shopperbob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A semi-off topic comment:
>
> More than those who lack knowledge/concern as to
> their compositions, I avoid all conversation with
> anyone who needs an hour to share two minutes of
> information and/or is unable to speak without
> employing the irritating pauses of "like, he/she
> goes and/or you know."
>
> Now, for a topic comment:
>
> Never in my 71 yrs. of life had I ever encountered
> the rule of double spacing following a period. The
> moral of my comment is that each day I'm on the
> Internet, 17 yrs. to date, is a learning
> experience for me.

Hey shopperbob,

My mom was not college educated. She was Army educated. Still, she deplored the usage of "like, he/she goes/ you know and you got it." I cannot imagine the use of these in a narrative, except to quote an ill spoken employee.

I've had the same problem with intellishop. Everybody else gives me high grades and is patient with me. I am relatively new at mystery shopping but they LOVE to give me low grades and a hard time about everything.

If its a guy he is compensating for a small... something or another. Some people have need for power, or to tell others what they need to do, then expecting / demanding that you do as they say. Give them the finger.

Don

shopperbob Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This thread is especially relevant to me, as I've
> received several comments of correction with
> spelling errors. In addition, I've been marked for
> using verbiage that, as the editor stated, the
> common "Englisher" wouldn't comprehend.
> Continuing, I accepted many years ago that some
> editors didn't understand the subjunctive
> mode/mood of our language. Finally, we come to the
> inability to distinguish between "take" and
> "bring."
>

Bob--My heart skipped a beat when I read this post! This is my biggest grammatical pet peeve! It is so nice to know that SOMEone out there knows the difference between "take" and "bring" besides me and my fifth grade teacher! My teacher had us stand in opposite corners of the classroom to demonstrate the difference. What kills me is that the most educated people I know don't know the difference. I blame Hollywood writers.
I correct my family all the time. When my husband and I are standing in the kitchen and he asks me if I could "bring it upstairs" with me, I tell him, "NO!" I have told my family that I want the explanation on my tombstone!

I once had one in which the SPECIFIC directions were to only ask for a glass of water if I was offered it with the meal but to not ask for it if I was not. One of the questions on the shop report was "Were you offered water with your meal?" I said no. On the report they wanted the drinks consumed listed. I did so. For obvious reasons, I did not have water listed.

Email #1 from the editor: "Water is not listed in the beverages, did you have water?"

I responded that it was not listed because per the directions I was not to ask for it unless it was offered. As it was not offered, I did not order it therefore the beverage is not listed on the report.

Email #2 "Was water offered?"

I responded "See below" and forwarded my 1st email.

Email #3 "Why didn't you request water when it wasn't offered"

I responded, in all caps, "BECAUSE THE DIRECTIONS FOR THE SHOP SPECIFICALLY SAY NOT TO ASK OR ORDER UNTIL IT IS OFFERED"

It was awesome.

I got a 10 on the report with no mention of the back and forth with the editor.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2014 07:18PM by Scheherazade.

Win one for the good guys, huh? (Btw, "Scheherazade" is my favorite symphony!)

It was sort of a win. I was starting to wonder if the editor was trying to avoid payment for the shop, LOL

And, the name is from the storyteller of One Thousand and One Nights as we are storytellers as shoppers...but I like the symphony too!

Way to go, Scheherazade!

Regarding the over critical editors, I suspect they have a quota for a number of errors in a certain period, similar to the quota for traffic tickets a month given out by the cops, don't you think?

SandiAigo Wrote:
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> Win one for the good guys, huh? (Btw,
> "Scheherazade" is my favorite symphony!)


Especially when Meryl Davis and Charlie White are ice dancing a gold medal performance to it.

Yes, the symphony is based on her stories......


YEA! 1000 posts!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/26/2014 03:24AM by SandiAigo.

I got this one two days ago....

Your evaluation for Intelli... has been reviewed.

Shop Grade: 9

Comments: Thank you for your report! You have received a grade of 9 on this report because there were some grammar and spelling problems throughout your report. In the future, be sure to use spell check and reread what you have written to be sure that all of your answers are error free. Thank you!


By saying "there were grammar and spelling problems throughout your report" they can give me a 9.
Mon Dieu. I wrote it. I read it. I sent it. I accept it.
Just be sure to send the paycheck.

I have gotten mostly 10s from Intellishop, but many years ago I got an "8" on a report for an electronics store. I did not see any problems in my report and they did not specify anything, so I wrote and asked for an explanation. I never heard anything back. Now when they come begging me to do that job, I tell them that I won't because I apparently don't know how to do it and they won't tell me!

