What A Stressful Day

So you all know by now that I spent the day yesterday training for a new job. I was really excited about it because it seemed as if I finally had an opportunity to get out of where I'm at now. I've been waiting for this for quite a while.
The hours were perfect, the pay was better than I'm getting now, and I got weekends off, which is something I've been pining for. The office was really nice, the people were extremely friendly, and the environment was all-around pleasant.

So why didn't I take this job? The answer is simple: The job itself was crappy. What I wasn't aware of when I agreed to do it is that it would involve something I specifically said I didn't want to do. That is telemarketing. Maybe they don't consider it telemarketing because you're not selling anything--per se-- and it's for an organization, but you're calling 100 people a day and bugging them to sign up for a fund raiser. Regardless, you're calling people that don't want to be bothered. They either take it politely, yell at you, or just hang up. To me this is worse than straight customer service. At least more of these people want your attention. When you're on the phone, they don't want to hear from you unless you're telling them they just won a million dollars courtesy of Publisher's Clearing House.
On top of that, you had get at least 3 people to sign up each day. If you couldn't do that, you're booted. I hate quota jobs. That's too much stress.

I'm willing to take half of the blame for this because I didn't ask what the job entailed before accepting it. However, it's really their job to describe my duties during the pitch of the job. At the same time, they should have been looking at my notes and saw that I had a strong dislike of telemarketing. I established that at my interview at the temp agency. It shouldn't be my job to remind them. Of course, mistakes happen, so I'm willing to overlook that; however, the attitude could have been dispensed of when I called them last night.

After milling over whether to go into work the next day or just pull out of the position altogether, I decided against the former. I called the temp agency last night to say I wanted to cancel out on the job. I explained to the girl why that was, so she told me she'd have someone call me that night. Sure enough, the person I usually deal with at the agency called me from her cell phone, and by the tone of her voice, I could tell she wasn't too pleased.

"What's the problem, Rachel?"
I began explaining the issue with the job and why I wouldn't be taking it. I also explained how it made me feel uncomfortable to do that type of work. I decided not to mention the fact that I had already established to them that I would absolutely never do telemarketing but was offered this job anyway.
"Well, didn't (Anonymous) explain the job to you?"
"No, not really. It's partly my fault because I didn't ask either, but most of the time we spent hashing out how to make this work. It was either take the job now or don't take it at all, and I would have missed out on the opportunity. So I took it anyway."
"Can you at least finish out the week," she asked.
At this point, my manager had already changed my schedule back, and I had my mind made up that I wouldn't be showing up again because I feel too uncomfortable with that position.
"I'm sorry. I can't do that. My manager already switched my schedule back, and it was such an inconvenience when it was switched the first time around. I can't do it."
"Well, I ask because obviously we need to keep that position filled, so now we need to find someone to replace you."
I could tell she was upset with me at this point. I can't be the first client to pull out of a job though. At least I gave them 12-hours' notice when I was only required one hour.

I'm hoping I didn't burn any bridges with this temp agency, but a little more notice (at least a week would have been nice) and a better look at my file could have stopped all this from happening to begin with. I just can't see myself doing something I'm uncomfortable with just so I can have a job. I'll just keep the one I have until I get something that suits me.
That other temp agency I applied at is looking a little less icy than this one for the moment...