one else in the bathroom and you can scribble quick notes without going into a stall.

Anyway, I hope this tip is useful for those of you who like me like to have a little back-up plan and don't want to rely only on memory. And those of you hesistant to do that first shop, take a shot at it. So much for a short posting :) Happy shopping!