I started to apply to a temp agency to supplement my mystery shopping. These are some the questions they actually asked: ( I never finished the application)
1) Please check the category that best describes your current use of cocaine.

2) In the past two years, how often have you had to physically hurt a co-worker to get him/her to leave you alone?

3) Please check the category that best describes your current use of non-prescription illegal amphetamines.

4) How often have you inflated the amount of your loss when claiming insurance money?

5)Please check the category that best describes your current use of illegal drugs.

You have got to be kidding!

@HonnyBrown wrote:

You have got to be kidding!

I am not kidding. I stopped filling out the application. If this is the kind of people they employ, I don't need to work for them. LOL

wow! no words for this one!

Actually, that’s probably the kind of people they are trying NOT to employ.

You'd think no one would be dumb enough to answer those questions incorrectly but then Ryan Lochte happens.

What's a Ryan Lochte?

Maybe the next question was: "How many lawsuits have been filed against you for sexual harrassment?"

Ryan Lochte is a very good but very dumb swimmer who was suspended for 13 months or something by US Swimming today because he posted a pic on social media of him getting an IV of a banned performance enhancing drug.

@TroyHawkins wrote:

Actually, that’s probably the kind of people they are trying NOT to employ.

I'm with Troy. They have to ask in order to weed out the unemployable.

When you quit out of the application, you end up in the same category as them; Unemployable

They have drug tested me for MS jobs. Is it safe to assume that all shoppers are drug users?

I used to hire temps once in a while. I would guess that the agency is asking those questions in all seriousness, trying to weed out those stoned and/or stupid enough to answer "42 times, man...uh...once."

Go ahead and sign up. You'll be a star. You might even get a permanent job out of it. A lot of people do.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@TroyHawkins wrote:

Actually, that’s probably the kind of people they are trying NOT to employ.

I'm with Troy. They have to ask in order to weed out the unemployable.

When you quit out of the application, you end up in the same category as them; Unemployable

They have drug tested me for MS jobs. Is it safe to assume that all shoppers are drug users?

I've never been drug tested for a mystery shop. Why were you drug tested?

Drug testing would be for audits or other sensitive shops/assignments where you would also likely get a background check. If this client or the nature of the assignment is that sensitive to the corrupting influence of after-hours behavior and if that is what they would require of employees, it is all part of the screening process.

Think about it. For the basic work most of us start out doing, all we do is fill out the application. If you are working as an outside contractor around a business with high theft items or involved with regulated items or auditing protocols in testing or handling across any number of industries or settings, the contracting companies need to field a contracting pool that reflects higher standards than the general population for sensitive work.

Minor traffic violations are one thing. Check fraud, a shoplifting incident, insurance fraud, you get a record like that, nobody wants that in their business. (I have been contacted by a couple of companies to pursue different assignments or opportunities in a separate division that pays more for the type of work. I will probably look into this once the kids are in school again).

But then again, the electorate has lower standards it seems.

Take Florida. I think in his former life Rick Scott was involved in one of the largest Medicare fraud cases in U.S. history. He plead the fifth like 60 or 70 times in congressional testimony. I think his board of directors gave him the boot, not sure. I wonder how much they paid him to leave? Time to turn politician.

@johnb974 wrote:

Why were you drug tested?

The short answer; To be sure I wasn't on drugs.

Seriously though, each company has their own policy. There used to be a grocery chain that hired shoppers as employees to exhibit more control over them, and one of the qualifications was that each applicant took a oral swab drug test at the orientation.

I wasn't offended by that because after reading this forum for a decade, I know about the variety of people that sometimes try to take on MSing. I was happy because I knew I was getting into a system where shoppers and the MSC has some basic trust established at the start. They had met me in person and had some confidence that I could show up dressed appropriately, not be on drugs and perform the shops. That's (sadly) ahead of where you start with many MSC's. When there was an issue with a shop at that company, they had my back. They also never took the road of trusting the employee over the shopper since all parties were employees!

If a company is doing their part to weed out unacceptable employees, that means they are going to be potentially putting trust in you and placing you in jobs where that sort of behavior is unacceptable....which I assume from your offense at the questions is the kind of work you like to be in.

@johnb974 wrote:

I am not kidding. I stopped filling out the application. If this is the kind of people they employ, I don't need to work for them. LOL

I guess my feeling is that if this is the kind of people they attract with their assignments, I don't need to work for them. This is why I don't work for a handful of MSCs out there.

Years ago in another (major) city I was a professional temp, and made really good money. I only worked for the companies with the highest reputations. These days the industry has totally changed, and the perception of "temp," and the idea that every temp is looking for a "permanent job," has caused me to move on.

