What are you going to do when they come for you? No, not the police. The secret shoppers.
Anyone who has worked in the service industry or retail knows to fear the coming of the dreaded secret shopper, third parties hired by a company or chain to check up on employees’ customer service skills. A momentary lapse, like forgetting to address the customer in a corporate-approved way, can lead to a write-up or even termination.
Musician and Walmart employee Corie Slatt (@corieslatt) decided to send up the practice in a satiric video posted to his TikTok account on Monday. The video struck a chord with customer-facing employees of all types and picked up an impressive 11.1 million views to date.
Slatt, who made an entire series of videos sending up his workplace, appears in the video in the store toy section. “Ahh, you got me,” reads the caption.
In it, Slatt grabs items from the shelves for a “customer” but then slowly turns to the camera and drops the toys, placing his hands over his head as if being arrested.
The screen text reads, “When I ‘price checked’ the item and it turns out to be a secret shopper.”
It should be noted that Slatt’s video appears to be entirely satirical. Regarding secret or mystery shoppers, Walmart states on its website that it “does NOT utilize these services or hire associates to perform services on behalf of other retailers or companies.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Walmart via email for a statement.
Regardless of the retailer’s practices, many of Slatt’s viewers took the opportunity to get into the issue of secret shoppers in his video’s comment section.
@corieslatt Ahhh you got me #fyp #corieslatt @🦹🏾♂️ ♬ original sound – Reko osofunny
One commenter revealed, “Secret shopper wrote me up constantly over nonsense because I dated his wife in high school.”
Leo (@ghostmothh) wrote, “secret shopper failed me cus i gave em six napkins instead of 3 bruh.”
One worker claims he was too valuable to be fired—despite a secret shopper saying he should be terminated. “Secret shopper asked my manager to fire me ’cause I didn’t smile but she was like ‘He’s the only one that does everyone’s job…’; like ahh you thought.”
“I failed secret shopper cuz the bathroom had a paper towel on the floor during my shift, I was the cashier…how is the bathroom my problem?” another user added.
Viewer lilnuggmoney (@lilnuggmoney) simply asked, “How do I even become a secret shopper so I can go mad with power?”
According to The Penny Hoarder, mystery shopping/secret shopping is a lucrative industry. “The mystery shopping industry has been around since the 1940s and is a nearly $2-billion-dollar-a-year industry.”
The job often comes with perks, like free food for restaurant shoppers. However, despite the practice’s advantages of providing valuable feedback to employers, secret shopping can have drawbacks.
According to bizmanualz.com, data acquired from secret shoppers can be potentially biased. “You might get a mystery shopper that is stressed out about his/her personal life, which can then result in a different experience while at your store. For instance, even if the wait to the checkout counter wasn’t that long, he/she may review the checkout process to be long and tedious.”
It can also negatively impact worker morale resulting in employees “constantly … thinking that someone is watching their every move and grading their performance accordingly.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to Slatt via TikTok messenger for further comment.
