I've seen a couple of references to a "Hero Citation", which seems to be something a scheduler can give you instead of a bonus.
Do these things actually exist, and do they have any value? I've be shopping for about four years and never heard of them. I'm not sure that they' be worth anything, but I could be wrong. Enlighten me!

There are many existing threads about this topic which are worth more than a "Hero Citation." Try and find them and you will be enlightened.

This clip will explain it all:

[www.wingclips.com]

Read this thread:
[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

mitchk I don't know where you found this but is great.

I would say it's "not worth the paper it is written on," except it isn't even paper. If it was paper it could be kindling for the grill, lining for a bird cage, or used in the outhouse if one was caught short.

I agree with the opinion of Hero Citations offered up front to get an undesirable job done instead of offering a bonus.

However, there is a flip side to them. Last month I took a last minute job for Shoppers View at a good bonus for my trouble. The bonus was thanks enough for me. However, after my shop was submitted, the scheduler gave me a nice Hero Citation thanking me for taking a same day shop and performing it on time and doing it so well.
It's nice to be acknowledged for a job well done. And it's nice to be appreciated when you do someone a favor.

There are some here that say, "I got paid, I don't need the gold star." But I see this as two distinct things. Offering (or asking for) a bonus is about business. Sharing appreciation (whether we praise schedulers or vice versa) is about relationships. The two are linked but still separate.

I have done a particular shop with and without hero citations. This shop is not undesirable, but it has a rotation schedule. Opportunuties to do this shop when it is highly bonused are few and far between. Maybe the hero citations help shoppers to remember this little shop and make an effort to do the task occasionally. ?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/19/2015 03:22PM by Shop-et-al.

As a scheduler, if I see a hero citation? That shopper is getting the shop over anyone else. I know they're a clutch shopper and they helped another scheduler out. And if a shopper has a flake and a hero? I'm going to look past the flake and assign them.

A hero citation should be renamed a ZERO citation. All it is is the scheduler (and maybe one or two of his or her colleagues) standing up at their computers applauding and saying Bravo, young lad/lass, Bravo! Then everyone moves on with their days.For one of the MSC's I USED to work with, I counted nine Hero Citations that I had accumulated. So what did I do? I emailed the MSC saying that I would like to redeem those nine citations to do a fine dining job that was not posted on the website. They declined. So I then said that I would like to redeem those nine Hero Citations for a $30 EXTRA bonus on a job they could not get completed on three months. I got another email back saying that's not how they work. So then I said .. okay, how about I redeem those nine Hero Citations for a chance to date one of their single female friends who is beautiful, down to earth, and has a good sense of humor. I got an email back saying that someone knows a beautiful woman who is down to earth and has a good sense of humor, but she isn't single. Would I accept the date anyway? I wrote an email back saying that's not how I work. So, for those of you who knows any single women who are down to earth and have a great sense of humor who would go for a guy with nine Hero Citations, please let me know.

I'd take a bonus over a hero citation almost any day, and hero citations are often worthless. There are exceptions, however. A few schedulers and companies do pay attention to hero citations and give shoppers preferential treatment accordingly.

The consensus is that a bonus is worth more than a hero citation. In my opinion, I believe a hero citation is worth more. When you get enough hero citations, schedulers will call you more frequently knowing you can get a job done and they will substantially increase the bonus.

@anerrorhasoccurred wrote:

The consensus is that a bonus is worth more than a hero citation. In my opinion, I believe a hero citation is worth more. When you get enough hero citations, schedulers will call you more frequently knowing you can get a job done and they will substantially increase the bonus.

certainly entitled to your opinion but....NOPE it's another way to try to get around and away with not offering the kind(s) of fees that are justified. Hero Citation = total, complete, worthless J O K E. But, with that being said, I do sincerely hope you enjoy those Citations as I'm sure they gave the schedulers who bestow these honors to you a nice, warm and fuzzy thought and they will reward you with more low-paying assignments and a slew of Hero Citations.

I recently completed a shop with Intellishop for hero citations. I got a 10/10 yay! Do we see the hero citations on our account? Or is it something only the scheduler can see? I don't notice a difference on my account.

Usually it is in there. Maybe you have to unhide it as I did not know until I was told. So I clicked on it and it was there. Other times they were right there but did not make my day.

mitchk,
Regarding the clip [www.wingclips.com],
I happen to have that movie the clip is from, "Searching For Bobby Fisher", on VHS tape!! I haven't watched it in years, but that clip about the meaningless certificate was spot-on!!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2015 04:28PM by guysmom.

While on the phone with my favorite scheduler at Inteilli-shop this AM (yes, had to cancel 3 shops and reschedule 2 others! Woe is me!), I brought up this thing about hero citations. I asked her why mine don't show, are they worth anything, and what do they mean. Here's the scoop: shoppers (me!) have to notify the scheduler after the citation shop is completed and finalized, so the scheduler can add the citations to the shopper's profile. The scheduler is not notified by the company that the shop is finalized, it's up to the shopper. So I said, well, I think I've done about 40 shops for you (personally) where the e-mail offer cited hero citations. Do I have any of those on my account? She checked. Nope. That's why I can't see them, they've never been granted. OK, is it worth you going back through the records and adding them? (Realizing that schedulers are just as frantic and frazzled this time of year as am I.) Yes, says she; hero citations can cancel a flake. 10 hero citations is the equivalent of 10 reports with scores of 10. Well, I think my average is already like maybe 9. So I'm not worried about that. ( I can't control idiot editors who send me blank e-mails, then dock me 2 points because they sent me a blank e-mail -- and 2 MORE points because I wrote back and said "why the blank e-mail?", which necessitated yet another e-mail from the editor.)

