I'll be doing one shortly and was curious if anyone here has done one and about how many hours overall it took to complete. I talked to Jamie, the scheduler, about it because I have to leave early two days in order to pick up my son.

Also, were the patrons nice about filling it out or did they treat you like a bother? Is there an incentive for them to fill it out (like a free appetizer) so they'll be less likely to feel I'm bugging them?

For the fat fee, there is NO WAY I'm passing it up! Just wanted to know about an average time it takes and how much I need to prepare myself for potentially ornery guests. LOL Thanks!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2011 09:00PM by AlwaysAngie.

Nope, I have never done a shop for them. They have nothing in my area. Wish they did.

Like anything in MSing, the fee is usually commensurate with the amount of work and PITA factor involved. Meaning....if there's a fat check involved, expect to be working hard and doing something potentially not very fun. I did one of these many years ago for another company.

The attitude of the guests may be affected heavily be where you are located, I think. Hopefully the holiday season will be a blessing for you, though. People are generally a bit nicer this time of year.

For anyone considering one of these assignments, go stand outside XYZ restaurant for 5 minutes and ask a question of people leaving. It's a pretty good barometer of how your day will go on the assignment.

lucky7s Wrote:
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> Nope, I have never done a shop for them. They have
> nothing in my area. Wish they did.


Barb, is that you?

Thanks Steve. Two good things about this shop is now they only need 200 instead of 300 survey cards but for the same price as before. So the client has adjusted that in our favor. When I thought it was 300 needed, I divided the hours by the pay and it came up to $12 or $15 an hour. I'm not sure what it is with needing 200 now but it would be a little better.

The second good thing is this is done inside the restaurant. I drop off the card at their table and they fill it out at their convenience. So it's warm and they can't run! LOL If it required me to stand outside and stop people to ask them questions, I wouldn't want to do it. First, it's too easy for people to walk past and completely ignore you. Second, it's too freakin' cold in December in WNY!

I should make a disclaimer that I edit for ACE so I do have access to the reports. However, the only thing the reports have are the days worked (not hours) and the number of surveys gathered per day. All of the ones I looked at made the quota and not all needed every day. But the information is so vague that I thought I'd ask to get a better idea. It certainly didn't ask about uncooperative customers, either. I talked to Jamie, the scheduler, because I have a three year old to pick up off the bus for pre-K on Thursday. My 19 year old can get him on the other days, if needed. So I was worried about having to leave early one day and meeting the quota. I hope my bubbly personality wins 'em over. I can be charming WHEN I wanna be.

Well, I finished mine last week and got notification of payment today. They weren't too bad or too stressful because I approached the customers at their tables, left the surveys with them, and was able to give them a coupon for a free appetizer or dessert on their next visit. Others started catching on and would want the coupon, which made it easy to get the reports. I'd say less than 5% of people refused to do the surveys and out of those, three or four people were short with me when I approached their tables.

The pay averaged about $15-17 an hour and were paid within a week so I would do them again. If I had to stand outside and hope people stopped to talk to me, I don't think I would. But dropping off a survey at a table then walking away made it much simpler. Not nearly as stresful as I had anticipated.