A scheduler who typically includes scolding instructions with her shop offers irritates me. I self assigned a job on Monday. There was a two week window to choose from, and I picked that day since I was driving to the town and making a short route. I received an automated email scolding me for picking the last available day to complete (not true), and basically warning me I had better complete it as agreed or face the consequences. I got that email about two hours after I had accepted the job, and my report was finished within an hour after I got back home. I have never submitted a late shop to this (or any other) company.

She makes me think twice about helping her when she sends out the begging emails. She can save her huffy emails for the people who deserve them.

ETA: Of course, two days later it is still awaiting editing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/07/2019 08:57PM by Threemom.

Yeah. All of that. The editing process is especially annoying after being hassled.

I understand that I am one person out of maybe hundreds that a scheduler has to deal with. It's reasonable if I remember them more than they do me. And I know that solid gold shoppers can still flake.

Yet this way of communicating is disrespectful. It is not motivating. It will make me think twice before working with that person again.

I guess we should thank such people for making future choices easier. There are some people who get me to go out of my way with a simple request, whereas others need to offer a significant bonus. It's all a win in the end.

I think I am pretty slow to anger, but I will not tolerate s snippy scheduler for long. I just don't need the work or want the angst. On the other hand, man I'd drive 60 miles RT to do a modest $13 teriyaki bowl shop, just because one of the nicer schedulers asked me and I could roll the shop in with other errands. One thing I can add is that it pays to be polite every time, no matter how wretchedly rude/grumpy/toxic the other person is being.

Everybody needs to look at the tone and content of their communications because we come to conclusions about a person based on the cues given us. Emails are the primary contact we have with schedulers and editors in this business and our emails are their primary way to contact us. I once went out of my way to meet a scheduler who was abrasive in emails and was disappointed that she was as obnoxious in person as by email because I did like the shops offered. I decided life was too short to work with/for her.

@Threemom wrote:

I have never submitted a late shop to this (or any other) company.

We all get tarred with the same brush I am afraid. Even in this forum serial flakers refuse to be held accountable for their actions.

The way I see it, if a scheduler (or other MSC rep) is snippy, condescending, etc., I will simply not take their work unless it is financially quite superior to my other options. In other words, they are welcome to be rude to me, but they are going to have to pay $$ for the privilege. (One of the many benefits of registering with well over 100 MSC's.)

@Flash wrote:

Everybody needs to look at the tone and content of their communications because we come to conclusions about a person based on the cues given us. Emails are the primary contact we have with schedulers and editors in this business and our emails are their primary way to contact us. I once went out of my way to meet a scheduler who was abrasive in emails and was disappointed that she was as obnoxious in person as by email because I did like the shops offered. I decided life was too short to work with/for her.

That's really weird that schedulers would be that way. I often meet receptionists who are like that. They are very bossy and rude sounding. No human empathy. They get upset in tone if I ask a few extra questions, etc. I feel like it's a power trip thing sometimes. Or, maybe they hate their jobs.....or even hate people!

The reason I said it's weird is because they are not technically in a very powerful position. They are "clerk"-like or secretary-like in status. Not a company supervisor, VP, GM, etc. Yet, they can be very abrasive and rude as you say.

I usually think, how did this person end up in customer service???! I'd hate to be the owner of that business and have that type of person scaring and offending customers away.

@shoptastic wrote:

I usually think, how did this person end up in customer service???! I'd hate to be the owner of that business and have that type of person scaring and offending customers away.

It literally 'blew my mind' during the recession that such folks could hold their jobs while many much more skilled in customer service were unable to find ANY work. It made me wonder, as I shopped them over and over again with deficiencies noted in reports over and over, what non-business hold such folks held over their supervisors. I was personally offended that crass, rude and slovenly individuals were not ditched in a time when an employer would have had a wide choice of candidates who could improve the business both with their skills and their attitudes and likely would be grateful enough for a decent employer to not give notice as soon as they found 'something better'.

Keep in mind that during the recession a lot of the people worth their pay lost their jobs to warm bodies who could be paid far less. My husband was one of those casualties. He was well known for his excellent customer service, and got dumped for someone less expensive. He's worked hard to get back to the pay he was making 12 years ago.

I am well aware that there were situations such as that, and I am aware of folks who took a significant pay cut to hold onto their jobs. I am aware of a couple of employers in my area who have diligently restored salaries to their previous levels for those who stayed with them. I am also aware of small business employers who have not restored salaries and have cut employees to 29 hours a week (so that they don't qualify for health insurance) while upping their own personal lifestyle. The list of companies in my area I personally will not do business with keeps growing. It includes companies who use their for-profit business to promote religion, bigotry, political agendas and those who walk all over their employees.

There is no way that I would allow a scheduler or anyone else treat me other than respectfully. I treat them respectfully and expect the same in return. We should be working as a team, helping each other out, I call it badge syndrome or immaturity.