..................And they never will. It must be very frustrating to be an Intellishop Scheduler.... trying to fill jobs knowing that shoppers are disenchanted with unreasonable editors, redundant reports and low pay. Newbies are their staple.

My personal opinion is that the overcritical editors are those that are given very little power in their own lives, probably because they are unintelligent and as a result people do not put them in positions of power, so they use the part-time job as an editor to regain their sense of self worth. I find it very humorous when overcritical editors write messages that contain grammatical and/or spelling errors to tell me that they spotted a grammatical error.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/27/2014 10:24PM by SpyShopper.

It's their job to look for infractions just like it's my job to look for infractions. If they were qualified to be English professors they wouldn't be doing this. When I first started, it irritated me to get the infamous "several typos and grammatical errors" message, but now I pay it no mind. It doesn't mean a thing so it's not important. If they really wanted to tell me something, they would tell me clearly and in detail. When I get a generality, I give it a general shrug of the shoulders.

SpyShopper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My personal opinion is that the overcritical
> editors are those that are given very little power
> in their own lives, probably because they are
> unintelligent and as a result people do not put
> them in positions of power, so they use the
> part-time job as an editor to regain their sense
> of self worth.

You know, not to defend the over-critical editors, but it's really funny. Did you know that the managers of some client locations say exactly that about mystery shoppers, except that they substitute "mystery shopper" for "editor." Some of us mystery shoppers are more critical than others, just as some editors are more critical than others, but the definition of "over-critical" is definitely in the "eye of the beholder."

Here's a question. Have any of us felt a little pleased, when, after doing several gas station audits where everything was perfect, we find one with a flaw, expired POP, overflowing trash can, missing squeegee? Have any of us thought to ourselves, "Great! Now they'll know I wasn't just sleepwalking through the day!"

HA! I have certainly had that feeling before. I was incredibly excited to find dusty merchandise on Friday. I've never seen or reported dusty merchandise before. I was like, YES, they'll know I really was looking!

Yes!! One department store shop instructions basically tells you that you must find flaws or they won't believe you! OK, the dressing room bench has a few places where the paint is chipped. The entrance door floor has some scuff marks on it. A few pairs of pants were not neatly folded and one was in the wrong place. There was a few soap bubbles on the counter in the rest room under the dispenser and the stainless steel door to the stall was a little smudged with fingerprints. Hey, I can do this!

Spy, I have to disagree. Power is taken, not given. I've never felt an editor was pulling a power trip on me. I've always thought they were trying to do their jobs and finding mistakes is their job. I know they're wrong sometimes, but so am I. Finding mistakes is my job, too, and I'm sure some of the places I've audited have some reservations about my intelligence. Let's all cut each other some slack here.


SpyShopper Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My personal opinion is that the overcritical
> editors are those that are given very little power
> in their own lives, probably because they are
> unintelligent and as a result people do not put
> them in positions of power, so they use the
> part-time job as an editor to regain their sense
> of self worth. I find it very humorous when
> overcritical editors write messages that contain
> grammatical and/or spelling errors to tell me that
> they spotted a grammatical error.

I'm an odd one where language is concerned; I study linguistics as a hobby and right now, to me, the English language is REALLY REALLY EXCITING. Thanks to the Internet, it's doing a thing it hasn't had the chance to do in precisely this way since about the time of Shakespeare--young people are turning the language into what they need it to be to express their thoughts (beyond the simple addition of new words), rather than having to mold their thoughts to the words that already exist. This precipitates massive linguistic change, and because the Internet is a free and widespread tool it will cause change even greater and more lasting than Gutenberg and his printing press.


. . . . anyway, where I was going with all that is the fact that there may also be older editors conforming to older English (or vice-versa, younger editors with newer English). I refuse to use the word "alright" instad of "all right," for example, which was still considered an "irregular" usage when I learned it in the 1990s. If a report was put in front of me that contained the word "alright" I'd consider it correct--begrudgingly--but I don't think I could stop myself from changing it to "all right." Editors older than me might look at "alright" and consider it a spelling/grammatical error. (MarketForce always gets uptight when I type "crewmember." It's a word! I realize it's a relatively recent contraction, but it's as correct as "roommate" or "hotdog" and you can stop telling me it's misspelled now.)

kamarkim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes!! One department store shop instructions
> basically tells you that you must find flaws or
> they won't believe you! OK, the dressing room
> bench has a few places where the paint is chipped.
> The entrance door floor has some scuff marks on
> it. A few pairs of pants were not neatly folded
> and one was in the wrong place. There was a few
> soap bubbles on the counter in the rest room under
> the dispenser and the stainless steel door to the
> stall was a little smudged with fingerprints. Hey,
> I can do this!

