...I arrived home to find a message from Judy of the mystery shopper service I had applied to a couple months ago. "We have a mystery shopping assignment in your area and we would like you to participate". My first thought was hey this is cool -- I'll get some free merchandise and get paid for just shopping The first thing I discovered is that these people are always in a hurry. They wanted to get the paperwork to me, have me sign and return a confidentiality agreement do the shopping, fill out the paper work and have it back to them in less than a week. Next I found that I wouldn't be getting any free merchandise with this assignment. I was to go shopping for tires and get estimates then return my findings to the research firm. They told me I would be paid $20 for each location and they had three locations in my area. That didn't sound too bad. I'd be paid $60 for visiting three tire stores. I then found out that what was described as "my area" was a little farther than I would have defined. The first one was a 20 minute drive the second one a 45 minute drive and the third one was an hour and a half away. I told the representative that the third one was too far for me. She pleaded a while and then finally offered to pay me an extra $20 to do it. I'm a nice guy so I reluctantly agreed. All went smoothly and I earned my cool $80 for the assignment. Let's see how much I made per hour. I had about five hours of driving time, one hour dealing with the sales people (20 minutes...
Words: 407 - Pages: 2
...Capitolul I Capitolul I – “Clientul Misterios” – elemente teoretice 1.1 Introducere în Cercetarea de Marketing Prima definiţie a cercetării de marketing a fost dată în jurul anilor ‘60 de către Comitetul de Definiţii al Asociaţiei Americane de Marketing , acesta definind cercetarea de marketing ca o serie de activităţi care aveau drept scop: clarificarea principalelor activităţi pe care le presupune cercetarea de marketing (culegerea, analiza şi interpretarea datelor), sublinierea caracterului sistematic pe care trebuie să îl aibă fiecare cercetare şi precizarea ariei cercetării. Cu toate acestea, definiţia respectivă nu explica în totalitate procesul de cercetare de marketing, iar scopul cercetării nu era comunicat. Această definiţie a fost susţinută de majoritatea specialiştilor în domeniu, printre care şi Philip Kotler care, în lucrarea “Principles of Marketing” , afirma că cercetarea de marketing constă în proiectarea, culegerea, analiza şi raportarea sistematică a datelor şi informaţiilor. În urma evoluţiilor din practica cercetarilor de marketing, la sfârşitul anilor ’80 , AMA a venit cu o nouă definiţie, de această dată mai complexă. Aceasta specifica faptul că cercetarea de marketing este funcţia care, prin contactarea consumatorului, a clientului şi a marketerului, indentifică oportunităţi şi probleme de marketing; care generează, perfecţionează şi evaluează acţiuni de marketing; care monitorizează rezultatele activităţii de marketing; şi nu în ultimul rând,...
Words: 651 - Pages: 3
...a good indication of overall guest satisfaction. Also, if the distribution and control of comment cards is not well thought out, employees may selectively distribute comment cards to guests they feel will give a positive response. Employees may also discard negative comment cards if they have the opportunity to do so. Many companies have to card mailed to a corporate office to avoid this problem. Mystery shoppers Mystery shoppers are a $1.5 billion industry. Hospitality companies often hire disguised or mystery shoppers to pose as customers and report back on their experience. Mystery shoppers are used in all types of operations. McDonald’s uses a mystery shopping program to make sure their stores are performing to their standards. They post the results on the Web, making them accessible to local managers and corporate managers. A mystery shopper works best if there is a possibility for recognition and reward for good job performance. This is the concept of positive reinforcement. The most effective mystery shopping system provides the employees with a list of items the mystery shoppers will be checking. If employees feel...
