@Youllneverknow wrote:

Remember this day, remember the day you read the most idiotic conversation ever on this site.

I'm pretty sure this isn't the most idiotic conversation ever on this site. That would make a good thread - a trip down Memory Lane referencing Idiotic Threads We Have Contributed To.

Well it seems like it that MSC is lying to you if they went for several days without saying anything to you. But if you're a Christian you WILL GET TARGETED. I know I am one. Yes SeeLevel is great! I love them.!

@evemarie wrote:

. But if you're a Christian you WILL GET TARGETED. I know I am one.

Wow, evemarie. I had no idea. Not being a Christian myself, I have never faced this type of religious discrimination. How have you been targeted by the MSC's?

As mystery shoppers we choose who we want to work with on shops. If we are not treated in what we consider a fair manner for whatever reason, we can choose to no longer shop for that MSC or scheduler. The power is in the accepting. Good Shopping

No religious discrimination here (though this discussion is more entertaining with the conspiracytheories-Christianspeak-TheAllKnowingGodisaHeShe-shouldweallpraytoMothernature facets).

If you claimed they are unprofessional you might have more support. By the way, did you tell us the guidelines of the assignments? It certainly seemed unreasonable, and unprofessional to expect a response with less than 24 hours notice.

The OP has not been back for a few days (7). But that is okay. Today is Sunday and she is on break

You could set an auto-reply email on days off stating when you will be back at work.
I have seen this done when I emailed a scheduler. Everybody knows everybody needs a break sometimes.

but I do agree with the masses on this thread that removing the shop was extreme.

It's her company and she calls the rules. She can even change the expectations on Sundays.

I'm not in her corner or yours, but that's the way they do it over at her place.

You might check the company contract (and give a hint...shhh what company?)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2016 06:59PM by Shopper2016.

Religious discrimination…probably not. But as others have suggested, take it further with the MSC—POLITELY.

I do disagree with your statement that most places are closed on Sunday. Depending on whether you choose to believe the statistics, close to 50% of the jobs are now in the service and retail industries, which generally mean 7 days a week. Add in police, fire, EMS, hospitals, and it’s quite likely that over 50% of the workforce is employed in something other than a “traditional” Monday through Friday job.

@GMooneyhan MBSC wrote:

Religious discrimination…probably not. But as others have suggested, take it further with the MSC—POLITELY.

I do disagree with your statement that most places are closed on Sunday. Depending on whether you choose to believe the statistics, close to 50% of the jobs are now in the service and retail industries, which generally mean 7 days a week. Add in police, fire, EMS, hospitals, and it’s quite likely that over 50% of the workforce is employed in something other than a “traditional” Monday through Friday job.

My parents tell stories about many years ago when there were "blue laws" and a lot of businesses closed on Sundays. And grocery stores were open 8AM-7PM Monday-Saturday. It was unheard-of to have a WalMart or grocery store that was open all night or Sundays. Now it's not unusual at all. TV stations used to go off the air at 1AM and come back at 6AM, now they broadcast all night. We are fast becoming a society of workers with 24/7 schedules. The world is changing.

Whatever the case, follow your conscience (Romans 14). If you think a Sabbath off is important then take it off. You might be penalized from time to time but if you are a child of God then He will take care of you.

My God is a He, not a she. According to the 10 commandments I remember the Sabbath and try to keep it holy. Try not working on a Saturday sometime and see how well that goes over. That being said, when I had a shop where they took 3 days to ask for a response and wanted me to drop everything to reply, I explained that they took 3 days to request and now I am no longer available at the drop of a hat. Since it took them 3 days, I will get back to them as soon as I can....within the same 3 day window.

*enters thread*
*promptly leaves thread*

I did a bit of research and have discovered that quite a few churches now have Wednesday evening services to help accommodate those who have to work on Sundays.

And yes, I remember the Blue Laws.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2016 11:23AM by GMooneyhan MBSC.

@GMooneyhan MBSC wrote:

And yes, I remember the Blue Laws.

I do, too, and I wish we'd go back to having them! In my opinion, so many people having to work on Sundays has a bad effect on families. Yes, there have always been businesses that have to be open on Sundays and/or open 24/7, and people in those fields have always had to work on Sundays. But now it's not just Sundays, it's holidays year 'round, too. (The department store I worked part time at was open on Thanksgiving last year!)

Families need "down time" together, and it's harder and harder to get it these days. At least it used to be that most families could spend Sundays together--going on outings, having old-fashioned family dinners, or just working or relaxing around the house together.

