And/or least pickiest?

I've found over the years that there's such a wide range of editorial nit-pickiness. Some companies will reject a shop for missing even a minor observation, some will give you wide latitude. I've only ever had one shop rejected, but it was a whopper of an error on my part, and since it was a restaurant that we like, re-shopping it wasn't a problem! LOL. Even though I had to "eat" the first shop.

Would love to hear your thoughts. No attacks, just facts!

I just did one that I got an 8/10. Now, overall, 8 isn't bad, but... I feel almost insulted by it, because I'm very detailed. Most MSCs love that, but this one was like, don't talk about the questions. Some of their questions were confusing. Some of the questions only gave a specific scenario, where the question would ask - not verbatim - but some of the nature, did the person say this, "Hello, Welcome to Billy Jo Jim Bob's Best Blinds. How are you doing this lovely day?" And I would have to mark it "no" because they said, "Hi, welcome to Billy Jo Jim Bob's. Are you doing well, today?" So, it wasn't exact, but that's the way the question would read, so I'd qualify it in the answers, where I'd say "this question says this and the person didn't precisely and exactly say this, so I marked it no, but I wanted to be sure to say that they said this, which I find to be the equivalent."

But it wasn't clear whether or not they had to say an exact thing, or whether they had to say something of that nature. The guidelines just didn't indicate it. Also, like they're supposed to point out unique company features, and the person did point those features out, but didn't say anything like "This feature is unique to Billy Joe Jim Bob's".

In any case, I didn't feel like I could honestly answer those questions and be fair to the person being shopped, because the questions were crappy and/or the guidelines didn't cover it. And I got marked down for "critiquing" the questions. I don't remember the MSC, but it was a blinds shop.

But I've seen picky versus not picky in the exact same shop, just a different reviewer.

I think a HUGE problem (and some of you have seen my rants about this) is that so many shop guidelines are so poorly written. They're ambiguous or they don't cover everything that's in the survey (which is why it's so important to read both ahead of time) or they don't consider logical, obvious "what ifs" or "if-thens" in their scenarios or their wording is not at all what they really mean (like "you must arrive at the dealership 2 hours before closing," meaning "you must arrive at the dealership no later than 2 hours prior to closing" ), etc.

If MSCs would do shopper focus groups before rolling out a new or revised shop (not the simple, simple shops, but anything with multiple observations and scenarios), their lives would be made easier, as would ours.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2019 04:18PM by BirdyC.

Right on. The difficulty of doing shops for Coyle (usually considered the pickiest) is that they expect details not listed in the instructions or on the form. Different editors ask for different things. It all comes across as disorganized and arbitrary. I don't know if I can even count that as "picky" in a meaningful sense. They're just demanding.

Then there are companies with editors who seem unfamiliar with English. They need reports that restate the questions using the exact same words.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2019 11:14PM by 1cent.

And I particularly love it when an MSC doesn't put that they want a VERBATIM conversation in the guidelines and then surprise you with it in the report... well, hello... good thing I recorded that, huh????

I've done a few shops for CHC, always the same place that I shop for them. It's funny.. I did the gas station shops for someone else, and the guidelines were like 60 pages, for a single gas station that should be less than 30 minutes (or at least less than an hour). I didn't even bother to download CHC's GL on the shop I did for them, because it's less than a page. It's basically get a description and a location. Type a summary of your interaction with these 13 people individually. 2-3 hour shops for CHC, less than a page. Less than half an hour for the other - 60 pages. And the verbatim one was something in the middle from neither of those companies... with very little freaking useful information in it, and then they got persnickety when you had to explain your answers based on their questions.

I've had those ones that want you to type a summary touching on each question.... I don't really understand why that is necessary, but whatever. That particular shop was a nightmare, but the scheduler I worked with was great, and the shop was a nightmare because of the store and an unforeseen set of circumstances.

I know I've done some of Coyle's. I can't for the life of me remember which ones or how long ago, though.

I can't say, even though I asked the question, that there's any one company that's pickier than most. But, for example, a Bare editor marked me down on punctuation. Well, she was editing me based on British English, not American English! I'm a professional writer and while I don't claim to be perfect, I surely know how to use commas, periods, and quotation marks in America. She also dinged me for not capitalizing "customer service representative." Thing is, it's not supposed to be capitalized, even though it was in the survey. So I'm supposed to copy whatever usage the MSC uses, even if incorrect. I'll do it, but it annoys the hell out of me, and I have to force myself to do it.

