They want me to write about my most recent casual dining experience to submit my application. Here's the problem: I haven't really had time to go out for casual dining since March. I'm always at rehearsal. I literally *do not remember* the last time I had a meal out that was more sophisticated than Chipotle, much less details about that time.

What should I do? I could easily write something about the Taco Bell drivethru, but that's not casual dining. (Not by the definition they're using, anyway.)

Make one up.

My application experiences are generally a combination of a few different events. Just describe a greeting, upsell, food delivery, entree, check back, etc. depending on how much you think they are looking for. I would do a mostly positive experience with just a couple negatives noted. They are looking at your writing style more than an accurate picture of an event for this.

I would personally consider Chipotle casual.

Nina, didn't you say you were into acting? I agree with LindaM ~ make one up! Imagine yourself in the scenario, and make one up. Have fun with it.

Imagine one, and that will be your experience. Write it up, sharing the details with perfect spelling and grammar.

they just want to see if you can write a coherent sentence. My last sample narrative about my best/ worst dining experience was about a bag of animal crackers.

They're not going to read it anyway.

From what I understood from folks with ACL a few years ago, the writing samples were indeed read closely and the shopper assigned their beginning ranking in the company based on their writing competency. The ranking determines what shops you are allowed to see. My further understanding was that new-to-them shoppers were allowed to request, but not self assign. Once shops were successfully performed and reported, self assignment is allowed but still limited to the number allowed per client. So if a client has 15 locations in your area, a new shopper would only be able to request, a longer term shopper could self assign one and request others, a longer term shopper might be allowed to self assign more to a limit and then request others.

I disagree with Hojo. I was contacted by ACL and another company to perform higher end shops based solely on my writing sample. Both offers were my first time working with the MSCs. Come to think of it, I was offered several shops based on a conversation with a scheduler. She said that my "phone persona" would be perfect for a particular shop that they were trying to fill.

I can't believe all the people advising shoppers to lie on an application.

Lie? Really? They want you to write about a casual dining experience. It's lying if you never had one. John Douglas, retired former FBI profiler, made up a book report on the spur of the moment in mddle school and earned an, "A". Well maybe not all the way earned, but he executed the report par excellence! And maybe he went beyond the letter of the law on the book thing...he just wrote on in his mind!

If the experience, real or imagined, is yours, and you wrote it to the satisfaction of the MSC, then the task is completed.

Hoju Wrote:
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> They're not going to read it anyway.


^^^^ This.

I normally just copy / paste some narrative from whatever report I am working on.

They do not read it.

The bottom line is that whether it is ACL or any other company, what they are looking for is an ability to convey detail in an intelligent and factual manner, devoid of opinion and with as little issue with English spelling, grammar and punctuation a possible. No editor is going to want to spend a lot of time correcting your grammar. Punctuation is often critical to understanding what is being conveyed. Sequencing is also important.

"My menu had food and drink stains on it." "My menu was dirty." Which gives you a better picture of the condition of the menu?

"Some people did not like their food." "The couple at an adjacent table called over their server because they believed the chicken was undercooked. The manager was called over and promptly replaced the dish, asking the guest to cut into the new serving to make certain it was fully cooked."

"The restroom was filthy." "The restroom had an overflowing trash can. Two out of the three stalls had tissue on the floor and the stall I used the toilet overflowed when flushed."

"Our utensils were a mess." "My fork tongs were bent out of alignment. My guest's fork had food debris from a former diner and my initial beverage was served in a glass with a substantial chip out of the rim."

"The hamburger was good." "The hamburger was served on a toasted, seeded bun. It was fully cooked but juicy and had all the toppings I had requested in ample portions."

"The service was attentive." "We were greeted promptly and our orders taken. Our meals were delivered in a timely fashion and our beverages were refilled when they were only half empty. Our server checked with us for satisfaction with each course after we had taken only a few bites." (Exact timings usually are in another part of the report)

Edited to add: As for using narrative from some other report you are working on, make sure you change restaurant names and other identifiers. It does make for a good base for your writing sample but realize that that prose 'belongs' to the company for whom you did the job, so make changes to it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/14/2014 08:14PM by Flash.

