The Decorum Forum

I'm a professional photographer. The trade is populated heavily with folks of...uh, shall we say, "limited," interpersonal skills. That is probably true of mystery shoppers, as well. That's another group to which I claim membership.

And when a professional photographer can put his finely honed training to use -- in a broadly based endeavor that taxes all his skills -- to actually make some money, well, no job is too..., well, anything.

As part of one of my "audits" of convenience stores for a company that contracts with national corporations, I was required to photograph the privies.Anybody who can name two of four of the locations pictured here wins the admiration of all the rest who read this.

Every national corporation contracts with corporate narc specialist companies who hire "mystery shoppers" to make unannounced visits and evaluate certain aspects of the "customer experience" at their representative stores and agencies everywhere.

Perfect for someone with limited interpersonal skills and a borderline sociopathic bent. I'm in. Pictures of toilets? Like chocolate on the popcorn.

And, so far, it's payin' me more to click the shutter than has taking pictures of sporting events.