There's a bank shop that says you must write several sentences on the negative part of the experience. I've done it twice, and they've treated me so nicely both times that it was really a struggle to find something. But, I did come up with something that was a reasonable, although very minor, complaint.

I do a shop for Raising Cane's at a location that has never failed to disappoint me and I never know how to make it obvious that I'm not copy/pasting the same stuff every month. The food is always perfect, the three areas you must check for cleanliness always pristine, the wait times short and the staff friendly. The only time I ever encountered a rude employee (at a different location) he lasted for about two weeks. And unlike many of the McDonald's in my area, a lot of Cane's employees seem to be English/Spanish bilingual. (By contrast, I actually had a McDonald's shop where I had to report that I couldn't get the sandwich I wanted because the employee didn't understand "Southern Style Chicken" in English and I had to complete the order in Spanish, which I speak but not fluently.)

How exactly do you explain "I'm serious, they're just THAT GOOD" without referring to your previous shops of the location?!

I find it highly annoying to be marked down on a shop without any explanation. I recently did two identical phone shops for the same company. They weren't recorded shops. One came back with "3"! The second came back with a "9". Go figure. Absolutely no explanation. The company doesn't have anywhere where I can write to them asking for an explanation of the "3". I do my spell checks, etc., so I really don't know what happened. Out of all my reports, I have never, ever received anything less than an "8" on a report, so I'm really stumped. And as far as the "3", I didn't receive any pre-warning, any questions about the report, nothing at all. It wasn't late. That "3" didn't really mess up my average with the company at all, it's still high, but it still bugs me.

ninamason Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
. . . . anyway, where I was going with all that is
> the fact that there may also be older editors
> conforming to older English (or vice-versa,
> younger editors with newer English). I refuse to
> use the word "alright" instad of "all right," for
> example, which was still considered an "irregular"
> usage when I learned it in the 1990s. If a report
> was put in front of me that contained the word
> "alright" I'd consider it
> correct--begrudgingly--but I don't think I could
> stop myself from changing it to "all right."
> Editors older than me might look at "alright" and
> consider it a spelling/grammatical error.
> (MarketForce always gets uptight when I type
> "crewmember." It's a word! I realize it's a
> relatively recent contraction, but it's as correct
> as "roommate" or "hotdog" and you can stop telling
> me it's misspelled now.)

Nina, some editors are from the UK/Australia/NZ, as well as Philippines, etc and not only use different colloquial but do not have knowledge or understanding of the US culture and daily life. It is very obvious from some of the questions, the vocabulary they use, and the "Indian call center" mentality.

I once looked up the use of "alright", the version I prefer and found three dictionaries with different answers. The dictionaries couldn't copy each other, so sometimes they would give an alternate version. Therefore, all versions are different "but. . . . "

I had an editor send me an email about grammar three weeks after the shop was paid. Not only that, they clearly didn't know the difference between 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person. I wrote back and politely explained the differences and said I have a degree in English (not to be snotty, but so they would hopefully realize I know what I am talking about) and I wrote the report as it should have been written. They wrote back and said, "Thank you. In the future please write in 3rd person and use I."

I don't mind if someone tells me I made a mistake because we all do, no matter if it is "expertise" or not. However, if you are going to correct me, you had better know what you are talking about. This person clearly has no clue.

This takes the cake. I did a dealership. I picked it because I owned the car (new) I was evaluating and figured I would be well versed. When I got my review I received a 7 why ????? They said I evaluated the wrong model there were several grammatical errors and spelling, but they could still use the report and put it in another category.

We all make mistakes, I double check all my work on word. I had a print out of my assignment. I emailed the editor asked them to double check on the car. I was told again you evaluated the wrong car be we can still use the report. 2 days later I received a nicer note from the editor saying the same thing. I just thanked them.

The irony is what the MSC's do not understand, time invested and time is money. Dollar for dollar, by the time you invest in gas, travel time, location time, report time, answering questions and re-reporting we are actually making wages close to China.

There are only a few select companies I have found that flog you.

You're lucky they didn't reject it completely.

If you truly evaluated the wrong car, it could've easily been rejected with no payment. Often times companies have multiple shops at the same location looking at different models. You need to check before you go out and make sure you are. I keep copies of all the email confirmations and PDFs of reports and documentation just in case questions are asked down the road.