I'm a Spy

I’m a spy. Still without a full time job and in keeping with the freelance lifestyle I seem to be developing once again (a crumb from here; a crust from there; a slice but never a loaf) I answered one of those ads about working from home. “Do you own a computer?” Yes. “How’d you like to make good money in your spare time from the comfort of your own home?” Who wouldn’t? “Just click here and you’ll be on your way to a lucrative career in market research.” DON’T CLICK!!!!!

I started taking online surveys. I don’t know about you but I don’t consider spending 30 minutes answering boring, redundant questions for “200 points” IF YOU QUALIFY and you don’t always find out you didn’t qualify until after the first five minutes when you have already answered 35 boring and redundant questions. And yes, I said “POINTS”, because you don’t actually get any money from most of these places until you reach a certain number of points… say, 5000! And that’s $25!!!!!

Who has this kind of time? Given the fact that there are only 24 hours in a day and you do need to eat and sleep, how much time can one person actually dedicate to reading those inane and convoluted questions (some of them require two or three readings just to understand what they are asking for), checking off those tiny boxes and still getting to the eye doctor because you are going blind from checking off those tiny boxes?

But one company seemed promising: Mystery shopping! I really thought of it for my husband, who actually likes to shop. But how could I ask him to do something I wouldn’t do myself? Besides, he HAS a job! So I filled out the form. Lo and behold, I got a call and off I went, toting my instructions, memorizing the details and reminding myself that, as an actress, this could be fun. And you know, if it weren’t for the boring forms, it would be fun. You go into a business establishment and pretend to shop. Sometimes you really do shop and they pay you back for it! Dinner tonight is at a local fast food place. Normally I don’t eat fast food, but they’re paying me! They’re not paying a lot, mind you, but a person has to eat, right? Why not eat for free and get paid to tell them if you liked it?

So, Thing-to-Do-When-You’re Dead # 93: Mystery Shop. Hey, it’s a living… almost.