I had an editor from CSE insist I hadn't answered some questions, but I had. My narrative was just in a different sequence than the questions, in order to make it flow better and have it make sense. We had several back and forths on this. She also changed my correct word usage to an incorrect one!

An editor for ACE marked me down because I didn't copy the names of entrees exactly.

And when I shopped for Ardent, there was an editor who was very critical. I used to laugh at those critiques, though, because they were very poorly written. The irony of having one's narratives picked apart by someone whose writing was laden with errors was just too much.

I don't know that there's a "company" in specific, because some companies have hundreds of editors, while others have one. I do tons of shops for ACL, and randomly an editor will hit me with something that is so ridiculous. Coyle is picky in terms of what they want, but they don't often follow up for corrections. I just did my first Buckalew and was disappointed with my score. It was 69, and according to their site, shoppers with a 70 or higher are considered their best. The editor said twice that my tone was too casual, but it was no different than the example I was given. I was also knocked for spelling errors, even though I spell checked the entire spreadsheet. Most of the errors the spell check found were in the instructions and questionnaire. I give up.

Service Check

@nolimitem wrote:

I was also knocked for spelling errors, even though I spell checked the entire spreadsheet. Most of the errors the spell check found were in the instructions and questionnaire. I give up.

Spelling errors by MSCs are so demoralizing. Sometimes I want to send them a scorecard.

Just to check though, you do know that spellcheck will miss a lot of spelling errors, right? For example, you can misspell "either" as "ether" and it will not show up as a mistake because "ether" is a word. Grammar checks help a bit with this but still do not catch everything.

I am a little surprised that no one has picked on the wording of the subject line on this thread.

Oh! I suppose I never thought of that. I do tend to review each section, though. I'll have to go back and look.

@nolimitem wrote:

I was also knocked for spelling errors, even though I spell checked the entire spreadsheet. Most of the errors the spell check found were in the instructions and questionnaire. I give up.

I can't stress this enough: Do NOT trust spell-check. Ever. It cannot replace manual proofreading, and I find it's wrong just about as often as it's correct. I'm not saying your work had errors (the editor may have been wrong), but don't rely on spell-check as a final proof. It's a great tool for a first run-through, but old-fashioned proofreading is the only way to be sure you haven't missed something.

I can write a totally non-sensical sentence, but spell-check won't flag a thing because the words are all spelled correctly and the grammar is correct. Yet I use a semicolon, and spell-check doesn't seem to know what that is! Scary. It's especially scary when people say, "But I used spell-check." That's terrifying! LOL.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2019 04:19AM by BirdyC.

@1cent wrote:

I am a little surprised that no one has picked on the wording of the subject line on this thread.

Is there a problem with it?

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Service Check

I'm not signed up with them. I don't think they have a lot in my area, but if memory serves me (and I'm not sure it does), aren't they somewhat infamous for not having high-paying shops? Or I might be thinking of another company....

I guess I just was upset because the rubric said, "spelling errors." It didn't say grammatical errors or anything indicating that I didn't make sense. Just "spelling errors." I don't like being bad at things. I take low grades hard.

@BirdyC wrote:

@1cent wrote:

I am a little surprised that no one has picked on the wording of the subject line on this thread.

Is there a problem with it?

Only if we’re being picky. It’s fine.

@BirdyC wrote:

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Service Check

I'm not signed up with them. I don't think they have a lot in my area, but if memory serves me (and I'm not sure it does), aren't they somewhat infamous for not having high-paying shops? Or I might be thinking of another company....

Service Check appears to have ceased operations. It hasn't posted shops since August. One of its major clients is likely on the way out of business. Another has recently gone with another MSC after many years of loyalty to Service Check. And their website has gone black.

They had decent paying jobs in CA after bonuses. Service Check discontinued all their shops back in September and appears to be out of business. Their website is down and phone number got disconnected.

@BirdyC wrote:

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Service Check

I'm not signed up with them. I don't think they have a lot in my area, but if memory serves me (and I'm not sure it does), aren't they somewhat infamous for not having high-paying shops? Or I might be thinking of another company....

@1cent wrote:

@BirdyC wrote:

@1cent wrote:

I am a little surprised that no one has picked on the wording of the subject line on this thread.

Is there a problem with it?