Temp agencies these days employ mostly people in industrial settings. My last full-time job was in a setting where we employed temps driving forklifts and other such equipment around a warehouse, and we would drug test people (temp and permanent) at random. The number of people who would test positive was staggering.

I worked for an aerospace company for over 28 years. My last 3 years was as a temp. It was incredible how I was treated as a temp. The people I worked with on the floor, were great, no change. The new management that was hired in when I became a temp treated the temps like second class citizens. For the company Christmas luncheon, temps were told they were not invited and told to just go home. I started to leave, when one of my friend's stood up and said, "John, where are you going? You're with us. John is invited" Others stood up and said, "John is with us" Management was suddenly very quite. Being labeled "Temp" makes a difference in some jobs.

That aerospace company management didn't realize how great all of their employees, perm and temp, really were.

john, you were a temp or a contractor?

@HonnyBrown wrote:

john, you were a temp or a contractor?

For 28 years I was an employee. After 911 I was laid off for a year, got hired back as a temp for 3 years. It was incredible how badly the temps were treated. No insurance, no vacation time, no holiday pay, could not take part in any company events.

Oh, wow, that's right! The aerospace industry was hit hard.

They probably want to screen out people like this: [www.youtube.com].

And there is always this:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Seriously, John.

Cue the music: [www.youtube.com]

@JASFLALMT wrote:

And there is always this:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Seriously, John.

LMAO.

@johnb974 wrote:

For 28 years I was an employee. After 911 I was laid off for a year, got hired back as a temp for 3 years. It was incredible how badly the temps were treated. No insurance, no vacation time, no holiday pay, could not take part in any company events.

How is that treated badly? You work for the TEMP AGENCY, not the company. You agreed to their terms. You're not part of the company. If you wanted to be, you should have applied.

@iShop123 wrote:

@johnb974 wrote:

For 28 years I was an employee. After 911 I was laid off for a year, got hired back as a temp for 3 years. It was incredible how badly the temps were treated. No insurance, no vacation time, no holiday pay, could not take part in any company events.

How is that treated badly? You work for the TEMP AGENCY, not the company. You agreed to their terms. You're not part of the company. If you wanted to be, you should have applied.

I worked for the same company for 28 year before I was made a temp. They were not hiring anyone permanent. I had 28 years of experience with the company. The new management didn't care, those 28 years of experience were ignored...YET management would come to me if they had questions. I finally started telling them, "I don't know, I'm just temp, remember" It is being treated badly when you're doing the same work as the permanent workers, but told you cannot take part in any company events, no holiday or sick pay, no insurance.

@johnb974 wrote:

I worked for the same company for 28 year before I was made a temp. They were not hiring anyone permanent. I had 28 years of experience with the company. The new management didn't care, those 28 years of experience were ignored...YET management would come to me if they had questions. I finally started telling them, "I don't know, I'm just temp, remember" It is being treated badly when you're doing the same work as the permanent workers, but told you cannot take part in any company events, no holiday or sick pay, no insurance.

..... You are under the payroll of your Temp Agency, not the company working with the Temp Agency. So complain to your Temp Agency for no holiday, sick pay or insurance. As for company event, that depends on the company.

My company sometimes hire temp designers and engineers when we need to load up temporarily for a project. They're under the payroll of the staffing agency and under their terms for paid-time off, on a contract to contract basis, until they're able to find a good payoff and commission by getting them hired full-time (or part-time) by a company.

To respond to the company you're working for, "I don't know, I'm just temp, remember," when it sounds like you know the answers is quite immature and unprofessional.... Regardless if you made a transition from a full-time employee to a temp.

The company decides if they want to give you sick pay, holiday pay. The company told the temps they were not invited to any company functions. Treat me like a second class worker, you get second class work. I have no loyalty to your company. Something doesn't get shipped, too bad, not my problem. I'll go work for someone else.

By the way, I was offered to come back as permanent on the condition my pay was cut from $18 an hour to $14, My job title was changed from technician, to assembler, and I keep doing the work of a technician. Even HR told me not to accept it. I refused the offer, and was kept on. When I did leave there, they were begging me to come back. They didn't have anyone that could do my job. No one knew how to test and repair the old units. I went back later, talking to my old supervisor and just joking I looked around and said, "At least the place didn't fall down after I left". She looked at the floor, shook her head and said "John it almost did".

I find the lack of self awareness here remarkable. In other threads on this board you brag about your dishonest timings, and in this thread you are outraged at being asked about dishonesty, among other things. *SMH*