Ridiculous Mystery Bonus

Just when you think you've seen it all...one msc is offering
a bonus on shops but and I quote...

"The fun part is that you will not know what the bonus is
until the shop is completed and submitted! Keep in mind
that it will be anywhere between $1 and $50!"


This idea should be taken out back behind a barn and shot.

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There are no stupid questions, but there are a lot of inquisitive idiots
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When you try to please everybody, you end up pleasing nobody

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Who defines "fun", the MSC or the shopper?

For it to be "fun" for the shopper, it would have to list a $50 bonus upfront; for it to be "fun" for the MSC, I suspect it would need to result in a message, which says, "Congratulations, you have just been awarded a $1.00 bonus for completing this shop!"

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
Techman or Phx602, does the MSC's name begin with a capital "I"? Just guessing....

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
The one I just saw was from an MSC whose name begins with "A". Can't give any further clarification because I've already deleted it.
Really? I like and respect all of the "A's" and vice versa. Hmmm.

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.
stilllearning Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Techman or Phx602, does the MSC's name begin with
> a capital "I"? Just guessing....
>
> (heart)


An "A" actually.
It's ACE, and not only is the bonus a widely-ranging "surprise", it's only on shops that have a turkey next to them.

The email actually says, "The fun part is that you will not know what the bonus is until the shop is completed and submitted!" (yeah, the exclamation point is theirs.)

Turkey, indeed. I like ACE well enough, they don't have a lot of shops in my area... but they don't pay enough for the narrative they want. And I hate, HATE reports where you have to give a full narrative about each segment of a shop, and THEN a full overview narrative at the end. One or the other, but not both.

I recently did one that was bonused, because it had been a long time and I'd forgotten how much I hate the narrative style... and it still didn't end up being enough.

Practitioner of the Nerdly Arts.
This email was deleted by me as well. I have yet to perform a shop for ACE.

Arguing with fools is like playing chess with a pigeon...
...No matter how good you are, the pigeon will s@^t on the board and strut around like it won anyway.

Not scheduling for ANY company.
Oooh, I guessed wrong. Actually, I have a slight bias towards Erika at Ace and trust them not to pull the "Surprise $1!" gimmick, although I totally agree with you about writing segment narratives in additional to the overview narrative. It seems redundant and I don't understand how it could possibly enhance the quality of the report given to the client.

(heart)

I intend to live forever. So far, so good.


Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/13/2014 11:23PM by stilllearning.
Actually, I like Erika too... and as a scheduler, even "Senior Scheduler", I doubt the she has anything to do with the report style. Or that she has control over what bonuses go out.

But yeah ~ I don't get how anyone could think that that report style provides any particular benefit. Seems like it would just be extraneous information to the client, and waste their time.

Practitioner of the Nerdly Arts.
And looking at the turkey...Groucho must be spinning like a top.

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Have PV-500 & willing to travel.
"Answers are easy. It's asking the right questions which is hard." (The Fourth Doctor, The Face of Evil, 1977)

"Somedays you're the pigeon, somedays you're the statue.” J. Andrew Taylor

"I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him." Galileo Galilei
This is the same mystery shop company that used to give out those sleazy coupon deals. You had to spend so much or jump through so many hoops and then you could supposedly save money somehow. I earned one somehow and told them they could keep it.
That's not fun or funny. What it is is insulting and degrading.
Dangle a carrot and make me jump? I'm not a chimp. I'm a father and a hard working adult that values my time with my children far more than gambling on what essentially is a scratch off card.
The scratch off lotteries claim XXX,ooo of winners but 95 percent of them only won the dollar back that they spent.
This is a corporation that is making fun of and laughing at people that work hard at making them their money.
I read almost every post on this forum and there's lots of, "woe is the shopper" posts that kind of make me chuckle in understanding and camaraderie.
There's also lots of "I hate the MSC or editor or scheduler" posts that make me think, grow up, understand your place and do your job!

This is the first post I've read that has PISSED ME THE HELL OFF.

You don't treat children in bad costumes on Halloween that way.

I'd email them and tell them I'd do ten of them if they could have a ton of fun giving me a $75 dollar bonuses on each one.

Let them have some of their own idea of fun


Or how about this?????

What if you guarantee my fee and for FRIGGIN FUN you might get a GREAT report or you might get a crappy report...WHAT FUN!!!!!!

