There is definitely dissertation thesis potential in the recurring theme of us shoppers reacting as we do to a less than perfect score for our reports.

As others have posted, I knew that I had deserved a “10” and subsequently brooded for weeks last year, spending hour after hour checking and rechecking my report for any hint of typos, misspellings, grammar, insufficient detail, etc., after receiving my first and only “9” from IntelliShop. I emailed twice, asking for more specific feedback than the simple not-a-10 score, with the typical no-reply. The more I proved my case to myself, the more I steamed. It took a while to let go sufficiently to finally get to the more serene state of accepting the things I cannot change. (And all that I could change was deciding to not shop for them for six months. They didn’t go out of business, and I didn’t go bankrupt – I guess it was a draw.)

Given my own propensity, and from the recurring laments on the forum, why do we crave perfect scores? Are we seeking perfection? In ourselves, in our work, in the world?

Few among us think we're perfect, and I honestly believe we would actually accept an imperfect score if we were given valid explanation, maybe even just any explanation.

Sure there is a proportionately small segment of forum ranters who blame the MSCs for holding shoppers accountable for the shoppers’ own mistakes, but most of the rest of us cry/vent/steam/brood/Like This Post when we are denied the knowledge that would enable us to improve our work so as to rightly receive a genuine 10.

Or do our cries of foul arise from us being offended by the subjectivity of these ratings when we have pledged ourselves to objectivity? Indeed, we make this pledge willingly and with integrity, and therefore the offense to our sensibilities is magnified all the more greatly inasmuch as our pledge is made to those who demand such objectivity of us while retaining in their employ such seemingly subjective editor/raters.

Why this predominance of perfection-seekers among mystery shoppers? Does the business attract such folks as us? Is it a personality type? Is it a value system? Might it even be the overlapping sectors of a Venn diagram formed from the circles of our otherwise diverse systems of faith –an acted upon belief in the potential for "Perfection?"

For help with all this, do I need a psychiatrist, a sociologist, or a theologian?

If you find one who has the answer, please let me know if they greeted you in a sincere and welcoming manner, thanked you for your inquiry, and invited you to visit again.

It may be less about striving to be perfect and more about the subjectivity of the grading systems and lack of specific feedback. The most common lament, "How can I improve if they will not tell me what was lacking?" Followed closely by, "They deducted points for contacting me when the information they requested was there all along."

For the first my suggestion would be to let it go and move on while constantly reminding ourselves that neither we nor the editors are perfect. The second is a little trickier. The information could have been there and could have been written in a clear enough manner that the editor really was not justified for the request. OTOH, the info may have been there, but may not have been quite as clear as we would like to think.

I couldn't careless if they give me a 3 as long as they show me the money!


The only thing more important then money, is more money.

I have no idea if you deserved a 10 or not, but it's possible you did. I think some people simply don't like to give out perfect scores and a 9 might be the highest they usually go. It's also possible that the editor is unable to recognize perfection when he or she sees it and is the one who needs further training/clarification, not you. Obviously since the person didn't take the time to respond to either of your missives proves they (or their set-up) are lacking in some areas and that the score may not be indicative of what you truly deserved. I always find it ironic when I get poor service/responses from a MSC rep.

As far as "predominance of perfection-seekers among mystery shoppers" I think it's simply because in mystery shopping you actually get scored/graded for your assignments, and in other jobs you aren't. It's kind of like turning an assignment in for school, except since money and future jobs are riding on it and shoppers are adults, most want to do their best and be acknowledged for their efforts.

I have a feeling it's mostly the inherent unfairness of it that makes it annoying. I was one who ranted about a grade once (also from Intellishop) but it wasn't because they dinged me, it was because they felt compelled to ding me 20% of the grade (2 points instead of 1) for ONE minor error in an otherwise flawless shop. I felt they were demeaning the value of the rest of the report by taking that much off for one minor error (I forgot one of five new requirements on a shop I had done numerous times without those requirements).

I would venture a guess that the ones who are most touchy about the dings are probably people who have always prided themselves on achievement -- people who got straight A's in school, scored highly on standardized tests, had high GPA's in college -- that sort of thing. We don't like to be beaten in our chosen field of expertise.

By giving us an 8 or 9, Intellishop is suggesting that it is possible to do better -- but they won't tell us how. It's infuriating to have a carrot dangled to us from the other side of a fence, and they refuse to tell us where the gate is so we can get in to go after the carrot. They want us to jump through hoops to get that 10, but won't tell us where the hoops are.

I deal with my sense of indignation (with the exception of that one shop) by telling myself it's the editors who are the under-achievers and they are picking at us just to make themselves feel superior. They are the ones who can't spell. They are the ones who don't know all the comma rules I memorized under Mrs. Remender my sophomore year in high school. They are the ones who are wrong.

