@scorpionshar777 wrote:

I went to community college in LACCD . There we're many students who can't get into UCLA or Cal State college. For those of you who don't know it takes five years to transfer from a LACCD college to Any California university. They have a path to university.. many use up their SL money on community college and then no funds for a Cali university.

Yes, i know how difficult it is to get into U.C.L.A. due to their minority quota. My daughter didn't get in and was a 3.9 due to their accepting International students, as the pay is higher and they had quota's. U.C. schools are tough these days and I hear it can take six years to graduate due to overcrowding. We were happy to send her to Northwestern a private and better/smaller Univ., where she soared, so thank you U.C.L.A., she does fine, and we saved since she was seven with no one helping us....Northwestern and Masters from Loyola.

I guess all those shoppers in California better be claiming their mystery shopping business and filing taxes cause now the government has your information and knows what you do. I would definitely fill it out and make sure to let them know I was not an employee and did not consider my reimbursed meals any type of employee work.

The government already knows what you do. The employers (msc) do not need to send out 1099's if you earn under $600 but that does not mean they do not report your earnings to the irs. It is certainly possible you will not get caught for not filing taxes but it is also very possible you will someday. It is in the interest of the msc to report all their expenses, such as how much they send you. Just like you want to be able to take deductions, they do not want to pay taxes on all the money they get from their contracted client. They too need to file deductions and business expenses such as how much they pay each and every one of us.

No wonder California's Department of Industrial Relations is getting involved with shopping...

@Niner wrote:

I got an email today offering $10 for an apartment shop (Intellishop) and it had a target. This was for an on-site visit.

You think it is because of low fees? I think it is because they want money.

When I was in jr. high school girls were encouraged to take typing (very sexist: home ec was mandatory, too), so I did so in the 9th grade. I learned to type on a manual typewriter (yes, not even electric typewriters) and we used carbon copy. If you made a mistake it was a PITA to correct it, so I learned to type quickly and with accuracy. QWERTY is the same on my computer keyboard as it was on that manual typewriter. I didn't type again for about 25 years but I never forgot it, and when I got my first computer around 2000 and started mystery shopping shortly after, it came back to me quite easily. I honed my skills even more when I got my Medical Transcriptionist degree. I was about 60 WPM before, but now I type very fast (85-90 WPM).

@sandyf wrote:

Yes, typing was a required course in middle school/junior high in my day. It was my worst subject. No keyboards back then.

@scorpionshar777 wrote:

Oh I took computer keyboard skills and before that typing. I'm a fast typer. I don't hunt and peck. LOL

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I was about 60 WPM before, but now I type very fast (85-90 WPM).

That's interesting. I don't think it was mandatory for me, but I took typing around the same age. At the time I didn't really appreciate it, but as computers soon became ubiquitous in my career, I was glad to have the ability...though my typing has unquestionably slowed with age...as has my driving

I used to be able to type up a dinner report in 45 minutes and now it can take me over an hour, though I probably spend more time at a keyboard each day than I did 15 years ago when I typed faster.

Do others find that their typing has improved with age? I do actually recall reading reports that there is evidence of women having more digital agility and keeping later in life...which I know sounds sexist, but may be partially the related to the genesis of female secretaries.

From what I remember girls, who then become women, have better fine motor skills than boys do. Some things are not sexist but rather due to a difference in the actual makeup of females vs males. Of course there are always the outliers in either sex. When I was in Junior High the typing was mandatory for boys and girls. In grade school the girls needed to learn to sew an apron and head covering to wear in the mandatory cooking class while the boys did woodworking. I think I would have found those skills (woodworking, metal shop and all those "boys" classes the schools have abandoned for safety reasons) much more useful today than the "girls" skills. In cooking class we learned to make corn flakes and milk. We did not have ovens at school.

Why do you think ACL (as well as some other MSCs) gives low fees/no fee? Because they also love money. They do it at the expense of shoppers, who are integral to their business.

@Msaddict wrote:

You think it is because of low fees? I think it is because they want money.

Cornflakes and milk? I learned that at home at age 4, LOL. We did learn how to sew a little in home ec. And we had ovens and stovetops in our home ec class. They took home ec seriously in the south, LOL. I learned how to make a fabulous omelet, quiche, and biscuits and sausage gravy. From trial and error in my later years, I can handle hammering a nail, painting walls, and I can use a screwdriver. But, I can't operate a drill, electric sander, or table saw, though my mother knew how (self-taught).

