This company has a bank teller shop where all you have to do is make a teller transaction and report and its $15! The big bummer is there's a limit of one shop per day! Annoying! So I've found with other companies sometimes they're willing to budge on rules like that to get the jobs off their job borad. So I shoot the scheduler a message asking that here's the exact convo:

Me: If it's possible to forgo the one shop per day rule i can get many of these shops done for you guys this weekend

Scheduler's response (18 hours later): What locations would you like to do? I'd have to check with my manager on that.

Me (literally 5 minutes later): I could do [Insert 5 town names here]

Scheduler's response (3 minutes later): On what days? You can only do one shop per day.

.......................... <_<


where exactly did I lose this guy on what I was asking....

Maybe she didn't understand the definition of the word "forgo" ;-)

Is this the company that outsourced their schedulers to a small island in the Pacific?

Generally there is a good reason for a 1 transaction per day if you have an account. Location #1 is fine, location #2 can see you did a transaction just a while before at #1. Location #3 sees the previous activity that day and wonders what kind of scam you are trying to pull. You are either the shopper or someone needs to take a closer look. The scheduler may think that would be so obvious to a shopper that it never even crossed their mind you wanted to do multiple visits the same day.

@1JJ wrote:

This company has a bank teller shop where all you have to do is make a teller transaction and report and its $15! The big bummer is there's a limit of one shop per day! Annoying! So I've found with other companies sometimes they're willing to budge on rules like that to get the jobs off their job borad. So I shoot the scheduler a message asking that here's the exact convo:

Me: If it's possible to forgo the one shop per day rule i can get many of these shops done for you guys this weekend

Scheduler's response (18 hours later): What locations would you like to do? I'd have to check with my manager on that.

Me (literally 5 minutes later): I could do [Insert 5 town names here]

Scheduler's response (3 minutes later): On what days? You can only do one shop per day.

.......................... <_<


where exactly did I lose this guy on what I was asking....

I rarely comment on other posters' writing because I don't want to appear nasty and because I'll get crucified by others here, but I can't help myself on this one.

Is that really exactly what you wrote? No punctuation, missing capitalization, a misspelling, "you guys"?

Rampant grammar errors in posts on informal forums is one thing; seems it's all the rage these days. But, writing as a supposed professional to a company with which you're doing business? Not kosher at all. And I can't believe you wrote "you guys" in an e-mail to a scheduler! Maybe he or she didn't understand what you were trying to say; your first sentence is hard to decipher. If I were a scheduler and read that, I'd never give you a shop. Sorry, but how could I trust you to write a good report? How is a scheduler to know that you (hopefully) use proper grammar, punctuation, spelling, and formal language in a report when you can't be bothered to in an e-mail?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2016 01:14PM by BirdyC.

We had the benefit of your first paragraph explaining your thought process. The scheduler did not. He was probably caught off guard. Approval of multiple teller shops is a different kind of rule exception than making an exception to allow someone older than the age limit to perform a shop. As Flash said, a teller who accesses your account can see exactly what transactions have taken place and when.

And I'm with Birdy on your e-mail. Was that really the "exact convo" or are you kidding us?

Eh old school thinking, my reports tell of my professionalism and work ethic . Schedulers know I've got their back when I can help out.

@1JJ wrote:

Schedulers know I've got their back when I can help out.

...and editors know they have a long night ahead of them.

I thought the same thing about the punctuation and grammar.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

Maybe she didn't understand the definition of the word "forgo" ;-)

And I thought maybe this was because it's actually 'forego!'

No, actually, he properly used "forgo".

"Forego" means to go before; forgo means to abstain from. Do without, sacrifice, give up. And so on.

I have had more than one editor kick it back to me, with the exact same complaint.

A

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2016 02:49AM by michelle.h.ACL.

Wait, we're both right. Or we're both wrong. I've just never seen 'forgo' used in that instance. I withdraw my accusation. :-p

[grammarist.com]

@ceasesmith wrote:

No, actually, he properly used "forgo".

"Forego" means to go before; forgo means to abstain from. Do without, sacrifice, give up. And so on.

I have had more than one editor kick it back to me, with the exact same complaint.

Some references also state that "forgo" and "forego" are variant spellings of one another, each meaning the same thing.

