A certain scheduler who recently introduced herself in that area is sending PMs to forums member promoting herself. I find this highly unprofessional and have so far gotten TWO such PMs from her. In addition she uses an email that is for a platform, not associated with one MSC and does not tell us who she recruits for. Jacob, please make clear your policy about using the forum and its PM function in this manner.

Did you email her back and explain?

My apologies!! I have been informed of my mistake and taken action in fixing the problem.

I have not seen her announce which MSCs she schedules for and she appears to have removed the sig line that identified her as a scheduler and provided her email addy. To me, commercial use of the PM function is beyond the pale!!!

JAS, I sure PMed her back and cc'ed Jacob.

Has anyone else gotten PMs from her self-promoting her scheduling but not mentioning and MSCs that she works for or any particular jobs that she is recruiting for? If she is looking for referral bonuses and not disclosing that she may get them, I am doubly concerned. She has not said whether or not she is, but sending her email address in a PM is, to me, asking to get an email back. Why she wants forum members' email addresses is of concern to me.

As many here know, I recruit and provide shopper orientation, as an IC, for some small MSCs, and I always state that I may get a modest bonus IF the recruit performs up to their standards over time. But I do not, and would not, troll for the chance to get referral bonuses, as some posters have done in the past. And I never invite a potential recruit to use my email address to continue a conversation (begun and moved forward in PMs) until that member has been told a LOT about the MSC and about the jobs they would be doing. To me, getting a fourm member's email address is asking for a LOT of confidence to be placed in my character and history and I would not invite them to email me (thus providing that info to me) until I had satisfied their concerns about my professional credentials.

Edited to add: from the get-go I have sought prior consent from Jacob to recruit on the forum. I would not do so otherwise, since I am not an MSC affiliate with scheduling powers or duties.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2017 07:39PM by walesmaven.

Christy1879 works for Texas Shoppers Network and Service with Style.

Thank you. Christy, why not put that in a sig line? Then only shoppers who know that your clients have shops in their areas will know be contacting you about shops. And, of course, you can post your shops in the Forum's Job Board.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/30/2017 08:35PM by walesmaven.

I was instructed not to include both in my signature. And I thought when I received an email with interest from a shopper, I could explain that to them. Didn't realize that their were specific ways of doing things and being told different things from different people has been a little bit confusing. Plus I wish you would have been a little more gentle in explaining my mistakes. Really hurt my feelings, especially being new and all. But, I understand you have been doing this for years running into the same rookie mistakes by newcomers and have grown tired of correcting us.

Well, I expect schedulers, who are the public faces of the MSCs for whom they schedule, to be responsible for finding out what is considered professional and what is not. Why not use a sig line that says something like, "Independent Scheduler for shops in x,y,z states." ?? Most MSCs do not use rookie shoppers to schedule for them, so I could not consider you a rookie.

I received a few PM's and she stated she does not have work in my state.... I guess she was recruiting through the forum. I was at first surprised, then decided she didn't know better, and let it go, but I do agree with Walesmaven... I also don't know which company or companies she works for, jobs in Texas seem evident.
Since we're registered with most companies, this does seem odd.....she was giving me advice and I told her I've been shopping for many years.....naive seems to sum it up....whatever!!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2017 02:25AM by Irene_L.A..

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Did you email her back and explain?

It looks like the OP preferred to belittle the scheduler as 'highly unprofessional' 'beyond the pale' and condemned her for 'trolling'.

Christy made a mistake but does anyone believe a public thread with this level of abuse is justified?" Can't we cut Christy a bit of slack?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2017 04:59AM by Catnap.

@Christy1879 wrote:

I wish you would have been a little more gentle in explaining my mistakes. Really hurt my feelings, especially being new and all.

Christy, you sound like a lovely person. I truly hope the attack you have experienced on this forum, doesn't stop you from contributing in the future.

Most people on this forum are great, you just have to ignore the ones who aren't so charitable or understanding.

Well, I see that Catnap has decided to shadow me around the forum. But he/she neglected to recognize that I never named the scheduler. The scheduler came forward and acknowledged that she was the person in question.

Has Jacob clarified this? I can not understand the problem. I am here to find more work.

@walesmaven wrote:

A certain scheduler who recently introduced herself in that area is sending PMs to forums member promoting herself. I find this highly unprofessional and have so far gotten TWO such PMs from her. In addition she uses an email that is for a platform, not associated with one MSC and does not tell us who she recruits for. Jacob, please make clear your policy about using the forum and its PM function in this manner.

@walesmaven wrote:

Well, I see that Catnap has decided to shadow me around the forum. But he/she neglected to recognize that I never named the scheduler. The scheduler came forward and acknowledged that she was the person in question.

