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Secret shoppers and being on a break.

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  • Secret shoppers and being on a break.

    So this is a strange little question.

    Suppose a person is officially clocked out on break and everything, and is talking to another employee who is also off the clock while sitting on the breakroom stairs.

    An employee who is on the clock is walking a customer down the aisle, sees me, and directs the customer to me and walks away to do something that they were originally intending to do. (Bringing something from the back room back up front to the customer who ordered it, for example. They're not out to help customers on the floor.)

    Now there is a pretty good chance that this customer is a secret shopper. Is there any obligation that I have to help this person, despite being on break but visible and called out? If I do "willingly" help this customer, am I liable for being out of uniform due to helping them, no matter what I actually say to them about being on break?

    I do enjoy helping people. I really do. It seems strange to say "I'll help you even though I am on my break," which allows for the setting of the scenario as applicable.
    SC: "Are you new or something?"
    Me: "Yes. Your planet is very backwards I hope you realize."

  • #2
    I'd check the law in your area. In most area's if you are off the clock you are FORBIDDEN to do any work. So you would need to explain to them that you are unable to assist as you are currently not on the clock. And if they fuss, explain (although the jerks will ignore it) that it is illegal for you to assist when not clocked in.

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    • #3
      Actually, Tes is beyond correct - that's a federal law. Willingly working off the clock is considered the same thing as being forced to do so -- basically because an employer can easily intimidate workers into saying that the latter is the former. If anything, a (proper) SS should be happy if you decline to work off the clock, as it avoids bringing liability down on the store. In this case, I'd say, politely explain that you're off the clock/not allowed to work, and call a manager ASAP to help.
      "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
      "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
      "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
      "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
      "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
      "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
      Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
      "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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      • #4
        And the cow-irker (TM Dilbert) who passed the secret shopper on to you and walked off without checking whether it was legal for you to help should get an automatic fail.
        Any fool can piss on the floor. It takes a talented SC to shit on the ceiling.

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        • #5
          What everyone said, and wolfie, that angle never occurred to me, but that's so true.
          "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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          • #6
            *Especially* if you were out of uniform.

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            • #7
              One day last week I had punched out and was doing some of my own shopping (obviously out of uniform) when a regular spotted me and demanded I get him some paper bags. Claims he talked to MOD and "he says it's all right" Er, no. Even if MOD could adjust my punch time, ASM decrees that you can only help customers when you're in uniform (makes sense; if you're in uniform you're assumed to be clocked in).

              I told him I was off the clock and could not help him. Cue bitchfit ("but I'm disabled!!!111" ...that has nothing to do with this, I cannot help you). I let him try to complain. Regular customer or not, I should not be working at all when out of uniform.
              "I am quite confident that I do exist."
              "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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              • #8
                Your obligation to be paid for your time outweighs any obligation you may have to satisfy a secret shopper.

                Working off the clock, even if it's briefly helping a customer find something, can get you fired. Even if management told you to do it. They can hide and pretend they never told you to work off the clock.
                Knowledge is power. Power corrupts. Study hard. Be evil.

                "I never said I wasn't a horrible person."--Me, almost daily

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                • #9
                  Dreamstalker, I hope you watched his attempt to complain with utter delight in your win.
                  "Is it hot in here to you? It's very warm, isn't it?"--Nero, probably

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                  • #10
                    Yup. The manager he complained to happened to be the one who enforces the 'must be in uniform when helping a customer' rule; he also lambasted MOD for implying to the customer (whether MOD actually said this, or the SC drew his own conclusion I don't know) that I would help him.
                    "I am quite confident that I do exist."
                    "Excuse me, I'm making perfect sense. You're just not keeping up." The Doctor

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