@BarefootBliss wrote:

As my grandma used to say, when you pay in peanuts, you get monkeys.
Who needs a skilled shopper, with AI?

At first, I must admit, that I found your reply offensive. But then I put my emotions aside and realized you are partially correct, which is why I tend to stick with shops, without a lot of narrative. At the same time, I’m fairly good at paying attention to detail, especially if I preform the same types of shops multiple times.
There are people who enjoy new challenges and then there are others who prefer to stay with what’s familiar. That’s the wonderful thing about mystery shopping, as there seems to be something that fits everyone’s personality and skill level.

It's interesting (to me) to see my comments internalized. I sometimes take low paying shops and...I don't consider the monkey reference to be derogatory to me...for me, it implies that the buyer of the service must lower their expectations to be in line with the amount they're paying for the service...i.e. you get what I give you and if you want more, you pay more and get more.

For what it is worth, if anything, I completely agree with French Farmer; I was also so educated.

@Jusa wrote:

I did major in English, and although people still believe what you stated, it is not a rule to not end a sentence with a preposition. Please refer to Merriam Webster and other writing style guides if you'd like.

I frequently post from my phone and typing can be awkward, so there may be some missing commas or misspelled words in my posts from time to time.

Edited to add that I am also a former editor for both A-Closer-Look and Ardent Services (the latter is no longer providing MS services).

@French Farmer wrote:

I was not an English major, but I was educated in English to not end a sentence with a preposition.
Both of your first sentences (yours and the AI version) do so.
Isn't that a hoot!

Hi, I talk into my phone all the time and get all sorts of weird stuff =)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2025 11:47AM by Iluv2shopUSA.

Why sure. It's a very common misconception, but easily debunked by referring to any higher education style writing guides. Or just Google it.

@shopperbob wrote:

For what it is worth, if anything, I completely agree with French Farmer; I was also so educated.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2025 06:50PM by Jusa.

I have seen some hilarious stuff myself! Oh yes, and with just texting or typing on the phone, autocorrect can be really funny too.

And this forum is an informal setting, like talking amongst friends (at least we can hope LOL). As long as no one is butchering the English language so badly that we can'tunderstand what they are saying, who cares? We aren't getting paid to write a report here!

@Iluv2shopUSA wrote:

@Jusa wrote:

I did major in English, and although people still believe what you stated, it is not a rule to not end a sentence with a preposition. Please refer to Merriam Webster and other writing style guides if you'd like.

I frequently post from my phone and typing can be awkward, so there may be some missing commas or misspelled words in my posts from time to time.

Edited to add that I am also a former editor for both A-Closer-Look and Ardent Services (the latter is no longer providing MS services).

@French Farmer wrote:

I was not an English major, but I was educated in English to not end a sentence with a preposition.
Both of your first sentences (yours and the AI version) do so.
Isn't that a hoot!

Hi, I talk into my phone all the time and get all sorts of weird stuff =)

Bliss inquires--Who needs a skilled shopper, with AI?

Bob replies--I only checked back four years. Below are my number of jobs that fit category 1: Money of a minimum of $60 per shop.

2022--18
2023--7
2024--4
2025 to date--1

In addition, I recalled my best year 2012 and checked--36. When one considers inflation, I am profiting far less than yesteryear.

jusa rhetorically inquires--.......who cares?

Bob replies--I do, because if I permit myself to slough, I tend to develop bad habits. Upon becoming a shopper at the age of 62, it was difficult for me to eliminate contractions and to remember to spell the numerals from one to ten. This, though, applies only to me. How other's frame their compositions, is of no concern to me

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/21/2025 08:51PM by shopperbob.

I dont know enough about AI. But can it rate what you felt about the wait person at a $100 per plate dinner totaling over $300 made you feel?

There's no way I can imagine that. And I'm a tech person.

Some things can't be automated IMHO. Human interaction being most obvious.

@wrosie wrote:

I dont know enough about AI. But can it rate what you felt about the wait person at a $100 per plate dinner totaling over $300 made you feel?

There's no way I can imagine that. And I'm a tech person.

Some things can't be automated IMHO. Human interaction being most obvious.

