starrynight Wrote:
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> Do you use the employee's first name in your
> narrative? Or do you simply refer to the employee
> as the associate? Is the word associate
> capitalized in the narrative?
If it's on their nametag or they tell me their name, I use it throughout in the narrative. I don't capitalize their titles (e.g., manager, associate, clerk, employee, vendor).
> When giving the description of an employee..do you
> refer to race?
I never refer to race unless the MSC specifically says I must in the narrative. Usually, the guidelines will tell you how to describe someone.
> How often do you use direct quotes in your
> narrative?
I use direct quotes only for the greeting and farewell for each individual with whom I have an interaction. I do this with all my reports for all MSCs I work for and have never been told I needed to add more quotes.
> When describing your impressions regarding service
> or quality of food..how do you do so in an
> objective way?
You only report what you directly observe and experience and it has to be relevant to the shop. It would help if you read examples of subjective vs objective narratives. For example, "I think the chef used too much salt on the mac and cheese," is subjective because I have no clue what happened in the kitchen or how the food was prepared but "The mac and cheese was saltier than expected" or "The mac and cheese was salty," is my own objective observation after I tasted the food.
For example, at a sandwich shop yesterday I watched an employee drop the contents of a sandwich on the floor because it appeared to me that she was distractedly flirting with a model-esque type guy in line behind me. But I simply reported that she dropped the contents of the sandwich while she was speaking with a customer because that is what happened. The rest of it was subjective and irrelevant (and just my opinion).
> Do you break down your narratives into
> paragraphs?
Short paragraphs of two to four sentences are easier to read.
> How do you end your narrative? Do you tie the
> whole narrative up with a closing type of
> paragraph?
I start most of my narratives with, "I entered XXX at 11:38 AM on Friday, March 7, 2014." I end it with, "I departed [exited] XXX at 12:15 PM." Everything in between is chronological and generally linear.
I suggest that the next time you enter a store, you look at your watch and start a mental narrative - "I walked in at [time]. I was greeted by ... who said, "Howdy," ... I went to the restroom ... The store aisles were cluttered" and so on. It becomes an easy linear process after awhile.