I was approached via text by a SeeLevel HX recruiter to complete a shop for a fast food taco restaurant. However, we were possibly expecting snow in our area the day of the shop and the location is 66 miles away.

It was also a dinner shop so I would have to be driving in the dark AND I would have my 5 and 3 year old kiddos with me! I let the recruiter know all about the weather and said I would certainly complete the shop, weather permitting.

When I woke up the next day, we had received a lot of snow and the location is located in the Black Hills which means they most likely got more than we did! Also, the drive takes you through a lot of twists and turns that can be unforgiving when covered in ice and snow!

I apologetically let the recruiter know I did not feel safe making the drive all that way and regrettably asked to cancel the shop. The next day at 7:24am, the recruiter started a barrage of texts, emails, phone calls, and voicemails asking me to complete the shop!

She even so far as to block her phone number so I wouldn't know who was calling! Please note, I have a full-time job and as stated above, 3 and 5 year old children. I can't stop and drop everything.

Furthermore, she left a permanent negative citation on my shopper profile which will damage my reputation with the company!

Here is the list of how many times she asked me to complete the shop and when the citation was left. Harassment? You tell me! Should I reach out to her manager??

12/30/2020

Text 7:24am
Phone call 7:50am
Voicemail 7:51am
Text 10:00am
Restricted phone call 10:42am
Voicemail 10:43am
Email 10:49am
Restricted phone call 12:47pm
Restricted phone call 12:47pm
Voicemail 12:49pm
Email with negative citation alert 12:49pm

I would report this to the company. Shoppers should not be expected to risk their lives to evaluate fast food restaurants.

no shop is worth endangering your life or the lives of others.

scheduler sounds like human garbage. how much were you even gonna get out of it, $100?

$48 and a number 6 combo meal!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2021 04:31PM by Rjags04.

Always put your negotiations in writing. That way you would have a record of possibly performing the shop, WEATHER PERMITTING. I would have also emailed the scheduler a screen shot of the weather situation. With just he said/she said, there is not much you can do.

Its funny you mention that because I did screenshot her a pic of my weather app! That's a really good point about getting the agreement in writing! I will keep that in mind for next time!

That's not just harassment, it's staking!

Send her that list and tell her to remove the citation.

Dang. This is why I never give them my phone number, and only email. If they required a phone number I gave a google voice number. That way I would not be harassed. There are really only a couple of companies, just doing movie theater work that I do assignments for anyway when they become available, they have my cell number, and they don't harass me. The rest of the companies I signed up for get the Google number.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2021 11:39PM by cybersst.

Rjag, I am PM'ing you.

I never would have agreed to that in the first place. You could have simply answered the phone or the text. So, by ignoring, you got a citation. IMO deserved.

But she had already emailed to cancel the shop.

@SoCalMama wrote:

I never would have agreed to that in the first place. You could have simply answered the phone or the text. So, by ignoring, you got a citation. IMO deserved.

So what? Answer the phone or the text. Pretty simple.

@mjt9598 wrote:

But she had already emailed to cancel the shop.

@SoCalMama wrote:

I never would have agreed to that in the first place. You could have simply answered the phone or the text. So, by ignoring, you got a citation. IMO deserved.

Rjags - You are under no obligation to respond to repeated messages like this. You are not their employee. Its unprofessional to call repeatedly, and to block your number in an attempt to trick someone. And to try and bully you in to an unsafe situation with your children for $48 is not excusable under any scenario. You are not in the wrong here, don't let others convince you otherwise. You stated your situation in writing, expressed concern for your own safety, and a rational and decent human being would have accepted that graciously. I would report this scheduler's' behavior to the CEO of SeeLevel,Lisa van Kesteren. Same email format as the scheduler.

So three unanswered phone calls two to three hours apart, two texts two and a half hours apart, and two emails two hours apart.

I was working. Regardless, there is NO reason to harass someone like that!

