Have you ever been a Mystery Shopper?

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My first venture into being an Independent Contractor was as a Mystery Shopper. I fell into it quite by accident. Once I got started I loved it. We didn't have a lot of extra money back then, before my husband was eligible for Social Security. We didn't have money to go out to dinner more than once a month. So I figured I would make some money doing Mystery Shopping - little did I know then that I would get free dinners! Most dinner and some lunch shops require two people, so my husband and I ate well. One example is a steak house in Chattanooga, Tennessee where we mystery shopped at lunch at least 8 times. Those lunches required us to buy drinks (soda OK), share either an appetizer or dessert and order two different entrees. No problem. And the spending limit was $80. If we spend more and the bill was over $80 we paid the difference. There were a few times with the bill, tip and tax that we spend two or three dollars over the $80. I can't even begin to tell you about all the types of mystery shops we did, but as an example: . Bank shops . Gas stations shops . Cell phone shops . Car dealerships shops . Etc. When we moved two years ago we took ourselves out of the area for decent mystery shopping. Unfortunately, we had to give it up. It was work, it was busy, it was at times difficult but it was always rewarding. The one thing to remember if you get into 'shopping' is you never pay to shop - they pay you.