2 shops during same meal period

Yes.....I know about this policy. They pound it into your brain over & over. 2 days ago a scheduler called me with a dinner job. I accepted. They then offered me ANOTHER dinner job on the same day. I questioned them numerous times about it and they insisted that this was okay since, although both were called dinner shops, the time frames were different. I had my doubts but accepted the 2nd one. Surprise, surprise....no, not really surprised. 2nd shop invalid. I have emailed and called twice about this and have received no response yet. Has anyone ever been burned by a scheduler like this? If so....what was the outcome?

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I'm guessing this is Marketforce, as they're the only MSC I can think of that has this policy. Be careful, because I've clarified this with their helpdesk before and you'll hear various feedback.

This is the conclusion I've gotten from the different helpdesk associates of this MSC:

Assuming you have two shops assigned on the same day:
1. And BOTH are listed as "DINNER," doing both is unacceptable. At least one or both may end up rejected if you perform both.
2. And one is listed as "DINNER," and the other just has a general time frame (ex. 11:00 AM - 8:00 PM), one must space shops between at least four hours.
3. If both just have time-frame with no designations of "BREAKFAST," "LUNCH" or "DINNER," then the same 'at least four hours in between' rule applies.

If anyone's wondering, one of the helpdesk associates specifically stated the general four hour rule to me via email. Of course, I documented it, in case something like this happens.

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2014 10:03PM by Tarantado.

I've always done two particular shops on the same day, in the same town with about an hour in between them, and every single one had been accepted and approved. There was no mention of breakfast, lunch or dinner. Just a time frame.

This four hour business doesn't apply in all cases I guess. I wouldn't be able to do them both the same day if that was the case of course.

If the scheduler called and approved it, this is supposed to be an exception.

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Plan the work. Work the plan.

Tarantado was smart when calling to verify. Sad the scheduler was not correctly informed of the MSC's policy. Most of us take the scheduler's word as the Holy Grail.

Back when I was still working for them I would do their chicken shop at 5 p.m. and their burger shop at 9:30 p.m. with no problem. But, I believe the burger shop was considered "late night.". Someone at MF also told me about the four-hour rule.

You should have been paid if it was an exception per the scheduler. I prefer self-assign then I have no one to blame except myself. I wish all of the MSC's would have the self-assign option.

Based on the response I received it appears they are going to pay & reimburse me even though they can't use my report. They said if a scheduler asks you to do something you know is wrong keep telling them no. Luckily this lesson isn't going to cost me.

I've never heard of the 4 hour rule before but I'll remember it.

Thanks for sharing this with us.

I've done two lunch and two dinner shops on the same day (and spent the afternoon in the bathroom, not knowing which to blame) but only one shop was for Market Force.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

Does anyone know if this is just for the fast food, or does it apply to fast casual as well? I was hoping to do two different shops in a mall food court, one dinner for me and one for my teen on the same day. Neither shop was listed as fast food and I saw the message that two fast food could not be done on the same meal period, but figured that it was fast casual, not fast food so I was okay. Thought I'd clarify before I get on MFs bad side.

tlin – To stay on the safe side, I'd avoid this and look for a different MSC to find another food shop at (or near) the mall. Again, this is assuming you're talking about Market Force. I haven't had this issue with other MSC's.

I actually posed this same question to them earlier this year....

My question to Market Force Help Desk:

"I am inquiring to see how the rule of:

'To prevent errors in mixing up reports that may be caused by doing
multiple shops on the same day, you may only shop a maximum of 4 shops
(regardless of project) per day. Two (2) fast food shops may NOT be done
during the same meal period.'

I want to find out how this works for assignments that are listed as 'Fast
Casual' and / or food assignments that do not have a designated meal
period.

In other words, I want to reschedule this FAST CASUAL CLIENT A assignment to
DATE A, but do this assignment and the FAST CASUAL CLIENT B assignment (ID
xxxxxxxxx) that I also have scheduled on DATE A, back to back. Would
this be acceptable and allowed by Marketforce?"

Market Force Help Desk reply to me:

"Hi, Tarantado:

First, we are not currently enforcing a general shops/day limit. But we do have a restriction on having food shops (Fast Food and other types) separated by meal period. If there isn’t an exact match between meal periods, please keep any food shop separated from the previous or next food shop by at least 4 hours. If you have any other questions, please let us know.

Thank you!"

Shopping the Greater Denver Area, Colorado Springs and in-between in Colorado. 33 year old male and willing to travel!

Unless it is approved, you generally won't be allowed to do two in one period. MSCs who have this rule won't do this unless they are close to a deadline. If it worries you, you can always ask to get it in writing.

Silver Certified ~ Shopping all of Toronto and beyond

Thanks, that is what I figured. Guess I'll do them different days.

Thats kind of silly. Like we're kids that are going to go around eating everywhere? I'd take a bite to test and throw the rest away, no matter how many I did.

Well now I'm scared cuz I've done some "corporate" high bonused jobs and they said it would be no problem because they were in different towns.

I always wondered how that works with the arches and the strict time frames and the other one that has a time range of 11-8 pm. So if I did the strict one at 11:30 I could do the other one at 3:35 and still be ok.

It is a pain to try and find work / hang around until the 5:15 start time for the next meal time if working all in one town.

@ Boutique. I did one of those and my scheduler said that a) it was two different businesses b) I could do one as a lunch and the other at 2 as mid-day. That was last month and I got paid no problem. What is worrying me is the two I did this month that are the same company. I traveled 50 miles for one and hit the other on the way back which probably wasn't an hour later.

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