1 SPEAKING In pairs, ask and answer the questions.
1 Do you enjoy shopping? Say why
2 Which of these things do you like or dislike shopping for?
clothes electronic gadgets food/snacks make-up and toiletries (e.g. deodorant, shampoo) presents school items shoes/trainers |
Students’ own answers
2 Study Active Reading and read the text quickly to identify the main idea. What is it about?
a Hobbies that become a job.
b How you can get a job as a mystery shopper.
c What it’s like to be a mystery shopper.
ACTIVE READING | Understanding the main idea To understand the main idea of a paragraph : |
MUSTAFA MADI, MYSTER SHOPPER So just imagine somebody paid you to go shopping! Sounds great, doesn’t it? |
1 G I’m Mustafa Madi and I’m a mystery shopper. Companies pay me to visit shops and pretend to be an ordinary customer. Afterwards, I report on what I saw. Was the shop tidy? Did the shop assistants smile? Could they answer my difficult questions? Were the changing rooms clean? Was there a long queue for the checkout?
2 C I started when I was a student. I wanted to work part-time but I didn’t want a normal job because some weeks I was too busy with my studies at college. Mystery shopping was ideal because I could choose to work during quieter weeks.
3 A Usually my work takes me to chain stores, shopping malls and department stores. But sometimes my job is to visit a cinema or a restaurant. Once I had to stay the night in a hotel (in the most boring town in England!) My favourite job was when I flew to Berlin for a travel agency. It was a lot of fun.
4 E Being a mystery shopper is harder than some people think. You need a good memory and good writing skills (you have just twenty-four hours to write a 1,600- word report). The most important thing is to be discreet – you have to act ‘normally’ at all times, even when you’re secretly watching people!
5 F What do I like about my job? Well, the money isn’t bad. I also enjoy the variety of being a mystery shopper – it’s not always as enjoyable as the trip to Berlin but it’s never boring. And finally, I sometimes go back to a shop I visited before. It’s always great to see the service is better because then I know that my job is making a difference.
3 Match headings A–G with paragraphs 1–6. There is one extra heading.
A No week is the same
B The negative side of the job
C Why I became a mystery shopper
D My plans for the future
E Skills and qualities of a good mystery shopper
F The positive side of the job
G What is a mystery shopper?
4 Match the highlighted words and phrases from the text with the definitions.
1 help that you get in place such as a shop, restaurant or hotel service
2 one of a group of shops owned by the same company chain store
3 a large shop with different parts that sell different types of things department store
4 a place in a shop where you can try on clothes changing room
5 a person who buys goods from a shop customer
6 a large building with lots of different shops shopping mall
7 a reduction in price discount
8 a line of people waiting for something queue
9 a place in a large shop where you pay checkout
10 someone whose job is selling things in a shop shop assistant
5 Complete the sentences with a word or phrase from Exercise 4.
1 I get a 20 percent discount at the bookshop because I’m a student.
2 There were really long queues at the supermarket today – there were only three checkouts open. Perhaps a lot of the shop assistants are ill.
3 Excuse me, where’s the changing room I’m not sure if these trousers are the right size.
4 The shops on the High Street are really quiet on cold days. Everyone prefers to drive out to the shopping mall.
5 Taylors is the biggest department store in town. You can buy almost everything in one big shop.
6 SPEAKING In pairs, ask and answer the questions.
1 What are your favourite chain stores/ shopping malls in your area?
2 Which shops in your town have the best/ worst service in your opinion?
3 Do you have a customer discount in any shops?
Students’ own answers
Workbook
1 Read the text quickly and choose the best answer.
What is the text about?
a How supermarkets make us spend more.
b The advantages and disadvantages of supermarkets.
c How to find the best offers in your supermarket.
2 Read the text again. Match headings A–G with paragraphs 1–6. There is one extra heading.
A Offers that don’t save us money
B New products keep customers interested
C Tempting treats while we wait
D Some tips for customers
E Some more tricks
F Healthy options to start
G Ways to keep us searching
Answers
1 F 2 G 3 A 4 E 5 C 6 D
3 Read the text again and answer the questions.
1 What are the first products you see in most supermarkets?
fruit and vegetables
2 Where do supermarkets place the most important items that most people need?
at the back
3 What emotion do customers often feel when they see a special offer?
excitement
4 According to the article, why are supermarket trolleys very big?
to make us think that we only have a few items
5 Which product do customers sometimes buy while waiting at the checkout?
chocolate bars
6 Which two tips for spending less in the supermarket does the author give?
make a list, look at your phone
SUPERMARKET SHOPPING Very few people think about the layout of their supermarket or the offers available … but maybe they should. Why? Because everything is carefully designed to encourage you to buy things you don't really need. 1 F In many supermarkets, the main entrance leads directly into the fruit and vegetable section. There is a reason for this. Psychologists say that when we start by buying food which is good for us, we are more likely to feel better about ourselves. That’s why, later on, we often take a packet of biscuits as a reward for our earlier good behaviour. 2 G Supermarket managers want customers to look at as many products as possible. That’s why key products such as dairy, bread and meat are right at the back of the store, so customers have to walk past lots of other different food items before they find the ones they actually need. 3 A When we see a sign offering a discount, we often take the product without thinking. It isn’t unusual to see a sign saying: ‘2 packets only 2 JOD!’ and, in our excitement, we grab the product without noticing that the price for one packet is actually only 1 JOD! 4 E How else do supermarkets make us spend more? There are quite a few tricks. The smell of fresh bread can make us more hungry and make the shop seem more attractive. Large supermarket trolleys make us think that we only have a few items and that we should buy more! 5 C Finally, we reach the checkout. Perhaps we are having a bad day and don’t feel so good. And while we’re waiting in that queue, what do we see? Chocolate bars. Without thinking, we pick one up and drop it into the trolley. More money spent! 6 D How can we avoid these clever tricks? Make a shopping list – then you will only buy the things you need. Looking at your phone while you are waiting at the checkout means you might not even notice the chocolate bars all around you! 7 B The job isn’t perfect, of course. Some companies don’t pay you (you just get a discount on something you ‘bought’). And sometimes there is no work for many weeks. Mystery shopping is a good way to earn extra money but it’s not enough to live on. |