That's how I let go of it.

I don't worry about the grade. Since I keep PDFs of my reports, I know that the grammer and punctuation were correct. If they think not, that is their problem. There has been a great lowering of standards in the educational system. Most people have no idea about grammar. Ask someone to define a dangling participle or ask them if they have ever heard of a gerund. They have heard and use gerunds all of the time, but have no idea what it is or how to use it.

As techman01 said, "Show me the money." I don't shop out of the goodness of my heart.

I think it's job security. The editors may think that they won't be needed as much if reports are clean. It also helps justify their salary if the boss thinks this editing work requires more effort than it in fact does.

I doubt the shoppers who get the 3's and 4's and even higher are even in the business anymore and if they are. they are only allowed to take the $2 and $3 jobs the forum members take issue with. They most likely do not even answer the above questions but no doubt there are many people who mystery shop who are not looking for or even expecting a perfect 10. It is human nature just to notice those you hang with and tend to think everyone is just like you because you surround yourself with people who have the same or similar values you do. That is probably why the logged in regulars on this forum are still here...we are the ones who care about getting a 10 or a 9 or 8 (not all of us but many). I get a dose or reality every time I go to a store and give the clerk a $1 bill for a 98 cent purchase and they have no idea what the change would be unless they check the amt on their electronic register. And I wonder why they can be getting paid a lot more than mystery shopping companies usually offer for perfect grammar, perfect attention to detail, perfect timeliness, perfect professionalism etc. and all this for many times less than minimum wage.
By the way I have a master's degree from the old school type of school and will have to look up gerund and dangling participle. I was really worried about those things back in 4th or 5th grade but fortunately it did not stop me from completing college and graduate school. I think if you have a decent education you just naturally speak and write correctly without knowing why. Now you can all pick apart the errors in the above.lol I try to write in simple sentences for mystery shop jobs and therefore do not worry about parts of speech most people do not understand right after finishing the grammar grades. The majority of those reading the reports most likely do not know what a gerund is either, but they might recognize something that just does not sound quite right to them. In this business where editors are possibly "tried out" by some companies with little or no background the way shoppers are hired based on having a computer and an email account, you can expect a wide range or readers of your reports and shoppers as well that they have to deal with. I might be totally off about editors as I have never been one but I would bet the standards for editors vary from company to company.

Trying to be perfect is an exercise in futility..... spot the gerund in that sentence.....

LisaSTL Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> It may be less about striving to be perfect and
> more about the subjectivity of the grading systems
> and lack of specific feedback. The most common
> lament, "How can I improve if they will not tell
> me what was lacking?" Followed closely by, "They
> deducted points for contacting me when the
> information they requested was there all along."
>
> For the first my suggestion would be to let it go
> and move on while constantly reminding ourselves
> that neither we nor the editors are perfect. The
> second is a little trickier. The information could
> have been there and could have been written in a
> clear enough manner that the editor really was not
> justified for the request. OTOH, the info may have
> been there, but may not have been quite as clear
> as we would like to think.


Thanks for sharing - totally agree, how am I to correct something if I do not know what it is? I only have had issues with one MSC as far as scoring and feedback. I maintain on an average 9's and 10's and then I will get some feedback with no specifics so I cannot even correct what it may be for that particular company. Extremely frustrating.

I'm with techman! As long as I get paid I don't really care about my score.

Trying

itsasecret Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Trying to be perfect is an exercise in
> futility..... spot the gerund in that
> sentence.....

James Bond 007.5 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Trying
>
> itsasecret Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Trying to be perfect is an exercise in
> > futility..... spot the gerund in that
> > sentence.....


I agree with trying. I looked up gerund on wikipedia after my long rant above. Tomorrow I will once again have no idea what it is!

jonk Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I think it's job security. The editors may think
> that they won't be needed as much if reports are
> clean. It also helps justify their salary if the
> boss thinks this editing work requires more effort
> than it in fact does.


Exactly!

Please don't get mad at me for being lighthearted but I think the OP has a great future in mystery shopping. They after all managed to use 500 words when 50 would would have done the job. That's what a lot of MSC's want, 500 word narratives to explain that the bun was stale.

>>For help with all this, do I need a psychiatrist, a sociologist, or a theologian?


Neither, I think.

What you need is a better understanding of the companies involved. Some give 10s (or perfect scores on their system) and constructive feedback on how to get there for reports that aren't up to that standard. Some don't. Intellishop is one of the latter.

