Mystery Shopping

I have to confess, there’s a little self-righteous part of me who’d love to be a mystery shopper. Recently I sort of got my chance! So, first a little background and then we’re off with my experience!

I am 57 years old, and am recovering from lumbar spinal fusion surgeries. I left the other morning dressed in jeans and a relatively stylish Coldwater Creek shirt. This was my first time out of the house without my trusty walker. My point is that I don’t look particularly “geezerish.”

After a yummy waffle and loving greetings at , Carroll and I headed across the street to see our friends at . Honestly, even safely walking on Carroll’s arm, I found myself semi-terrified at the Union Avenue traffic. I remarked that it was like playing Frogger without any speed.

Then it was off to the Store to stock up on groceries. I used a shopping cart in lieu of a walker (a trick I know many of our seniors use). Once again, my speed is sedate but not turtle slow, but it was mid-morning on a Sunday, not many customers at all. Two men got really snotty at the LARGE banana display – there were two price signs, one for organic and one for regular bananas (organic priced more than twice as much as the regular fruit.) However, there was no way to tell which bananas were which, and I was reading the signs and labels. Apparently I was taking too long, although there was plenty of room at the display. One fellow says to the other, “You’d think she’d never seen a banana before.” The other said, “Nah, she’s just stupid.” I just moved along and waited until they picked out their two bananas before I circled back to buy our (cheaper) bananas.. And I’m ashamed to say that I felt unsafe with these two men being so openly rude (Carroll was about 20 feet away picking out baked goods). Thankfully, these two were the only overtly rude folks I ran into.

We also needed milk and orange juice so we had to make the whole circuit of the store. Yeah, I understand supermarket psychology – they want you to “visit” as much of the store as possible on each visit to encourage those impulse buys. But I now also understand the problems of our seniors and anyone else with mobility issues. A big part of my outing was to get some exercise, and boy did I get it! But if you’re marshalling your limited physical strength, that trek to the back of the store for milk, may finish you off for the day.

Our last stop of the morning was one of our “super pharmacies.” I had noticed just before my surgery that this particular store had a well designed and ample supply of an item I needed. Once again, enter the store, get a shopping cart, and head to the far back of the store, only to find the display looked like a battalion of 3-year-olds had been playing in it, with only a handful of merchandise left.  Carroll had finished his shopping so we trudged back to the front of the store, only to encounter a sales clerk who seemed unfamiliar with her cash register. (Within five minutes of arriving home, I’d bought the needed item on Amazon.com and it will arrive on Tuesday.)

So you see, the frowning curmudgeon may have just had it up to “there,” balancing needed errands with limited physical stamina. Oh, by the way, the Amazon purchase was a cane – my 85 year old parents put me on to that tip. After the walker is gone, the cane operates as a warning to all – steer clear, slow person ahead, etc. Best of all, my Dad says it operates as an ambassador – he’d never met such nice folks until he started using a cane!

So, I know you’ve all heard it before, but be gentle with your fellow humans. You just never know what’s going on in their lives. And businesses, this country is graying rapidly. While most of us would prefer to shop local, we’d also prefer to be treated well. And you know what? That smiling UPS driver delivering my Amazon purchase might just be the highlight of my day.