AustinMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You know, I think recognizing great schedulers is
> a nice thing to do, but this becoming a joke.

Let me understand, so your opinion is that because there is the potential that some people have made bogus posts, "this is becoming a joke"?

Why would you think that?

(heart)

You answered your own question.

I agree with Lisa - you answered your questions better than I could.

I don't understand what either of you are talking about, since the bogus posts were easily identifiable, but as posted in "General Chat" the "culprit" (smile) has been identified. We can all sleep tonight.

(heart)

Why are all these comments not in the comments thread? That was set up specifically for such comments/discussion?

Such a simple rule/request that, apparently, nobody is able to follow. *That* is what's sad. Especially from a group of people who's livelihood relies, in part, on comprehending and following guidelines.

That, along with someone apparently trying to stuff the ballot box.

Now... I've commented enough in the non-comment thread. I'll put my *other* comment in the appropriate place.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/05/2014 11:59PM by StormCloud.

I have a few questions of my own.

Whether it was Jacob's idea and he asked Stilllearning to lead this endeavor or if it was Stilllearning's idea and Jacob jumped on board, either way it's obviously something he supports and stickied at the top.

So, if anyone had misgivings before this started, did you contact him and express your concerns? Or did you instead, just wait to see if something would go wrong so that you could make negative comments later? I notice some people were conspicuously absent from the threads until the KSS nominations. Now they're all going to come on here and try to make Stilllearning look bad?

I said in the beginning it was a nice thing to do and I still think so. The KSS scheduler with all the nominations is the only one looking bad here, and if it wasn't her own idea then that's a real shame for her.

You know, we could all rally behind this and just vote for the schedulers we think deserve it and out-vote the KSS fakes. Jacob doesn't even have to accept nominations from anyone who wasn't a member before the contest was announced.

Would it be so bad to be nice just once and try to support the people? Is it that hard? Does it really feel better to be so negative, nasty and bitter? Wouldn't you feel better about yourself if you apologized for a temporary lapse in judgement and calling someone a name she finds offensive instead of trying to justify it?

Is it that hard to give someone the benefit of the doubt and just be nice for once?

Erik Martin-KSS International

I nominate Erik because he is professional, efficient, and always friendly over the phone. I am happy to help him with extra shops when he calls me because he asks so politely and is really appreciative of his shoppers. If there is ever a problem, he is patient with me while we try and solve it. It's nice to know that he has my back and will help me in anyway that he can to clear up any confusion or problems that come up. He is really great to work with.

I nominate stilllearning... coolest poster around


(heart)

Tim Qua - Bare International

Always great about responding when I email him!

Linda McClanahan at A Closer Look. Linda is funny, charming and responsive. Her emails are out of the ordinary and witty.

I second Linda McClanahan's wittiness.... Sometimes I have to read her email responses two or three times to catch the pun. It's nice to be able to be lighthearted and have a bit of fun with this job and the schedulers. Her responses always seem to come at a time that I need that laugh.

Yeah! Shelly with KSS is great! Very professional, always courteous.

Shelly Martin, Reality Check

Shelly is understanding, professional, and empathetic. She works diligently to accommodate odd schedules and locations and makes exceptions whenever she can so together, we can complete some of the hard to reach areas. I appreciate her timeliness in her responses and her understanding nature. I also appreciate she is personable and polite. Those are traits that go a long way and create a working relationship that flows well both ways. Thank you, Shelly!

Jeff Rose from Bare Associates. He took over from a more difficult scheduler and made things much easier for me! If I emailed him, he responded the same day unless for some unforseen reason or he was out of the office. Whenever I had an issue, there was a real phone number to call, and he often returned my phone call within the hour! Always cheerful, always polite, always a gentleman. Gotta love a scheduler like Jeff!

Oh hellfire. I just read all the previous dissentation and discombobulation. Danmation and hellisticalabominations.

I am so confused. Yes, I heard about this site from KSS, but I shop KSS 98% of the time. I am still learning your site, and I honestly find it confusing. I came for the contest and ended up on the comment thread instead. I thought the contest was a fun and nice thing to do, and took it at face value. I don't know about others, but I don't have a lot of extra time for social media and sites such as this. Will I come back? Possibly. Will I need a nudge to remember to come back? Probably. Anyway, here is my nomination again:

Hi all

I am new here, like first time. I have had about 6 hours sleep in the last three day, first doing 6 shops on Tuesday, and then completing three more into the early morning, so I hope I make sense. I am here to praise a scheduler, not complain about the work she is forcing on me, oops, giving me! And, I can not blame her for the kitty emergency that had me up all last nite (still up because I have to pick kitty up in 45 mins). But enough about me, right.

