Am I out of line here?

A lot of my issue with the push assignment is that they can be really difficult to find. I spent literally hours one day searching for a product that was eligible for a push assignment for a student who had no items to review. In the end, I couldn't find anything, and I told the student to take a look on her own and see what she could come across. The student then spent awhile looking. Finally, that student decided to just purchase her own items --- and I helped her pick out ones that were suitable to her needs. less

When the program first started it was kind of with the idea that we were SUPPOSED to offer push assignments not that we had the choice. The choice is in how we run our classes but the offer of push assignments seemed to be the real thrust of the program. It seems sort of nasty to say it's too much work for me so you just review what ever you've got and that's final.
We ARE paid for our work and part of that work is looking for products with our students..at least that's how I understood it from the beginning. less

Okay, so I had a student request me, and I accepted. I sent a welcoming message, briefly explaining how the mentor program worked, and asking them if they currently had any products that they could review. I got a reply back stating that, yes, this student had quite a few items that they already owned, and could review, but they wanted to know about getting free products.

I wrote back, explaining that I don't like to offer push assignments, especially to students that already have things that they could review. I explained that graduating the mentor program would promote the student to an advanced reviewer, and that they'd be able to select a monthly free assignment (as well as buyout assignments) at that time.

I got back a response which.. well, I don't want to share it directly here, but the response was more or less very angry about the fact that I would not do a push assignment for this student that already said they had items to review.

So... am I out of line for not doing push assignments in cases like this?

I hate offering push assignments. I find that it's a real hassle to find a product that's eligible for a push assignment, and I would feel terrible if a student bailed before completing their assignment. less

Hmmm... Hard to tell really. I understand where you're coming from very much because I too have had similar things happen. A lot of times a student will flat out say "look, I don't care, but send me free shit." That is a waste of a good mentor's time.

However, I don't think there's anything wrong with letting a student get a free assignment, their monthly assignment. I don't think it's wrong of you not to offer them extra push assignments when they already have their 1 monthly freebie as well as those toys they said they could review already! That part is where I got the impression they didn't really give a damn, and in that case, why come here? When you said they basically didn't care about reviewing the things they already own, but only cared to know "what MORE can I get for free?" that's when I got the impression they probably didn't care about reviewing and possibly never planned to submit one after getting the first assignment and your push assingment, had you allowed it.

It's not often, but I've definitely had students flat out say they only want "free stuff." That makes me cringe and I normally recommend they take a closer look at the program and what it's about, and if they don't feel that they could develop the desire to care much about putting in any effort for their free stuff, then they may should reconsider. Simple saying "that's not *exactly* how things work, it's more a give and take program not a take, take and take more program" will put them on the right track or either it'll make em' realize they have to do SOME kind of work for the "free stuff" and the interest diminishes. I've had a student who disappeared after I finally said I couldn't keep requesting them more and more and more when they were putting an effort into their reviews or bothering to add my suggestions in there.

So no, you really weren't out of line, in my opinion. Had it been a different situation, and the person been really diligent in trying to improve and was quick to put in several super-efforted reviews, I would give them their push-assignment. It can be motivating, but it's a mentor's choice and I can understand why you chose not to. Doesn't sound like that person cared about anything but getting. I mean, didn't they already get their monthly free assignment too? If so, then no, by no means were you in the wrong.

If a student shows no willingness to learn or care at all about improving (and it's happened) then I do not offer push assignments. I have students who have gotten their first assignment and not wrote a damn thing on this site since, and each time I ask how they're doing or if they're stuck and need help, they reply with something off the wall and this has been the process for 3 long months, so I just give up and say okay, when you are ready let me know. However, I had one who got their first monthly assignment more than 2 months ago, then asked me why I've not been "getting them free assignments!" I told them that when they don't complete their assigned reviews, you don't keep getting free stuff! For Pete's sake!

Basically, within one or two chats, a mentor knows if the student cares a little, none or a lot. Some end up really caring about reviewing after a couple of reviews and some never do. The choice you made sounds right to me. less

I might consider offering more push assignments if there were an easier way to find items that are available for push assignments. As I said above, it takes literally hours to do so for me, and often times even after hours, it's still without any luck at all. I've talked to a few other mentors who have said that they have a hard time finding items that are available for push assignments, too. less

I just want to be clear that I'm not saying a student should just review what they got because it's too much work for me. However -- I also don't feel like I'm getting paid to do 4+ hours of searching for an assignment for a student. Helping a student with their reviews, yes, but several hours of searching for an assignment...?

I made this post simply because I had received a very angry (and frankly, insulting) message from a student after we had discussed push assignments. less

I can understand your frustration. If that were my experience, I'd be frustrated too.

How do you feel about asking the STUDENT to find their own push assignments, rather than YOU doing the looking for them? (And wasting loads of your own time?)

Like Airen Wolf said, looking for an item to review is part of the learning process for our students. I have my students do it for themselves, I would never spend hours searching for something for them. (And I don't think that's part of the job requirements for a mentor.) Having the student do it for themselves may take care of your whole issue about push assignments, from the sounds of it. less

That's what LoriandHubby basically did for me. I was told to find five items for review, make a wishlist out of them, and post them on my weblinks page in my profile so they could choose something for me from there. I did a bit of looking, but I basically just took a look at newer additions to the catalog along with things that I was just interested in that could be eligible. I had a couple of pieces of lingerie already, so I wrote reviews for those, and I have Luna Beads to review very soon, but I intended to write reviews of them anyway. In the meantime, LoriandHubby picked something from my list, and it's in the mail now. I had no problem with looking for my own assignment. In fact, it was kind of fun.

The free stuff is certainly an incentive, so when people say "oh, that person just wanted to get free stuff!" well, yeah! Me too. Who doesn't want free stuff? I want to write the reviews, be a part of the community, be helpful and informative, but of course the free items are alluring--as are the EdenPoints you get for writing reviews, which leads to more free stuff. That's one of the best things about Eden.

Still, SMichelle, I don't think you were really out of line. You didn't need to be insulted and given an angry response--THAT was out of line. That person could just have easily taken the issue to Stormy or someone else with Eden, and you both would have been given clarification about what to do.

Oh well. There will still be plenty of other students who will gladly select you as a mentor, and now you know how to handle the situation if it comes up again. less

Then you have learned how some of the rest of us handle push assignments...we have our students look and then make the request. It's part of teaching them how to navigate the site and look for assignments. You ARE being paid to do this for your students, you are being paid to be a mentor not an extra editor.
As a mentor you are supposed to be your student's advocate, advice person, friend, teacher and whatever else your students need on the site. ...and I should be clear as well, as I understand it, we are NOT being paid for our time we are being given a small thank you for taking the time to work with students. THAT'S the real meaning of the program. This is how the staff explained it to us when the program started so YES you should be offering the push items since everything that a prospective student reads about the program IS about the push items.
Make them do the work but you should be making the offer. less