Secret shopper!

My cousin, who is a marketing fanatic, I mean genius, sent me an online survey about my grocery buying habits. The survey is distributed by her firm in partnership with blah blah and is the sort of thing I'd delete if it came my way anonymously. In this case, however, I took five minutes to fill it out in case the research somehow impacts a project she's working on. Whatever, end of story.

That's what I thought!

Today I got a phone call from Margarita, a woman with a thick accent that I took to be German, who asked if she could follow me around while I go shopping. And this totally tapped into some long-standing and unacknowledged desire that I've to be a secret shopper or on one of those old game shows where you have a certain amount of time to stuff as much as possible into your cart before the time is up. People screaming, family members cheering etc.

Which gives me an idea: Should I shop really, really fast when Margarita follows me around just to make it more exciting? I'll think about it. It might make it hard for her to take notes on all of the incredibly thought-provoking choices I make in aisle three.

But that's not all. I also get some sort of gift certificate AND get to go out for coffee afterward with Margarita to talk about grocery shopping. Why am I so excited?

Margarita described herself to me so we'd recognize each other at the appointed time and it sounds like we look the same which isn't surprising since people think I'm German about nine times a day. So great, I'll meet my doppelganger outside Trader Joe's on Monday and then try not to feel at least somewhat awkward while being closely monitored as I try to pick out a wine.