Got a call that went something like this:

Me: Hello

MF: Hi, this is xxxx from MarketForce, I was calling to see if you could do a shop.

<pause>

Me: Which one??

MF: It's a [soupandsandwich] on 123 Suchandsuch Dr.

<pause>

Me: Um...WHEN?

MF: It's a dinner shop, either on suchandsuch date, or suchandsuch date or suchandsuch date.

<I'm thinking that I saw this one, and even though it's pretty close by I've come to the conclusion that shopping this particular restaurant isn't worth the very, very low pay>

Me: No, sorry, I can't do that shop.

MF: Well what CAN you do?

Me: Well I can do a lot of things, but I can't do this one.

MF: Well is it the days, the times?

<It's because the pay is dirt cheap>

Me: Well I've done a lot of shops over the last month but will have more limited availability over the next couple of weeks

<all true>

MF: <insert 10 seconds worth of cricket sounds here>

Me: Sorry I'm unable to help but thanks for calling.

MF <more crickets>

Me: Click

I'm sure I just added 50 points to whatever kill algorithm MF uses to cease MSC/IC relationships but that's OK. What isn't OK is having schedulers on staff with no people/salesmanship skills. This person was a complete dud. "Well, what CAN you do?" What kind of question is that? Hopefully my slightly sarcastic answer caused a bout of inflection in the scheduler, forcing them to think about their odd questions, lack of rapport building and "awkward silence as sales tactic" technique.

I've been lucky in my short time in this biz to work with decent and above schedulers, no duds until now. Guess it had to happen.

Why not tell them you won't accept due to the pay?

Yup. I have no problem whatsoever telling them that I saw the shop and did not take it because the pay seemed waaaay too low. This gives them an opportunity to negotiate a better price with you and if it gets in your record that you are willing to do the job at $X fee, that is what they will offer it to you for in the future when they call. Of course if it is the fee + the distance that is the issue I would make clear that I would need $Y because of the distance as well, but that $X would work for the one nearby. You don't want them thinking that just because you required $Y for an ABC shop 20 miles away you would require $Y for the one around the corner.

I guess I wasn't prepared for the call, and on top of that the tone of the scheduler was really throwing me off. And/or I'm sandwiched out. :-)

When they asked what can you do, I thought you were gonna say that you can juggle 3 pineapples. LOL

THe schedulers who call me usually say, "Since you are such a good shopper with us, I'd like to offer you ___ for helping me out."

I've actually had a few decent phone exchanges with MF schedulers over the past week. Picked up a slew of red/yellow fast food shops that I basically named my own price on. Plus, when one of them was looking at addresses, she mentioned a hardware store that is two buildings down from one of the restaurants, and without question offered me $29 to do it.

I think if the scheduler posed to me a shop I had not seen I might have gone into bargaining mode. This one had several dates going all the way through the end of the month.

Also, while on the road today got a call from a very nice scheduler from Informa. The first thing she asked was how I was doing today.....I was asked to do a bank shop but I knew some folks in that branch so I let her know. She thanked me and mentioned she would give me a call if she had some more in the area. Pleasantries abound, that's a scheduler I would be happy to help out.

There are some MF schedulers I like working with. Has anyone else had calls from three or four different schedulers about the same shops, all within a span of a day or two? Shoot, I was on the phone with one MF scheduler while *another* MF scheduler's call rang through to voicemail in the background. Scheduler 1 gave me a nice bonus on a shop that's normally reimbursement only. I don't mind those calls.

I was kind of wondering that myself this week after seeing shops from one MSC all of a sudden pop up on another. Does scheduling, or shops that are tough to schedule, get subbed out like that?

There are several scheduling companies that might be contracted if shops are not being done, but usually when a shop is on another companies website and they are not owned by the same corporation the client has changed providers.