After the scheduler in question revealed herself, you continued attacking her. Even when she stated she was upset by your comments you failed to apologize.

To be honest you have done yourself a disservice. You claim to be some kind of scheduler yourself, but after reading what you said about a fellow professional in the industry do you think anyone would feel comfortable working with you?If they made a minor mistake, they would or should be worried about receiving the same kind of brutal character assignation.

In my main job, people I work with make mistakes every single day of the year -some minor like Christy's, some much bigger so they cost the company money. But none of the managers would abuse someone like what you have done. They understand mistakes happen but people are essentially hardworking and honest so the managers let most things slide. Or have a quiet word with the person in question in respectful manner if needed.

If anyone feels that Walesmaven is justified in her attack on the young scheduler, please step forward.

@prince wrote:

I can not understand the problem. I am here to find more work./quote]

This is actually a good point. I would also welcome such leads from schedulers. It is easy to ignore or delete anything that you don't like the look of.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2017 04:57PM by Catnap.

While I am interested in leads for more work, I am committed to following all of Jacob's guidelines. My main inquiry to walesmaven was finding out if she knew those guidelines. I will follow his guidelines without question whether I understand them or not.

@Catnap wrote:

@prince wrote:

...... I can not understand the problem. I am here to find more work./quote]

This is actually a good point. I would also welcome such leads from schedulers. It is easy to ignore or delete anything that you don't like the look of.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2017 06:33PM by prince.

@prince wrote:

Has Jacob clarified this? I can not understand the problem. I am here to find more work.

@walesmaven wrote:

A certain scheduler who recently introduced herself in that area is sending PMs to forums member promoting herself. I find this highly unprofessional and have so far gotten TWO such PMs from her. In addition she uses an email that is for a platform, not associated with one MSC and does not tell us who she recruits for. Jacob, please make clear your policy about using the forum and its PM function in this manner.

I think the problem is that most posters here are posting anonymously. For example, "roflwofl" does not give a hint to who I am or where I am located. The name "prince" also does not give any clues. Receiving an unsolicited PM from a scheduler who asks that the recipient contact her is an invasive way for a scheduler to mine the forum. I have no problem with a scheduler posting leads to the job board. I have contacted several schedulers because of their posts. But if a scheduler directly PMs me and asks me to contact her, by doing so I would be disclosing to her my real name and location.

I as well received PM's from Christy the Scheduler, not knowing who she works for, I felt (strongly) It was invasive, as everyone here knows I'm from L.A., CA. where she has no jobs. I may have been signed with whoever she works for, and although she meant no harm, it seemed she was using the forum for her gain.
Schedulers come on to answer questions when we rant about them, and try and solve the problem. I see no
help in having any Scheduler come to the forum to solicit through personal PM's, very unprofessional,
My vote is for Walesmaven, who has proven herself a valuable member with her knowledge being helpful to both new and old members. Catnap, needs a nap.
I'll sign off with "Trolling" down the avenue......



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/16/2017 08:08PM by Irene_L.A..

I see.

@roflwofl wrote:

@prince wrote:

Has Jacob clarified this? I can not understand the problem. I am here to find more work.

@walesmaven wrote:

A certain scheduler who recently introduced herself in that area is sending PMs to forums member promoting herself. I find this highly unprofessional and have so far gotten TWO such PMs from her. In addition she uses an email that is for a platform, not associated with one MSC and does not tell us who she recruits for. Jacob, please make clear your policy about using the forum and its PM function in this manner.

I think the problem is that most posters here are posting anonymously. For example, "roflwofl" does not give a hint to who I am or where I am located. The name "prince" also does not give any clues. Receiving an unsolicited PM from a scheduler who asks that the recipient contact her is an invasive way for a scheduler to mine the forum. I have no problem with a scheduler posting leads to the job board. I have contacted several schedulers because of their posts. But if a scheduler directly PMs me and asks me to contact her, by doing so I would be disclosing to her my real name and location.

Catnap.
I have always made it quite clear that I am NOT a scheduler. I am a shopper and as an IC I recruit shoppers for 2 less well known MSCs. I mentor new shoppers and chair workshops at the conferences that are put on by-shopper-for-shoppers.

Prince, Jacob's guidelines, which are his rules for the forums, include "make a positive contribution." That is something that posters who ignore it Jacob and/or the moderators, are likely to react to with sanctions and/or deleting threads, or posts. I am NOT a mod. Calling other forum members names, including "liar," is not likely to result in a positive reaction from forum members or mods. Unsolicited MULTIPLE PMs from schedulers are generally regarded as Irene has said, "intrusive."

