I've done several shops for Alan and he's fun to communicate with. I had some personal problems in December and had to cancel some shops because I couldn't focus. I basically failed on two shops and then decided to cancel the rest until I got my head together. I was open about the reason to schedulers since I was a newbie and because I wanted them to know I was cancelling for a duly serious reason and not just flaking out. Most schedulers cancelled without giving me any grief, which I appreciated, and is really all you can expect.
A couple of schedulers, including Alan, went the extra mile to reply with some kind words of encouragement. I was only about a month into mystery shopping at that time and it really meant a lot to me to have a kind word in a sea of anonymity. It is overwhelming to coordinate and manage all these shops on a good day, much less when I felt like my life was upside down! I took a few weeks off and have been ramping up little by little, until I feel back to 100% but I felt able to reach out to Alan and others who were kind and get some new gigs, which helped me get back into the swing of things.
I appreciate you, Alan!