SteveSoCal, I also played piano from the time I was 5 and learned guitar in my early 20s. I have always had excellent dexterity with my hands. I still play guitar a little but rarely touch my keyboards anymore.

@sandyf wrote:

From what I remember girls, who then become women, have better fine motor skills than boys do. Some things are not sexist but rather due to a difference in the actual makeup of females vs males. Of course there are always the outliers in either sex. When I was in Junior High the typing was mandatory for boys and girls. In grade school the girls needed to learn to sew an apron and head covering to wear in the mandatory cooking class while the boys did woodworking. I think I would have found those skills (woodworking, metal shop and all those "boys" classes the schools have abandoned for safety reasons) much more useful today than the "girls" skills. In cooking class we learned to make corn flakes and milk. We did not have ovens at school.

I can't type that fast when writing a shopping report or email when I have to think about what I am writing, but transcribing medical records or looking at written words and typing them, my fingers fly. We had timed typing sessions in class and were competing against each other, so I got the hang of keeping my fingers close to the keys when typing, which really saves a lot of time. I have small hands too, not sure if that makes a difference or not.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I was about 60 WPM before, but now I type very fast (85-90 WPM).

That's interesting. I don't think it was mandatory for me, but I took typing around the same age. At the time I didn't really appreciate it, but as computers soon became ubiquitous in my career, I was glad to have the ability...though my typing has unquestionably slowed with age...as has my driving

I used to be able to type up a dinner report in 45 minutes and now it can take me over an hour, though I probably spend more time at a keyboard each day than I did 15 years ago when I typed faster.

Do others find that their typing has improved with age? I do actually recall reading reports that there is evidence of women having more digital agility and keeping later in life...which I know sounds sexist, but may be partially the related to the genesis of female secretaries.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I have small hands too, not sure if that makes a difference or not.

For the record; I don't have small hands....

I'm only about 5'2". I am guessing you are not. I would look strange with large hands, LOL. Most men have bigger hands than women do, so perhaps that is why most women (possibly) are faster typists than most men (please don't accuse me of being sexist, y'all, I said possibly). There was a very tall gal in our transcription class who could never get past 75 WPM and she was always frustrated that she couldn't increase her speed. I think it had something to do with the length of her fingers and not being able to position them closer to the keys, or maybe her fingertips were too big to hit the keys with accuracy and it slowed her down. Maybe they should make keyboards larger for those with larger hands? Just a thought.

Always typed fast, and really age hasn't slowed that down, but I do spend more time re-checking everything, and make a few more errors, due to eyesight, so there's an excuse, yet my fingers still are fine for typing.
When typing on a manuel typewriter it is much slower than computer, so things have speed up. Memory becomes the devil as far as detail, typing definitely not the problem, and the excersize is good for the Arthritis.

I never could get the hang of typing well, or playing the piano. I am not good at things that require what to me is boring practice, practice, practice. I prefer things I am naturally decent at such as seeing in ac curacies, (hey spell check did that, not me. That is why I do not use spell check) math, and an urge to correct wrongs. That is why I love mystery shopping...it's the chance to be heard. On my own I repeatedly reported one of my meds that had packaging that required a sharp knife to open. Finally after about 2 years I got a call from the drug company that makes that particular med to tell me they changed the packaging. Well, I finally got my next 3 months supply of that drug and voila, it opens the way it should. I feel great. Made my day. Made my day when I went into Shake Shack and saw they had replaced all their leaky ketchup dispensers with a completely different brand...not sure at all that was my reporting but I sure felt smug. I use the definition without the negative parts.

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Interesting interpretation on word definitions. Smug does sound a little arrogant, right? I would use self-satisfaction over smug. Awhile back I used the word sarcasm about something and you thought that word had a bitter, negative connotation and that the word "witty" would be better. I am not saying either of us is wrong or right in our interpretation, it's just interesting, that's all.

