A mum took up mystery shopping to help pay for her lunch on days out - and has revealed the bizarre things she gets paid to check.<br /><br />Jennifer Lleras, 41, signed up with a company after seeing someone else do it on TikTok and gets free stuff or money in exchange for pretending to be a customer.<br /><br />She doesn't pay for lunch or earns around $30 a time for visiting restaurants or shops and ranking customer service.<br /><br />The marketing agency owner got an $18 free lunch at Cane's by timing how long it took her to go through the drive-thru.<br /><br />Bizarrely she had to also count how many ketchup sachets she was given.<br /><br />At Costco she was paid $30 to browse the store and visit ALL the free food sample stations.<br /><br />In the coming weeks she's due to visit a tech shop to report on whether staff are all carrying iPads - and wearing name badges.<br /><br />Being a mystery shopper involves visiting a business undercover with a specific set of instructions to assess specific things such as service and product quality.<br /><br />There may be a small financial reward, or incentive such as having the cost of the purchase covered by the company.<br /><br />The mum-of-two, from from Baltimore, Maryland, US, plans days out around her shopping assignments.<br /><br />She has so far got $41 worth of food for free, and earned $30 at Costco - for doing very little.<br /><br />She said: "I plan them around my trips and errands - like I was already planning to go to Costco.<br /><br />"So I do a mystery shop too and get a free lunch!<br /><br />"It's a lot of fun - I only just started but it's addictive.<br /><br />"It's just a fun way to make a little bit of money, or free food."<br /><br />Jennifer first took up a mystery shop with Costco, where she was paid $30 to browse the store and visit all the free food sample stations.<br /><br />She had to check how engaged and friendly staff were, and take covert pictures of the sample stations, then report back.<br /><br />She visited Five Guys and got $23 worth of food for free just to give some feedback on the experience.<br /><br />Jennifer said: "At Cane's I had to time exactly how long it took to go through the drive-through.<br /><br />"They wanted to know how many cars were in front, and how many packets of ketchup I was given.<br /><br />"It can be very specific."<br /><br />She is also trying to arrange a mystery visit to a car wash, a jewellery shop and a trampoline park.<br /><br />Jennifer, who gets the opportunities after signing up to a mystery shopper site called Market Force, said she's already hooked.<br /><br />She said: "It's a fun way to take advantage of your time, and get paid when you're already out and about.<br /><br />"It just looked fun so I thought, 'why not try?'.<br /><br />"I'm always looking for a good side hustle.<br /><br />"It's not very lucrative - you couldn't do it as a full-time job - but I would be interested to see how much money someone could make if they maxed it out.<br /><br />"It's just a fun way to make a bit of money, it's not a job - but I always appreciate when something actually works and isn't a scam.<br /><br />"And all the food I've had so far has been delicious!"
