I have been really frustrated with the inconsistency with the editors of a particular restaurant shop I do.

I have been doing the reports for 4 years now. I tend to write more detail than expected to give a full report, so for example, if they ask for 5 to 7 sentences, I give 10 to 12.

One editor told me that I am giving too much detail. She said that I should be able to get all the information I need from one or two questions. I asked her politely what those one or two questions might be in order to answer 10 questions but she did not respond.

Then today, another editor gave me this criticism:
Please be sure to explain all the "no" answers as well as answers marked "n/a," even if it may seem obvious. We want to be sure that the answer was intentional. The more information you can give pertaining to these questions, the better and more valuable your shops will be. For example, rather than say, “We were not greeted immediately on our arrival,” a better response might be, “We were not greeted immediately on our arrival, as the hostess was seating another guest. She returned in 2 minutes and greeted us with a smile.” Or, “We were not greeted immediately upon our arrival, as the two hostesses were chatting with each other. We stood for 1 minute as they finalized their plans for the weekend.”

So I replied and asked her if she could tell me when I didn't actually do that in my report so I'd know for the next time.

She said that once the report is gone, they don't have access to it. Then she thought of some and replied.
'Some NAs not addressed:
Were you quoted a wait time at the front desk?
Was your quoted wait time accurate?
If not, was your delay acknowledged by a staff member?
If you ordered wine, did the server refill your glass?
Were all dessert items served at the right temperature?

So even if I was seated right away, she expected me to explain that they didn't quote a wait time. And that the quoted wait time wasn't accurate. And that the staff member did not acknowledge it. And that the server did not refill the wine glass because I didn't order wine. And that the dessert items were not served at the right temperature because I didn't actually order dessert.

This is so frustrating. I'm so close to quitting because I keep getting conflicting stories of how the reports should be written. Any tips on how to deal with this, aside from just quitting?

Ahhh, ACL, LOL. Yeah, you just have to deal with it, I am afraid.

You could tell which company just by what I wrote? lol

I have a similar situation with Coyle shops. Sometimes I respond and ask for clarification and sometimes I ignore it. It can be frustrating

@dlkbc wrote:

You could tell which company just by what I wrote? lol

Yup. The 5 to 7 sentences requirement gave it away. I don't quite know what to tell you. I've worked for ACL since I started in 2010. They were one of my first MSCs. I do at least 5 and sometimes as many as 15 shops for them every month. Only twice have I gotten questions on my reports. I don't know what problem you are experiencing but I can offer some tips based on what seems to be working for me.

1. If they ask for 5-7 sentences, give them 5-7. If they ask for 8-10, give them 8-10. Try not to exceed that by more than 2 extra sentences. Sometimes the more you write the more questions it raises.

2. Make some comment on ANY no or n/a answer.

3. Give the client the benefit of the doubt. The client gets penalized for no answers. If you did not order dessert, then they get a yes or a n/a on temperature. Because there was no dessert, they should not get a "dessert was not served at the right temperature because I did not actually order dessert." Comment that you did not order wine. If anyone at the table ordered wine and that person's glass was refilled, they get a yes, wine glasses were refilled.

4. If you are seated right away, always comment that you were seated immediately with no wait.

It's hard to tell why I get no questions ever and you are getting a bunch, but I will guess that your focus is not on the things that are important to them. You may be over-thinking because you want to give them a really good report and you are giving a lot of detail instead of what they really want. Read the questions and be sure you cover the information in the questions in your narrative. Extra things and detail are fine but the main focus is what they are asking you in the questions.

Do you keep copies of your reports? That would be a way to get feedback if you have gotten questions from the editor.

Thanks for your comments!
And yes, I always do keep all of my reports and photos.
I have been writing the way I have for 4 years and almost always get positive marks for my detail.
It just seems like there is absolutely no way I can keep within the 5 to 7 sentences if I am expected to answer n/a questions. For example, if I get seated right away, there are at least 3 other questions which are automatically n/a because I didn't wait. So the editor was saying that I should still explain them. In all 4 years, I have never had to explain n/a for wine because I didn't actually order wine (we never order wine on those shops so the answer has always been n/a for the top-ups). But this editor seems to think I have to explain it.
It has just been in the last couple of weeks that I have been getting conflicting comments. One editor said that I was writing too much. One editor said that I'm not writing enough. That's my frustration. I don't actually get paid for these, just reimbursed for the meal so I'm almost ready to walk.

Funny you posted this. I think we had the same editor as I received the exact same message. For the last two years I have received “rave reviews” from the editors and the schedulers as I do the pizza shop at a hard to schedule location once a month at a .5 miles from my house.

This editor asked me for clarification on a question that I answered “no” to. The funny thing was that I answered it in my narrative.

Don’t take it personal, I literally received the exact same feedback you did.

Yes editors can be absolutely different for the same company giving you conflicting advice and not just for ACL. I also over write but am trying to be more concise on reports.Sometimes you need very long sentences when you have multiple issues within a 5-7 sentences limit. My biggest issue is one company I work for where the editors send a Do Not Reply email address so if you are unclear on what they want or you just cannot comply there is no way to get that info to them. So far I have a very nice scheduler who will relay messages for me but if she leaves I may have an issue.

Additionally, they have new editors from time to time and it's a random crap shoot on which one is going to get your reports, an experienced editor or a newbie editor, and some just are way less uptight than others.

I used to be an editor for them, BTW!

On a slightly different take, i've had to shy away from one of my favorite companies. The shop instructions were contradictory and didn't make sense. The support wouldn't give answers. So i decided to take a break from them for awhile and maybe they'll get their act together.

My editor deducted a point because I missed the word "her" in my report.

Yikes, that's a bit ridiculous.

I just gave myself a 9 on a report that the editor gave me a 10 on months ago. I was doing a report and brought up a copy of a previous report for the same client as a sample for myself and noticed I wrote their instead of there in one of my answers.

I must be lucky in the editors that I get. Unless something goes crazy wrong during the shop I rarely use the suggested number of sentences in a narrative. But I do not get the kind of guff that others are reporting here. Just goes to show that the seems to be as much variation between editors at one MSC as there is between MSCs, I guess.

Yes, I was lucky for years and didn't know it. This has only seemed to happen recently.