In any event, I've learned something new today, because I don't think I've ever seen anyone use "forgo" before.... I'll have to remember this in case I run across it and think it's wrong!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2016 04:50PM by BirdyC.

@1JJ wrote:

Eh old school thinking, my reports tell of my professionalism and work ethic . Schedulers know I've got their back when I can help out.

Professionalism in communicating for business purposes is never old school, irrelevant, etc.

Texting one's friends or posting on Facebook? Then, grammar doesn't matter. I guess. But business is business, and unprofessionalism is never OK. (BTW, it's "Schedulers know I've got their backs....," not "back." Subject/verb agreement, you know? And you have a comma splice in your first sentence, as well as other errors in just two sentences.)

Yes, I'm being snarky, and I know it. But it's amazing that someone would downplay the importance of professional communication.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2016 06:30PM by BirdyC.

@pinchers81 wrote:

Wait, we're both right. Or we're both wrong. I've just never seen 'forgo' used in that instance. I withdraw my accusation. :-p

[grammarist.com]

I never complete reports with narrative on my phone or tablet. I often post here on my tablet. The letter m is frequently a comma and vice versa. And don't even get me started on autocorrect. If an editor wants to tear apart my report for spelling or grammar I will accept it because it is what we both get paid for. The number of posts tearing apart spelling and grammar in forum posts has reached a fever pitch. If my two choices are to proofread a post at the level normally reserved for reports or just quit posting, guess what choice I'm making?

Some banks have security alerts on accounts that trigger when more than a set number of transactions are made in a single day. I used to do a regional bank where the magic number was 3 (combined savings and checking). Another regional bank had a limit of 2. I know exactly what bank the OP is discussing (although it is possible that there is more than one MSC and / or more than one bank shop with this rule) and the trigger for this is one transaction per day (checking or savings). You could use someone else's account, but you need to be on that account as well otherwise many banks will take the money but will not give you the receipt. They are required to mail it to the account holder. There is also the issue that this bank wants to know if the teller used your name. So, if I were to make a deposit to my daughter "Sally's" account, would the teller use my name? Would they offer me a credit card, or tell me about electronic banking?

I am also frustrated by the fact that I can only do one of these per day. I asked about it when the MSC got this client, and was told at the time that the rule was inflexible and mandated by the client.

I think some posters thought the OP was being snarky and wanted to snark back a little.
Generally, the point of this post seems to be: "look at how dumb this person is, let's vent!". Lord knows I've started similar threads on here when I've been frustrated and wanted to vent a little. But if you're going to point out the flaws of others, you gotta be prepared to have your own flaws pointed out.
Generally, though, I agree that snarking about spelling and grammar on a public internet forum is petty. Internet message boards (or any method of communicating where you have to write/type) are stacked toward people who are more comfortable communicating in writing. That usually means: native English speakers, who have had a formal education, who are typing on a traditional keyboard at a desk, who have a handy spellcheck program, who are not distracted by kids/pets/etc. If we make the bar to participate in the conversation too high by ridiculing everyone who doesn't get everything right, then I think we're going to lose a lot of valuable perspectives.

Everybody makes typos and mistakes. All of us. I don't exclude myself. And, yes, we're on an informal forum here, not writing reports. So we're informal, we may not proofread our posts, we may not care if they're grammatically correct. Those things aren't the issue. At least for me. I think I've made that clear in this thread and elsewhere.

What's appalling to me is the number of people here who criticize editors for marking them down on grammar (saying they're "too picky" ), those who flat-out don't seem to care about being professional (such as the OP in this thread), and those who clearly don't have the basic skills they should have if they're getting paid to, in part, write grammatically correct reports. I'm not saying people need to be professional writers in order to be mystery shoppers. Not by any means. But if we're being paid for our services, shouldn't we want to be sure that our reports contain correct spelling, punctuation, and usage? And that we at least use the right words? That is, we don't confuse its/it's or they're/their/there, lose/loose, every day/everyday, etc. And that we can form a plural properly? At least most of the time. Again, everyone makes mistakes. I've been embarrassed when I look back at a report and see that I made a mistake that I didn't catch when I proofread it.

Are these things too much to ask? Are they inconsequential, as some seem to think?

If the OP had simply made typos or was using "text speak" here to post, that would be one thing. But to write an e-mail to a scheduler like that? C'mon, Lisa, you can't possibly think that's OK. Not with your professionalism and command of the language.

