@BirdyC wrote:

What's even more distressing than kids not learning proper skills during those years (as sad as that is) is the number of teachers who are lacking the most basic of skills. I read something from an English teacher the other day that contained numerous errors, including not using a possessive when one was called for, writing "everyday" when "every day" was called for, and simply butchering the construction of sentences. I was horrified. Not kidding about that. If this is what our kids are being taught, no wonder the competency level is through the floor.

Time to bring back Latin to middle and high schools.

@iShop123 wrote:

Time to bring back Latin to middle and high schools.

I totally agree. Nothing helped me more with English than the Latin I took!

@BirdyC wrote:

@iShop123 wrote:

Time to bring back Latin to middle and high schools.

I totally agree. Nothing helped me more with English than the Latin I took!

Not to be nosy, but.... was the Latin worth the arrest risk?

Seriously. Studying languages is useful in various ways. Why stop with Latin? We could gain language agility by studying Russian or other extant languages which encompass declensions, vocabulary, time, space, hardware, software, and context. How far, literally and figuratively, could fluency in the Russian language get a person in life?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/27/2018 04:07PM by Shop-et-al.

What is life?
Who am I?

@bgriffin wrote:

What is life?
Who am I?

You, ma'am or sir, are under consideration for an experimental training program. Smart assses and other wits are especially welcome. Your humor will help you as you undergo re-training and prepare for a new life... somewhere You will use your neoRussianness in unknown and possibly groundbreaking ways. Too much borscht, and you will be using it in wind-breaking ways. But I digress.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

But I digress.

No offense but you digressed several years ago.

@bgriffin wrote:

@Shop-et-al wrote:

But I digress.

No offense but you digressed several years ago.

I saw you there...

Not to sound pugnacious or anything, but for restaurant shops that ask did the server use this phrase or that phrase, suggest this or that, why not utilize a dictaphone? I bought one on Walmart.com for about $15 with cashback on my Walmart card. If the guidelines do not stipulate "Do Not Record". Record, record, record. As soon as I sit down at the table my husband and I say in a low voice to each other the description of the hostess. We text each other spellings of names. At the end of the day, you have accurate notes stated immediately after the interaction or pass-by. I do the same thing for cell-phone shops and sales shops. Grocery store shops take too long to listen to the tape although I have done it. For grocery store shops I take notes in the store, after the interaction I go to an area with no customers or employees, (not hard to find-organic food often has no one around) and jot it down on my "grocery list".
I had an issue with a gas station shop for Alta 360. The employee was sitting in a chair behind the counter, and I put "unable to determine height because the employee was sitting". The editor sent it back insisting on a height. I sent it back with emails to the top (boss man) stating it was ridiculous to try and force me to make up a height. I said based on what I could see of their upper body and finger length I would guess about "average" but again this is absolutely subjective.
I got an email back from the "top" stating that I was absolutely right.
He told me to be compassionate towards the editor because they had not been "instructed" what to do in this situation.
I have cut back on these shops quite a bit because they are severely underpaid and issues such as this make them a headache. I get a minimum of 20 from another MSC and make about 1200 every two weeks from them.
Several MSC's get away with underpaying for assignments because shoppers let them get away with it by continuing to do them. I've stopped doing shops for under ten dollars, even when they're easy. the only exception to this is when I want the reimbursed item and local grocery stores.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/28/2018 08:08PM by F and L TeleComm.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

Seriously. Studying languages is useful in various ways. Why stop with Latin?

Why study Latin? [www.jecanashville.org]
Yes, studying other languages helps develop the brain, but the study of Latin is uniquely valuable.

