I agree with that 100%.
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They’re the new “happy campers.”
I once had a secret-shopper gig that was sitting for an investment advisory introductory interview with a consultant from Charles Schwab. 1 hour plus report-writing time for like $120 or something, so it seemed like good money. I was given a “dossier” of sorts that revealed what sort of assets I was supposed to have and what kind of investment I was interested in. I was instructed to make up a fake name for the appointment. And from there it was literally an hour-long game of improv as I sat with the investment advisor and lied through my teeth about who I was and what I wanted. At one point I even invented a fake daughter.
On the one hand, it was the closest I’ll ever be to being an undercover spy. On the other hand, it was a tremendously stressful and harrowing hour as I tried to remember the persona I’d invented and not blow my cover. It definitely wasn’t worth the income on the stress factor alone.
At least they actually paid me.
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Coast Guard personnel have all of the training and equipment to embark on a profitable career of high-seas pirating!
Sure, normally, they would be apprehending pirates, but now, with their connections and spot-on skillsets, pirating can go from hobby to lucrative career path!
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Yeah that was honestly the weirdest thing about it. The very specific instructions you’d get.
Sit in the forth from last stool on the west side of the bar. Find the bartender named x. Staff schedules, fucking charts of cameras and their blind spots. Personal information about x.
I probably could have just robbed those places.
Come to think of it I may have been paid $30 instead of the $75 it was supposed be. Because I failed to catch that bartender stealing and left early. So hadnt technically done the job. But noone was stealing. But the bouncers and the other bartender we’re pretty clearly spending their whole shift doing blow in the bathroom.
So I can at least tell myself I may have saved that woman’s job. But even for the handful of non strip club jobs I did, you always ended up having to spend more than they’d reimburse. And it always took longer than quoted so the money never worked out in your favor.
…and if it works - keep doing it 'cause it is actually a more stable income!
Maybe they can get Individual-1 to grant them a letter of marque and reprisal?
After all, he seems to like signing impressive-looking letters.
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It does seem to be from the Coast Guard. The alleged tip sheet is linked in the OP:
It seems to have been (understandably) hastily cut and pasted from generic non-Coastguard advice about dealing with a sudden job loss/debt with a few bits about ‘furlough’ topping and tailing it and some Coastguard logos slapped on.
So, I’d go with genuinely well-meant advice on coping with a shitty situation.
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I’m glad I never picked up a strip club one, though it was always (luckily) an off-time hobby for me rather than a means of primary income. I did some bookstore shops and a car dealership shop (which was terrible) and a couple others. The different sets of odd instructions were infuriating, especially because the different vendors/clients had contradictory rules: for company A, you must ALWAYS do it one way, and for company B you must NEVER do it that way.
I once got booted from one agency for giving my real contact information to the customer service in a store I was shopping at. There was no indication in the shop instructions or in the general client pointers about whether to give real or fake contact information, as far as I remember.
Also, one-strike-you’re-out policies are fun in this sort of environment.
Another fun thing I tried (exactly twice) was in-store demos. That was pretty terrible. “Can I tell you about this new Glade air freshener? I guess not.” And I couldn’t get the smell of that thing out of my head for weeks. The second gig was for Cheerios at some little local grocery store; when I got there the manager was out and no one knew anything about the product demo and they sent me packing. I think the company gave me like 1 hour’s pay as recompense for that one (and I got to keep a bunch of mediocre Cheerios coupons that expired before I ever used them).
I’ll just leave this here.
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Has anyone thought that maybe tips on what to do if you need to temporarily bridge time between paychecks might not work if 800,000 other people are trying to do them at the same time as you?
How many mystery shopper positions are there out there?
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I only really did a handful of them. Because like I said it wasn’t really worth it. I needed some scratch and a friend needed a hand so I figured why not. Turns out there was a reason noone wanted those gigs.
I do a bit of product promos now as part of my regular job. Beer tastings, mostly in beer distributors. But the ones I did in supermarkets were pretty much hell on Earth. And we kind of avoid it now. My company only pays a $25 bonus for them, and they don’t generate much in the way of sales commission for the amount of time they take. So we mostly tell breweries they can pay us like they pay a promo company, or have their own staff do it.
I don’t think anyone is making a living at either. But if your doing it for an above board company it can be a goofy way to make a few extra bucks or keep your bar tabs affordable.
I’ve heard that there are several thousands of openings right now for mystery shoplifters.
And don’t forget, if things really get tight you can always steal an ATM like someone did in the wee hours yesterday morning from the restaurant where my wife works.
Why, it’s the Mexican’s fault for not paying for the wall like Trump originally said they would, right? Or those stubborn Lib/Dems. /s (but I know way too many people are going to be thinking something along those lines)
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