I totally agree no shop is worth it when you endanger yourself. It appears to me that she was expecting it to be completed thus the contact. Also, working full time and driving 132 miles with 2 young kids for $48 and a #6 meal is a lot of time and expense; i do realize there may be s slew of beneficial reasons exclusive to you.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/12/2021 04:11AM by Madetoshop.

Texting/calling before 8 a.m. is unprofessional.

I had a scheduler call me at 5 AM to see if I "was up and ready to hit the road".

I was quite rude. I complained to her supervisor.

I was labeled "Difficult", and no longer am offered shops by that company.

I basically told her I was not her child, or her employee, and I found a 5 AM phone call to be disrespectful.

I would have absolutely responded to the first text (7:24 am) when I saw it. My response would have been to confirm I could not do the shop due to the weather. The OP, in my opinion, had perfectly legitimate reasons for not doing the shop, and should not have been penalized for that.

If I had missed that text, I would have certainly responded to the second text (10 am) or the first email (10:49 am). I might or might not take the phone calls, and probably would not take the restricted calls.

If the OP had responded, there would probably have been no subsequent texts, calls, or emails. Keeping communication open is important. We often complain, with good reasons, when schedulers and MSCs are unresponsive to shoppers. Why not empathize with the scheduler and be kind and just respond so everyone can hopefully move on without rancor?

If the citation was for failure to respond instead of failure to perform the shop, I think the citation was valid.

I very rarely ask to be excused from shops. As far as I can recall, I have only received citations twice for asking to be unassigned from shops, by two different schedulers at different MSCs . Both times, I reached out to someone other than the schedulers who issued the citations, explained what happened, and the citations were promptly removed. I then avoided or refused to do any more shop for those two schedulers.

Recently, I had to text a scheduler to let her know I was dropping one shop from my route due to safety reasons. I performed all the other shops in the route. I texted pictures documenting the unsafe conditions because I was already on site. There are no ill feelings as far as I know, on either side, even though the scheduler/MSC had to repost the shop with a bonus. I know I will gladly shop for this scheduler in the future. In fact, because she has been understanding and kind in our dealings, I will go out of my way to shop for her in the future.

@BusyBeeBuzzBuzzBuzz
Exactly. You get it.
Situations like this are why I hating scheduling as much as editing.

@LuvsTraveling wrote:

Always put your negotiations in writing. That way you would have a record of possibly performing the shop, WEATHER PERMITTING. I would have also emailed the scheduler a screen shot of the weather situation. With just he said/she said, there is not much you can do.

I think proving weather is still possible after the fact even without a self-taken picture.

I had a shop once where I had to postpone, due to tornadoes in the area. I sent the scheduler a newspaper article detailing things with pictures in it of local destruction.

If safety is an issue, it really should be understood. Although, I can understand sometimes how "safety" is a subjective term. One person's threshold may be no biggie for someone else.

@mjt9598 wrote:

Texting/calling before 8 a.m. is unprofessional.

That's not "a thing". You can text at any hour. You must be over 50?

@SoCalMama wrote:

@mjt9598 wrote:

Texting/calling before 8 a.m. is unprofessional.

That's not "a thing". You can text at any hour. You must be over 50?

Although a text doesn't really "bother" people much (vs. a loud phone call), I've never gotten a business related one before 8 AM. I know many lawyers and medical workers are frequently are on-call 24/7. For them, it's normal to get both texts and calls at odd hours.

It probably depends on your profession and wouldn't think MS-ing is one where it's normal etiquette.

For absolute emergencies, I can imagine any hour is fine. But, for a non-emergency in the MS-ing industry...?...I'd feel it was a little weird. Texting wouldn't bother me, but a 6AM call would.

No, I am not over 50. I just know about manners and professional etiquette.

@SoCalMama wrote:

@mjt9598 wrote:

Texting/calling before 8 a.m. is unprofessional.

That's not "a thing". You can text at any hour. You must be over 50?

Funny

@mjt9598 wrote:

No, I am not over 50. I just know about manners and professional etiquette.

@SoCalMama wrote:

@mjt9598 wrote:

Texting/calling before 8 a.m. is unprofessional.

That's not "a thing". You can text at any hour. You must be over 50?

