The position of Brand Ambassador is a fairly pleasant pursuit, in which you go to supermarkets, set up a cart and give out samples. This company represents various products and promotes them in the this fashion.
The supermarkets where you do this work are all in the same chain and in the area. I responded to an ad on the internet, applying to a store near me, as you can choose. I was called by their HR recruiter, had a phone interview, and was hired.
I was very clear with the recruiter that I had to work the location I applied for as I can walk to it, and don't currently have a vehicle. The recruiter indicated that this would not be a problem and there would be plenty of work at that location. We went through the onboarding process and then I was called to go to another store in the area for orientation, which I was able to get a friend to drive me to. The company has regional supervisors, and the person who trained us was from another region as the supervisor for our region was apparently leaving the company or moving to a different position and the new supervisor for our region was not on board yet. We completed training and were told we would be starting the following weekend.
About midway through the following week we received an email telling us to log into the system and check to see where we would be working. The job is on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays and is for the most part either a mid-morning to early afternoon shift, or an early afternoon-early evening shift, each totaling about five hours with the setup and breakdown. Upon logging in I saw no shifts scheduled for me and when I finally got a hold of the trainer (I contacted him fairly quickly and he didn't get back to me until a Friday, about an hour before a shift would have started), I was told there was nothing scheduled for my location for that weekend and it was sort of vaguely indicated that there wouldn't be much work at the location I had applied to and "could I work some other locations." I politely explained to him what I had told the recruiter.
The next week I received a similar email, this one introducing the new supervisor for my region. Once again, I logged in and wasn't scheduled. Eventually I stopped receiving emails and when I logged into the system, it indicated I had been "terminated." When I called one of the main offices for the area to speak to a higher up, they indicated they would have to reach out to the regional supervisor. I was then told that the supervisor figured that because I couldn't work other locations I wasn't interested in the job (I never said that), so I was terminated. I was then told that there would be events coming up at my location and they could reverse the decision if I wanted. By this point I had gotten another job and would never work for this company, so I declined, especially since I couldn't trust whether there would ever be work there.
I basically got paid for the orientation, and not even the full amount; we were there three hours, told we would be paid for three, and were only paid for two. And it was three because the trainer was late. Unbelievable.
I was very clear and upfront about where I could work. Had I known from the beginning that there would be no work at my chosen location, I would have moved on right away.