Maybe for true suspense I MIGHT NOT EVEN GO!!! HAHA FUNNNNNNNNN
Let's look at it from another perspective....

Decide to do the shop or not based on the fee. Period.

If it has a turkey next to it, you will get a bonus!!!! Yay!!! Maybe it's only a dollar or maybe it will be more. Either way, do the shop because it was worth it to you for the regular fee, and enjoy the little bonus.

why take something Ace is doing to give us a little extra and turn it into a big pouty negative because you don't think the gift is worth anything?

If you hate their shops or hate the reports, why are you even on their mailing list? Go do something else for someone else. And don't look for anything extra in the paycheck this month.

Time to build a bigger bridge.
Fair point Dspeakes but I want to know what I'm being paid.
The same way I know that I have to do my job to a standard in order to be sompensated I want to know that I'm being compensated for the job I do and HOW I'm being compensated.
It's not even the idea of the stupid "mystery bonus".
It's the degrading assumption that I would rather have "Fun" opening the mystery box then to be treated professionally and enter into agreement for X amount of compensation for X amount of pay.
Be up front.

State run scratch off lotteries prey on the poor who gamble a half gallon of milk for their kids at the chance of buying them each a pair of shoes. This is in the same realm.
And if we're being honest, a bonus isn't a bonus. It's part and parcel of what we consider to be a fair price to do a job.

And it's ALWAYS within the MSC's profit margin
Which is why the decision to do the shop should be based on the stated fee.

I just don't understand why people are being so surly about a bonus. Just don't make any decisions based on it, and be happy when you get more than you logged on your spreadsheet.

Should your waitress refuse to serve you unless you tell her up front what tip you will give?

Think of it as a tip, not a bonus, if that helps.

Time to build a bigger bridge.
The waitress knows what she or he (waiter) are getting into when they accept their shift.

But given that scenario, how would make a waitress or waiter feel if I said before they started serving me, "I have five envelopes with different amounts ranging from 1 dollar to 50 dollars and regardless of your service I will choose one at random for your tip....just for fun"

You think the waitress or waiter will have as much fun as the diner in that situation?
From the Scheduler:

"Dear Shopper,

Sorry you drove 175 miles for this shop, thinking (for some silly reason) that YOUR shop would be bonused $50 bucks.

Oops! Your shop was just the $1 bonus shop! Surprise! Surprise! smiling smiley
I give up.

Do not do the shops. Do not pass go. Do not collect a bonus of any amount.

Not sure why you think this is better than getting a bonus of an unknown amount, but .... whatever.....

Time to build a bigger bridge.
I think this was the company that had the odd web site and odd payment method through an obscure third party to avoid fees. I'd skip it in the future.
Oh no! I have never done anything for this MSC. They have shops in my area but my impression is they are into photos of the menu board, of the menu, of the washroom etc. or anything you have to take to the washroom to take a picture of. Just not my thing. As soon as I see their email, I automatically delete them. If they dangle the surprise bonus of $1 to $50, I won't have that surprise because I won't be taking any shop from them.
I hate to say this but it's pretty obvious they are "baiting shoppers" with the promise of UP TO $50 but the reality is they should just say:

"Hi Shoppers. We need you to drive from Los Angeles to San Diego but we can only pay $1 bonus, so instead we will send out a MASS email promising up to $50 but you are never going to see that...okay? tongue sticking out smiley

Interested? smiling smiley
Well, yes, I think they are baiting shoppers a little bit but it's not mandatory we jump on it. I believe someone came up with this idea and thought it would actually be fun but we shoppers don't think it's fun at all. This may be like one of those brown paper grab bags for $1.00. What do we get? Nothing worth a dollar.

Mary Davis Nowell. Based close to Fort Worth. Shopping Interstate 20 east and west, Interstate 35 north and south.
Nobody should be driving any further for these than they would for the regular fee. The analogies about driving hundreds of miles for a questionable bonus are just silly.

Here's a shop for $10, here are the instructions. Interested? If it has a turkey next to it, you'll get a bonus of from $1 to $50 as our way of saying "happy holidays!"


Don't try to turn it into some kind of scammy proposition.

I suppose you all would sneer at anything less than a new Iphone in your Christmas stocking. Personally, if someone gives me a Snickers bar I tell them thank you.

Time to build a bigger bridge.
With my luck, I'd get the $1 bonus. No thanks. I also won't do the "Take our 20 minute survey and be entered to win $50" for certain msc.
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