So last night I was doing my theater checks and there was a late screening so I went later in the day. I gave my visitors pass back to the manager about 10pm and she says, "Wow, you stay late huh?" I went through the whole, sometimes I have to speech and she says, "the other guy from your company just gets the trailers from us." WWWHHHHHAAAATTTTT!

I email the scheduler....

Hi (Edited),
I am just sending you this little note, more for my own peace of mind than anything else.

I just want it to be made clear that I am NOT the checker who asks for the trailers off the computer from the managers at the theater.

I went later to do my checks today as there were late showings of the movies I was assigned as per the internet site.

When I went to turn in my visitors pass just now the manager said (and I quote) 'Wow! You stay late huh?" I told her that because the movies were shown on the screens as late showings I was required to stay and check the trailers. She then told me "Oh, really?? The other guy just asks for the trailers for those shows, he never stays."

I just said that I didn't know what his job requirements were and she said that he signed in for the same company as me (in the vendor log.)

I take this job seriously because this is my main source of income. I just want you to know that I am not that checker, just so there is never any confusion should a quality issue come up.

Thanks for your time and have a good weekend.

Kathee

So she calls the other worker, we both knew who it was because I see the other person all the time. This other person totally made up all kinds of nasty stuff that I supposedly said. Dude... are you kidding me.

He also tries to undermind me by telling her that I also work for another company. Ummmmm, ya, I work for several other companies actually, which, by the way she already knew when SHE called ME to start the checks. Ya, that's what I said, SHE found ME... you frikken D-Bag!!!

I have a good relationship with my scheduler so we chatted and I told her.... he has another job at night and can not do late showtimes.... ever.... I am telling you this, not because I can't stand the other guy or I want more work (it's trailer checking, I love it, don't get me wrong, I don't want to give it up by any means, but seriously... it's a trailer check) I am telling you this because if there is a quality issue I want you to know that I am not that checker.

People like him is the reason why shat comes up about shoppers not doing their jobs. If you can't do the job the way it's supposed to be done then do me and all the other professionals that actually build a QUALITY, RELIABLE business out of this a favor.... work an extra shift at that fancy hotel of yours....

Jeezzz, I hate people sometimes!!!!

The kicker.... I still feel bad even though I'm right.

I hate people too. Don't feel bad.

You have a good relationship with the scheduler and you felt called upon to tell her you weren't some other person? You're not trying to get him fired? Good, because that would be so unprofessional.

Good God, I have never done a job for the MS side of MF that involves theaters.
I have done theatre shops that were enjoyable, but have not heard any positive things about this side of the company.

Could an experienced shopper explain what each assignment means and what ones are worth doing, as all I have heard about is 12 hours of sitting around and setting up displays that turned into below min. wage events!

MDavisnowell Wrote:
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> You have a good relationship with the scheduler
> and you felt called upon to tell her you weren't
> some other person? You're not trying to get him
> fired? Good, because that would be so
> unprofessional.

Nope, I have no desire to get this person fired. I like him actually and we do help eachother out during big multi feature releases where the movies start only minutes apart. I did not even mention his name. This company has a habit of calling EVERY WEEK for verification (it is kinda aggrevating) they even have a paragraph on the front of the login page sighting how very improtant it is to the client that all reports are accurate, etc. and not to get frustrated about the verification calls. It goes on to say how accuracy in reporting is of the utmost improtance.

All that aside I have had reports where the incorrect trailers were played at the theater. I have no way of knowing what the requirements are and with talking to the scheduler yesterday I now understand that sometimes the wrong prints get sent out or the wrong prints are sent to the theater, or the theater itself played the wrong trailer in front of the movie.

I don't want a quality issue coming up because he got the trailer names from the computer through the manager, then having the client come back and question the report. I just simply stated that I was not that checker and never would be. The guidelines and the authorization letter clearly state that is a no no.

This company also requires specific demographics. Seat count, percentage of the theater that is full at that particular showtime, male to female ratio, 5 different age ranges and a pretty exact audience reaction and ads played infront of the trailers. You can't get that off the computer.