One of my favorite schedulers with a certain MSC got promoted several months ago and her replacement is stiff in manner, though polite. I always write in a cheerful, professional tone but the new scheduler is rigid and abrupt in her response. My previous scheduler would bonus hard-to-fill locations near the end of the round, but the new one gets irritated if I ask for even $3 more and doesn't like to negotiate. In the past couple of months when I have known I was going to be in an area of some hard-to-fill shops I have asked for a $1-$2 bonus on a few locations and been denied, then the following week the shops are bonused for more than I asked--but I am no longer going to be in that area so I can no longer do them, which irritates her even more. Last month I self-assigned a couple of shops that were due within a few days and asked if I could have a due date of even a few more days later, and she sent back a chastising email telling me that she would do it this time, but to not self-assign shops if I can't do them by the due date (it was still several weeks before the deadline for these shops). I replied that I never said I couldn't due them by the current due date, I just asked for a few days extension since I was going to be in that area on the later date. I told her that f she had said no, I would have completed them on the original date listed, and I thanked her for her help. No response to that. If fact, she only responds to about 4 out of 5 emails I send to her, especially if it's a bonus request she doesn't want to give, then crickets. It has now gotten to the point that I have quit asking, and each month there are leftover shops on the board close to the deadline. I have been communicating with my previous scheduler and she sympathizes with me about all of this but her hands are tied. It's frustrating.

There are some schedulers that I used to jump through all kinds of hoops for. Do jobs that I should have got double the money for, and drive half way across the state for. But every single one of them has moved on, one got married and moved to ME, most just move to different projects, or different companies. Scheduling has to be one of the most difficult jobs, I have no doubt about that. There are some schedulers that I won't go to the mat for either, not for any amount of money. And some that I will only do routes with significant incentives for, because they make snide remarks about having to reschedule my shops because of my health issues once in a while.

I had a situation with a new scheduler that should never have happened. She called me and begged me to go out and do a shop, on a day that I wasn't going to go out at all. 30 mile trip into town, only a 4 hour window to do the shop, so she had to KNOW that there was at least a significant chance that I was doing the job that she had begged me to do earlier that day. But she called me, in the middle of my shop, while I was at the cash register, the WORST possible time, and got me flustered, and pissed off. Because of this she had standing orders to NEVER call me again, but she could text me to offer jobs or whatever. A few weeks went by, and suddenly the program changed and they started adding steps to the shops, and more narratives, without offering any additional pay or incentives. Then an editor picked fight with me over the end time of the shop, because apparently, out of thin air, the rules for the shops changed and the end time wasn't supposed to be when I left the store, but the time on the receipt. Then, magically, I was no longer allowed to self-assign, I was given scraps and other folks' sloppy seconds (back up) instead of the 1 - 3 shops I did every week for 6 years. And when I complained about that, they cut me from the program. I, for my part, have quit working for the company. They still offer jobs in emails and text messages for other programs, but I'm not playing.

Dang, Morledzep. That sucks.

I can't remember what MSC it was, but I applied for a job and got the most arrogant, condescending, accusatory "standard form" assignation e-mail I've ever received. The entire tone of the e-mail was that of a grade-school teacher lecturing and scolding a child about obligations and responsibilities. I was so pissed off I almost cancelled the job. I knew it wasn't directed at me personally, but that's no way to make sure you get a shopper's best work. I think I replied to the e-mail saying that I was a professional and didn't need to be lectured. I did the job, but I haven't worked for that MSC again. As I'm typing, I'm remembering who it was for, I think....

JMRidgeway?

Morledzep, why in the world would you answer the phone while you are on a shop at the register? I am not trying to be mean. Maybe it's just better to let it go to voicemail sometimes.

Isn't one of the requirements that while on a shop that the phone be silenced or better yet

@Flash wrote:

I am also aware of small business employers who have not restored salaries and have cut employees to 29 hours a week (so that they don't qualify for health insurance) while upping their own personal lifestyle. The list of companies in my area I personally will not do business with keeps growing. It includes companies who use their for-profit business to promote religion, bigotry, political agendas and those who walk all over their employees.

As it should be. There are several companies with whom I won't do business due to their getting involved in political points that have nothing to do with their businesses. My list is going to be different than yours (or anyone else's.) We each ought to be patronizing those businesses that support our own values. Personally, I'd rather pay a little more for locally-sourced goods than not, but that's my decision. Not going to attempt to force it on others.

As far as cutting hours to part-time, do you know how much it costs to offer healthcare? On average, over $6k per year. For a low-skilled employee, that's a hefty burden on the business owner. There are companies who can shoulder that for part-timers: FedEx, Lowes, Costco, and Whole Foods are a few.

These posts make me even more grateful for schedulers like KSS Shelly, someone that all other schedulers ought to emulate.

@iShop123 wrote:

As far as cutting hours to part-time, do you know how much it costs to offer healthcare? On average, over $6k per year. For a low-skilled employee, that's a hefty burden on the business owner. There are companies who can shoulder that for part-timers: FedEx, Lowes, Costco, and Whole Foods are a few.

I don't know how much it costs today to provide decent healthcare, but before I decided to retire more than a decade ago, my partner and I went through the healthcare plans each year to select the one we felt best met the needs of ourselves and our employees while providing an affordable employee contribution to expand their coverage to a family plan. In those days the cost was around $1000 per employee per month. We looked for a good plan not for purely altruistic reasons. We got a plan WE wanted to be covered by too. And it was a business expense so deductible as it was offered equally to all employees.

