Taking The Mystery Out Of It

(I’m training to be a salesperson for a mattress store. After we finish training, my district manager says this:)

District Manager: “So, before you go out on the floor, I want you to go into one of our stores and pretend to be a shopper.”

Me: “Like a mystery shopper?”

District Manager: “Exactly! See if they’re following the sales module like they’re supposed to and write it down on this paper.” *gives me a sheet*

(I go and, to be honest, I’m pretty excited because I’ve never been a mystery shopper and it sounds fun. I pretend to be interested in a buying a bed. There’s an old man working there, watching TV at a desk in the corner. He looks up and smiles but doesn’t get up.)

Me: “Hi, I’m looking for a bed.”

Old Man: “Yeah, you can try out beds if you like.”

Me: “Okay.”

(I leave and he says nothing. On my sheet, I write that he didn’t try out the sales module with me, and that he didn’t seem very interested. Under the question: “Do you think he passed or failed in trying to sell?” I put “Failed.” Skip forward a week, I am assigned a store to work in: the very same one that I went into! And there’s the same old man, still sitting at the desk, except not watching TV.)

District Manager: “[Old Man], this is [My Name]. She’s new.”

Old Man: “Hello!” *shakes my hand*

District Manager: “She came in here about a week ago. Do you remember her?”

Old Man: *smile fades* “Oh… Yeah!”

District Manager: “She pretended to be a shopper. And she says you failed!”

(The man shoots a look at me and I cringe. I didn’t expect to be put on the spot like this!)

District Manager: *scolding* “Yeah. She said that you were very uninterested in making a sale with her while she played a shopper! Do we have to train you again?”

Old Man: “Uh, no! I was… um… I thought she was a Muslim, and they’re very hoity-toity… Uh…” *flails*

(That’s the story of how I got stuck working with someone I had failed in sales. Needless to say, he was very cold with me and didn’t bother to help me when I had a questions. Things were so bad after that, I quit. I’m also not sure why he thought I was Muslim.)