Words: 913 - Pages: 4
...Strengths; Well established store. Good sales on GM, Menswear, Womens & per una. Average basket spend is up. Good overall operating costs. Some good strong managers. Weaknesses; Sales & footfall are down. Process on all waste & returns. Security, till shortages. Opportunities; Trading hours. Location & size of some departments. Mystery shopper, focus on consistently delivering good results. Communication, cascading information down to all levels. Absence and engagement with colleagues. Threats; New out of town shopping centre opening. Local competitors. Action Plan Sales; I would look at the local competitions trading hours, extending opening hours in the evening would encourage office workers & students to come in and shop in the evening. Can we offer home delivery with groceries? How feasible is this with the restriction on parking locally? I would look into moving food to go to a more prominent position within the store to increase the lunchtime sales from local offices. With the local college are we selling enough 'value' food. As sales are strong I would look at increasing space on Per Una & Womens. Possibly reducing space on GM, but pushing online ordering. This would increase the range of items available. Can we offer any incentives to pull customers into the café? Cost; Focus on GM damaged and soiled. Why is it so high? Is it due to handling in back of house? Are there any issues with damaged stock coming in from...
Words: 673 - Pages: 3
...1. INTRODUCTION Medieval theatre refers to the theatre of Europe between the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century A.D. and the beginning of the Renaissance in approximately the 15th century A.D. Medieval theatre covers all drama produced in Europe over that thousand year period and refers to a variety of genres, including liturgical drama, mystery plays, morality plays, farces and masques. A theatrical performance in the Middle Ages was much more than just an example of a literary genre; it was often a social, religious, and commercial event affecting a whole community and involving not only the spoken word, but also spectacle, music, and even dance. 2. HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL THEATRE As the Viking invasions ceased in the middle of the 11th century A.D., liturgical drama had spread from Russia to Scandinavia to Italy. Only in Muslim-occupied Spain were liturgical dramas not presented at all. Despite the large number of liturgical dramas that have survived from the period, many churches would have only performed one or two per year and a larger number never performed any at all. The Feast of Fools was especially important in the development of comedy. The festival inverted the status of the lesser clergy and allowed them to ridicule their superiors and the routine of church life. Sometimes plays were staged as part of the occasion and a certain amount of burlesque and comedy crept into these performances. Although comic episodes had to truly wait until...
Words: 3428 - Pages: 14
...Private Investigator Stephanie Summers SEC 493 October 28, 2013 Terence Hunt Private Investigator Private investigators have been around for over 150 years, and have become increasingly more popular in response to books and television shows. Many have a stereotypical image of an investigator working in a small, cluttered, and smoky office located in the bad part of town. However, this is not the case. Using an investigator is more common now, than it was 50 years ago. They have offices located in a number of areas and typically have others who also work for them, they also investigate more issues now, than they did in the past. Private investigators and detectives search for facts and analyze information about financial, legal and person situations. An investigator can offer a variety of services, for instance finding a missing person, computer crimes, verify an individual’s background, marital, and insurance claims are just a few. An investigator works in a variety of environments, some prefer to do most of their research in office by using the internet and making phone calls, whereas others spend more time in the field conducting surveillance and interviews. Private investigators or detectives typically work for private citizens or businesses. An investigator will often help to solve a crime, however they are not law enforcement officials. Their main goal is collect the information desired by the client. Private investigation is both a contract and proprietary position...
Words: 386 - Pages: 2
...Introduction Mystery is defined as something that is a secret, something where there is no clear explanation, something difficult to understand or explain or something unexplainable or unsolvable. Some of the example of mysteries are the location of your Christmas presents, whether there is proof that God exists., how exactly people came to be., a situation where it is unclear who committed a crime. And so on. In the content will explain the importance of mystery, how to write good mystery story and Crisp Information about the content: The following paragraph contains information about how to write a good mystery stories: Write out the plot of the story. If you have more than one plot at first, don't worry about it. Choose one like the best and go with it and put the others aside for later. Include a red herring. This is when you make it appear that one of your suspects is the criminal when it was actually somebody else. You must also make your readers believe it was the red herring who did it, until it has been made clear who the real criminal was. (Note: Many people think a red herring is a misleading clue. This might not be right.). Secret codes and languages can provide an interesting addition to your tale, especially if you develop a special language for some of the characters. Think of some good main characters. You don't need a lot of characters--sometimes just two or three works well. Try to develop distinct personalities. Write the first draft and it is just to get...