I agree that Alta360 is not worth the efforts for the money. I respect editors. I appreciate good editors who have my back. However, all editors need to be reasonable and look at the Big Picture. If someone is seated, there might be a medical reason. You can't guess or lie about it. Editors should accept what we report and move on. They were not there and we were. Not everything will fit in a simple box on every report.
I have done work for Alta 360 for many years. Mostly- low pay gas, convenience stores and retail. Lately, their editors have become too unreasonable about reports and the guidelines are not clear. So, I deleted future assignments and I am done working for them!
One Gas shop, has no set reimbursement for the purchase in convenience store. You should buy a bottle of water or candy bar. On this day, it was hot and water bottles had a BOGO. I got 2 bottles figuring they would not pay for it all. They only pay $3 on gas and I got $20 before it went up again.
Nothing on the report or guidelines said anything, at the time. Weeks later, editor kicked it back because I should have only bought one water bottle. OK, my mistake. So I agreed to re-do. I'm better than I did that day.
Ten days after re-do shop submission, new visit has been kicked back because I did not take a photo of the black case and clear bag soap dispenser in restroom. Yeap, the kind you can't tell are empty or not.
The reality is that this location has so many problems, one photo of soap dispenser, that can't show empty or full, is not going to reflect badly on the company in the eyes of the client. They should be more concerned with the torn up concrete exposing the tanks and the rusty, dirty canopy that will rip off someday in a storm. I attached 7 photos in first shop and 10 photos in the second.
Bottomline is -We are independent contractors/ business owners. We have to make decisions on which assignments are profitable to do and which are not. If Alta 360, can not train their editors to be reasonable and accept which information is imperative for the client to see the situation at a location, they are not worth our time and efforts.
All companies go through ups and down in business, When Mystery Shop Companies are down, shoppers are the ones taking the risks of not getting paid or working unprofitable hours, because of untrained or anal editors. Conversely, the good editors can save our pay and make your day!

When in doubt, all men are 5'10 and all women are 5'5". Easy peasy.

@LaGabby

I'm not sure which shop you did, but I find it odd your original shop was declined because you purchased 2 bottles of water. I would suggest an email to Susan about that.

The other two issues you addressed I have to disagree with you. The reason they want the photo of the empty soap dispenser that you can't tell is empty is because it shows you looked. Now if the location comes back and says she didn't even check, they can say here is the photo she took. It doesn't show that it's empty but do you really think she would go to the trouble of taking a photo if it was full?

As for the canopy and parking lot, we don't get to tell an MSC what they should or should not be concerned about and they don't get to tell their clients what they should or should not be concerned with.

I love shopping with Alta. I can do 4-5 shops in an hour including report time on the app...making $24+ an hour. I do about 50 shops a month for them (for about 2 years now) and my shops are rarely questioned. And it's always been a requirement for the shops in my area not to purchase the second promo item. If you go to the counter with 2 of them they aren't going to try to upsell.

Edited because I am typing on my phone.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/01/2018 12:58PM by JASFLALMT.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

And it's always been a requirement for the shops in my area not to purchase the second promo item. If you go to the counter with 2 of them they aren't going to try to upsell.

Ah. So it was the specific extra item that was the problem? So if it had been a bottled water and a bag of chips it would have been ok?

With mine there is a different promo item each month and it is pretty specific that I am only supposed to purchase one of them, and I am free to purchase anything else I would like. I know that different shops have different requirements in different areas, even the same chain, and in my area there is a reimbursement limit. Shops pay $6 and reimburse $4, though I get a bonus for picking up a large round each month. I usually get 1 500mL bottle of water, 1 Vitamin Water, and 1 granola bar, which comes to exactly $4 at the stores I do. Even if there are different requirements and purchase items in different regions, it makes sense that the promo item should always be one item so that you give the cashier an opportunity to upsell. Last month and this month you can get an extra bottle for .50 cents more.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Edited because I am typing on my phone.

LOL. I try to avoid doing that at all costs....

It's my day off so I was in bed. I don't like using my laptop in bed, and I was too lazy to walk over to my desktop.

Well, I do have a PF Chang's to do tonight but other than that no work. And that one really isn't work. I am pretty excited about the no narrative thing.

@LaGabby wrote:

The reality is that this location has so many problems, one photo of soap dispenser, that can't show empty or full, is not going to reflect badly on the company in the eyes of the client.

I do several convenience stores for Alta each month...just yesterday, I had one of those black soap dispensers that wouldn't pump out any soap. So I put one hand under it, and took a photo, to show no soap coming out. I've done that before...it's always accepted. It shows them that I checked the soap dispenser. Easy solution.