Has anyone worked as a mystery shopper before? I'm thinking of applying to become one, but I'm curious as to what it's like, and the amount of work that you would actually recieve.

While working for a temp agency I had one assignment as a "mystery shopper". Since that wasn't for a mystery-shopping company per se, I don't know how much work you would get.

My assignment was for a bank. They had a questionnaire for me to fill out and mail in after being a "shopper". I walked into a branch and cashed a small check. The teller did everything right. She was friendly. She asked if I would like to open an account there. I asked about the types of accounts they had and she explained them clearly. So I was able to give the branch an "A+" on every point. It was easy. But I don't know how I would have felt if I had needed to give the teller anything but top marks.

When I did it granted it was several years ago it was with this company out of Canada. They hired LOTS of people and the way you got jobs was to go to their website and select them and they had many rules about not being able to do the same business again so it was slim pickings.

I mostly did resturants, they told you exactly what you had to look for and even what food to order. The pay was they paid for your meal plus $6, so not exactly a real job. It was fun. The only other problem was you paid upfront for your meal and had to mail them a receipt to Canada and they would send a check about a month or so later so it wouldn't be much fun if you were broke.