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Secret shoppers...not a bad idea. Unfortunately, not necessarily always effective. If each store is open 10 hours a day and has 10 employees working the entire day, that is potential 100 hours of "face time" with customers per store.

True, the secret shoppers don't catch everyone, but it does instill a sense of supervision. Once the word gets around that the company is going to use secret shoppers and that any employee caught politicizing the store will be fired immediately, the problem will mostly be solved. The management at the store should also be held responsible and let go if the problem becomes chronic.

When I worked for a subsidiary of Delta Airlines, a gate agent was observed violating the selection order of standby passengers by the CEO. The gate agent put some of her at the front of line. When the CEO approached her, he did not identify himself as a Delta employee but did protest that the priority system was not being followed. She basically told him "old man, sit down. This is my job and I'll tell you when you can get on this flight." He went at found a supervisor and told him to take over the gate and promptly fired the gate agent. I always wondered if the story was accurate, but in any event, the episode did keep the gate agents in line.

Since Border's does have a union, I wonder if the collective bargaining agreement expressly forbids the use of secret shoppers.

I do see your point. I'm just not sure that some of the left-leaning bookstore employees I've encountered would really be hindered by the prospect of being fired. They can always get rehired by the B&N down the street for generally the same $6-8 an hour.

My basic point in this thread is that the response Borders gave via email was appropriate and well-reasoned. Could they do more...sure, we all could in whatever job we do.

He went at found a supervisor and told him to take over the gate and promptly fired the gate agent.

How did that work? I mean, he had some sort of employee ID card identifying him as The Boss... I know my employer's CEO by sight, but that's because we're a small company and I work in the same building.

Since Border's does have a union, I wonder if the collective bargaining agreement expressly forbids the use of secret shoppers.

The union doesn't represent all of Borders' employees. In fact, IIRC, the union is pretty well limited to the Michigan stores.