I'm a PhD student who has just started mystery shopping for some extra cash. I cannot believe some of the interactions I am supposed to have with these employees.
Here's an example. I get an assignment for Best Buy, I'm supposed to be interested in a streaming box (Roku, Fire etc.) and ask an employee for help. The employee who I interacted with was super helpful. I told him about my TV and what I wanted, while pretending not to know much about technology.
He said that honestly it didn't matter which brand I bought and that he found one particular brand to be pretty user friendly which was great for new people, but otherwise it was okay to just get the lowest cost one. He made sure I understood how it plugs into my TV, ensured I have a way to connect it, and made sure I was taken care of.
But that's not what he was supposed to be evaluated on at all! He was supposed to push me towards one brand in particular, tell me about every single feature of that one specifically, push me to have someone come out and install it for me, make eye contact, smile, introduce himself by name, make sure every single streaming box offered by them was in stock, etc.
If anyone asks, he totally did all those things, and I'm not going to be a mystery shopper anymore.