So when you guys have to make a report that includes a series of expletives, do you type out the expletives in the report, or do you censor out the words, or partially type them. In a stunning moment on a gas station mystery shop yesterday, there were two clerks chatting with one another before I went up to the counter, and I was the only customer in the store (both college age guys and I am a college age female)... after the one guy said hi and took my item, and he turned towards his co-worker and playfully said as if explaining to him a scene he saw in a movie. "F-you, MFer. He then pretended he was firing a machine gun, and exclaimed F-You, MFers" again. He then turned towards me and acted perfectly normal in finishing my bottled water purchase. Thankfully this was not one of those where you do an audit after. I feel bad for him, because I am pretty sure he felt comfortable with a female there, his age, and normally I would probably laugh if not shopping him.

But I have to report it, so I reported it the way I typed it above here. I am just wondering though if in a report, you should type these words out in full, or if that is sufficient.

I know some will think this is a silly question.

Not a silly question at all. I think that the way you reported it is both accuare and as discrete as it was possible to be while remaining accurate.

I don't fully type out the expletives. I describe the circumstances and either report an employee used an expletive or describe the expletive in some way (such as "F-word," "starts with an 'F'," or "rhymes with duck." Whether and how I describe the expletive(s) partly depends on whether I know/suspect the editor/MSC/client may be offended even by a discreet description.

Professional editors just do not get offended by attempts to convey accurate information. Of course, some newbie editors may. I suspect/hope they do not last very long.

I would include the accurate wording with a note to the editor apologizing for the offensive language but that you wanted to be thorough. My own children think the S-word is "stupid." So you never know how someone will fill in the blanks.

On the topic of editors/MSCs getting offended -- one of the things that has boggled my mind is how paranoid some of them get over racial descriptors. When I first started shopping, I did a whole slew of shops with the race as part of the standard descriptor... eg. "Female, 5' 9", mid 30's, black wavy hair, African American descent" (or Asian decent etc), or used the term "heavy set" or "thin". I had 5 different editors chew me out about how this was insensitive, or that they didn't use racial descriptors. Yet I have other MSC's who actually put this in a drop-down menu, or want it included. My favorite MSC actually wants the race from the drop-down menu, and wants me to guess the weight with a specific number -- uhh -- she looked.... 220?

I can kinda see how someone might be offended by being called heavy-set, or thin... but using race is the easiest way to narrow a description down. I've got it figured out to which MSC's like it or don't -- but I think it's ridiculous that I should have to keep track.

One of the problems with using race as a descriptor is a shopper can be wrong. Another problem is the employee in question may be of mixed racial heritage but strongly identifies as one but not the other(s).

BTW, African American is not synonymous with Black.

It's a moral hazard issue. If you report him, he might get fired which could be a big issue for him if he's dependent on that income.

On the other hand, if he's in the habit of behaving like what you describe, he deserves to be canned.

This is why editors exist. Write clear and detailed information. They can decide if they need to change, remove, or finesse the information before it gets to the client

I never put in race unless it is asked in a drop down menu. You can also put in other if your not sure.
I don't know why the MSC ask you the question and than doesn't like it. I put average for all weight questions, age I usually put in a range, never race unless asked. I have never been asked about actual pounds. For dressed I put in business attire or uniform or casual Fridays, (Banks have casual Fridays)unless the person is dressed inappropriately. Never got a return from the MC in 10 years.

Fat, skinny, tall, short, bald, or horse-faced are descriptions, not judgments. If someone is skinny, they know they're skinny [insert anything else in there]. Some MSCs show "apparent race". Again, it's not a judgment or an insult to report someone as Pacific Islander when they're Asian - it's a description that sets Filipino Benny apart from Caucasian Benny.

@iShop123 wrote:

Fat, skinny, tall, short, bald, or horse-faced are descriptions, not judgments. If someone is skinny, they know they're skinny [insert anything else in there]. Some MSCs show "apparent race". Again, it's not a judgment or an insult to report someone as Pacific Islander when they're Asian - it's a description that sets Filipino Benny apart from Caucasian Benny.

It might not be an insult, but it would still be a judgment. Asian Benny might not actually be Filipino or Pacific Islander---and although it's very unlikely you wouldn't be able to tell, "Asian" Benny might not actually be Asian. Or they may be Eurasian. And you should either see or take a closer look at some of the twins with mixed ethnic backgrounds, but their "racial" traits are so clear-yet-different that most people wouldn't guess it unless you saw both of them together. There are some highly circulated photographs of people who had to prove they were twins. People of one race can sometimes also pass for others---it's common in the acting world, and unfortunately, it becomes life or death for some people. You can't always tell "race" just by looking. To get even more technical, it's a social construct.