I am here to praise Kim M from KSS (and sister companies). I love the company (family of MSCs) first and foremost, because of schedulers like Kim, good pay, good support and teamwork. If Kim is not available for me, another scheduler pitches in. The clients she schedules for are top of the line, making the work more fun. 98% of my shops are with them (95% with Kim).
Kim has always been special in my mind. It did not take more than a few shops before I began to think of Kim as a friend as well as a colleague. I found myself adding Kim to my friends and family emails, she responded, and we began to share family notes. I have cried on her shoulder (figuratively, not literally) and she on mine.

Many times my emails to her are not only answered in less than an hour, but my occasional calls to her as well. Did I mention that she lives in Southern Cal and I live in NV? She responds whether I send my emails at 5am, 8pm or even 2am. Did I also mention that neither of us sleeps much? She makes it so very easy. She is fast to compliment me, shares the joys of my 10 scores, and explains editors giving those nasty lower scores have different reasons to deduct points. She smiled when I suggested those editors be fired!

Hear, hear for Kim at KSS.

And, Christa from KSS is another favorite. Even though she is only 3% of my KSS shopping, she has also become a friend and I cherish her as much as Kim. I had planned on nominating Christa in a different posting as requested, but since KSS seems to be seen in a negative way, I am putting them together. Christa and Kim make working for KSS fun and I appreciate them very much.

Erik Martin

I would like to nominate Erik for scheduler of the year. He has many times gone above and beyond to assist me with getting extra money for more than one shop especially when the locations have been outside of a 30 mile radius. He has also been there multiple times to listen to me and my complaints with a shop. Finally he can make you smile especially after having a bad day.

Sheree

imsuzie2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am so confused. Yes, I heard about this site
> from KSS, but I shop KSS 98% of the time. I am
> still learning your site, and I honestly find it
> confusing. I came for the contest and ended up on
> the comment thread instead. I thought the contest
> was a fun and nice thing to do, and took it at
> face value. I don't know about others, but I
> don't have a lot of extra time for social media
> and sites such as this. Will I come back?
> Possibly. Will I need a nudge to remember to come
> back? Probably. Anyway, here is my nomination
> again:
>

Hi, imsuzie, welcome to our forum. This is actually not intended to be a "contest" per se. I am tremendously curious. How did you find out about the "contest?" You state you heard about the contest from Kern. Is there an announcement on the Kern website? Did someone at Kern request that you post here and "vote" for a scheduler? Is someone at Kern campaigning for shoppers to come post about them? Please let us know.

Hi All,

Here is what I have found out, in case anyone is interested. The original thread of "Scheduler of the Year" sparked quite a lot of excitement in my team. I mean.. really, how often do schedulers get recognized?

So, a few (I'm sure you can tell which) of my team members changed their signature lines to read something like the following:
"Please nominate me for Scheduler of the Year at [www.mysteryshopforum.com];

Apparently, a lot of their shoppers thought it was worth it to do so. I think it is quite flattering, and I have to say that it did make those team members feel good that enough shoppers actually read that in their signature lines and took the time to write flattering comments. I am proud of each of them, and I am saddened to read all of the negativity here about KSS team members that have been with KSS for 3 to 13 years that have worked VERY hard to establish their reputations with their shoppers!

You will notice, of course, that NO ONE has nominated me. I guess I'm just infamous that way.

We are NOT stuffing the ballot box by creating fake shopper names as it seems that some people may be implying. - I am sure Jacob can see that all of the users have unique IP addresses and can quell those rumors. If any of my staff has done anything like that, I would like to know about it and will address it and make sure it does not happen again.

However we ARE the largest, oldest, and best scheduling company in the industry, so we are driving more traffic to this site, which I would think is a GOOD thing for everyone, especially our shoppers since there is a wealth of knowledge to be had here.

I don't think it's unreasonable to see 15 or 20 comments about my team considering we schedule just over 1 million shops per year. Our database has over 700,000 shoppers, so 20 comments is actually a teeny tiny showing. I am hoping that there will be a lot more before this contest ends! I'd like to see all of our schedulers recognized, as I'm sure every other company in this business would too! It's tough work being a scheduler!

But whether shoppers acknowledge them or not, I know that I have the best team in the business and I am incredibly proud of all of them. I am in awe every day when I go to work and get to work with such awesome, fun, hard working people. It's truly a privilege.

Please feel free to email me directly with any concerns that you have. I'm always available for our shoppers!

Lorri Kern
CEO
KSS International, Inc.

Dawn Hunt...Primo Solutions
Fabulous scheduler and a kind, considerate, and pleasant person. She is always available and answers quickly whenever I have any questions. She looks out for me and assigns me shops in a very timely manner. She adjusts due dates whenever possible in order to meet my needs. A wonderful person to work with!