Words: 651 - Pages: 3
...Title: Someone To Watch Over Me Author: Judith McNaught The story begins with the perfect life of a Broadway actress Leigh, whose life has been one long dream, complete with wildly successful career, perfect home, a husband who showers her with love and affection, and a very sophisticated lifestyle. Excepting for a stalker who sends her expensive gifts, nothing was wrong or could ever go wrong. So it seemed. The next chapter opens with her lying in the hospital, rescued from an accident where the police inform her that her husband Logan was missing. The story flashes back to the previous morning, when Logan goes off to their future home in the mountains, with Leigh to follow after the matinee show. The police finally find Logan’s body in the car up in the mountains, and Leigh becomes prime suspect. The story proceeds and in comes Valente, Logan’s business partner who appears to have a violent crime history. The police shift their suspicion from Leigh to Valente, and Lt. McCord is assigned on the case primarily because there is a chance that Valente might be the culprit. Valente and Leigh come closer, and Leigh discovers who Valente’s love interest for the last fifteen years was: Liegh herself. Apparently Valente was an old acquaintance from her pre-stardom days and he had been in love with her since then. Meanwhile the police dig deeper in Logan’s life and it appears that the marriage had not been as successful as Leigh had believed. Logan was having an affair with...
Words: 491 - Pages: 2
...Carlos Austin-Hill Prof. Passerini ENCV-0027-80C October 20, 2014 Word Count: 617 Private Investigator Recently, there has been more TV programs and movies being made based on private investigators. A private investigator duties include gathering information on unlawful crimes. They also observe and document activities of individuals to detect unlawful acts or to obtain evidence for cases, using items such as, binoculars or spy video cameras. I am interested in being a private investigator because I love to solve problems and mysteries like Sherlock Holmes. I also have a strong desire to help others, plus it is adventurous and inquisitive. Being in this type of field also offers many services from verifying people’s background, cheating spouse investigations, finding missing people, and computer crime investigations. From the history of a Private Investigator it has been around for quite a while. A French soldier, criminal and privateer, named Eugene Francois Vidocq, founded the first known private detective agency in 1833. The name of the agency was called “Le bureau des renseignments”. It was not until the early 1900s when Private Investigators became more known, and since then the private detective industry has grown with the need of the public. “Social issues like infidelity and unionization have impacted the industry and created new types of work, as has the need for insurance, and with it insurance fraud, criminal defense investigations, the invention of low...
Words: 756 - Pages: 4
...2f Assignment 4 Choose either A or B ”A Chess Problem” “A Chess Problem” from 1920 is one of Agatha Christie’s classic crime stories in which Hastings narrates the story of how Poirot uses his logical powers to solve the mystery of an incomprehensible crime. This plot defines the different main characters such as the head detective, the detective’s friend and the material for plots which characterize “The Golden Age” of crime fiction. As readers we all know that we’re playing the same role as the detective’s friend, because we’re asking the same questions as the detective’s friend, in this case, Hastings. This essay will take a closer look at the main characters and how they characterize “The Golden Age.” This paragraph represents the classic roles in a partnership from “The Golden Age” of crime fiction: “Poirot examined the table with what seemed to me quite unnecessary attention.” (Page 50, l. 19 – 20) According to Hastings, Poirot is paying unnecessary attention to the table. Hastings doesn’t think that Poirot’s examination has any relevance for the detection of the case, but Poirot was exactly on the scent of a very important clue. This paragraph testifies the roles between the omniscient detective and the detective’s friend, because Hastings doesn’t discover the importance of the chess table. The author exhibits Hastings as the less intelligent person in the partnership, and thereby he makes Poirot’s brilliant intelligence shine through even more. This partnership...
Words: 702 - Pages: 3
...Sinclairs are known for their specific physical traits such as their blond hair or their square chins. These traits can be justified to symbolize pride as well as represent their family. The author makes it clear that Cadence tilts her square chin upward to help calm herself down, Along with it, she pretends to act “Normal” This can show that she is trying to calm down because she is a Sinclair, and Sinclairs don’t show any depressing emotions. Likewise, the blond hair represents that she is a Sinclair in general. Sinclairs are known to be “Normal” at all times, including the duration of any tragic event. In chapter one, Cadence is told to act normal, she tilts her square chin high. I feel that she recollected herself by doing that. She reminded herself that she is a Sinclair and she will act normal as Sinclairs are. She does this because the square chin is one of the common Sinclair traits and that must remind her that she is a Sinclair. Cadence proves this when her dad leaves, she feels as if he shot her, then when she tilted her square chin high, she was back to “Sinclair normal” She does the same thing when she finds out Gat had a girlfriend in New York. Cadence acted depressed for one night and for every day after that one night, she tilted her square chin high and acted normal. All Sinclairs have Blond hair. When Candace dyed her hair black, Grandpa was upset. He would beg Penny, who is Candace’s mom to make her change it back. On page 54, grandpa seemed pitiful of her,...
