It might be harder to go undercover when you're wearing these. (Source)

Mystery shoppers are not spying for the competition. Management hires them to make sure the employees are doing their job. They watch to see if anyone is goofing off, texting on their cell phone, eating French fries and ignoring customers, or even forgetting to smile.

You want to be a spy, you say? If you love the idea of getting paid to shop and being reimbursed for oil changes or fast food lunches, then this is the job for you. But don't expect to be able to afford Bond cars on your spy salary. Mystery shoppers typically make only $14,000 per year.

You will get paid mostly in reimbursements. Yes, they'll cover that oil change, but you will have to lay out the money to pay for it first and then wait two to three months to get it back. Better hope you didn't need that $50 too soon.

Sometimes you'll get paid a little extra fee in addition to the reimbursement. When we say little, we mean seriously tiny: $5 is typical. If you're lucky, you'll get $15, tops.

As for that "free" oil change or movie or meal, you'll just have to answer a few questions. When we say a few, we mean pages and pages of them. You'll have to download and print all of the questions that they want answered about the visit. Sometimes there are between fifteen and thirty pages. Think of the printer ink and paper you're using up. You won't be reimbursed for that.

Was the parking lot clean? What was the server's name? What was the name of the cashier who rang up your check? What was the busboy wearing? How long did you have to wait before a customer service representative approached you? Did he smile? Did he have facial hair? Jewelry? Tattoos? Did he give you a greeting? What exactly did he say, word for word, when he greeted you?

Did he try to overcome your objection? This is where you have to memorize a certain scenario, like going for a test drive of a specific model car and spending at least thirty minutes in the shop being pitched a spiel to buy the car. When you bail at the last minute—you're not allowed to buy that Mercedes no matter how much you want it—you need to be prepared with a plausible reason.

No, you cannot join the gym, you're just shopping around. No matter how much you like the sales pitch, you can't.

You can go to your favorite hamburger joint, but you have to go between 12:00PM and 2:00PM, and you have to order a special happy Mcdoodle deal. If they ask you, of course you want it super-sized. Again, you'll have to lay out for the meal and maybe you'll make $10 or $15 on top of that reimbursement, but you'll have to wait a few months before you see it.

Sometimes, though, the reimbursements are worth it. If you have to get an oil change anyway, why not get your money back? If you want to take a date to the movies, get those tickets for two reimbursed. Or say you want to go to that amusement park. They have shops for those too. You'll also get your ticket money back.

However, be warned: The bigger the reimbursement, the more you'll have to do to earn it.

We hope you can remember how long the wait was after you get off this thing and have had your mind erased. (Source)

Mystery shop companies are not going to pay for a $40 amusement park ticket without expecting that you will talk to no fewer than twelve employees, get their names, their descriptions, and write a twenty-page opus on every interaction you had with every person during your time at the park. We don't know about you, but all this writing and recording kinda takes the fun out of the whole "fun park" excursion and seems suspiciously more like work.

If you're biding time between acting gigs, there are worse things you could do than act out a scenario of someone with a high-school education who is just dying for a job in a department store shoe department.

Of course, when you get the job, you'll have to make up some story as to why you suddenly cannot accept the position you were clamoring for a few short hours ago.

That's the cardinal rule of mystery shopping: Never tell them who you really are. Ever. Once your cover is blown, you not only can never go back to that store again, but chances are the secret shopper company who hired you won't use you anymore. You're branded as someone who either can't act worth a dime or can't keep a secret—both big no-no's in the biz.

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