The fact that the manager told me that he does it , well, if the client has a problem, the corprate office of the theater calls the particular theater and asks what happened to the trailers infront of the 9:40 show, they were reported wrong and it some how gets back that the manager gave the checker the list at the beginning of the day. During a quality check at the theater the manager realized the mistake and the correct trailers were played at the beginning of the showtime then there is a problem.

The client finds that the checker is not doing the job correctly, the client calls the MSC and either the checkers for that location get pulled and/or the client goes to another company.... there goes MY job because HE can't do HIS job!

And then, the fact that she questions him about it and he makes up all this crap about what I supposedly said. I mean, he told the scheduler I was talking all kinds of shat about HER... are you kidding?

And quiettime was right.... I don't feel bad anymore.

The kicker is, I have his number and he has mine. I told him months ago when I met him that I would help if he couldn't make it to a showtime... for the love of Pete, I am there most of the time anyway. I WAS there the other night. I could have easily shot him a text and he could have finished the report correctly.

Nope, I don't feel bad at all now....

I was told by employees when I do the gas station shops that the other shopper never checks the bathrooms so why do I do it?

Of course, the problem with hearing things from others (especially those you encounter while performing an IC assignment) is that you don't have first-hand knowledge. You don't know how true something is .........or even if it is true at all. I might (and might not) tattle to a scheduler based on my own eye-witness information, but I would never pass on second-hand information.

To me, that is like passing on gossip I heard at the back fence from a down-the-street neighbor. My neighbor tells me she has seen evidence that our neighbor Susie's husband is playing around with her next-door neighbor. Should I rush to tell Susie? After all, Susie might hear the gossip and think it's me her husband is playing with. Maybe I should protect myself by being the first to tell? LOL. I prefer to take the high road.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/16/2014 04:21PM by AustinMom.

jpgilham, when you read your post and siggy line, it looks like you answered your own question.

I knew he had another job at night, he told me months ago. This is how we got to talk about switching numbers and him using me as a "helper" of sorts. I'm there getting the information anyway for another company so I told him I would be happy to pass it along to him so he could get his report done. The problem here is that the manager asked me why I stayed so late when they could just give me the trailer list they have. If all that needed to be done was call the theater and speak to a manager as to what screen is playing what movie and which trailers are in front of it then the client could just do it themselves without hiring a company to send someone out to do it.

My issue is... just like with any other job. I do not want the MSC to think that I am not following the guidelines. I want it to be clear that I know my job and do it the way that I agreed to. If the issue ever comes up.... they will know who to speak to.

Just like with video verification, if you don't do your job then don't ask to do the job.

I have thought further on it and, although I felt bad to begin with, I don't anymore. It's like with the restaurant shops where if they don't card you they are fired on the spot. Do your job and you will have nothing to be concerned with. I would not even been concerned at all if it hadn't been the manager who asked me. If he's doing this all the time then there is bound to be a problem sooner or later and now I have covered my azz.


AustinMom Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Of course, the problem with hearing things from
> others (especially those you encounter while
> performing an IC assignment) is that you don't
> have first-hand knowledge. You don't know how
> true something is .........or even if it is true
> at all. I might (and might not) tattle to a
> scheduler based on my own eye-witness information,
> but I would never pass on second-hand
> information.
>
> To me, that is like passing on gossip I heard at
> the back fence from a down-the-street neighbor.
> My neighbor tells me she has seen evidence that
> our neighbor Susie's husband is playing around
> with her next-door neighbor. Should I rush to
> tell Susie? After all, Susie might hear the
> gossip and think it's me her husband is playing
> with. Maybe I should protect myself by being the
> first to tell? LOL. I prefer to take the high
> road.

Kathee
You did what you felt was right, nothing wrong with that! The cheating by shoppers is probably more ubiquitous then anyone thinks.

I recently posted on another thread about a several day audit, 6 hours a day for 5+ days at $20/hour doing a survey intercept outside of a grocery store. Someone else was assigned the shop. I have a friend who owns a store in the same plaza, he has video surveillance. I was curious as to who my "competition" was. This person never appeared at the location but somehow those surveys were submitted. Since Trendsource is into seniority gets assigned first, I figure they deserve to get the fake surveys. The shopper will sooner or later get caught, you know the saying "Give 'em enough rope..."