I may sound like a grumpy old lady, but I sincerely believe that lack of together time is a big challenge facing families today. And people having to work Sundays all the time is part of the problem. IMO. Particularly when you have one person working a typical work schedule and another (or others, if you include older kids who work) working almost every Sunday. Good supervisors will try to schedule their people so that not everybody has to work every Sunday. But not all supervisors do that.

OK, end of rant.

@BirdyC wrote:

@GMooneyhan MBSC wrote:

And yes, I remember the Blue Laws.

I do, too, and I wish we'd go back to having them! In my opinion, so many people having to work on Sundays has a bad effect on families.

Oooh, not me. I remember the blue laws, too, and no way would I want to go back to that. Although the 24/7 world is pretty daunting to me - it's really gone further than I'd like - I remember a world of 8-7 everything. I remember being a high school student trying to put aside money for college and being limited to working only on Saturdays and 4-7 M-F in the grocery store where I worked. As a college student supporting myself and paying for school, the problem was the same: I had a VERY hard time getting enough hours to support myself without cutting back on my classes.

And, I remember how hard it was to have nowhere to buy a grocery item on a Sunday! Or after 7PM the other six days! I remember horrible lines at the grocery store on Saturdays - 8-7 on Saturday was about the only time a family with two working adults could grocery shop. Grocery shopping on Saturday was an ordeal! Family errands turned Saturday into a workday, giving families no time. You needed Sunday just to recuperate. I don't need Wal-Mart or the grocery stores to be open all night, although many are, but I sure like being able to shop at 7AM or at midnight if I feel like it.

I'm not sure about the blue laws in other parts of the country, because I was in Louisiana/Texas/Arkansas, but they were pretty constrictive in my area. It was only when I spent 6 months in California in the early 70's that I realized life didn't have to be that way.

Viva the New World, even if 24/7 is a little more than I need.

Birdy -

"All" you have to do is to move to Bergen County, NJ. When I was growing up, Ocean County was the only county in NJ without Blue Laws. Now, Bergen County is the only county in NJ with Blue Laws. It is generally considered to be the last county in the US with Sunday Blue Laws: [www.newyorker.com] Sunday Blue Laws peaked in the early 1960s when general Sunday-trading bans were in place in thirty-four states.

As I travel westward in Pennsylvania towards Lancaster, increasing percentages of small businesses are closed on Sunday. I have been assigned cell phone shops (and others) at stores which are not open on Sunday and have had to go through contortions to convince schedulers (often) in California that this is even possible. They can't imagine a store that is not open on Sunday. I have had corresponding issues with schedulers who don't believe that some stores in some communities in NJ and PA (and I am sure in NY and elsewhere) are closed on Saturday and other days which seem random to the schedulers (but which are Jewish holidays).

@AustinMom wrote:

I'm not sure about the blue laws in other parts of the country, because I was in Louisiana/Texas/Arkansas, but they were pretty constrictive in my area. It was only when I spent 6 months in California in the early 70's that I realized life didn't have to be that way.

Viva the New World, even if 24/7 is a little more than I need.

Store hours in the states in which I lived weren't at all that restrictive, Blue Laws or not. As far as I remember, Blue Laws had only to do with being open on Sundays. But, yeah, it wasn't a 24/7 world. Thank goodness.

In Massachusetts, which had Blue Laws when I lived there, I used to do my grocery shopping at about 10 or 11 p.m. on Friday nights to avoid the Saturday rush. Most department stores and malls were open until at least 9 p.m., and discount department stores were usually open until 10 p.m. Convenience stores were open on Sundays, so you could get gas and a few groceries. Same with New York, where I grew up in the 60s.

I'm not sure why things were what they were in Louisiana, Texas, and Arkansas. Blue Laws aside, it sounds like those hours were ridiculous. I can't imagine having to shop for groceries before 7 p.m. That would kill me.

But we really could exist without everything being open on Sundays and holidays, and 24/7 year 'round.

I had servicecheck.com email me that If I dont respond in 20 min I will be deactivated. Needless to say I saw it an hr later and responded and was deactivated.

@.Andy2 wrote:

I had servicecheck.com email me that If I dont respond in 20 min I will be deactivated. Needless to say I saw it an hr later and responded and was deactivated.

yep thats a horrible company to work for bruv.

Since your are no doubt the exclusive owner of that email I doubt it......
had to be a better reason Even for servicecheck that is beyond the norm.

....

