Hi Adrienne,

Of course, given current employment rules and regulations, an employer
requires adequate proof of misconduct . . . so, just because the
supervisor "knows" something is amiss does not mean a reprimand or
termination of employment can be achieved without protest.  And, as I
wrote in my previous response, a supervisor cannot know the "visitor
experience" first-hand from a (more) objective perspective.

The secret visitor method is "a non-involving way to solve problems"?
Hardly.  It is a means of keeping the front-line staff in a public
context, so they don't behave well only as long as their supervisor is
around.  I assume it requires significant coordination to line-up the
secret visitors, prep them on expectations of front-line staff, review
procedures/standards, and review the secret visitors' evaluations.  It
would be just one part of a complete evaluation . . .

Sincerely,
Jay Heuman



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Museum discussion list [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> On Behalf Of Adrienne DeAngelis
> Sent: Tuesday, December 10, 2002 2:32 pm
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: "secret shoppers" to evaluate tours
>
>
> Anyone who sees inappropriate conduct in any type of shop should
> contact the manager; better yet, write to the organization/store.  The
> rule of thumb is that for every one complainer there are at least ten
> who had the same experience but didn't formally complain.
>         To me, it sounds like at best the ss is a quick, non-involving
> way to solve problems that, I will bet, the supervisor already knew
> existed to some degree. Most of the people on this list work at
> small museums; how can bad conduct go unnoticed? Are these
> museums so corrupted that only the stranger's comment will be
> noticed? The ss takes advantage of this reluctance to see certain
> problems and, as I first said, often exaggerates them to make their
> services worth their charge.
>
> A. DeAngelis
> [log in to unmask]

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