When I was new on the forum years ago I posted that my bonus daughter was mystery shopping and would do the Lowes shops. She would go to the store but she would never do the required assignment. She simply got someone's name and if they smiled at her she said they did all the things right and if they didn't she said they didn't. I was horrified and shamed by her actions. I'm glad she no longer mystery shops.

I was told at a gas station shop that the other auditor only spent 20 minutes and didn't take many pictures. Well, guess what? I'm doing those now and I take lots of pictures. That place is a mess!

I can't stand these dishonest shoppers.

I'm not sure what I would have done - but at least admit to letting the company know that one of their ICs were doing it wrong. Not sure that I believe that "letting them know it was not you" ....seems like it was a sly way of letting them know what he was doing wrong couched by the excuse that "it was not me".

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/17/2014 01:05AM by Chix.

Nothing sly about it. I have no interest in beating around the bush when it comes to my work. It wasn't me, it was someone else. There are lots of checkers that go in and out of the theater. There are 3 different companies who do the checks. The fact that the manager said it was "from your company" was specific enough for me to let the scheduler know that it wasn't me.

The fact that he started talking shat about me as soon as she questioned him and got defensive about it told her that it was him and not another checker.

Had I went right in and told her his name and his other job in the original email, that may be spiteful. I have no interest in doing that, I am making sure that they know, that I know how they want the job done and I am doing it that way. I don't want to be called out when shat hits the fan.

jpgilham Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> When I was new on the forum years ago I posted
> that my bonus daughter was mystery shopping and
> would do the Lowes shops.

You see Jpgilham, that is what happens when you accept a daughter as a bonus. You should have held out for the cash instead. lol

Interesting. Did you also inform the scheduler that you had offered to check trailers for this other IC if they were unable to stick around and complete the assignment per the instructions?

No offense to anyone on this thread but while I don't like dishonesty, they don't pay me extra to monitor anyone else's work. I do what I'm supposed to do, write the report about what I did and do not worry about what anyone else is doing. Now if they were willing to pay me to mystery shop the mystery shopper then we would have a deal! :-)

rovergirl529 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Interesting. Did you also inform the scheduler
> that you had offered to check trailers for this
> other IC if they were unable to stick around and
> complete the assignment per the instructions?

Yes, that is where the "helper" comes in. Helpers are allowed, be it a friend or another shopper and my scheduler is well aware of it. (This is also stated as acceptable in both the guidelines and the authorization letter) She is also aware that I work for other companies at the same theater.

You are not alone in that, trust me.

Kathee70, from your past posts, I view you as be smart, hard working, honest and trusting (and lotsa fun). I believe this might have been the reason that when the manager said, "Oh, really?? The other guy just asks for the trailers for those shows, he never stays" your alarms went off and you feared he might be jeopardizing your job security.

In this particular case, I do not criticize you for reporting second-hand information. It makes sense and the scheduler validated your concerns.

(heart)

PS
Please, tell Bon Jovi stilllearning says "Hi!"!

I remember that well, the false reports that if they smiled, they did it all, and I'm glad to hear that she is no longer shopping.

me too 57carol.

pammie8223 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> No offense to anyone on this thread but while I
> don't like dishonesty, they don't pay me extra to
> monitor anyone else's work. I do what I'm supposed
> to do, write the report about what I did and do
> not worry about what anyone else is doing. Now if
> they were willing to pay me to mystery shop the
> mystery shopper then we would have a deal! :-)


They do MS the MS'er. Not very often but it does happen.

JP - many of us remember that thread well. While we all knew she wouldn't last long MS'g, we all felt badly for you stuck in the middle! Glad it all worked out. As for the movie theater trailers? I would have felt the need to say something, too.

It comes done to the nitty gritty. You did your job right. The 'shopper' that has inside information will eventually get outed.

The manager who gave the info will get fired.

We are not the only people that report. It always amazes me that no one remembers that cameras are every where.