The Spy Who You May Have Met

Most of us think of spies as people who work in foreign countries gathering information. But there’s another kind of spy – one that you may have even encountered without knowing it. Shopping spies are hired to go into a shop, bank, restaurant or other business pretending to be ordinary customers. Their goal is to see what kind of service they receive. Afterwards, they tell the managers of companies how well their employees did.

The results of the shopping spies’ reports can have a big impact. One shopping spy went to a restaurant that had an extremely dirty toilet. She went to tell the waiter, who refused to help`, and told her that he wasn’t going to work any harder than he had to. The manager heard about the problem, and the employee was fired a few days later. Although workers have lost their jobs based on visits like these, shopping spy Sandra Smith stresses that most workers shouldn’t’ feel threatened. ”We’re not inspecting them. I’m not trying to trick them,” she said. “The client wants to know what the average citizen sees when he or she walks into the establishment. I just want to see if the workers are doing their job. That’s pretty much it.”

There are some benefits to being a shopping spy such as free meals at restaurants. Occasionally the shoppers even keep the items they buy. However, most jobs in this field are part-time – sometimes as little as two days a month – so shopping spies don’ t generally take the job for the benefits of the money. Rather, they are entranced by the excitement, fun, and perhaps even the opportunity to improve the business world just a little bit.

Question 1 (2 points) Indicate whether these sentences are true or false. Justify your answers with evidence from the text.

1. All of us have met shopping spies.


2. The spy at the restaurant complained because the toilet was a mess.


3. The people who employ spies want to know what the employees do in the break.


4. As a benefit of their job, shopping spies get high pay.

Question 2 (2 points) Answer the following questions in your own words.

1. What information does a shopping spy gather?


2. What motivates most shopping spies to do their job?

Question 3 (1.5 points) Find words or phrases in the text that correspond in meaning to the words and definitions given.

a. to collect (par.1) b. filthy (par.2) c. delighted (par.3)

Question 4 ( 1.5 points) Complete the following sentences without changing the meaning.

a. The employee was fired a few days later. They ……………………………………

b. “I just want to see if the workers are doing their job. Sandra Smith said that ……………………………………….

c. One employee was fired because he refused to help. He wouldn’t ……………………….........

Question 5 (3 points)
Write a short essay (about 120-150 words) on the following topic:

Where do you like to do your shopping? Give reasons.