I wonder how much money is lost with Brick & Mortar shops that suffer from Shoplifters? You know, those people that walk in, and take what they want, and disappear out the door, without ever paying for the merchandise. I wonder how those companies deal with it, especially when they realize their never gonna see those goods again.
They hire more security, employ more devices to monitor the situation to make sure it doesn't happen again, but even still, they lose money. Which, of course, in many cases translates to higher prices for those of us who are honest at the checkout. They lose money when employees use a pen, and the employee takes it home with them - either purposefully, or accidentally. I wonder how McDonald's feels about people who walk in, and take piles of napkins. McD's has an obligation to supply them, but how many of us have taken a few extra, or hordes extra when our own T.P. runs out? Who compensates them for their losses? Nobody.
The nature of business is to suffer loss, as well as profits. The same applies to the line of "work", if you can call it that, that we all perform. They call it the "qualifying stage" of the survey, whereby we enter basic information. Some companies ask just a few questions, while others interrogate our lives with what seems to be endless questions - all with the goal of determining if we qualify to take their targeted survey. Some even wait until the end of the survey to ask these questions, and call them "classification" questions. One thing is for sure, there is no uniformity to all the companies that are out there, nor would I ever expect everyone to play by the same rule book. That would be boring anyway.
No, I figure my "experience" serves me better than my complaints. When I recognize a survey by a particular company to be one of those Long-Drawn-Out ones, I can choose to complete it, or I can choose to close it. I can choose to spend my time whatever way I want to, irregardless of how a company has constructed their survey. The more I do, the more experienced I become, the more wiser I become in knowing the good from the bad. And the more actions I take on my end to avoid the less than honorable sites. But it takes time to develop that immunity. None of that time is ever really wasted. It increases my level of awareness, and makes me a better person for this line of work. I get smarter every time.
Have those companies gotten away with saving a few pennies they haven't given to me? Surely, they have. But they can never recuperate from the intelligence they have imparted to me. That's mine to keep, to use in the future, should our paths ever cross again. And if perchance they do, I'll recognize them, and they'll get nothing more from me. Much like a shoplifter, who might be recognized they next time they enter the store.
Revenge - what a sweet word.