Eliminated Because of Age

@spicy1 wrote:

Sure, we're I.C. and suing as an employee is obviously not in the realm of possibilities unless you first sue to prove you were treated like an employee and obvious most of us cannot. I got that. That's part of this work; being disappointed by the lack of continuity which another reason I can't imagine doing this full-time. How can you fill in all of that time? Certainly not with consistent rounds of new homes and old folks homes, ten dollar burgers and $350 dinners that pay $5 for the report.

Very part-timer here. I cannot fathom doing this full time. I like flitting in and out of shop/merch days, which is possible now because I have a job with a specific schedule that permits little work in this industry. The shops you described do not match my experiences. The information about who is/is not an employee is welcome! That whole issue is murky-- it is not immediately clear to us what the whole truth is for for any situation or shopper because we are not allowed to divulge certain information to each other that we could consider when attempting to determine what has happened.

"I was throwing out there that this has happened and there have been cases that have won. That's why companies skip over us and are constantly trying to find new people to do these assignments so we're not expected to be at the same place at the same time month after month." I had not thought much about this. I knew that rotations existed but I had not thought much about why they exist. So, away I go to think about this large industry in a new way. Thanks, spicy1!

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

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Everything said on this forum is out of context because none of the conversations are a complete line of conversations with questions/answers so, and I never thought I'd say this, but take it with a grain of salt.

I'm not signed up with a whole lot of companies so I really don't know about all of the assignments, only the ones I know about based on the companies I'm signed up with.

I like this work, most of the time, and I'll sign up with more companies as I have time.

If anyone feels sorry for me because of the shops I mentioned, feel free to help me fill in my schedule!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2017 02:21AM by spicy1.

There is a difference: of course there is discrimination based on demographics. Is it illegal? Not in all cases. In some cases, that is because the law does not cover you as an IC. In others, it may be in order to test whether or not SAs provide good service to all, so portioning out assignments by race, so that all are represented in the rotation, even when the shoppers are actually employees, would not be illegal because there is a non-invidious basis to making sure that at least x % of the shoppers are from each demographic group. (In fact this does happen with testers who actually are employees of certain government agencies. They may send two testers to a real estate open house, for instance, one black and one white, and do this many times over, to test for systematic differences in information and services volunteered by the agent. )

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Corporations are interested in studying certain age groups and NOT interested in studying other age groups. Why should they be forced to pay for the opinion of someone whose age demographic they are not interested in? Yes it stings, as someone who often is not eligible for shops due to age myself- I do not see it as discrimination in most cases.

18-65 is not an age group!

ACL has an age "range" of 18-98 for a lot of their restaurant shops, LOL. I wonder why they won't let someone who is 99 do a restaurant shop???????

I see plenty of locations that require you to be in your 30's, 40's or higher to mystery shhop. I'm 25. Do I have a right to be offended?

Spare me your pearl clutching.

Misanthrope, I am surprised, I really thought you were older than that.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Misanthrope, I am surprised, I really thought you were older than that.

Gotta milk all the shops that do stings for liquor and cigarettes while I still can!

That's completely different.

@Misanthrope wrote:

I see plenty of locations that require you to be in your 30's, 40's or higher to mystery shhop. I'm 25. Do I have a right to be offended?

Spare me your pearl clutching.

wow u r getting old. 1/4 century old. ha, ha, ha. not sure what clutching pearls has to do w/it.

@spicy1 wrote:

That's completely different.

why

legalitiezzzzz

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2017 07:01PM by spicy1.

Outside of the fact that many fail to understand the fact that IC's are generally not covered by civil right employment laws or that the demographics required may actually be in lace to prevent discrimination, employers are specially allowed to apply what might be considered discrimination by some via a bona fide occupational qualification (BFOQ): [en.wikipedia.org]

This covers the right for requests of pilots to be under a certain age, models to be a certain gender or weight, and even for teachers at religious schools to practice a particular religion....and includes instances of customer preference being an allowable BFOQ (the right for Playboy to hire only female bunnies, for instance).

I seem to recall there was a lawsuit that Hooters won a few years back where they maintain the right to require a minimum bust size of their servers. It's not that the lesser endowed servers are less capable of serving food. It's that the business model is based on offering a particular appeal!

Richard, I'm also a longtime Peet's fan in the Bay Area who used to do these shops... but the coffee has gone downhill since Peet's was sold to a giant corporation a few years back. Same thing happened with Anchor Steam: used to be a reliable local pint but it got sold a few years back & it tastes like the quality of the materials used to make the beer is just not the same. Don't even get me started... oops, too late.

Just change the year you were born

I do i all the time

Change the yer you werr born in your profile

@swingline11 wrote:

Change the yer you werr born in your profile

great example of dishonest shopper giving industry a bad name.

Yikes

A name like swingline is appropriate for someone who is throwing out bait fishing for dissension and looking to get someone to bite.

i thought swingline was brand of stapler or office supplies.

I dunno. I bought my stapler at a garage sale about two decades ago. I have no idea what brand it is. It was $3 and still works.

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Eliminated Because of Age

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