Me, the Secret Shopper?!

     Several people know from Facebook yesterday how seriously I took the incident Miranda had with her District Manager.  Apparently, he was sick and so was she.  She had not been trained on some things and he decided to set out for her on a warpath at some point.  I could've left it, if it only consisted of some sarcastic remarks on a bad day.  But in the middle of her explaining that she had a ruptured eardrum (and can't hear out of it yet) and had been to the ER for the first time ever (for what we believe is a gall bladder disorder), he said angrily in front of others, "So you can't s**t and you can only hear with 1 ear.  Who cares?!"   She didn't argue and finished her hours.                                                                                                              
     Soooo, I gussied up (despite all the the upchucking and undie accidents here) in my dress pants and pink sweater and drove Miranda to work, let her walk in before I opened my door.  I went with my camera to video any indiscretion and my Bible to hold patience and composure.  Miranda was standing beside the counter with no acknowledgement that I was there while the manager fumbled with something and asked it I wanted to dine in.  I sharply said, "Yes."  Miranda sensing that I had honed in on the wrong guy came and put her arm around me and said, "This is my Mom."  He looked relieved and I looked confused.  He asked us to go sit with him and explained that my fixed "gaze"  had led him to believe I was the "Secret Shopper" (critic) they'd been expecting for some time.  Toooo funny!  What a way to break the ice!             
     He had no clue what all had gone on, so I bit my lip and let Miranda explain it to him, but she left out the key point because she didn't know how to "put" the quote of the offender.  The store manager seemed genuinely shocked and gave the Distrist Manager a call at home to hear his version.  Picking up on the skirting around he was doing, he handed the phone to me.  The guy did a Clinton act, wanting to appear forgetful and/or misunderstood.  He gave me a pep speech (I'm sure he learned in training/school to always let the complainee win) about how he cares for youth and has 4 kids of his own, one (his 13 year old) whom he had compared Miranda to and had asked her, "Do they not teach you respect at your school?" in reference to eye contact with a customer.  She is still honestly clueless on what he was pointing out.                                 
     Thing is he got personal and used profanity in a "no tolerance" zone and admitted it when cornered.  I thanked him for his time, not necessarily his insincere apology.  He quickly called back the manager but cut him short to answer a call from Corporate.  It HAD to have suddenly hit him that I wasn't kidding when I said the ball was already rolling.                                                                                                                 
    The manager gave us his personal number to use as a reference and gave each one of our children a "Free Buffet" voucher.  I had been a little worried about sitting near a buffet for the 3 hours she was scheduled, but I had only a salad and 2 and a half small pieces of pizza as I sat there pondering the prospect of being a real "Secret Shopper".                                                                                                                            
     Cool thing is...not only did Miranda already get another job last week with twice the hours, she got a call when we returned from Shoney's (where Megan worked) and big sister must have left a great impression because they told her to bring her Cookout schedule and they would work around it and of course, she would make twice the money waitressing.  I'm loving the work ethic, the hardship it entails sometimes, and the true character and honor it can build.