My favorite mystery shops are released four times a year, in January, April, July, and October. That means that the shops are listed and are available to be requested for assignment four times a year. The shops are assigned on a first come, first served basis. There is someone,* some faceless mystery shopper colleague**, in my area against whom I am always racing to get, at least, the shops that are closest to me, and so it behooves me to know when those shops will be released.
Unfortunately, the shops are not always released on the first day of the month. Sometimes they'll be listed a few days before the first of the month; sometimes they will become available a few days after the first of the month. And they're not always listed at the same time of day, either. It's not a consistent day or time, is what I'm telling you. I have fallen in to the habit of checking for shops more and more frequently as the beginning of one of those four months approaches, so I don't miss them. These are my favorite mystery shops, after all. They are easy and pay well with a generous reimbursement, plus I get to surprise people sometimes--I enjoy doing them.
I found myself ramping up my checking-for-mystery-shops about a week ago. You know, around the 2nd or 3rd of March? And every time, there would be nothing, and I would look at the date and realize that April is still most of a month away from now. My brain thinks that March is mostly over. I don't know why, but it does. Even now that I've realized what I'm doing, part of my brain still thinks March is mostly over and those shops will be showing up any time now.
It's not, you know. March is not almost over.
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Speaking of March, we're coming up on that week of minor March holidays: Pi day, Ides of March, 3/16 Day***, St. Patrick's Day... Am I missing any of them? Probably. Then there's the spring equinox, after a few days break. Oh, then 3/21: countdown day. Anybody going to celebrate any or all? Let me know in the comments.
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