I saw a phone shop that said they wanted a male shopper with industry specific knowledge that was geographically "within close proximity." I am female, but have been in the requested industry for 25 years. I did not self- assign; I "applied" with the note that I was female, but knew the industry well. I was assigned the shop and completed it.

There were a couple more that had the same requirements, but were 90 miles away, so again, I applied rather than self assigned and included that I was the wrong gender and 90 miles away, but would be happy to do the shop. They were assigned and I have one of the two (longer distance) ones done.

I cannot tell whether they were accepted or not - the shop log just shows "completed."

Now I see there are a bunch more, but they are even farther away, circa 150 miles but also in areas I am familiar with.

I am tempted to go ahead and apply for most of them, again including comments about how I do not fit their ideal demographic. I guess bottom line is I'm worried that the two I've done may be rejected even though I did include the details and applied rather than self assigned.

Any insight?

Thank you!!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2018 11:59PM by mselle.

Not knowing which MSC and not knowing the reporting platform used, it's hard to say. If it's Shopmetrics, often the "notes" when applying are not read. With Sassie, notes are generally read. If you have a contact email at the MSC or with the scheduling company, I would email before going a lengthy distance to do more shops.

If you were assigned the shop then they have either waived the requirements (likely) or the scheduler made a mistake and it's their fault not yours (less likely).

A lot of times they don't necessarily need a particular demographic. For instance BWW shops required a male because that's their target demographic, but even they would waive the requirements because they only needed a certain percentage, say 75% or whatever, done by males. So they said male only because that skewed their applicants towards their requirements. Or, lets say their client wants it 50/50 but normally for these types of shops their applicants tend to be 90/10. So they put in the male requirement even though they can have half of them female. That way it helps ensure they get more male applicants to get closer to 50/50. Lots of reason and the only time I have seen hard and fast rules on these things are times where the subject is very gender specific. Like women's clothing where an item must be tried on.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I would email before going a lengthy distance to do more shops.

Yes. Her phone might be in another room for those other shops!!

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Not knowing which MSC and not knowing the reporting platform used, it's hard to say. If it's Shopmetrics, often the "notes" when applying are not read. With Sassie, notes are generally read. If you have a contact email at the MSC or with the scheduling company, I would email before going a lengthy distance to do more shops.

It's Sassie. No distance - they're all phone shops. There is an email addy posted for the scheduler. I'll take your advice and drop her an email.

Ahhh, somehow I missed that they were phone shops, LOL.

You R my most favorite asshat out of all the asshats I have ever seen on the forum.

@bgriffin wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I would email before going a lengthy distance to do more shops.

Yes. Her phone might be in another room for those other shops!!

When needing the job ASAP, they have removed age requirements and such....depends if another shopper (male) comes along.

A sports bar shop I enjoy doing loosens their requirements on the last day of the month. The scheduler called me on February 28 to do the shop, but it was too late for me. I will be waiting for their call on March 31.

I missed the phone shop part of the op's first note as there was so much emphasis in later paragraphs about how far away the shops were! We are all fallible. I just inquired about a bar integrity shop with my 31 year old daughter where the age goes up to 30. Many of them have stayed on the boards. The scheduler said okay. I need to hurry up and schedule one for early next month when the new ones come out before she turns 32! But maybe that age will work as well. You never know about these. Like others have said it depends how much leeway they have and how much trouble they are having filling all their shops.
I would definitely check with the scheduler about whether or not your first group were accepted tho before doing more. They may know about acceptance before putting it up on your personal page in their site.

@bgriffin: LOL then putting on my serious face. Sometimes, when doing surveys, we have to qualify according to gender and/or age. Despite societal changes, it is still true that for some surveys, females of certain ages are more likely than males and persons of other ages to participate. In order to obtain information from males and/or persons of other ages, we may have to hold back on responses from certain demographics until we have adequate responses from the demographics. Does this make me an asshat?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2018 02:30AM by Shop-et-al.

Update - the first shop, where I fit the demographic for location and industry knowledge, but not gender, appears to have been accepted. I say "appears" due to the last sentence below...

We shall see!

--

Your evaluation of MMS (Phone) for xxx has been reviewed.

Shop Grade: 10

Comments: A 10 is a superior evaluation. It was completed and submitted on time, with no additional information or clarification needed. The shop was performed correctly, with project specifications followed exactly as outlined. The evaluation was free of spelling/grammar errors, wording errors and contradictions. The information provided was complete and done in a professional manner. A "snapshot" of the visit was provided in a way that explained your "yes" and "no" responses. Thank you for your efforts.

Regardless of rating, payment for this project is contingent upon the client's acceptance of the evaluation you provided.

I know that I've seen motorcycle shops that give an age range up to 59 and females have to have a motorcycle endorsement. I first emailed the scheduler and said I fit the age range but I don't have the endorsement. The scheduler said that was okay. After doing a couple of these I realized that this was not a good fit for me because I am too short to comfortably fit on most motorcycles. The first one I did was a Triumph shop and they had no Triumphs that would fit me. So they kept trying to get me to try a different motorcycle brand, which of course I couldn't do. I expect this made them rather suspicious. My second one went a little better but I still just barely fit. So I swore off of them. So I then had the bright idea that my husband could do it with me assisting. He rides a motorcycle and would make a good fit for these shops in all but one way. He's 62 so outside of the age range. I emailed the scheduler both about the age thing and whether it would be okay for me to accompany him since I knew he wouldn't want to do the report (it didn't specify in the guidelines whether anyone could accompany the "shopper". The scheduler was okay with both although she "didn't want to know" about me accompanying him. In the end, he didn't want to do it at all so I never found out if that would have worked.
Anyway, in a nutshell, depending on circumstances, parameters can be flexible.

I've been doing at least one movie theater a week testing the bar for ID compliance. Age is supposed to be up to 35 but the scheduler OKs me at 37 every time.