Marguerite Turner from ACL. She's my all time favorite. She tries so hard to accommodate and keeps in touch. She replies within a minute and is just an all around sweetheart! Love her!

I have always liked Kern, and I do work for companies scheduled by Kern. I think some of the Kern schedulers, like many schedulers at several different companies, deserve recognition. But I'm shocked and appalled to hear that Kern schedulers are "campaigning" to win a "contest" and even more shocked to hear that the company condones it. I'm disappointed in the Kern schedulers who have added campaigning signature lines and even more disappointed in the Kern management that supports it. I view it as tacky and opportunistic.

The real "winners" here are the schedulers who were nominated without begging for nominations. Many of the schedulers who were recognized received their nominations from forum members who truly think those schedulers are wonderful and took the step to nominate them (or "like" a nomination) "just because" - not because they were asked to do so.

I'm just rolling my eyes and shaking my head.

Erik Martin's nominations weren't fished for with a signature line. I've been corresponding with him all day. No signature line, not been asked to nominate him.

I'm guessing people saw Shelly's sig, found out about the contest...signed up, and voted for Alan and Erik instead.

imsuzie2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am so confused. Yes, I heard about this site
> from KSS, but I shop KSS 98% of the time. I am
> still learning your site, and I honestly find it
> confusing. I came for the contest and ended up on
> the comment thread instead. I thought the contest
> was a fun and nice thing to do, and took it at
> face value. I don't know about others, but I
> don't have a lot of extra time for social media
> and sites such as this. Will I come back?
> Possibly. Will I need a nudge to remember to come
> back? Probably. Anyway, here is my nomination
> again:
>
> Hi all
>
> I am new here, like first time. I have had about
> 6 hours sleep in the last three day, first doing 6
> shops on Tuesday, and then completing three more
> into the early morning, so I hope I make sense. I
> am here to praise a scheduler, not complain about
> the work she is forcing on me, oops, giving me!
> And, I can not blame her for the kitty emergency
> that had me up all last nite (still up because I
> have to pick kitty up in 45 mins). But enough
> about me, right.
>
> I am here to praise Kim M from KSS (and sister
> companies). I love the company (family of MSCs)
> first and foremost, because of schedulers like
> Kim, good pay, good support and teamwork. If Kim
> is not available for me, another scheduler pitches
> in. The clients she schedules for are top of the
> line, making the work more fun. 98% of my shops
> are with them (95% with Kim).
> Kim has always been special in my mind. It did
> not take more than a few shops before I began to
> think of Kim as a friend as well as a colleague.
> I found myself adding Kim to my friends and family
> emails, she responded, and we began to share
> family notes. I have cried on her shoulder
> (figuratively, not literally) and she on mine.
>
> Many times my emails to her are not only answered
> in less than an hour, but my occasional calls to
> her as well. Did I mention that she lives in
> Southern Cal and I live in NV? She responds
> whether I send my emails at 5am, 8pm or even 2am.
> Did I also mention that neither of us sleeps much?
> She makes it so very easy. She is fast to
> compliment me, shares the joys of my 10 scores,
> and explains editors giving those nasty lower
> scores have different reasons to deduct points.
> She smiled when I suggested those editors be
> fired!
>
> Hear, hear for Kim at KSS.
>
> And, Christa from KSS is another favorite. Even
> though she is only 3% of my KSS shopping, she has
> also become a friend and I cherish her as much as
> Kim. I had planned on nominating Christa in a
> different posting as requested, but since KSS
> seems to be seen in a negative way, I am putting
> them together. Christa and Kim make working for
> KSS fun and I appreciate them very much.

Time to get some sleep.

I nominate Jazmine from Marketforce. Great scheduler!!

Oh lordy. I forgot about Theresa. Sorry hon!

Smart, professional, witty and downright a great scheduler. She often calls me when there's a shop far away from me and adds a great bonus too. Let's get 'er done.

Theresa with Market Force.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2014 12:29PM by Canuck.

Daryl Demos- Hilli-Dunlap Enterprises (HDE)

He always responds quickly to emails. I was in a bind once and needed some money to complete a shop for them. He got me paid for a previous shop within minutes.

Sarah Caddell - KSS, she is fair, respectful, hardworking and puts herself in the shopper's shoes. Sarah's candidness works to her, and the shopper's, advantage. Sarah realizes when a shopper is going out of their way to help her out. She is exceptional at remembering such instances and granting bonuses, issuing hero citiations or assembling a route for a shopper in need. Sarah strikes an ideal balance with her sense of humor in a professional world, she truly deserves to be recognized for her dedication!

...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2014 10:10AM by Chix.

Joni Stead - Summit Scheduling

Joni is professional and yet very personable, and has been a joy to work with this year. She has been a Godsend in regards to my burgeoning MS development during 2014.

All day, every day ... Joni Stead is #1!