Agreed on kssshelly..we had disagreement..I dont want to go into details because I know she browses this board...I asked for another shot at the shop and she let me...but I have been working with her for a long time so that might have helped

In contrast...had this aforementioned attitude with another msc and deactivated myself...ughhhhh just not worth the hassle.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/26/2019 01:24PM by dawnhu.

This is on the subject and it doesn't stop happening. A certain MSC I'm signed with and can't get off, calls me and begs me to do a small shop an hour one way for a few bucks. I keep telling her to please not call and have written that I don't travel to that town and they have never had a job I'll do, having two of the the same shops in towns I don't go to....is that hard to understand. I can accept the auto emails, but these personal phone calls are making my skin boil, if anyone has a reason to be rude, it's with this scheduler, and another phone call will make me de-activate.

You could remove your phone number from your profile. Then they would have to just email you.

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

This is on the subject and it doesn't stop happening. A certain MSC I'm signed with and can't get off, calls me and begs me to do a small shop an hour one way for a few bucks. I keep telling her to please not call and have written that I don't travel to that town and they have never had a job I'll do, having two of the the same shops in towns I don't go to....is that hard to understand. I can accept the auto emails, but these personal phone calls are making my skin boil, if anyone has a reason to be rude, it's with this scheduler, and another phone call will make me de-activate.

@Threemom.. I have some idea about this scheduler if we are talking about the same person. Oh yes, she chides and mocks too, sometimes. But, I get most of my shops from her. So, that's that..

is this alta360 you're talking about?

alta360?

@JASFLALMT wrote:

One of my favorite schedulers with a certain MSC got promoted several months ago and her replacement is stiff in manner, though polite. I always write in a cheerful, professional tone but the new scheduler is rigid and abrupt in her response. My previous scheduler would bonus hard-to-fill locations near the end of the round, but the new one gets irritated if I ask for even $3 more and doesn't like to negotiate. In the past couple of months when I have known I was going to be in an area of some hard-to-fill shops I have asked for a $1-$2 bonus on a few locations and been denied, then the following week the shops are bonused for more than I asked--but I am no longer going to be in that area so I can no longer do them, which irritates her even more. Last month I self-assigned a couple of shops that were due within a few days and asked if I could have a due date of even a few more days later, and she sent back a chastising email telling me that she would do it this time, but to not self-assign shops if I can't do them by the due date (it was still several weeks before the deadline for these shops). I replied that I never said I couldn't due them by the current due date, I just asked for a few days extension since I was going to be in that area on the later date. I told her that f she had said no, I would have completed them on the original date listed, and I thanked her for her help. No response to that. If fact, she only responds to about 4 out of 5 emails I send to her, especially if it's a bonus request she doesn't want to give, then crickets. It has now gotten to the point that I have quit asking, and each month there are leftover shops on the board close to the deadline. I have been communicating with my previous scheduler and she sympathizes with me about all of this but her hands are tied. It's frustrating.

What I find wrong with emails is you cannot hear their tone of voice when they send an email. I once,when I first started doing jobs ,replied to a scheduler and she came back with,"Why are you so mad?" I had just finished writing up a job that required all caps and answered her question in all caps. I did not know that when you wrote in caps that suggested anger but I sure do know that now.

@jay225 wrote:

is this alta360 you're talking about?

Certainly fits. Susan is one of the nicest schedulers ever!

@iShop123 wrote:

These posts make me even more grateful for schedulers like KSS Shelly, someone that all other schedulers ought to emulate.

Shelly as well as Kate & Ryan Rattner are ones I’d bend over backwards for for general MSP work. They are just great people — but for general attitude and process, I have to give it to Josh and Jannah at Mintel. Along with Informa, Mintel is one of my favorite MSPs... all I can say is that I almost feel like Mintel (and also to a lesser extent Informa) is a pretty special bird and different from most MSPs. For those who do lots of work with them, you’ll know what I mean... all I can say is I wished more MSPs took a page from their book. I’ve NEVER felt talked down to, NEVER been hassled about bonuses, they always seem to work with my schedules and routing, reimburse for supplies and travel with no fuss, and anytime they suggest a shop to me, it’s usually a personal e-mail and it’s certainly something I want to do.

I feel like an adult with these companies... I realize they lean more to the “research” side of things and probably have some more leeway on scheduling — but every single MSP/scheduler could learn how to manage and talk to shoppers from them. Oh yeah — they pay every 2 weeks too.

Contrast that to some snappy responses I’ve received from supposedly very desperate schedulers. I don’t want to name the company — but will say it’s a Sassie company that uses plenty of bright colors in their postings that feel like you are being talked down to from the start — but I offered to do a grocery store for a $30 bonus (which isn’t unreasonable since I get this from Trendsource regularly when they are desperate) that I knew was super hard to fill—but I happened to be passing through on a family outing. The scheduler replied one line “No way in hell will I pay you a $30 bonus.” well... no way in hell will I ever offer to help her out again lol

N

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2019 03:52AM by ngbmediashop.