I’ve heard it said that the attitude of workers are transmitted from the top down. A manager that runs a tight, but fair, ship has happy workers that value customers. Other managers give their employees free reign. In these places the old adage “while the cat’s away the mice will play” seems to ring true.
As a mystery shopper it is my responsibility to transmit what I encounter in either case. But who ‘secret shops’ our managers and co workers or other independent contractors that we as shoppers deal with on a daily basis?
I find most of the agencies and schedulers I work with understand what we deal with as shoppers. They are aware of the difficulties in reaching a target or the constraints long distance route shops place on meeting deadlines. One or two seem to work on a 9 to 5 schedule and haven’t a clue that their shoppers do not have that luxury.
I recently had a manager treat me as if I were back in junior high when he ‘sent me to the principal’s office’ for breaking a rule and submitting over the allowable monthly limit of shops. I readily accepted it was a mistake on my part and expected to not get paid for the shop. Instead, I was suspended and not allowed to apply for more shops until I was properly punished. After my suspension ended I had another incident with the same agency manager. At that point I simply asked to be removed from their list of shoppers. It took about three weeks and several more emails before he seemed satisfied that he had chastised me enough. He then relented and paid me for the shop in question. He appeared to have ignored my request to be removed from his shoppers list when he started his next statement with “In the future……..”
Is this manager’s attitude transmitted from his superiors or is he the worker with free rein?
I have a controlling personality and I like things orderly in my life. I certainly hope I never become so obsessed that I forget those I come in contact with are my equal.
Sandy