I think you misunderstood my own point, if your post was directed at everyone in this thread who has criticized the OP. Speaking for myself, I have never, at least that I can remember, publicly criticized anyone's grammar. Though I have had to bite my tongue . In this case, my later post criticized the OP's grammar because of his or her total dismissal of the importance of being professional.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2016 06:13PM by BirdyC.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I think picking apart spelling and grammar loses us a lot of potential posters. I also think picking apart someone's else's spelling and grammar is just another version of "I'm smarter than you are" which is just another version of "mine is bigger than yours" which is just another version of "allow me to explain why you're not good enough to post here".

I think there should be a rule against criticizing spelling and grammar on the forum boards. If you really care about the individual and want to help, why not do it in a PM instead of embarrassing and belittling the person here?

Personally, I fall towards the "grammar nazi" side of the internet continuum, but I certainly still make mistakes, and I'm interested in improving my writing skills. Earlier in this very thread I learned something new about 'forgo' vs. 'forego' that I would not have learned if we were not allowed to discuss spelling and grammar in this forum.

Respectfully, I think being overly sensitive about everyone's posts loses us a lot of potential posters.

@MDavisnowell wrote:

I think there should be a rule against criticizing spelling and grammar on the forum boards. If you really care about the individual and want to help, why not do it in a PM instead of embarrassing and belittling the person here?

I normally agree with what you are saying. In this case, the OP asked about an e-mail he or she sent to a scheduler. I think if you share something you wrote to someone else and are asking for feedback about it, you need to be prepared to get feedback. Maybe the scheduler didn't understand the e-mail?

The OP seems to have an attitude as well....

Aside from that, yes, I agree we shouldn't be publicly criticizing the grammar that people use to post here. But I also think we lose a lot of participation due to posters here who are downright nasty and mean to others on a regular basis. And who make unfounded accusations about who other shoppers may be or what their motives are. All without giving the other person the benefit of a doubt.

If we want to be helpful, then maybe, in addition to outlawing criticisms of people's grammar, we should outlaw all nastiness and adopt the "let's be nice to one another" rule. In reality, most of the posts I see here that criticize grammar and spelling are far less "mean" than those that demean other shoppers personally.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2016 06:09PM by BirdyC.

I still maintain we should be communicating clearly. Posts with absolutely no punctuation and riddled with text speak can just be difficult to understand. On the other hand a few misspelled words, missing plurals, apostrophes, commas, misuse of their, there, they're, those should be filed under sh-t happens.

Unless of course it is an autocorrect that is just downright hilarious

@LisaSTL wrote:

I still maintain we should be communicating clearly. Posts with absolutely no punctuation and riddled with text speak can just be difficult to understand. On the other hand a few misspelled words, missing plurals, apostrophes, commas, misuse of their, there, they're, those should be filed under sh-t happens.

Unless of course it is an autocorrect that is just downright hilarious

Well, I certainly agree with that! And it's what I've been saying. And why my signature line is what it is. In fact, I'm going to revise it to add "...or your phone's auto-fill feature."

Right. A 'no nitpicking' rule would be different.

personally, I don't make nearly the same amount of effort when typing here(or in most emails to schedulers) as opposed to when I do a report. the difference is, this is for pleasure/info/killing time, reports are a paid job. i'd hope schedulers would figure that already, maybe that's just me hoping they're psychic.

@jay225 wrote:

personally, I don't make nearly the same amount of effort when typing here(or in most emails to schedulers) as opposed to when I do a report. the difference is, this is for pleasure/info/killing time, reports are a paid job. i'd hope schedulers would figure that already, maybe that's just me hoping they're psychic.

I think it's OK to be less formal in e-mails to schedulers. Such as using a more friendly tone, using contractions that you wouldn't in a report, saying, "thanks" instead of "thank-you," and so forth. But those are still business e-mails and, imo, should be considered and written as such. You're still presenting yourself as a professional who is being paid to do a job.

And, some schedulers are psycho. And maybe psychic, too....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2016 06:25PM by BirdyC.

I get your point here (and won't pick on you for anything!) I think it is totally annoying/frustrating when someone blows through an email request and responds without reading actually reading it. The scheduler's response made your email a waste of time. It's frustrating.

Or how about when you ask for more information on a job and then they just assign it to you?