1. Forums
  2. Mystery Shopping Company Discussion

IPSOS "Crop out the faces" requirement

June 02, 2022 01:39AM
I do not know if I missed something along the way, but I am pretty sure that I reviewed every shopper update and revision to the guidelines for a particular set of shops I completed at the end of last week. It is very possible that I missed one because they are scattered out all over the place instead of being combined into one or two documents. Regardless, the MSC is now reducing scores and returning evaluations for not cropping out faces of employees when required to take an employee picture. I'm sure others are probably already aware of this, but I was not until yesterday. I found a website (free) that uploads the picture, allows you to blur or black out a face, and save the 'scrubbed' image - assuming you are working on a laptop. The program does remove metadata, however. It has worked great for me but please share if you have easier methods. Hope this helps someone out.

[everestpipkin.github.io]

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2022 03:32AM by patman9760.
Reply
Log In
x

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

Already a member? Log In.

June 02, 2022 01:54AM
Open the photo in Paint. Select a square of neutral background. Copy the square, paste it, and drag it over the face. Save the image. The spray can tool works too. Other programs have a blur tool, but usually take a while to load. Paint is quick and built into Windows.
Reply
June 02, 2022 01:57AM
If this is for the gas station shops, it's always been in the guidelines on the shops I do for them. That's been almost a year now.

I just take pictures of the person from the neck down.

Normally, I then show them the picture to ally any fears they may have about having their picture taken.

Or you can just open the picture in an editing program and crop out the top of the photo that shows the employee's face.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2022 01:59AM by wrosie.
Reply
June 02, 2022 02:17AM
You are correct - I either got this brand mixed up with another or just forgot! This is the first round I've been corrected by editors.

Thanks for the idea. Strangely enough, I've never had an employee balk at having their photo taken with this brand. The mystery shop that requires you to only reveal yourself if an employee doesn't meet uniform criteria is a completely different story. winking smiley

@wrosie wrote:

If this is for the gas station shops, it's always been in the guidelines on the shops I do for them. That's been almost a year now.

I just take pictures of the person from the neck down.

Normally, I then show them the picture to ally any fears they may have about having their picture taken.

Or you can just open the picture in an editing program and crop out the top of the photo that shows the employee's face.
Reply
June 02, 2022 02:59AM
No, I have been getting requests to crop out customers's faces. We are often told to avoid photographing customers if possible. It is a new requirement to blur the customer faces. I haven't done any of the yellow shops lately -- I'm not sure if we have to crop the face of an employee out of uniform now.
Reply
June 02, 2022 03:54AM
Can you crop your face onto the employee body? Then you can tell them you removed their face and replaced it with your own :-P

Or maybe put a cartoon character picture on the face instead. I remember a thread not too long ago that got political. Maybe some shoppers will now post the Joe Biden "I did that" picture as the face of the employee.

Sounds like a poorly written guideline. Why not say "take the employee picture from the neck down?"

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2022 03:56AM by hbbigdaddy.
Reply
June 02, 2022 04:14AM
Hilarious! grinning smiley

I reviewed the guidelines (again). They did say to just take a pic from the torso down, but I got myself mixed up with another set of shops. This is the first round that the editors have actually lowered scores (that I know of), and I still got a 10 on one of them with a face included. Another editor returned an evaluation to me with the instructions to "Crop out employee faces" so I got my first 7 ever. One editor told me I was too harsh in my scoring when I counted potholes as an infraction that were big enough to drag the bottom out from under a car. I got two scores lowered for the answer "68 inches" as opposed to 5'8" for employee height.
Oh well - maybe the link I posted will help someone. I like that website - you can just tap and *Poof* - face is gone grinning smiley

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

Can you crop your face onto the employee body? Then you can tell them you removed their face and replaced it with your own :-P

Or maybe put a cartoon character picture on the face instead. I remember a thread not too long ago that got political. Maybe some shoppers will now post the Joe Biden "I did that" picture as the face of the employee.

Sounds like a poorly written guideline. Why not say "take the employee picture from the neck down?"


Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/02/2022 04:22AM by patman9760.
Reply
June 02, 2022 05:49AM
One of the gas stations, Not really sure which one it was has had a standing rule not to take any pictures of any faces at all. And it seemed like a really good rule to me, so I started, not taking pictures of anybody's face at any of the gas stations. ????
Reply
June 02, 2022 05:57AM
I know the green/white ones are that way - they even state that they will reject payment if faces are in any pic. I re-read the guidelines for this particular shop and - yep, it's in there! I always figured they wanted the whole employee, but they only want their torso grinning smiley I figure wrong a lot...

