Camera woes

[Chanlin]

Dear mystery shoppers,

If you use the panoramic mode on your phone (or similar device) to take a photo and you are so shaky that you end up with what looks like a zigzagging line instead of a complete normal photo... maybe you should retake the shot. Or maybe... just maybe take multiple photos to show the same thing. Settling for the shitty photo means that you will most likely have your work rejected.

Kthxbai,
Your friendly neighborhood editor.

PS: Seriously, this goes double if we've asked you specifically to not use panoramic photos in the past.

[Buzzard]

Egads. I take it that you're not allowed to 'correct' these guys with a few words and a cattle prod.
Aaaand, of course, as a mere editor, you can't just replace the malfunctioning shoppers.
At least you DO have something that will get their attention (eventually) Report rejected, check not issued.

[Chanlin]

Because they are independent contractors and not employees of the company we can send them "feedback" and let them know that the client may choose to reject their shop. Or we may choose to reject it if it clearly does not meet the standards the client asked for.

Some places we just keep on trucking on because that person is presently the only person applying for jobs in a particular area.

[Chanlin]

For one example, there is a particular couple who are presently the only people applying for jobs in a region in Tennessee. Their grammar is horrendous and they ALWAYS have issues with odd letter spacing, one of them doesn't know what a punctuation mark is to save their life. That said, they are actually one of the best shoppers we have in terms of actually following the client's directions and their photos are almost always flawless.

[greek_jester]

Are you allowed to spell/grammar check the reports before sending them on? If so, not such a problem.

Better a badly written report with good content than the opposite.

[Chanlin]

Are you allowed to spell/grammar check the reports before sending them on? If so, not such a problem.

Aye, this is what I get paid to do for the company.

[Deserted]

Then it sounds like those people are perfect for the job, as long as they aren't secret shopping an English major.

[Chanlin]

Then it sounds like those people are perfect for the job

Yeah, I've gotten to the point where I just rewrite every single sentence in the report because it's faster than trying to find where they missed punctuation or screwed up the spacing between words or letters.

I really didn't appreciate how well they followed directions for a long while until I saw worse reports from other people. Even still, everyone in the editing department sighs at their reports because they take extra long to edit.

[Buzzard]

How long until you clue in your fellow editors about just rewriting instead of editing? Maybe charge a beer for your 'secret' or something.