The way I use AI, is to make how I’m feeling, more understandable. It’s like having a personal editor at your fingertips. As far as I know, AI can’t know how you feel, it can only change the way you want to say it. And that’s just it, you have to write it out first and if you aren’t good at using descriptive words, it helps with making what you write, to sound more professional.
You’ll always have to proofread what AI writes, to make sure it did not change your perspective on what actually happened before you add it to your report.

As I understood it, ending a sentence in a preposition is supposedly acceptable for informal conversations, yet not when doing so as a business correspondence.
In another type of correspondence, I was admonished by an editor for not using an apostrophe when adding comments regarding Lowe's. I typed in Lowes.
Another editor told me I must use capitalization when adding the comment N/A. I used n/a.
I suppose we all have our degrees of perfidy according to the editor's own language exactitude of annoyances.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/22/2025 04:58PM by French Farmer.

[www.merriam-webster.com]

[www.scribbr.com]

[www.prometheuseditorial.com]

I wish I was allowed to copy and paste a screenshot from the above references.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2025 05:39AM by Jusa.

Lowe's does have an apostrophe, the editor was wrong about their registered name. Now if they were talking about Popeyes or something similar, of course, no apostrophe.

I have encountered only one scheduler who I think hates shoppers. I think that person hates everyone, themself included.

Just as the quality of shoppers varies so too does scheduler and editor quality vary. A small handful are excellent. Most are decent. What I don't appreciate are editors who either make up guideline rules or simply have poor English language skills.

A few editors have misinterpreted guidelines. On a couple occasions, i successfully brought editors to read guidelines as I had. On other occasions, I escalated escalated issues and prevailed.

A few editors have taken issue with my "invention" of words. I send send links to the OED or other quality dictionaries and won my case, sometimes with a thank you or an apology but often without a remark.

My very favorite involved a narrative which guidelines instructed to be "thorough and detailed covering every aspect of the encounter." After submitted what I considered a concise 2.5 page narrative meeting that instruction, I learned that to that particular MSC a thorough and detailed covering every aspect of the encounter was one which was not more than a paragraph in length with sentences being brief - ideally not more than four words in length, without compound sentences, written with passive verbs rather than active verbs; the use of commas, semi-colons, dashes, brackets, braces, and colons were a big no-no.

The best are those few MSCs which wish shoppers to go above and beyond the guidelines and to including bot subjective remarks and the shopper's own analysis. I know of not more than three which do. In each case, they pay substantially more and are more (sincerely) appreciative.

Different parts of the country obviously have different managers, schedulers and editors who are kind and professional. Unfortunately from what I’ve seen online, there are just as many who ghost us, cheat us and think they can treat us like crap. Mkt. Force is the latest example. When they hear that people are afraid to ruffle their feathers, get banned and lose income they know they can use it to avoid accountability. They’re all trending in the direction of paying us less because they think they can get away with it in order to make more for themselves. Do you honestly think they’re getting less from their clients?Everyone should have their limits and not let them take advantage of you. Once you go down that rabbit hole they’ll brand you.

Minime comments--Once you go down that rabbit hole they’ll brand you.

Bob agrees--Many yrs. ago, when I was an Ipsolite, the scheduler contacted me concerning a bank inquiry I had completed in the past; I quoted a fee of $50. She mentioned I had a prior visit at $30, to which I stated that was due to my passing through that village, which would not be the case that week. The call was terminated by her explaining Ipsos tracked fees and would not increase. I am guessing, unless they are in a bind, that is accurate.

Yep I've had the same issue as well. I just contact the project manager and let them know what's going on and they were able to assist. I thought it was just me but yea a lot of these editors are on a power trip. Thankfully not all but I have experienced it

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2025 06:56PM by nikkinicky.

As someone who has several friends in this business who are editors, not all companies or programs pay 1/2 rejection fee. I know one big company that only pays .25 cents regardless of how much time an editor spends on their reports. They can send them back and have spent 15-20 minutes typing out what needs to be fixed and then receive it back without all the required information and guess what? They still only get paid .25 cents instead of the regular rate for that shop because of the lazy shoppers who cannot read the shopper guidelines and take time to submit the correct documentation and it has to be rejected. It's easy, please read the guidelines and take your time to look over your report before submitting. Then everyone gets paid.