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] ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).