@.Andy2 wrote:

I had servicecheck.com email me that If I dont respond in 20 min I will be deactivated. Needless to say I saw it an hr later and responded and was deactivated.

@.Andy2 wrote:

I had servicecheck.com email me that If I dont respond in 20 min I will be deactivated. Needless to say I saw it an hr later and responded and was deactivated.

I've worked for years for Service Check and have gotten many emails requiring me to respond in several hours but not 20 minutes. They follow up with another email if you don't respond. I'm with CanadaMommy. There's got to be a lot more to this story.

Wow, I was not anticipating such lively comments! The plot has thickened, though...since the obnoxious scheduler/editor refused to explain by email why she waited 4 days to get around to reading my shop report and gave me such a short amount of time to answer, I decided to write a letter and send it in the real mail (hoping that whoever read it would take it seriously...who actually sends letters in the mail anymore?).

It was ignored. I waited a couple of weeks then sent the letter again. Ignored. In the meantime, I've continued shopping for the MSC and all of my reports have been accepted without problem. Two schedulers told me that their office is CLOSED ON SUNDAYS. Seriously. SERIOUSLY??!?! What in the world was that stupid scheduler/editor doing, then??! So frustrating...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2016 10:01PM by mystery2u.

@mystery2u wrote:

I am considering reporting her to the MSPA. If she treated me that unfairly (no info anywhere in her ICA says I must be available four days AFTER the shop, nor that I must work on Sunday, nor that I must answer within the limited time frame she gave me) she will most certainly do it to someone else.

However, this MSC has a LOT of great shops in my area, and I really don't want to get blacklisted...

Seriously? What exactly do you think would happen if you report an MSC to MSPA? MSPA is a private club made up of MSCs and their employees. It is not a shopper protection agency. Shoppers who choose to be members of MSPA are in a completely different class than the MSC members. MSPA does not investigate shopper complaints or discipline MSCs or their employees.

If you really meant your last sentence, " this MSC has a LOT of great shops in my area, and I really don't want to get blacklisted," you should move forward with caution. If I were the MSC and you reported me to anyone, I would probably deactivate you. Actually, forum members who have posted complaints here on our forum have been deactivated by some MSCs for saying far less than you already have.

OP--------->Your original post was more than a moth ago. AND you still work/shop for the company,---------"this MSC has a LOT of great shops in my area, and I really don't want to get blacklisted..." Is it about time you put this complaint to rest. There are some scheduler who work on Sundays, and some who don't. Just like there are some shoppers who work on Sundays and some whom don't. Who cares? Even YOU have not been back for that length of time. You must have been performing a lot shops for that company. Let it go. We learn from our mistakes, if not we will keep committing them

What was my mistake, then? Expecting to be treated fairly? And since then, an editor at another MSC I just started shopping for also waited til Sunday to review a shop report I submitted on Wednesday, and they gave me (gasp!) 24 hours to respond! AKA, they accepted my answer first thing Monday morning. And, despite the fact that I was asked a question about the report, I was still given a 10/10 from the kind editor. Such a great MSC :0) Too bad others aren't that nice. Oh, and I don't know what you mean by "Even YOU have not been back for that length of time." I also don't know how I can be deactivated from being a shopper when I did not list the client or the MSC. I thought we weren't allowed to do that?? Whatever.

Have a great holiday weekend everyone! I hope you all stay safe!!

Ma'am, you may need to let this one go. And if you expect the MSPA to do anything other than take your money, please don't hold your breath.

@mystery2u wrote:

I also don't know how I can be deactivated from being a shopper when I did not list the client or the MSC. I thought we weren't allowed to do that?

I think you are missing my point. You ARE allowed to name either the client OR the MSC. You simply are not allowed to name BOTH. So it would have been okay for you to name to MSC. Or to name the client. And naming the client OR the company has nothing to do with the possibility of being deactivated. You may have outed yourself to the company by your post.

Although you haven't named the MSC, if the scheduler/editor reads your posts, he would probably recognize the situation. And, although you are posting anonymously, he would quite likely know exactly who you are. When a shopper posts specifics, it really isn't that hard to match the story to a shopper in an MSC's database. You have given considerable details about what happened. There is one MSC owner who makes it public knowledge that he identifies his shoppers by their posts on this forum, and he has deactivated shoppers based on their posts.

@mystery2u wrote:

What was my mistake, then?

Your mistake was expecting to be exempted from working on Sunday due to your religious beliefs. You don't have that right as an IC.