Okay, this is a cross between venting and asking a question. I have only been shopping for a few months and one MSC I do shops for has been giving me really good restaurant shops, and because they deserved high marks....I gave them. I got yelled at and told that was very unusual. I told them if they wanted crappy reviews, to give me crappy shops that I was giving my honest opinion. Then......they gave me a shop where no one asked for I.D. and the food was pretty awful. I wrote my report and included this information.....I got yelled at.....asked if I was absolutely sure that I.D. was not requested, that this company was really serious about this. I told them to watch the security video that they are always reminding me they have. I will not give high marks unless they are deserved, I give my honest opinion and refuse to do any less.

Now the question.....How do you satisfy these people?

I understand where you are coming from and where they are coming from. They aren't yelling at you, even though it seems some days as if even the mildest of question seems like a yell.

Every mystery shopping company out there has had shoppers who realize that the fastest way to blow through a report is to just indicate everything is dandy. That is of no use to the client if it is not true, so the client has thrown away their money. And I'm sure every mystery shopping company has had shoppers who are impossible to please, so everything is awful. As a result, any report that is just tooooo fantastic or tooooo grotesque needs to be questioned just to make sure.

There are several ways around the horns of this dilemma. The first is the obvious--be as objective as humanly possible. The server may have been delightful, but the chances are that she missed something. She is not going to be in trouble if you report that she did not check back with the table within three minutes if it took her three minutes and twelve seconds and they are asking if she did it in three minutes. Cut her no slack out of kindness. Kindness as a glossing over has no place in this business. The food may have been served stone cold and greasy, but there is probably some saving grace you can find to it. "The chicken was served room temperature and was greasy, but it was cooked through and properly seasoned."

As for the ID question, I'm too much of an antique for that to pertain, but I do see servers and bartenders asking for IDs even of folks who I doubt are underage and I am acutely aware when they don't ask for IDs of someone I feel sure is too young and dressed up/attempting to act older or 'sophisticated'. You can report what occurred with you and I find that mentioning others at least lets them know I was aware of my surroundings and the need for an ID check. The editor can leave it on the cutting room floor but at least they have been told.

Take the philosophy that no experience is perfect and no experience is all bad. Find the good in the bad and the bad in the good. Somehow it seems to 'prove' you are objective. Go figure.

Often we evaluate or want to evaluate based on our own preferences. There is one restaurant where the food is well made and served by THEIR standards and yet to MY standards it is downright nasty. I need to evaluate according to the client's standards rather than my own. I don't bother going there any more.

Thank you so much for the reply. Your information gives me a better understanding of how thorough I need to be in my observations and to realize that I should only evaluate according to the clients standards, not mine. I have to be very careful not to let the 'sympathy' factor creep in. Sounds as if I've been my own worst enemy and taking things much too personally. Thanks again, I appreciate any/all constructive critism.

Trust me, all of us I suspect instinctively respond to criticism with some degree of "What are you talking about? Me??? I didn't . . ." Some criticism is better phrased than others, some are more sensitive than others to criticism. We grow by figuring out what the heck they are looking for and trust me, what one MSP is looking for is not necessarily what the next one is looking for and even editors within the same MSP seem too often to be looking for different things.

i get Frustrated sometime but i call on th lord and pray that everything will get better for every one.

Cooking, I'm 100% agreeing with everything that Flash wrote.

I just did a Casino Shop. It was my first one. I was nervous as all hell, and the report took me, well, I started it at 7AM on Monday. At 5:45PM, I finally submitted it. I took about a 45 minute break to get something to eat. I thought my report turned out GREAT!

I had had some great tips sent to me and I did my best to follow the tips from a "Casino Shop Pro".

Well - I get back an email with about 9 fixes on it. Oh, I was COMPLETELY deflated. (Especially since this was a last minute pick up and I had informed the scheduling company that even though I have been to the Casino, I'm not a gambler and don't know a lot.)

