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How low can they go another example

March 30, 2022 07:31PM
I just received an email about a bar shop in Los Angeles, a pricey city. For this bar shop you must bring another adult of the opposite sex in very gay West Hollywood, get an alcoholic drink and an appetizer or entree. The least expensive appetizer is French fries at $12 and the least expensive house wine is $12 a glass. Entrees are $22 to $50. Reimbursement is up to $15.
So for this coupon shop if one of you drinks nothing and shares the fries you will be out $15 with a 15% tip. At least there is a fee for the report part.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2022 07:32PM by sandyf.
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March 30, 2022 08:52PM
I either overlooked or trashed that email notification. I don't head up into LA County often and if I do, it's more into SouthEastern LA County like Long Beach and Lakewood which border the beautiful OC and maybe I might venture into some parts of the south Bay.

Pretty ridiculous shop requirements (must bring guest AND opposite sex) along with crap reimbursement. Did you send a link to the menu back to scheduler and ask if they were serious with those prices? I am pretty certain you would have to pay for parking as well (unless it's validated), so you would be out even more $.

Yeah, I can see this conversation with your friend. "Hey I need you to come with me, but you have to pay me back for whatever you order because only 1 of us is partially covered. Then I'm going to need you to not distract me as I am gather as much inane detail as possible for this ridiculous report. So I will only be able to listen to you half-heartedly since I have to capture so much detail, that I will need to focus on this shop more than you. What time can you be here?"
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March 30, 2022 09:55PM
The shop, as described, definitely would not appeal to me, but it might to another person. My experience over the past 19 years, is that the old adage of "One person's meat being another's poison" rings true. Until shoppers stop working for little to nothing, that is what they will be paid. Exxon-Mobile, as an example, has a market cap in excess of 1/3 trillion dollars, yet the shops pay less that $20.
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March 30, 2022 11:47PM
This is a 2 day early April Fools Day shop offer if you ask me.
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March 31, 2022 06:45AM
And this is the bar shop. The cafe shop reimburses $5. If you purchase their very cheap French fries at $12 you are still out money. Maybe you could get a cup of coffee. And then write a report. Yes I agree must be an April /Fools joke. I used to do a shop at the same restaurant/different msc pre covid where reimbursement was $140
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March 31, 2022 07:17AM
Since you haven't mentioned the bar name...how about telling us the MSC that is so ridiculous?
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March 31, 2022 12:55PM
They sure are getting lower and lower. I got a notice for a $3.00 targeted phone shop this morning. Although sometimes they slip through, targeted shops are already on my ten-foot pole list.

How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?
"Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."
-- Abraham Lincoln
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March 31, 2022 07:53PM
It was Customer Optix which is somehow connected to Intellishop. I do get emails occasionally about shops but this is the first one in my general area. The fee was actually not bad but in order to do the shop you would have to "eat" or "drink" the fee and probably still be out of pocket.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Since you haven't mentioned the bar name...how about telling us the MSC that is so ridiculous?
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March 31, 2022 09:00PM
@GinnyLynn wrote:

They sure are getting lower and lower. I got a notice for a $3.00 targeted phone shop this morning. Although sometimes they slip through, targeted shops are already on my ten-foot pole list.

Tell me about it! Mobee had some 200 points ($2) shops where they wanted you to spend 30 minutes taking 10-20 pictures and then answer 30+ questions. They have since raised it to 500 points. I've done some things I am not proud of for small amounts of cash, but there is no way in hell my time is worth $4 an hour.
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April 01, 2022 12:49AM
I saw that, must chase the target like 5 times. Laughable.

@GinnyLynn wrote:

They sure are getting lower and lower. I got a notice for a $3.00 targeted phone shop this morning. Although sometimes they slip through, targeted shops are already on my ten-foot pole list.
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April 04, 2022 11:20PM
I can't believe they specified your guest had to be the opposite gender!
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April 05, 2022 12:05AM
In today's world, you can take the same gender and just tell them that one of you identifies as the opposite of the other. Let them try to fight that.
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April 05, 2022 02:50AM
@sandyf wrote:

It was Customer Optix which is somehow connected to Intellishop. I do get emails occasionally about shops but this is the first one in my general area. The fee was actually not bad but in order to do the shop you would have to "eat" or "drink" the fee and probably still be out of pocket.

I just looked at their website and didn't have to register with them to access their shopper section. Perhaps that's because I'm registered with Intellishop. When I checked on shops in my area this is what it said:

"Thanks for visiting the new CustomerOptix Portal offer board - we appreciate you being here! We just launched and more shops are on the way so check back soon!"
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April 06, 2022 01:02AM
To hbbigdaddy and callinectes
So they said opposite sex so that your guest (who you cannot afford to even purchase a drink for) can check out the other bathroom. Hmm, not sure I want to test the laws of my state or city over a mystery shop job. Of course this job is in W.Hollywood which succeeded a few years ago from LA City and is probably the gay capitol of the area. Perhaps they do not even have male/female separate restrooms at that place. And then too if I did not take an opposite sex person I could just check both out myself and tell them at 6 PM the male side of me was dominant and at 7 PM it was the female side.

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

In today's world, you can take the same gender and just tell them that one of you identifies as the opposite of the other. Let them try to fight that.
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April 07, 2022 04:43PM
Customer Optix has had that same message on their board since October. I have only seen phone shops maybe three times and I have never seen an in-person shop.
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