@Morledzep wrote:

One of the gas stations, Not really sure which one it was has had a standing rule not to take any pictures of any faces at all. And it seemed like a really good rule to me, so I started, not taking pictures of anybody's face at any of the gas stations. ????
Reply
June 02, 2022 04:13PM
Yeah, I got a reduced score and an e-mail that in future take the employee photo from the neck down. I suppose they are checking for name tag/station/brand logo and uniform. This is the brand I used to associate with the winged horse (Pegasus? ).

I didn't mind the reduced score, since I haven't the slightest idea how to "crop" or alter a photo in any way.

smiling smiley
Reply
June 02, 2022 04:25PM
Try the link I posted - it’s really easy! Or as one of the other posters suggested, just take the pic from neck down. I had one of these returned and would have not been paid if I hadn’t been able to correct it sad smiley


@ceasesmith wrote:

Yeah, I got a reduced score and an e-mail that in future take the employee photo from the neck down. I suppose they are checking for name tag/station/brand logo and uniform. This is the brand I used to associate with the winged horse (Pegasus? ).

I didn't mind the reduced score, since I haven't the slightest idea how to "crop" or alter a photo in any way.

smiling smiley
Reply
June 03, 2022 12:58AM
Be careful when taking pictures with the plexiglass. Several times I ended up photographing myself when taking the counter picture because my reflection ended up in the picture. Fortunately the editor let me crop myself out. It never occurred to me to check for that because I was taking the counter with no one behind it. Oops!
Reply
June 09, 2022 03:38PM
Some of the editors use their own scoring system and don't score higher than an 8 or 9. And when you ask why they don't respond.
Reply
June 09, 2022 06:00PM
Cropping is easy peasy on a phone. Just open the photo from your gallery and usually there is a tool bar at the bottom for editing or on some phones, you may have to click on the three dots for a menu. But from wherever your editing options are, you can just click crop and it will put a box around the picture and you use your fingers to tighten the box up to fit the photo for whatever you need cropped out and hit save. Mine usually saves in the gallery right next to the original photo that was edited. Hope that helps some.
Reply
June 10, 2022 01:21AM
I just take the photo in the store from the neck down. I have never had them returned.
Reply
June 14, 2022 03:50PM
I agree on the neck down, getting the approval of the employee. I hate extra work.

Do not read so much, look about you and think of what you see there.
Richard Feynman-- letter to Ashok Arora, 4 January 1967, published in Perfectly Reasonable Deviations from the Beaten Track (2005) p. 230
Reply
June 20, 2022 03:42AM
I have noticed that with some gas brands, I almost always get a 9 with no explanation. With other gas brands, I always get a 10 unless I am given a specific reason for being given a lower score. (i.e. a missed infraction). As long as my average stays around 9 and I can always self-assign, I don't really mind.

Of all the brands I do, I only know of one where they specifically require that the photo be from the neck down and not include the employee's face. A couple of others say that I could use a neck-down photo if the employee preferred it or initially rejected a photo, but they will accept faces.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2022 03:44AM by thunderdeacon.
Reply
June 20, 2022 09:18AM
Unobstructed full face selfie of shopper. But crop out faces of others.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/20/2022 07:44PM by MrEd.
Reply
June 20, 2022 07:52PM
@MrEd wrote:

Unobstructed full face selfie of shopper. But crop out faces of others.

Is my face supposed to be in the safety vest pic? I hold the tablet up in front of my face so they can see my safety vest, not my face.
Reply
June 20, 2022 08:18PM
@Morledzep wrote:

@MrEd wrote:

Unobstructed full face selfie of shopper. But crop out faces of others.

Is my face supposed to be in the safety vest pic? I hold the tablet up in front of my face so they can see my safety vest, not my face.

Sorry for the confusion, I don't know that. I was referring to IPSOS requirements for a different shop. The blue pin on presto, EMS earbuds and devices. There's new verbiage that requires full face, no glasses or hats for the selfie pic.
Reply
June 21, 2022 01:46AM
Ed, i take my safety vest pics in the mirrors at the blue pin shops too. They haven't complained yet.
Reply
Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login