Here is some of my experience to help illustrate the point. I was performing a number of shops for the same client but with two different MSPs. They were the same shops, the same instructions, the same report on Sassie, but for two different MSPs. One MSP had one state and the other had the second state I shop in my area. At first I was scoring 9s and 10s for both. When reading the feedback, one company (Bare) gave me meaningful feedback that allowed me to improve my reports to consistently score 10s for them. The second MSP gave meaningless feedback that left this shopper confused as to what made one report a 9 and another a 10. Needless to say, my grades did not improve for this second MSP. As time went on, that other company lost the client to Bare and I now have a string of 10s for that client in both states.

My advice: It takes two to tango. If the MSP doesn't care to give you constructive feedback, don't kill yourself over a grade of 9.

ces1948 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Please don't get mad at me for being lighthearted
> but I think the OP has a great future in mystery
> shopping. They after all managed to use 500 words
> when 50 would would have done the job. That's what
> a lot of MSC's want, 500 word narratives to
> explain that the bun was stale.

No doubt. I once was succinct. Now I am long-winded. The new Lowe's shops, for example. What purpose does the overall comments section serve when narrative is required after every single section of the report?

ces1948 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Please don't get mad at me for being lighthearted

Definitely no offense here... I had been trying for lighthearted myself!

> but I think the OP has a great future in mystery
> shopping.

Thanks!

> They after all managed to use 500 words
> when 50 would would have done the job.

It's a gift.

> That's what
> a lot of MSC's want, 500 word narratives to
> explain that the bun was stale.

OK, now you lost me, because it was definitely fresh, warm, and tasty.

Sign up with Beyond Hell.o

They give you a 10 for just showing up and not breaking anything.

elcarev68 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Given my own propensity, and from the recurring
> laments on the forum, why do we crave perfect
> scores?...Why this predominance of
> perfection-seekers among
> mystery shoppers? Does the business attract such
> folks as us? Is it a personality type?

I've often wondered about this myself. Judging from the regular and successful forum members gathered here in this community, many have several things in common.

One attribute shared is being able to effectively express themselves in writing, taking pride in that ability, and illustrating a much higher level of literacy than the average citizen. Another is that many have a clearly defined sense of what is right and what is wrong, and consistently behave in an ethical and professional manner. Also still is the propensity to continually improve and better themselves. Members have also shown themselves to be logical thinkers that have little tolerance for the irrelevant or redundant.

Those characteristics alone could possibly explain why so many of us are drawn to this industry and excel in it. Likewise, we expect editors to also operate at a higher than average level of literacy. We can also expect them to share our performance and personal standards. It can be very frustrating to find out that this is not the case, especially for those of us with the so-called Type A personality traits.

You know what's really interesting? I was an editor for a well-known mystery shopping company for approximately one year. After about three months of training to this company's particulars, I was set free to edit on my own. I was paid by the report (work from home), not by the hour. Because I was also a mystery shopper, I felt that it was important for me to give feedback in the form of constructive criticism to shoppers and explain in which areas I felt that they could improve and also congratulate on a job well done. It took additional time for me to write these feedback emails, and I was not paid for this additional task. Out of hundreds of emails that I sent, a handful of shoppers wrote to the schedulers and upper management complaining that I was too critical. Other shoppers thanked me with extensive gratitude for helping them become better report writers (mostly the ones who were already pretty darned good). The shoppers who complained about me were the ones who used the most horrible grammar, punctuation, and spelling, and they made such a mess of their shops that it took me an exorbitant amount of time to repair their shops to the extent where they could be submitted to the client. Many times these shoppers weren't following guidelines and had to be contacted multiple times for additional information so that the shop was usable. After these shoppers complained about me, I was told by the editing manager and other upper management of this company that I was not to give shoppers too much constructive feedback, since some shoppers are very sensitive and they (the MS company) needed the shoppers more than the shoppers needed us. I quit editing after about a year and went back to fulltime mystery shopping.