Only if we’re being picky. It’s fine.

If you're referring to "what" instead of "which," what is correct in the context. If you think the comma is incorrect, that's legitimate fodder for a discussion. How I love discussing commas. Seriously. I'm in a grammar and language group, and we periodically get into fights about the infamous Oxford comma. Such an exciting life I lead .

Well, that was OT!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2019 11:06AM by BirdyC.

I guess Service Check wouldn't have much in my area if they're going under! Glad I never did sign up with them.

360 Intel on ISS. No flexibility whatsoever even when things go wrong.

360 Intel on ISS. No flexibility whatsoever when things go wrong.

@nolimitem wrote:

I don't like being bad at things. I take low grades hard.

I can identify with that!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2019 11:06AM by BirdyC.

@nolimitem wrote:

I guess I just was upset because the rubric said, "spelling errors." It didn't say grammatical errors or anything indicating that I didn't make sense. Just "spelling errors." I don't like being bad at things. I take low grades hard.

I get that. It always stings to miss a mistake. However, as I mentioned, spelling errors are missed by spellcheck. In fact spellcheck can create errors if you have autocorrect turned on.

@nolimitem wrote:

The editor said twice that my tone was too casual, but it was no different than the example I was given.

Oh, that's so frustrating! The examples many MSCs give us are themselves so poorly written that I'd never try to emulate them. On the other hand, if you don't follow them, you may get called out for that. If you do, you are often not writing to "best practice" (how I hate that term, but it fits here). Grrrr....

Birdy states--If you're referring to "what" instead of "which," what is correct in the context.

Bob agrees--With respect to what I was taught in the 50's, which would have been the choice in a stated comparative sense. Which MSC is the strictest. company A or B? I do realize, though, that times can alter grammar. Please chime in with your thoughts on the subject.

As to the comma, talk about the proverbial "can of works." I much prefer black & white; gray is too ambiguous for me.

@shopperbob wrote:

As to the comma, talk about the proverbial "can of works." I much prefer black & white; gray is too ambiguous for me.

LOL! Sadly, the English language is all shades of grey, for the most part. I'm a strict "prescriptivist" (that is, adhere like glue to the rules of grammar), but English can sometimes be damned confusing.

I use spell check all the time and then I proofread my narrative. There is always a mistake with spell check. Now I use ALEXA next to my desk and still proofread. Out of 2000 reports with CSE I have gotten a 10. CSE editors were my teachers when I first started shopping. I do all of my reports with the same system, answer each question first, then go back and write the narrative and use all of the questions in the narrative. If the MSC capitalizes a word in their questions, I follow through with what they use.

@shopper8 wrote:

I use spell check all the time and then I proofread my narrative. There is always a mistake with spell check. Now I use ALEXA next to my desk and still proofread. I do all of my reports with the same system, answer each question first, then go back and write the narrative and use all of the questions in the narrative. If the MSC capitalizes a word in their questions, I follow through with what they use.

Spell check is good as a first run-through, but as you wisely do, proofreading is the only real way to catch boo-boos. Re CSE's reports: Due to the way the surveys can be structured, do you not ever have to change the order of responses in your narrative boxes in order to have the narrative make sense? I addressed the questions in my narrative, just not in the exact order in which they appeared on the survey -- because otherwise it would have been far too chopped up and wouldn't have been logical. The editor couldn't figure out that the questions had been answered (I think I did miss one, so her sending it back was justified for that).

At this point, I don't argue capitalization. They want the words "Shop Floor" or "Salesperson" capitalized; fine, although my fingers have to be forced at gunpoint to do it. Doesn't it annoy you when they capitalize a word just because they think it's important, and you have to follow suit even though you know it's incorrect?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2019 07:12AM by BirdyC.

@Rousseau wrote:

@BirdyC wrote:

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

Service Check

I'm not signed up with them. I don't think they have a lot in my area, but if memory serves me (and I'm not sure it does), aren't they somewhat infamous for not having high-paying shops? Or I might be thinking of another company....

Service Check appears to have ceased operations. It hasn't posted shops since August. One of its major clients is likely on the way out of business. Another has recently gone with another MSC after many years of loyalty to Service Check. And their website has gone black.

Maybe the insistence of a single space after a period was their demise. MAYBE the clients didn't like it that way. And maybe they wasted too much time nitpicking about it instead of using "replace all" and being done with it. Just maybe.