Word: secrete
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...Patriarchate's files, according to the government report. And no one is even sure that a lease was actually given. "There is no new lease on any of the Omar Ibn al-Khattab Square properties," says one Patriarchate official. Israeli property deals in Palestinian neighborhoods are often kept secret to avoid Arab protests and retribution against locals who sell to Jews. Nevertheless, Palestinian Orthodox Christians have seized on the scandal to push for greater representation in the Patriarchate's hierarchy. There are some 120,000 Greek Orthodox Palestinians, the largest Christian group in the Holy Land, but only...
...reports aren't always negative. Mystery shoppers also help employers create incentives for exemplary service. Some shoppers see themselves as crusaders, punishing bad behavior and rewarding unsung heroes. Intrawest ski resorts recently handed out $100 bills to workers who scored especially well on a secret-shopper report. And a top-tier hotel rewarded its staff for finding a way to supply an undercover guest with the late-night Pepsi he requested from the Coke-only establishment. "It used to be about catching people doing something wrong," says Mike Bare, MSPA's co-founder. "But more and more, it's validating...
...vacation. Pokodner, an electrical engineer, stays at four-star hotels for free, eats steak dinners gratis and goes on casino sprees totally on the house. For his trouble, he makes $20,000 a year in his spare time. How does he do it? Pokodner, 44, is a veteran secret shopper, employed by cruise lines and hotel chains to travel undercover and evaluate their customer service...
This stealthy approach to quality control got its start in the late 1980s, mainly in the restaurant and retail businesses. There's even a trade group, the Mystery Shoppers Providers Association (MSPA), representing about 1 million secret shoppers and 150 member companies with names like Guest Check and Service Sleuth. The hospitality industry is new turf for these shopping-mall snoops, and increasingly, secret shoppers like Pokodner have become secret travelers, checking up on the world's vacation spots...
There's a certain amount of spycraft involved. Some secret travelers use hidden wires and cameras to record conversations with surly waiters or snap photos of a dirty hotel bathroom...