@SoCalMama wrote:

@mjt9598 wrote:

Texting/calling before 8 a.m. is unprofessional.

That's not "a thing". You can text at any hour. You must be over 50?

I'm over 50. I set my phone NOT to accept ANY calls/texts EXCEPT for a few family/close friends on a special "override" list, between the hours of midnight and 8:30 am. That way I'm never bothered. And if I DO get a text/call from one of those on my special "override" list between midnight-8:30 am, I know it's important. It wasn't too complicated to set up. It's an easy fix. I definitely would NOT like getting a text message or phone call at 5:30 in the morning from an MSC or some other caller/texter! But this way, if I do, I'm still sound asleep and not disturbed by it, because I never hear it!

For example, several months back, my son got through on the "override" list at 5:00 am to tell me that there was a tornado warning in my area. Important info. Glad he was able to get through. Hubby & I monitored it closely. So it was good he could get through. But others not on my list can't get through. It's an easy fix.

This would also restrict any emergency personnel from reaching you, if a loved one had been involved in an accident or had a medical emergency.

@guysmom wrote:

@SoCalMama wrote:

@mjt9598 wrote:

Texting/calling before 8 a.m. is unprofessional.

That's not "a thing". You can text at any hour. You must be over 50?

I'm over 50. I set my phone NOT to accept ANY calls/texts EXCEPT for a few family/close friends on a special "override" list, between the hours of midnight and 8:30 am. That way I'm never bothered. And if I DO get a text/call from one of those on my special "override" list between midnight-8:30 am, I know it's important. It wasn't too complicated to set up. It's an easy fix. I definitely would NOT like getting a text message or phone call at 5:30 in the morning from an MSC or some other caller/texter! But this way, if I do, I'm still sound asleep and not disturbed by it, because I never hear it!

For example, several months back, my son got through on the "override" list at 5:00 am to tell me that there was a tornado warning in my area. Important info. Glad he was able to get through. Hubby & I monitored it closely. So it was good he could get through. But others not on my list can't get through. It's an easy fix.

"Avoid sending texts outside of business hours."
[simpletexting.com]

"Limit texting to work hours. You wouldn’t call a client with a great idea right before you climbed into bed for the evening, so don’t text them at that hour either. Sending a text after hours signals urgency. Wait until the next business day to relay your message."
[www.huffpost.com]

"1. Be mindful of the time of day
The classic nine-to-five workday doesn’t necessarily apply to everyone. We know you might be up late after hours, getting work done and preparing for the next day. It might be tempting to respond to correspondence right then and there, but your customers will not be too happy to be woken up in the middle of the night. You never want your communication to feel intrusive.

Instead of sending texts in real time at odd hours, schedule them to be sent when your recipients are awake and ready to respond. Sending texts during business hours is more effective than making phone calls because recipients can answer discretely in meetings or at their desks without being disruptive to their coworkers."
[www.zipwhip.com]

"2. Refrain from uninvited texting outside of business hours."
[www.businessemailetiquette.com]

@SoCalMama wrote:

@mjt9598 wrote:

Texting/calling before 8 a.m. is unprofessional.

That's not "a thing". You can text at any hour. You must be over 50?

I sure appreciate everyones input. This is what a forum is for right? To garner information, opinions, and experiences. With that being said, I still stand by the fact that a. Contacting someone before 8am is highly frowned upon b. I in no way had any obligation to respond to her during my work hours c. No response is a response and does not merit the measures she took. Retricting her phone number? That's where she DEFINITELY crossed the line!

If she would have sent a text message at say, 8:15am and then followed up after that with *one* phone call and voicemail, I would have no concerns. That is how I would have approached the situation if I were in her shoes. There is a line that folks with a mature sense know not to cross. She blatantly crossed it and out of spite, left a negative citation.

Her supervisor is aware of the situation and has not said one word to me. I am also still an active shopper within the portal. At this point, I'm just going to chop it up as poor manners and lack of a clear outline as for how to contact mystery shoppers who are, lets not forget, independent contractors.