Day 2: Tuesday – The art of listening
Today we didn’t really do much, just listening to calls intermixed with theory. It seemed pretty good, and I had some good chast with coworkers. But we still haven’t actually done anything.

Day 3: Wednesday – The pressure begins.
An so it began. Calls, calls and more calls. Lots of answering machines, people not home, and not interested people. 8 hours of calls -> no results.

Ended the day by going to the SL no excuses party. That was quite cool, lots of chatting, plus Micah & I stayed up really late watching “John Safran vs God”. A very interesting series. Got to sleep (on a futon mattress on the floor) just before sun-up.

Day 4: Thursday – Exorcism
Got up, had some pancakes for breakfast – which were cooked by Christy and Hannah. Christy had the better skills, but I’m sure some readers will say I make that comment for other reasons. I could rant about how they are wrong, but they might not be….

Walked through driving rain to the station, caught a train, got to town hall, used the QVB toilets for a pseudo-shower – deodorant, change of clothes, washing face & arms. The whole time I had a really uneasy feeling. Mainly stemming from the fact that I felt the job would involve me pushing people too hard if I was to do it correctly. So to put in the effort required for the job would involve me crossing an ethical line that I was unwilling to cross.

Once I got to work there was a meeting for us new guys, where we were basically told we needed to push people harder, and try to pressure people who said they were “not interested”. This confirmed my suspicions, and when we were told to build rapport by lying (e.g “yeah I got kids too” or “I’d want my family looked after”) the feeling transitioned from uneasiness to a complete conviction of my conscience. Plus I had a really raging headache and blocked nose. So I told my boss I was feeling sick and asked to go home.

I used the time to consult an advisor, and I came to 2 conclusions:

• If I was to not breach my views of pressuring people into sales, I’d have to not work hard at all.
• Not working hard at all, and still getting paid is just as big an ethical transgression.

So, I decided to quit. I had a go, tried to do it, and realised I couldn’t. Now I still don’t know if it is possible for a christian to do telemarketing in a general sense, I do know that it isn’t possible for me to do so and stay true to my faith. So like the death sticks guy I have gone home and rethought my life.

So now I’m back to square 1 – find a job. Hopefully the pay I recieve will help me to survive while doing so.

Also I’ll be visiting this church on sunday as my church search begins.