Hello,
I have a question regarding the ethics of job reports as it relates to forgetfulness and time estimates. Let me explain.
As a new mystery shopper, I've noticed that sometimes I have forgotten details (or more frequently am just not 100% sure - as in I seem to remember something as more likely than not, but can't confidently recall after a few hours after the shop) or have had to estimate timings when I had forgotten to press my stopwatch's stop button fast enough (for example, a server might have delivered a pasta dish to me and I was so caught up talking with her and then inspecting my dish that I forgot to push the stop button anywhere from 15 sec. to a minute or two later).
Out of complete honesty, I have noted these things in my shop reports. So, for example, I'll note that I thought something was the case, but wasn't 100% sure (because the details may have been fuzzy or the situation itself made it hard to fully view something/someone, etc.), or I'll write into the comments section that I had to estimate a timing, due to a distraction of sorts. I always write into my report these issues and I've never had a report rejected.
But that leads me to several questions/issues:
1.) Do editors and/or the clients accept that these things happen and are okay with occasional slip-ups (assuming they don't happen too frequently and/or don't occur too many times within the same report)?
2.) Is there some industry or company-specific margin of error that is just accepted and understood (for example, no one expects you to get the timing down to the exact second literally, so 5 seconds give or take should be fine)?
3.) Do editors ever "cheat" or doctor your reports to make them more acceptable with or without your knowledge? (I suppose this is more of a rhetorical or speculative question, unless anyone has personal experience/knowledge of things like this.)
In regards to 3.), I had an ethically blurry situation before where the editor mentioned that they would remove portions where I said I had to estimate timings and/or wasn't sure of details 100% in my memory. He/She said that it was so the client wouldn't think I was unsure of things. But, I remember thinking: "Wait, I WAS unsure! And that was my point of writing that in!." I didn't say that to the editor, but that was what I thought. I merely accepted his/her comments without replying back (but have been thinking about this recently, since it was not too long ago it took place).
Could he/she have been "cheating" a report? Or, is there some acceptable level of uncertainty that is allowed with some clients and/or companies that we shoppers may not be aware of and editors are allowed to accept and/or "edit/fix" reports with these uncertainties?
Thank you for your feedback and thoughts everyone!
Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 02/02/2017 09:21PM by shoptastic.