elcarev68 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> There is definitely dissertation thesis potential
> in the recurring theme of us shoppers reacting as
> we do to a less than perfect score for our
> reports.
>
> As others have posted, I knew that I had deserved
> a “10” and subsequently brooded for weeks last
> year, spending hour after hour checking and
> rechecking my report for any hint of typos,
> misspellings, grammar, insufficient detail, etc.,
> after receiving my first and only “9” from
> IntelliShop. I emailed twice, asking for more
> specific feedback than the simple not-a-10 score,
> with the typical no-reply. The more I proved my
> case to myself, the more I steamed. It took a
> while to let go sufficiently to finally get to the
> more serene state of accepting the things I cannot
> change. (And all that I could change was deciding
> to not shop for them for six months. They didn’t
> go out of business, and I didn’t go bankrupt –
> I guess it was a draw.)
>
> Given my own propensity, and from the recurring
> laments on the forum, why do we crave perfect
> scores? Are we seeking perfection? In ourselves,
> in our work, in the world?
>
> Few among us think we're perfect, and I honestly
> believe we would actually accept an imperfect
> score if we were given valid explanation, maybe
> even just any explanation.
>
> Sure there is a proportionately small segment of
> forum ranters who blame the MSCs for holding
> shoppers accountable for the shoppers’ own
> mistakes, but most of the rest of us
> cry/vent/steam/brood/Like This Post when we are
> denied the knowledge that would enable us to
> improve our work so as to rightly receive a
> genuine 10.
>
> Or do our cries of foul arise from us being
> offended by the subjectivity of these ratings when
> we have pledged ourselves to objectivity? Indeed,
> we make this pledge willingly and with integrity,
> and therefore the offense to our sensibilities is
> magnified all the more greatly inasmuch as our
> pledge is made to those who demand such
> objectivity of us while retaining in their employ
> such seemingly subjective editor/raters.
>
> Why this predominance of perfection-seekers among
> mystery shoppers? Does the business attract such
> folks as us? Is it a personality type? Is it a
> value system? Might it even be the overlapping
> sectors of a Venn diagram formed from the circles
> of our otherwise diverse systems of faith –an
> acted upon belief in the potential for
> "Perfection?"
>
> For help with all this, do I need a psychiatrist,
> a sociologist, or a theologian?
>
> If you find one who has the answer, please let me
> know if they greeted you in a sincere and
> welcoming manner, thanked you for your inquiry,
> and invited you to visit again.

sandyf Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
I get a dose or reality
> every time I go to a store and give the clerk a $1
> bill for a 98 cent purchase and they have no idea
> what the change would be unless they check the amt
> on their electronic register.

Sandy, wait until they ring in the $1, and then hand them 3 cents. Watch the confusion then!

JASFLALMT Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>I felt that
> it was important for me to give feedback in the
> form of constructive criticism to shoppers and
> explain in which areas I felt that they could
> improve...It took additional time for me to
> write these
> feedback emails, and I was not paid for this
> additional task...a handful of shoppers wrote to the
> schedulers and upper management complaining that I
> was too critical...After these shoppers
> complained about me, I was told by the editing
> manager and other upper management of this company
> that I was not to give shoppers too much
> constructive feedback, since some shoppers are
> very sensitive and they (the MS company) needed
> the shoppers more than the shoppers needed us. I
> quit editing after about a year and went back to
> fulltime mystery shopping.

Your posting explains a lot about why we get the type of feedback that we do from some MSCs. Sad. I can see why you quit editing. It had to be very frustrating.

IMO most of the narrative is just "fluff" required because the MSC needs justification to pay us those "big" bucks. Yes, no and multiple choice questions could cover about 95% of the shops I've done. I agree there are some exceptions.

For me, the higher the score could be the difference between receiving a job or it being given to another. One time I spent many hours collecting data for a company in Europe. I needed to contact them several for clarifications and data which had not been sent to me. It was a little chaotic but all kept their senses of humor.
At the end I received a less than perfect score. I was disappointed so I contacted the organizer of the project to see what could be improved. He replied that the policy was never to give a perfect score. I explained to the organizer the reason I was pressing for a higher score. He was kind enough to increase my score.
It is so nice to find reasonable clients.

> ces1948 Wrote:
> ---------------------------------
......
> > a lot of MSC's want, 500 word narratives to
> > explain that the bun was stale.


> elcarev68 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> OK, now you lost me, because it was definitely
> fresh, warm, and tasty.


LOL

The only time it really matters is if the score is the difference between self assigning and not. I am having that problem with ICCDS, who I have worked with for years. Since the new sassie system is in place I am no longer able to self assign and cannot get an explanation. Anyone else?

Also, I posted here about the mattress shop the other day. The response I got was canned and indicated grammar, spelling and punctuation errors all over my report. Also indicating that I offered NO descriptive narrative to support this shop. All false. Now them's fightin words and I did fight back. As they say, pick your battles.

cynb Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The only time it really matters is if the score is
> the difference between self assigning and not. I
> am having that problem with ICCDS, who I have
> worked with for years. Since the new sassie
> system is in place I am no longer able to self
> assign and cannot get an explanation. Anyone
> else?

Ugh! I'm with ya, sista! Since they went to Sassie,
I can't get ANY work from them. Well, I got a few, but
lately jobs are assigned before I even get the e-mails.
I think someone is getting tipped off to the postings in
advance. I called and left a message to my scheduler
to ask what is going on, but she never called back. I
never had trouble with my old scheduler!