McDonald's is not a place I prefer to eat at but we were headed out of town and it was located right on that road (as they say 'location, location, location'!). To be fair to the fast food joint, I think their breakfast is better than the lunch/dinner. I make it a point to have a heavy breakfast when I am going out of town because most of the expressway food courts are packed with commuters on weekends. If you want to grab something to eat, you need to possess either of the 2 essential traits. One, infinite patience to stand in serpentine queues, if there are any, when the person standing behind you is occupying almost 75% of your personal space. Or two, an almost superhuman ability to push through a mass of people standing haphazardly in front of a counter, a voice loud enough to put a public address system to shame and a shameless attitude to bark out your order and walk away with it amidst angry cursing glares. I possess none of these things. Hence the heavy breakfast.
So I was sure I was going for pancakes (smothered in a divine mix of honey and butter!) and a hash brown but hadn't yet made up my mind about the egg sandwich. That was probably why I was lagging behind the rest of the group, making it easy for the girl to single me out. From the looks of it, she and others in her group were college students, standing there to corner hungry souls into answering a question or two about yet another survey. I was bang on the target. 'Excuse me Mam' she said as I passed her, making me stop in my tracks. 'Yes' I put on my best smile - it was still too early in the morning to put on the grumpy 'don't mess with me' face. 'I was wondering if you would be able to answer a few questions for me' I am not very sure but I suspect that I could have crammed in a lot many more words in the time that she took to get this sentence out. 'Sure, why not?' I said as my mind pondered over my breakfast order in the background. She paused as if stumped. Was I the first one to agree to being questioned? 'You see, we are conducting this survey....' she started rambling on. God! I knew this was a bad idea the moment I said 'Sure, why not?'. Judging by the rate she was speaking at, even if the survey had just 5 questions with a simple yes/no, I would be here for a good 10 minutes at least. By then, others would have ordered their food and perhaps would be devouring it.
'Okay, you are gonna have to ask me these questions pretty quickly. I am really pressed for time here' there was no way to put it more politely. Or if there was, it didn't come to my mind at that time. She looked stumped again. After a significant pause, she said 'Oh ok then, please carry on.' 'Thanks!' I said and really meant it as I hurried away.
I don't know whether the girl in question normally spoke that way or was using the style just for the survey purpose. However, I believe that the people doing these surveys have to keep it in mind that those who choose to participate are investing a bit of their time, even if it is just 5 minutes, to do so and time is the luxury all of us can ill-afford. It will help them and their responders if the surveying process is structured efficiently.
e.g. the person taking survey can ask the person he/she spots 'Excuse me Sir/Madam, would you be interested in taking this survey about so-and-so?'
If the person responds in the negative, simply thank him/her and move on to the next person.
If the person chooses to take the survey, clearly (and quickly!) state the purpose of the survey, number of questions and approximate time that would be needed e.g. we are conducting the survey on consumer habits for our class assignment in college xyz. There will be n questions in all and will take approximately m minutes.
I am sure more people will be willing to participate in these surveys - only if that doesn't make them stand right in the middle of a food joint or a mall answering a barrage of questions - with no end in sight - as the rest of the humanity continues to flow past them.
Perhaps a survey is needed to gauge how the surveys are carried out ;-)
So I was sure I was going for pancakes (smothered in a divine mix of honey and butter!) and a hash brown but hadn't yet made up my mind about the egg sandwich. That was probably why I was lagging behind the rest of the group, making it easy for the girl to single me out. From the looks of it, she and others in her group were college students, standing there to corner hungry souls into answering a question or two about yet another survey. I was bang on the target. 'Excuse me Mam' she said as I passed her, making me stop in my tracks. 'Yes' I put on my best smile - it was still too early in the morning to put on the grumpy 'don't mess with me' face. 'I was wondering if you would be able to answer a few questions for me' I am not very sure but I suspect that I could have crammed in a lot many more words in the time that she took to get this sentence out. 'Sure, why not?' I said as my mind pondered over my breakfast order in the background. She paused as if stumped. Was I the first one to agree to being questioned? 'You see, we are conducting this survey....' she started rambling on. God! I knew this was a bad idea the moment I said 'Sure, why not?'. Judging by the rate she was speaking at, even if the survey had just 5 questions with a simple yes/no, I would be here for a good 10 minutes at least. By then, others would have ordered their food and perhaps would be devouring it.
'Okay, you are gonna have to ask me these questions pretty quickly. I am really pressed for time here' there was no way to put it more politely. Or if there was, it didn't come to my mind at that time. She looked stumped again. After a significant pause, she said 'Oh ok then, please carry on.' 'Thanks!' I said and really meant it as I hurried away.
I don't know whether the girl in question normally spoke that way or was using the style just for the survey purpose. However, I believe that the people doing these surveys have to keep it in mind that those who choose to participate are investing a bit of their time, even if it is just 5 minutes, to do so and time is the luxury all of us can ill-afford. It will help them and their responders if the surveying process is structured efficiently.
e.g. the person taking survey can ask the person he/she spots 'Excuse me Sir/Madam, would you be interested in taking this survey about so-and-so?'
If the person responds in the negative, simply thank him/her and move on to the next person.
If the person chooses to take the survey, clearly (and quickly!) state the purpose of the survey, number of questions and approximate time that would be needed e.g. we are conducting the survey on consumer habits for our class assignment in college xyz. There will be n questions in all and will take approximately m minutes.
I am sure more people will be willing to participate in these surveys - only if that doesn't make them stand right in the middle of a food joint or a mall answering a barrage of questions - with no end in sight - as the rest of the humanity continues to flow past them.
Perhaps a survey is needed to gauge how the surveys are carried out ;-)
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