I live up here in the timber box of the Northwest a recently had to undergo emergency livestock evacuations due to wildfires. I had done a Cash & Carry shop earlier that day, but as my day progressed, reporting was the furthest thing from my mind the next morning when it was due.
I remembered to dash a note off to the weeked help desk to advise them of our hot little mess & asked how they would like me to proceed. They were kind enough to give me an extension until Monday at 0800. End result, I was asked to terminate as a shopper because I failed to comply. Monday we were still up to our arses in cattle & horse flesh. I take responsibility for my part, but compassion would have been nice. Let's just say this left a bad taste behind.

First off, my thoughts and prayers are with all of those who are in harm's way. This is a devastating series of events affecting a large part of the Northwest and has caused loss of life and homes. With that said, I can't fathom the the idea that MSC's are not aware of how serious this is and which areas are affected. During the past winter, we had so much snow and ice in the Northeast, that many businesses just closed until the storm passed or because of a loss of power. Nearly all of the MSC's that I worked with gave extensions without even asking. Shame on that MSC for being so heartless!! Be safe and don't risk your life or safety.

We all make our decisions and set our priorities. I admire that you even attempted a shop when there was chaos going on around you and I agree with your contacting the company to let them know as well as with your choice of priority being the safety and well being of your livestock. When things have been calmed down for a while I would suggest that you call, apologize, explain (not excuses) the situation you were confronted with. Ask that they reconsider their termination based on the reality that this kind of life and death decision making is unlikely to happen again--or at least you certainly hope not!

I can understand that MSCs get their fill of lame excuses from shoppers but this goes too far. Surely they watch the news? Even my family in Florida heard about the wildfires up here and are asking if I'm okay.

That is unfortunate. I am sorry that happened to you and hope you are safe now.

And now shoppers in Florida may face issues if Erika has her way.

But unlike wildfires or earthquakes, you get decent lead time with a hurricane or Tropical Storm. As soon as the 'cone of uncertainty' touched Florida at all it was time to clear the deck of shops. I got everything done that I had scheduled through the end of the month by doing some quick reschedules. If a hurricane hits, it is likely that power will go down (which is why we have a backup generator), internet will go down, cell phones may or may not work depending on what towers were taken out. Tomorrow will be a grocery store run without it being a shop and then we can hunker down. Chances are good that the storm will move still further west and/or just fritter out. But what I won't have to worry about is shops.

Thank you for your reply. Yes safety for family, self-preservation trumps my mystery shopping duties. I went ahead and deactivated myself which really was difficult. Not to boast but my average ratings are 9/10. This company I had shopped two previous assignments, both high scores. They are losing a valuable tool and another company gaining my expertise. No worries, what goes around comes around. Please don't get me wrong, I don't wish the wrath of fires upon anyone. Perhaps this little lesson, might open this schedulers eyes & heart to the compassion for those down the road. I was told by a scheduler its best to cancel altogether than to even ask for an extension. The fires are out now, all is calm. Let's hope we aren't up to our arses in snow this winter! lol.

keeping all of you in harm's way in prayer, daily. Keep your faith, HE will get you thru this unscathed.

@Flash wrote:

But unlike wildfires or earthquakes, you get decent lead time with a hurricane or Tropical Storm. As soon as the 'cone of uncertainty' touched Florida at all it was time to clear the deck of shops. I got everything done that I had scheduled through the end of the month by doing some quick reschedules. If a hurricane hits, it is likely that power will go down (which is why we have a backup generator), internet will go down, cell phones may or may not work depending on what towers were taken out. Tomorrow will be a grocery store run without it being a shop and then we can hunker down. Chances are good that the storm will move still further west and/or just fritter out. But what I won't have to worry about is shops.

Sorry Flash, but I lived in hurricane country for well over twenty years. One year all we had were tropical storms and the flooding that comes with them. Had I not owned a SUV, I would have been up a proverbial creek. There was no way to get anywhere after sunset. Yeah, you can prepare but if you own livestock..all bets are off. I now live in a different state. I have livestock. You can bet your bippy that my first concern is to save the animals and if my scheduler's don't understand it...they can get stuffed!

Saving thousands of dollars in investments of livestock and ultimately my livelihood, is more important as far as I'm concerned. The scheduler who doesn't understand that, isn't worth my time.

The scheduler that gave the OP crap, needs to be smacked upside the head. The entire country knew about the fires.

I very specifically would not and will not ever apologize to a scheduler that doesn't have a clue, when Mother Nature bites me in the butt. Last May, my area of TX was under massive flooding. There were scheduler's that called, offered huge bonuses and very specifically told me that they would make sure if I didn't take the jobs...they would make sure I'd never get any other jobs.

I get they have to get their work done. But if they think they can threaten me, they have another thing coming.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/2015 11:56PM by MA Smith.

We have livestock and yes, in 2004 we boarded up for Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. But our farm is old enough it was well thought out. The house is on a rise, the barn is on a rise and even when we had about 5 1/2" of rain the other day in a very short span, both the house and the barn stayed dry even though we waded through almost knee deep water to get from one to the other to feed the critters. My truck is high enough I can ride the ridge out to the main road even in flood, but that doesn't mean I can get anywhere from there because of clogged storm sewers making flooded streets that are then blocked up by little passenger vehicles that flooded out and got stuck.

Priorities are really clear--people, livestock, property preservation and somewhere down the list there somewhere, shops. My point is that we are lucky because with hurricanes we get forewarning to get our act together so that we can achieve the priorities. I have had the conversation with higher ups at Market Force in the past when a storm threatened and I wanted to do the shops early to get them 'out of the way'. They were appreciative of the effort and the conversation was very civil. The shops could not be done early and if I cancelled them and the storm hit, nobody else would likely be able to do them either, so just hang onto them and if they could not be done or reported, they were putting a note in the file that they weren't to be held against me. Once I could get back in communication, we would go from there.

I can't say what I would do with an outside scheduler situation, but I generally try to avoid outside schedulers anyway. In general if there is a situation I would take it to the MSP directly. Certainly wildfires don't give you a long lead time to get things worked out, but after the fact I would certainly be in communication with the MSP about just how badly I had been treated when I was attempting to deal with life and death rather than whether someone greeted me in 10 seconds or not.

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/2015 03:18AM by Robin2.