I just had a shop invalidated for being honest about having a manager from a more upscale grocery store blow right past me while activly seeking assistance and through a door to an office area. This is a store that all employees are saposed to acknowledge you if you get within so many feet of them. I have done several of the exact same shops in the past with no problem.

They are using a technicality that does not hold true in the shop directions to invalidate the shop as I had an interaction, just not a positive one. In all reality I believe they don't want to give this customer a report that states I made eye contact and could not get someone in management to assist me.

I was tempted to leave that out and continue shopping for someone not wearing button down shirt and a tie to assist me. I had already ran the clock out for the two minutes browsing that department and made contact with the managment in the two minutes of activly seeking help. If I didn't like this grocery store so much, it would not be worth the effort of having eight seperate interactions as well as multiple checks for the shop fee.

They still have many of them sitting on the job board all month. I guess on the positive side, I can still see them, so they have not removed me from doing them as this MSC is known to do.

I think they are teaching me to lie by ommision, and not report an interaction with managment unless it is positive. I should just continue as if it didnt happen and find the interaction they are looking to hear about for the report.

What was the technicality used to invalidate the shop?

I was supposed to go to another department and ask for assistance if I did not make contact with an employee in this department. This department can be small in some stores. In this store, it is a full sized department and located right in the front of the store.

I did make eye contact, and this employee did say "hi" to me, as I was looking at the back of his head go through the door.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2014 03:43AM by scanman1.

You didn't ask for assistance, though.

I was standing there staring at him with a raised finger as he blew past me and even pivoted. He absolutly knew I was looking for assistance and decided that whatever was inside the office was more imporntant.

I was suprised he didn't stop. He literally had to step around me as I was blocking his path.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2014 03:43AM by scanman1.

It is "supposed" by the way.

If an interaction is required you are always better off having some interaction with someone. Then you can detail what you had to do to get the interaction, including a description of the manager blowing you off. I almost had a sunglass shop invalidated for the same reason. Luckily I was able to speak with the MSC and detail the number of times I attempted an interaction. And this was in a store with only one associate and one other customer who happened to come in almost five full minutes after me.

Speaking of a grocery shop, I was quite "surprised" that the DM never acknowledged me, (and I don't mean Store Director, I mean District Manager over the entire district) as I slowly walked past him, near the meat case. He was standing in a circle, doing chit-chat with other managers and he was facing me, so he saw me walking. I waited to see if ANY of the managers would acknowledge me and finally one did...The DM kind of nudged one of the managers with a "Hey, go help her look" but he never bothered to turn around and say a pleasant greeting to me....

I used to be in bakery retail management, for a large grocery store chain and I KNEW he did not follow the "10 foot circle" which is HUGE in supermarkets. They have BIG rally's on it, posters about it, preach about it but when it came for the DM to DO IT, he failed....

If you were supposed to have contact with management for the shop, then you needed to wait until the manager came back out or find another manager. You didn't meet the specifications of the shop. I've done a lot of grocery store shops and yes, sometimes they pass you by without helping. You just need to go find someone else then. Whatever was going on in that office could very well have been more important than helping you at that point and time--store emergency, someone caught shoplifting, etc., etc.

I don't think a raised finger counts as an interaction.

I think you would have to say something verbally, such as, "Excuse me, can you answer a question for me?" or something similar. Nor do I think that blocking him so he has to walk around you qualifies as asking for assistance. As a previous poster noted, there could have been an emergency requiring his presence in the office. Just because you didn't hear anything over the PA system doesn't mean he wasn't paged by his cell phone or some other way.

BBird0701 Wrote:
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> I don't think a raised finger counts as an
> interaction.


But it can speak volumes.

If it was the middle finger, I can understand the "negative contact" part.

LJ Wrote:
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> BBird0701 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I don't think a raised finger counts as an
> > interaction.
>
>
> But it can speak volumes.

BBird0701 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't think a raised finger counts as an
> interaction.


I have a finger I raise all the time, and it's definitely an interaction. Doubt it's the same finger as the OP used though.

I'm going to chalk this one up as a learning experience. They didn't take me off this shop, so next time I assign one, I'll chase down those green aprons in the last two minutes of each department and force them to answer one of my same three stupid questions.

It was the index finger. If I raised the finger I wanted to, I'm sure I'd have gotten more of a response out of him!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/27/2014 04:56PM by scanman1.

I don't think the name of the store was mentioned, back when I did these they required an interaction with someone in the floral area, except in the largest stores the floral area was not staffed but they said you could ask in the produce dept.

ces1948 Wrote:
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> I don't think the name of the store was mentioned,
> back when I did these they required an interaction
> with someone in the floral area, except in the
> largest stores the floral area was not staffed but
> they said you could ask in the produce dept.

Yes, I did three smaller stores and the floral department was not a real department, but more of a six foot area to grab from about 20 or so bouquets that were already made up. I did go to the produce department and mow down an employee with my cart and ask them one of the three prepared questions.

This was the first store that I shopped with a proper full sized floral department with a very large glass case, a balloon filling area, and a customer support counter. A non MS customer would never leave such a big department and go searching out assistance on the other side of the store in produce.

Yikes! I just did a shop where all employees were wearing what I figured was a manager's uniform. His name tag read "Store Manager" but he did not follow required verbiage.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2014 07:48PM by txwahchick.

I did one a while back that was really confusing. Every employee had a name tag that said "Owner". When I saw the first one, I was like... wow, now that's impressive. This pimple faced teeny bopper has the money to buy the store, and he still gets out and busses shopping carts in the parking lot! Apparently he had a lot of partners. When I got to checkout, I finally asked the cashier about it. She said (and I actually went back and looked at this quote) "Yeah, they keep telling us that we are owners and the harder we work, the more this place is worth. I work my ass off, so this place is worth a lot. I should seriously try to sell it and retire."

I know whom you mean and they've gotten very picky in the last two years. They completely stopping emailing me for over a year now I get emails and calls four, five times a week. I'm starting not to like them. . a lot.

On the subject of ownership, I know there are a few retail establishments that give all employees stock in the company. Perhaps this was one of them. If you have one share and there are 1,000,000,000 shares out there you are still a part owner.

scanman1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Yes, I did three smaller stores and the floral
> department was not a real department, but more of
> a six foot area to grab from about 20 or so
> bouquets that were already made up. I did go to
> the produce department and mow down an employee
> with my cart and ask them one of the three
> prepared questions.

From reading your other posts, you sure like to make up your own rules and guidelines. You don't "mow down an employee with my cart" to get assistance. I have a feeling that you are just exaggerating for the sake of posting in the forum. But if you want real feedback from other shoppers when you do something wrong, you should not embellish your story.


> This was the first store that I shopped with a
> proper full sized floral department with a very
> large glass case, a balloon filling area, and a
> customer support counter. A non MS customer would
> never leave such a big department and go searching
> out assistance on the other side of the store in
> produce.

You do not have to go on the other side of the store in produce. You ask another nearby employee for assistance and usually they will page or find a produce associate to assist you. I have been performing these shops for 2-3 years with two different MSCs and I have never had any invalidated reports.