Additionally, comments about weight can be tricky. The medical definition of overweight, underweight, or healthy weight is not what matches up with some cultural standards, and you never know who might be struggling with an eating disorder or body dysmorphia.

IMO: Getting the name of the employee is almost always enough. I can understand asking for a few physical details, but I still try to be as vague as possible. 99.9% of the time, the shopper writes up all of the shopped employee's information which the company needs. It's kind of a fine art to be culturally, racially, or medically sensitive. I'm okay providing a few physical details, but I'll no longer work with the one client/MSC I ever thought was being blatantly out of line in that department.

Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2017 07:07AM by OceanGirl.

I would leave at most the first letter intact. If the word can be figured out from context I might even censor the whole thing as in "**** a duck" or, to quote the president, "son of a *****".

@DrSquash wrote:

I would leave at most the first letter intact. If the word can be figured out from context I might even censor the whole thing as in "**** a duck" or, to quote the president, "son of a *****".

I agree with this, but I sometimes also use brackets.

(And for the record, I also want to say that I totally support people regardless of whether they identify as female, male, neither, both, or other. I know that some of those sex/gender questions can be uncomfortable for some people to read or answer, as well, so that is also a factor in my reports. I support you.)

@OceanGirl wrote:

It might not be an insult, but it would still be a judgment.

Judgment in the sense of attaching negative characteristics to a physical description rather than using judgment to decide if something is blue or gold. If a person appears to be, say, Hispanic but isn't, management is still going to know the difference. Ditto for making a judgment whether someone has an eating disorder. If they're thin (BMI <18.5), it doesn't matter what their "cultural standards" are. They're underweight according to medical standards. Descriptions are just that - descriptions.

[acculturated.com]

They're not, though. In what might be a teeny, tiny, small percentage of mystery shops, someone may have a different idea of what a healthy weight is. And thin doesn't necessarily mean underweight. This is a problem that healthcare providers run into---people will walk in thinking they're at a healthy weight when they're not. There was actually a run of thefts from one of my city's neighborhoods Little Free Libraries pretty recently----the person was described in the police report as 'female, Caucasian, ~5'3", and slim (~150 lbs.).

I **** you not. Now, imagine the person who supplied that information as an employee or mystery shopper....

So I just did a shop that required restroom pics. In one of the men's room stalls was graffiti that said "FECK ME" and then underneath that. someone else had graffiti'd "six times". The vandalism had then been scratched over, but were both still legible. I took a pic of that and submitted it. Shop company didn't say a word about it.

@FrugalCat wrote:

So I just did a shop that required restroom pics. In one of the men's room stalls was graffiti that said "FECK ME" and then underneath that. someone else had graffiti'd "six times". The vandalism had then been scratched over, but were both still legible. I took a pic of that and submitted it. Shop company didn't say a word about it.

I've done the same thing a couple of times, with same results.

I totally disagree with the statement "Fat, skinny, tall, short, bald, or horse-faced are descriptions, not judgments."
Let's take height: is 6'0" tall? To a person who is 5'0," possibly, but to a person who is 6'2', possibly not. They are definitely judgments.

@OceanGirl wrote:

]

I've done the same thing a couple of times, with same results.

I am surprised you were allowed into the men's room!

Seriously? Snowflake city or you just like to be contrary. The average height for a man in the US is 5'9". The average height for a woman is 5'4". My height doesn't matter. Yours doesn't either. Those within a standard deviation are average height. Those outside it are not.

Even if you want to call them descriptions, they are vague at best. Most MSCs want something more definitive. Most also state unequivocally they do not want us to use descriptors like bald, fat or skinny. Horse-faced has to be a joke because that is nothing but nasty and cruel to say or put into a report the target may read. And calling someone a snowflake because they disagree with you is unnecessary and could easily be construed as a personal insult.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/07/2017 11:03PM by LisaSTL.

@iShop123 I have a friend who hates to be called skinny. People often ask if she's anorexic, and it doesn't exactly make her feel attractive. She prefers slender. I have seldom had to use those words for shops, though. Thank goodness the only company that wanted weight, changed their policy. I still have to guess age, which I hate.