I just was so frustrated and I did take it personally at first. I had to walk away from it for a day. After I calmed down, I went back and made the corrections - and guess what? The report came back AGAIN - I STILL had more corrections! Oh heck, I was ready to not even bother. I didn't do that though, I went back and fixed it, and I haven't heard anything back yet.

I'm hoping I got a decent score, at least a 7 on it. I really tried - and the funny thing is, I'd do more of these if the company will allow me to. My husband and I really had a great time, and NOW that I know what they want on their report, I feel a bit more comfortable.

You are correct - it's best not to take it personally. Figure that it's good to know. The other thing - at least you DID get feedback. Do you know how many Editors don't give you ANYTHING?


Cooking202 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thank you so much for the reply. Your information
> gives me a better understanding of how thorough I
> need to be in my observations and to realize that
> I should only evaluate according to the clients
> standards, not mine. I have to be very careful not
> to let the 'sympathy' factor creep in. Sounds as
> if I've been my own worst enemy and taking things
> much too personally. Thanks again, I appreciate
> any/all constructive critism.

Thanks R@iny Day, you and Flash have given me such good advice, I'm feeling much more confident about my next shop and report. I used to hear about mystery shopping and thought 'how easy' well, I couldn't have been more wrong, it is fun, but definitely challenging.

Thank you both again for being here and most of all thanks for getting my head out of where it doesn't belong Have a great weekend.

Carol

Of course part of the whole game is learning the company--and sometimes there are different expectations between different clients of the same company. I shop for one restaurant group who actually tells you that any food item is to be evaluated as "excellent" unless there is something specifically wrong with it. I've shopped that company for several years, and most of their restaurants aren't quite that up front. Most of them, however, only want really major problems noted. I'm still trying to find the balance. I generally get 9s on the reports, and get a fair number of their really good shops, but am not at the top of their list. With patience (swallowing the frustration) and continued study I hope to get there, because they have really excellent restaurants.

I really hate to see a shop where everything is supposed to be "excellent" short of specific problems. Even in my kitchen I taste during the cooking process to serve something yummy, but once I sit down to eat I am likely to note ways it could have been better. "Excellent" to me is some sort of perfection and rarely is what I put on my own table or am presented in a restaurant perfect. "Good" and "Very Good" allow room for the growth towards perfection. And at any meal there are some things 'more perfect' than others. If every thing is "excellent" because nothing is objectionable, how will the client even know what they are doing very well?

I have done my share of bar audits, and this is a great concern to the client.
They really should card everyone looking under 30, but I agree, they don't.
Age is difficult to guess at, and many times they just don't card, thinking the customer is older than 30. You were right to say this in the report, and yes, they can check the camera's, so, as long as you told the truth, you did your job...if they want to debate it, not your problem, it is important for them to know carding was lax. There will always be these problems, it is part of the business, developing a thicker skin as you get experience will serve in the long run.

This has been a great thread. My philosophy is to try to be objective as much as possible. If you can truly take the emotion out of the shop, it will be a much better tool for the client company. As I say this, we had one of the best servers we have ever had in any type of restaurant and raved about her. However, she was not perfect, and there were still areas for improvement.

I have an experience to share, I did two locations of a clothing chain. In different towns but close enough to refer customers to each other when one was out of an item. The first was in my hometown, wonderful! Clean, friendly, enthusiastic associates! But she did not count the items at the DR or suggest shoes. The only mark offs. At the other location they counted the items at the DR, but the store was messy and the associates less than eager to assist. Surprisingly understaffed too. However, the same associate that "assisted" me on the sales floor ended up being my cashier. She was much more pleasant at the register than on the floor. So I pointed that out. The companies need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly of what is happening in their stores. It is the only way they can improve.

The difference between employees varies as much as the difference between shoppers....had two exact jobs, one employee was so fabulous, couldn't say enough good things, other shop, employee giving very little information about
product, hence, to different reports for same shop, different lcoation. Just write it as you see it, let them decide who to re-train, give bonus to, etc.
Being objective is the key, everyone has a different personality, talkative to silient, just the facts ma'm, just the facts.....I'm glad same loction's are shopped often, employee can have a bad day, (not our problem), then redeem
herself next time.