And then she explained "plum assignments". If there's a slew of applicants for, say, a casino shop, preference is definitely given to hero citation shoppers, all other things being equal.

I then asked her if it was okay to pass this info on to other shoppers, and she said sure, go ahead. So I'm posting it here. And I told her to go ahead and find my 40 odd citations, and add them to my log!



See ya at one of those casinos!

Interesting. Nowhere in any of the emails I have seen offering Hero Citations has there been any indication that you had to notify the scheduler. I wonder if this true for all MSCs? What a joke! At least when getting a pretty worthless Gold Star from a teacher, the teacher did not make you ask for it!

@myst4au wrote:

Interesting. Nowhere in any of the emails I have seen offering Hero Citations has there been any indication that you had to notify the scheduler. I wonder if this true for all MSCs? What a joke! At least when getting a pretty worthless Gold Star from a teacher, the teacher did not make you ask for it!

absolutely right. hero citation = completely, totally worthless. raise the fees !!!

@myst4au wrote:

I wonder if this true for all MSCs?

I think maybe not... ? I was once offered a hero citation for a shop I was going to do anyway with Shoppers' View and it happened automatically for me.

I have one from BARE that sits right next to my flake citation. Shoot. I should have bought Jason Bare a drink the other day and had him hack my account to remove it. I am just not a thinker some days.

I think that they both mean nothing in the long run. I have done close to 1200 shops for BARE.

Intelli-shop throws them out like candy. LOL OMG don't get me started. I really think that they are worthless.

ETA: I got one from HS Brands too. I might have a couple. I told them not to bother that the $100 bonus was plenty. Whatever. ??? It's like a gold star on my forehead.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/24/2015 08:51PM by SoCalMama.

@sethd85: That is priceless! Thank you for making me laugh out loud!!

(heart)

Here's a good one for a chuckle and an eye roll.

Early yesterday, I get an email from Intellishop: 20 hero citations!! Please help!!

This is a job I would normally never take: no fee, $25 reimbursement in in a store full of expensive things, location way out in the boondocks. But, the thing my mother wants for Christmas is at that store. So I applied.

Nearly 24 hours later my application is still pending, crickets chirping, no word one way or the other.

Heh.

Haha I always wondered about this. The funny thing is I had taken for granted that a hero citation had something to do with a comics store shop. Too funny.

We surveyed a 100 mystery shoppers and asked them to name something with no real value. We have the top 1 answer on the board. Okay Richard Dawson I'll say hero citation. Ding ding ding 100 people said Hero Citation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/27/2015 07:47AM by BuffaloNY101.

@BuffaloNY101 wrote:

We surveyed a 100 mystery shoppers and asked them to name something with no real value. We have the top 1 answer on the board. Ok Charles Dawson I'll say hero citation. Ding ding ding 100 people said Hero Citation.

ehhhh...it was Richard Dawson or did you mean Charles Darwin? Just sayin'.

@anerrorhasoccurred wrote:

The consensus is that a bonus is worth more than a hero citation. In my opinion, I believe a hero citation is worth more. When you get enough hero citations, schedulers will call you more frequently knowing you can get a job done and they will substantially increase the bonus.

I appreciate your opinion of hero citations. Wait until you have a spelling mistake or you get questioned on something you did that you weren't supposed to do, or didn't do that you were supposed to do, and watch those hero citations vanish like cotton candy.

Are shoppers that stupid about Hero Citations? All it means is that the scheduler gets a bigger commission. You get screwed. Under no circumstances should you ever take a Hero Citation. Make them give you a BONUS or move on. Schedulers are just pawns in the game. They just come and go, they just come and go. Most of them right now are just order takers. Remember==== BONUS,BONUS, BONUS.

I've never accepted a Hero Citation shop. However, relationships count in business and I can see schedulers giving preference to those shoppers who've come through in the crunch for them. I wouldn't go outta my way to earn one though.

seth's post = au.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/28/2015 01:36PM by retrodaddy.

My hero citations just appeared on my records the next time I logged in their websites. I have never accepted a job invite because of a hero citation.

I did a particularly hard P/R shop where the upscale client changed the scenario after the shop was completed. When the scheduler very nicely asked me to redo it, I just said that was fine. So, I did it, timed a new shift so I would interact with a new SA and spent another substantial cash outlay, only to return both purchases at a specific time. Four visits in total. The scheduler was so pleased and told me I was a real stress reliever. She promised a bonus and favourable citation, which I realized later on was a hero citation. I never heard from her again or seen any of the promised goodies until she emailed me again after a long time. She told me she was no longer a scheduler but they had an overdue shop still available outside of Toronto which she knew I did before. They thought I would be willing to do it. She read all the supposed 'beautiful' things the MSC said about me. Sure, it was one of my fav MSCs and I said, yes.

I have never used this word before, written or spoken. I was a 'sucker' again and the radio was playing, "Some of them want to use you. Some of them ...Some of them want to abuse you." By Eurythmics' Sweet Dreams.

That's what hero citation means to me. I vowed never to accept anything where the specific promise of a monetary amount is not confirmed in an email before hand.