There are good reasons why many MSCs forbid their schedulers, editors and/or employees from posting on ANY MS forums; they do not want to be publicly embarrassed by what their schedulers or editors may do or say on a forum. The turnover rate among schedulers and editors is so high that the MSCs are constantly concerned about what a new one might do that would embarrass them. How do I know this? First, because I read what those MSCs have posted here over the past many years when trying to unravel the tangles that a new scheduler or editor may have cause them to be in. Second, because I meet hundreds of shoppers and dozens of MSC reps every year at IMSC conferences.

Finally both the shopper forum members AND the authorized MSC reps who post here expect and deserve to know when a comment of any kind is from a scheduler, editor or manager of an MSC. When folks with MSC ties fail to announce them we tend to get posts that say negative things about other MSCs from folks who then disappear, for instance.

To find more MS work, the list of nearly 200 MSCs at the foot of the page is a very good place to begin. If you encounter on that appears to no longer be in business, it would be in the spirit of helpfulness of this forum if you would PM Jacob to let him know.

Christy, hugs to you. I'd rather work with you than the other one!

signed up with them all when I joined this forum.

@walesmaven wrote:

Prince, Jacob's guidelines, which are his rules for the forums, include "make a positive contribution." That is something that posters who ignore it Jacob and/or the moderators, are likely to react to with sanctions and/or deleting threads, or posts. I am NOT a mod. Calling other forum members names, including "liar," is not likely to result in a positive reaction from forum members or mods. Unsolicited MULTIPLE PMs from schedulers are generally regarded as Irene has said, "intrusive."

There are good reasons why many MSCs forbid their schedulers, editors and/or employees from posting on ANY MS forums; they do not want to be publicly embarrassed by what their schedulers or editors may do or say on a forum. The turnover rate among schedulers and editors is so high that the MSCs are constantly concerned about what a new one might do that would embarrass them. How do I know this? First, because I read what those MSCs have posted here over the past many years when trying to unravel the tangles that a new scheduler or editor may have cause them to be in. Second, because I meet hundreds of shoppers and dozens of MSC reps every year at IMSC conferences.

Finally both the shopper forum members AND the authorized MSC reps who post here expect and deserve to know when a comment of any kind is from a scheduler, editor or manager of an MSC. When folks with MSC ties fail to announce them we tend to get posts that say negative things about other MSCs from folks who then disappear, for instance.

To find more MS work, the list of nearly 200 MSCs at the foot of the page is a very good place to begin. If you encounter on that appears to no longer be in business, it would be in the spirit of helpfulness of this forum if you would PM Jacob to let him know.

@roflwofl wrote:

Receiving an unsolicited PM from a scheduler who asks that the recipient contact her is an invasive way for a scheduler to mine the forum.

I agree with what you say in your post. 'Spam' can be annoying. I get spam every day via email and text messages - I just take a couple of seconds to delete it.

In the case of this forum I have never received any PMs so I don't think spam is a major issue here.

What I don't understand is why the OP didn't forward the offending message to Jacob with a quick. 'Hi Jacob, can you deal with this unsolicited message?' Jacob then would most probably copy and paste a template with the forum rules and send it to the scheduler. The scheduler would learn her lesson.

Instead the OP decided to launch a tirade of abuse against the scheduler in a public forum. I don't think a 'newbie' scheduler deserved to demeaned for such a mistake in such a public manner. This is my main concern.

A couple of months ago, when I was in restaurant an irate customer was abusive to a young waitress for not bringing some bread rolls. I guess she didn't follow the correct protocol and bring the bread rolls before the main dish was served. But I don't believe she deserved a mouthful of abuse.

As we get older we should understand that certain things are not worth causing others upset over. Giving people stress just because you can is rarely the best way forward.

I made a nice reply to the FIRST of the PMs that I got. She followed up with another email looking for me to provide her with my contact info and signing up with her (not with any named MSCs that she might represent. That was way over the limit, since there was not way to tell whether she was a scheduler or someone looking for personal info.

I am now done with replying to your posts. If you persist in following me around the forum, I will just let Jacob deal with you.

@walesmaven wrote:

I am now done with replying to your posts. If you persist in following me around the forum, I will just let Jacob deal with you.

Please toggle me. I really have no interest in communicating with you in any context anymore.

Finish it.

I aplaud walemaven for handling this in a public way using very civil language. Although Christy posted that her feelings were hurt, I am told that others who did not comment on the forum actually complained about Christy and her PMs to the two MSCs she said she worked for. Far worse than hurt feelings would be a lost job, and Christy may have lost hers. I cannot imagine that any legitimate MSC with a good reputation would want a scheduler to represent them by sending unsolicited PMs on a public forum requesting that anonymous posters provide names and contact information to her. That could give a company a very bad name.

Some people need to grow a pair especially if they want to be a scheduler in this business. I also feel walesmaven handled it well.

A big, thankful hug for kind words from several posters.