Did anyone else get the email from "Quality Assurance Review" regarding gas station shops being overturned for being too critical and warning that we could be removed from the program if it continued? I can't tell if it was a mass email or specifically directed at me.

If it was directed to me, I'll be annoyed. Two weeks ago a report was returned to me for clarification. In it I noticed answers that had been changed to no and reinforced with photos that I had not even taken. I spoke to a manager who said that it looked like the editor had zoomed in on my photos and taken the liberty of marking the station as non-compliant when I had made the decision to not mark them down due to this being "not a white glove audit."

Which MSC was this for? For my shops with Alta 360, we were actually told we were not being critical enough!

Maritz CX.

I do a lot of gas stations for Maritz and did not receive a "white glove" email. But I tend to be on the lenient side with my inspections. They do specify somewhere in the guidelines that these are not white glove audits. I suspect the response from the editor changing your report was for the seashore brand. There seems to be a lot of new editors for this brand that feel obligated to prove their worth. I stopped doing them for a period and recently tried a few more. They went though without being bounced for ticky-tack reasons. Either I am getting better or the editors are getting more experienced and less critical.

I didn't get a white glove email, either. I don't usually report absolutely every infraction I find. For example, if only one display has a dusty shelf, I'll take a picture but I won't report that because overall the store was clean and presentable. If there's a small pothole (small means new) out near the entrance from the street and the rest of the lot is in great condition, I'll take a picture but I won't report it. If on a subsequent audit the pothole has been neglected and it's now a single pothole but it's large, bang, that's an infraction.

I don't go there to hunt them. I watch for whatever a customer might find marginal or unacceptable. Cooler mold is huge to me. I'll report a spot of it every time because the store may not be aware and they need to be aware. Anything nasty in the cooler, anything not up to standard around the coffee or food service, a neglected restroom, those are my personal biggies.

I'm particular about the pumps and amenities because I think the brand is particular about the pumps and amenities. I report whatever issues I see but if I can I'll comment, such as "This location had one pump with seriously deteriorated decals but all other pumps had acceptable decals." Or, "This location had one overflowing trash receptacle and all others met standards." The MSC can make the call whether to include or not.

I don't really know how to tell you to find a happy medium. When I started out with them I reported everything I found. So -- they called me up and re-educated me, said I didn't have to live at the station and take pics for hours, wanted me to walk through sort of casually and hit the highlights. So I let up. Then they re-educated me again. Said I was letting things go, that I wasn't paying attention, I wasn't doing a thorough audit. I kept trying to adjust my expectations. I guess I finally made it as I haven't been "re-educated" in years.

If you want to work for them, call them up and say so. Tell them you want to adhere to their guidelines, you're just not sure what they are. Talk it through.

It seems the email was just for me. I tend to be lenient, in my opinion. Based on my recent experience with the editor changing my answers and zooming in on photos, I started marking down things that were apparent in the required photos, even though I did not think they were problems. Specifically, the decals. I guess I'll stop doing that and let the editor do it if he/she wants.

what do you guys say if they have expired POP on the pump toppers but current POP elsewhere on the pump? it seems to me they're only concerned with the topper for POP.

jay225, are you referring to the station that requires a picture of every pump? If it's that one, I report only on the pump topper and the aps because that's specifically what they ask for. I do another brand where if they have one current pump topper or one current pole sign etc. they qualify for current POP. It varies from brand to brand. I do some others that want to know if the POP is clean and in good condition. If you have a Q on any particular brand I suggest calling that team and talking through it.

hi mdavis, yea i meant the station with photos at every pump. thanks for answering the question, i only reported on the toppers too.

I had that same question - toppers vs wings so I called and was fortunate to get one of the schedulers who either knew the answer or put me on hold and checked with a supervisor (I had more than one question). I had several stations that had old topper POP but the new orange wings on the side of the pumps. I was told that they are interested in the pump toppers only and my report should reflect that. I was also told that the 7 day grace period was firm. If the old POP is there on the 8th day it should be marked accordingly.

Is Jacob feeling the Valentine's spirit? I love the link next to the first post here.