Words: 1487 - Pages: 6
...Sometimes someone can be really weird and not understand what is going on in the real life. Just imagine a personbecame a social problem for the state and we had to do something about it by putting the person at a mental hospital. It would not help anyone by it unless someone knows the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem the problem...
Words: 465 - Pages: 2
...A Red, Red Rose BY ROBERT BURNS O my Luve is like a red, red rose That’s newly sprung in June; O my Luve is like the melody That’s sweetly played in tune. So fair art thou, my bonnie lass, So deep in luve am I; And I will luve thee still, my dear, Till a’ the seas gang dry. Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi’ the sun; I will love thee still, my dear, While the sands o’ life shall run. And fare thee weel, my only luve! And fare thee weel awhile! And I will come again, my luve, Though it were ten thousand mile. The Castle of Otranto- Summary The novel begins with the impending marriage of Conrad, son the lord of the Castle Otranto, to Isabella. On the day of the marriage, Conrad is mysteriously struck down by a helmet that falls from the sky and crushes his skull and killing him. Remembering the curse set over the inhabitants of Castle of Otranto declaring that, should they become too proud, they will be replaced by another family, Conrad’s father Manfred panics. Afraid that his family is about to be ended, he decides to divorce his wife, Hippolita, because she has failed to give him a healthy son. Instead, he will marry Isabella himself and attempt to continue his line. But Isabella escapes. Aided by a peasant, Theodore, she manages to escape to Friar Jerome who gives her sanctuary before Manfred can force her into marriage. Infuriated at her attempt to thwart him, Manfred sets out to get Isabella back,...
Words: 2101 - Pages: 9
...so powerful, it overpowered such performances and the entertainers were then converted. Actors was their new title. Plays were performed in churches until around 1200, when they were also performed outside on occasion. At the end of the 14th century, churches had less and less control over plays. Towns took over and put on shows that the churches did not. Medieval Drama was very popular during this time, as it was, for a lack of better words, their form of entertainment. The types of plays that were performed during this time were morality, miracle, and mystery plays. Morality plays are didactic allegories often of a common man’s struggle for salvation. Miracle plays are about the lives of saints. They are also historical and legendary. The third type of play that was performed was mystery plays. Mystery plays (aka dramatized scriptures) were about the Bible. They involved Christ, or stories from the Old Testament. Mystery plays were usually done in cycles. These plays were very complex, hence the reason that they were performed in cycles. They were composed of many short plays or episodes, which could or could...
Words: 567 - Pages: 3
...The Politically Correct Private Investigator: Not Much Different From The Old Guys People who read detective/Private Investigator (P.I) fiction do so because they are attracted to certain elements that they can expect and enjoy from this genre. Indeed, it seems de rigueur that the hero should have certain character traits and face certain problems in certain ways. In a chapter titled “The Private Investigator,” in fact, we read that a typical investigator will be, male, hard-boiled, an expert on the city, a loner, streetwise, tough, physical, and a mixture of an idealist and cynic. In, however, “Lost Polars,” we see that the author wants to add the novelty of a female character, while maintaining the integrity of the detective genre. Therefore, in Shelley Singer’s depiction of Barrett Lake, the salient and correlative aspects of the archetypal qualities of a private investigator are not tainted with progressive, feminist values. Even though Lake is a woman, she still typifies the noir, solitary hero who stands up for justice even in the face of circumstances that would break the morale of anyone else. This is Singer’s big trick on the audience. We see, for instance, Lake’s intuition, coupled with her quick-thinking, which assured her successful investigation into Judy Garbman’s murder. She’s a woman who does this, but there’s nothing really “feminine” about this process. Her willingness to calm and collectively rationalize and reason, while the rest of her reunion...
Words: 1422 - Pages: 6