I applied for A Closer Look, turned in my writing sample, and everything, but it didn't help. There are no shops in my area. :O

They usually post around the 20th of the month for the following month. In many areas, the shops go quickly.

Flash, that was awesome!
With my luck, after providing all that detail (seeded buns and all! ), it would only be when I hit submit that I'd find out there's a 100 character limit per response.

Just because there aren't any shops in your area now does not mean it will stay that way.

Maybe there are shops in Karmakim's area, but she is not qualified to see them. I personally know one shopper whose sample writing was not good enough to qualify for any shop. She found out at the conference and a scheduler there advised her to submit a new sample report.

elcarev68 Wrote:
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> Flash, that was awesome!
> With my luck, after providing all that detail
> (seeded buns and all! ), it would only be when I
> hit submit that I'd find out there's a 100
> character limit per response.

One of the beauties of ACL is you never run into character limitations. You can write on and on and on to your heart's content :-) And for those of us who wax poetic on the crispy goodness of the deep fried shallots on that burger it can be a very satisfying experience. I love that they don't chop me up on my report with a one liner after each yes/no only to have me reassemble the confetti into a coherent narrative later.

The only one better than that was a shop with another MSP (who subsequently lost the client) where I was asked to just freeform a narrative about the restaurant visit from start to finish. In fact the only fill in the blanks were the date and time of the visit and how much I spent.

My writing sample was acceptable, I think. There are shops within 50 miles, just nothing within 15 miles. I am going to keep on looking. I might just have to drive 30 or more miles if I want to start working with them.

I think it's really important. ACL was one of the first companies I applied for, and I literally answered a profile question that I had no mystery shopping experience. My first shop with them was a dinner reimbursement of $85. So, write a good fictitious account and SAVE it. Then you can just cut and paste it the next time someone wants a sample. I learned that lesson the hard way. Starting out, who knew I'd be applying to 150 companies? :-)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2014 11:10PM by Bayberry.

kamarkim Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> My writing sample was acceptable, I think. There
> are shops within 50 miles, just nothing within 15
> miles. I am going to keep on looking. I might just
> have to drive 30 or more miles if I want to start
> working with them.

I am Sorry, karmakim, I was not implying your writing was not acceptable. I was on my iPad and it was hard to type from it, without a key board. I meant to add to my original post that you can check for shops state wide or another state, like Florida (There are shops in Florida up until the last 2-3 days of the month.) If you see shops, then you've been accepted. I also know of two shoppers who did well on their two shops and was given the higher end steak house. After their reports, they were dropped from the higher restaurants and hotel shops.

A Closer Look will email you a sample extraordinary report, if you request it. They wax and wane on local shops, but when one comes its well worth it. Do an extraordinary report, and they appreciate it. One shop that they were happy with and they requested I apply for a schedulers job (not ready for that yet).

I absolutely love ACL! I haven't been able to do the restaurant shops, because I am so broke I can not justify spending money on a meal out. I started with the restaurant shops. I just got a great shop for a retirement place, paid well and no output of money. The schedular contacted me, so I was happy to take it.

I recently applied for ACL. I have shopped mostly middle or high end. I received a phone call about my first shop. They were helpful and pleasant. After my first shop I have been able to self-assign. The only thing I did wrong, was I left to much for a tip. Answer every question in your narrative and it will be accepted. I am not great a grammar. Follow their complete Guidelines to the detail and you'll be O.K. Their high end restaurants are near me. I only want one or two a month. I don't shop fast food.

In my area ACL for years has been almost exclusively high end restaurants. Now they have turned into lower end but above fast food and a few non restaurant jobs. They seem to be very, very, very actively involved with searching for new clients based on the promo jobs they send out. Unfortunately the locations for the promos do not work out for me but I know they are looking and the chains have closer locations should they land the account. Hang in there. In a few more days the jobs for June will start to post. Check daily as they do not all go up on one day.

They had exactly one shop within 50 miles of me and it was a hotel shop that would have been today. No time to get things situated. At least it wasn't the hotel that recently got busted by the swat team in that area.

But think how fun it would be to write a report on that one!

Knowing my luck it'll happen someday when I'm on that shop. That city has had quite some luck lately with gang shootings and drug busts every few days