I went out on a limb and spent a few hours doing the mystery shopping thing for Market Force. Like many of you, I was curious – is this the real deal or just another scam?

I had a handful of shops together via my Market Force account and was ready to get out there and do my mystery shopping thing. What I didn't realize that there was more to mystery shopping then walking in, looking around, and then leaving. Oh no, it's a little more complicated than that!

Before I went to any of the shops, I had to print up paperwork which included lists of questions to ask myself (approximately four pages per job of questions to be exact). Before I went to Abercrombie & Fitch and Hollister, I read over the papers, and got kind of nervous while trying to remember all of things I was to do -- remember a tag number from an item on the front table, check dressing rooms, ask for help. Truthfully, there was so much that I got overwhelmed. I did what I had to do and got the heck out of there (what's up with the smelly, dark atmosphere in those stores anyway? Maybe I'm just getting old ...).

Next up was McDonald's, which also required a bunch of studying (stopwatch at the drive-thru and walk in, eating in a certain amount of time while ordering a certain type of food and beverage). There was so much to recall, in fact, that I completely failed the shop (thank goodness I didn't quit my day job!). Regardless I came home from each retailer, filled out the questionnaire, faxed over my receipts and called it a day.

Finally, my husband and I got to take a little date night and see "Paul Blart" Mall Cop." What was nice about the theater evaluation was that I could bring my man to go check out the opposite sex bathrooms and get a double check on the customer service at the ticket and candy lines. This one was no sweat because there weren't sales associates breathing down my neck. We just did our thing, I went home, filled out the paperwork, sent the receipts and voila! Done. The theater evaluation was definitely my favorite shop.

So was all this time and money spent really worth it? Find out tomorrow in Part Three!