I have found we learn words and also names in context. My mother always was accusing my dad of sarcasm and the feeling was always negative. I remember that word from way before I knew what a dictionary was. So that word to me always feels negative. I grew up in an era when words and actions had sometimes different words to describe what a woman vs a man was acting out. Still happens. And names...if I knew one person growing up with a particular name that somehow I attached a type to I can only picture someone who looks like that person if they have that same name. I am often surprised to meet in person someone I have known as a faceless Mary for years to discover he or she is a foot taller or shorter, a skin tone darker or lighter than what my imagination brought up all those years.
And I chose smug because, yes, I guess I do feel a sense of superiority having possibly contributed to a change in business practices having been brought up in an era where women, or as we were known no matter our age or education, girls were relegated to the back office and sitting pretty and quietly in the corner typing.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

[www.mysteryshopforum.com]

Interesting interpretation on word definitions. Smug does sound a little arrogant, right? I would use self-satisfaction over smug. Awhile back I used the word sarcasm about something and you thought that word had a bitter, negative connotation and that the word "witty" would be better. I am not saying either of us is wrong or right in our interpretation, it's just interesting, that's all.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/09/2019 06:48PM by sandyf.

I hear ya. In our house sarcasm was humorous.

I love Sarcasm, done in the right way, it always cracks me up. I relate it to dry humor and can tell when it is meant to be true or to be funny. I think you have to know the person to take it in the right way as it can have a double edge.

I too got the Home Ec route because I was female and sure enough it didn't matter what you knew already. I had been making blouses, skirts, shorts and a lined winter coat on my Mom's electric sewing machine but in Home Ec we had non-electric foot pedal sewing machines and after a week of 'sewing' straight lines of holes on the lines of notebook paper we got to make an apron and eventually a skirt. Big waste of time--as was the cooking instruction.

Typing was an elective but encouraged for the college bound as well as the clerically bound. Independent finger action from being a musician helped the typing and typing helped the dexterity in playing music. I pretty much put myself through college typing papers for other students in the dorm. When I had kids I found it was a lot more profitable to do home typing around their schedules than to try to hold a 9 to 5 job and pay a sitter.

Computer keyboards slowed down my typing. I could do 100+ wpm on my Selectric typewriter but am challenged to do 40 wpm on a computer keyboard.

Oh yes A S D F J K L Sem.. as in semicolon.. we also learned to write letters and proper way to fold them. One summer 10th grade I bought my own IBM Selectric it was from a small town German office store nearby. I had put it on layaway. Lol..I was so happy because I was able to type a lot of my assignments in High School. If you could type fast accurately you could get part time jobs in school office we didn't get paid but it was a elective that counted towards Graduation and for about 90 mins you could help the counselors or answer the phone. There was no tests and they didn't let us type anything at all but because we could type we qualified. Oh yes...Typing classes were the best back in the day...I also think they are still needed in college 2019 I know in LACCD they might consider it as keyboard skills or something.. so no I don't search and peck with one hand.. lol. Home Eco was also fun. Yes we learned to sew on a Singer. Anyone remember Singers? What was your first outfit you made? I made a skirt. We had to get a pattern and fabric. It was fun.

I went to school in New York city. Brooklyn to be exact although we thought we lived in NY. In any case we did not think our schools were particularly lacking but we did not know any better. We had no kitchen to speak of for cooking class. So we only prepared cold foods. Our sewing class was in 6th grade and we sat right there in our same seats and desks as we sat for any other subject but the girls cut white cloth and hand stitched our aprons and caps. That was the extent of sewing. We had 35 or so students in a class. When I moved to Los Angeles everyone was complaining about the sorry state of the schools and how they had recently gotten rid of the art teachers. I was totally amazed. California schools even had grass (the green stuff of lawns). We never had art teachers or music teachers or anything like that. We did not have gym. My 6th grade teacher happened to know how to play piano so she had one in the room. She was the only teacher in the school with a piano. Whatever grade teacher you had they would do the art or singing or whatever at some point during the week even if they knew little about the subject. We went outside for May day only. Even in High School, the girls never were allowed outside. Typing was a semester in 7th grade. No one ever went to the huge bathrooms in my NYC schools. Even back then we were all afraid of getting attacked in the bathrooms. In High School most of the students took the general diploma so they learned typing, shorthand , woodworking etc. We had about 40 students per grade with 750 students in my grade who were on the academic track. So I got no life skills in school. I learned math and science etc.

Voice to text technology produces some hilarious results at times. And if you can talk faster than 80-90 words per minute you might want to consider becoming an auctioneer, LOL. Just kidding, I never actually timed my speech.

@MFJohnston wrote:

As a note: You have to be very careful with this. There are at least a few MSC's that state point-blank that they do not want you to do this. And, as you said, if you choose to use this option, you need to be sure to proof-read well.

I use this sort of technology to text my wife while driving... The spelling issues and lack of punctuation would make the proofreading in a narrative-heavy report too much of a bear for me, so I am much happier just typing.

@Mert wrote:

I type 80-90 wpm. But, I talk faster. Most computers and cell phones have voice to text functions. Proof-reading is required, but completing reports is still faster.

Funny, but I never took sewing in school and didn't know it was offered if it was. My Mother was a seamstress for her brother who was "Gordon of Calif".,making woman's suits and coats, and I hated sewing, thought it beneath me and boring. Took typing, and we had music or art as an elective, so I took music and always had a love for it to this day. Typing reports you are always thinking, so probably could type faster if I had to, but not going to stress out over a few words. Since I work on my own time, which is less and less, doing the minimum,
doing routes another story, guess being quick is important...can't imagine wanting to know how fast one talks..
Maybe I should be concerned with how fast I chew since I eat out on shops more than anything...

@JASFLALMT wrote:

There was a very tall gal in our transcription class who could never get past 75 WPM and she was always frustrated that she couldn't increase her speed. I think it had something to do with the length of her fingers and not being able to position them closer to the keys, or maybe her fingertips were too big to hit the keys with accuracy and it slowed her down. Maybe they should make keyboards larger for those with larger hands? Just a thought.

Interestingly enough when I was in high school I took typing. Significantly more than half of my class did. It was just before the tech explosion of the 90s and everyone was encouraged to take typing because the thought was everyone would be using computers for most jobs.

The three fastest typists in my class were me (6'1-2"ish), an average sized guy, and the tallest girl in our school (who was less than an inch shorter than me).

Surprisingly enough everyone was required to take home ec in 7th or 8th grade. Not what you would expect from a small private school in the deep South.

I was not required to take typing in the late 80's, but needed another semester-long course to fill my schedule, so I took it for an "easy A." I didn't get the "A," but I was very thankful that I took the course. My handwriting is (and always has been) atrocious.

As for typing speed, I find the size of the keyboard I'm using makes a huge difference. My previous work laptop had a really small keyboard that made my hands cramp up when I typed - and really slowed me down. The particular laptops were chosen by a female administrator with a fairly petite build (and, I presume, small hands). A lot of folks with larger hands (like myself) found the keyboards to be just awful. I don't know about any relationship between gender and manual dexterity, but I do know that folks with smaller hands do better with small keyboard than folks with large hands.

@MFJohnston wrote:

As for typing speed, I find the size of the keyboard I'm using makes a huge difference.

There is/was a standard for keyboard size/spacing, whether you were using a Qwerty or Dvorak key arrangement. It is only with the rise of laptops, tablets etc. that keyboards of different sizes emerged. For a touch typist the non-standard size of these keyboards will slow them down, as will switching to a different key arrangement keyboard. What does change drastically between standard keyboards is the feel of the keys, the amount of pressure needed on them to depress and their distance from the front edge (which can influence the angle of finger attack of the keys).

Can someone tell me how these posts about typing are relevant to this thread?? Am I missing something here?

@Flash wrote:

For a touch typist the non-standard size of these keyboards will slow them down, as will switching to a different key arrangement keyboard. What does change drastically between standard keyboards is the feel of the keys, the amount of pressure needed on them to depress and their distance from the front edge.

Yes, the move the flat keys (even on my remote keyboard) is something I'm still getting used to. It takes less effort, and assume leads to less strain, but doesn't work well with my muscle memory from years of typing on standard keys...and somehow the 'delete' on new keywords moved a bit when it got larger, and now I'm constantly inserting a backlash instead of deleting typos!

In terms of speed, current speech-to-text is actually fastest. I can effectively type 70 WPM that way...meaning that I'm probably getting output at closer to 90 WPM and then subtracting the editorial minutes to correct errors. I just find the process laborious and unfulfilling. I'd rather suffer through typing at 45 WPM while listening to music...

@jennifer2016 wrote:

Can someone tell me how these posts about typing are relevant to this thread?? Am I missing something here?

Jennifer...some of the best and most educational threads here are the ones that have gone 'off the rails'. The topic itself had little more discussion left in it since there was no real question.