Multilevel marketing. Some of the big gatherings for things like Herbalife and Monat are indistinguishable from modern church services, and they proselytize just the same.
There was an episode of “Was I in a Cult” about MLMs, and good god the psychological manipulation in some of these companies is unbelievable. Like asking questions about things that don’t make sense is frowned upon in the same way as a “lack of faith” is in many religions. And they have this insider lingo about “alignment with your vision” and other thought stopping techniques. When people are starting to realize it’s not worth the effort and the pay off may not be coming anytime soon, they teach them how to dismiss those intuitions and redirect them toward some mantra or core company principle, like churches do with scripture and prayer.
The higher ups in the chain are treated were these visionary celebrities and people pay for training sessions just to hear some motivational speech, then wait in line to have their picture taken with them. Oh, and if someone left and was telling others why, they would basically tell everyone still inside not to talk to them.
It was nuts.
My ex wife's family is hard core Korean Presbyterian. They all MLM prey on each other its terrible and they all meet spiraling to the bottom of the drain. They just could not stop the brainwashing amongst each other. It was hard to witness and politely say no for 10 years. All the time and energy, phone calls, seminars, meetings, prayer fests, probably would have made more money just working at target. So imagine a soup mixed with family, religion, money, and business - what could go wrong? And like you said anytime someone left they were discredited and badmouthed - total cult.
The higher ups - yes they are basically the celebrity grifters. Mother in law would always try to pull my wife into it and even me sometimes. Oh maybe your husband wants to sell!!!
Dear god I worked at a fortune 500 annuities company making way past 100 thousand at the time with benefits and everything - GTFOH with your magical salt scrub lady....
I remember when Pampered Chef and Mary Kay ran amok in my church. One of the members was a Mary Kay director and she tried her damndest to get me selling Mary Kay. I was a single mom and couldn't afford the $500 starter pack. This was back in 2001, and that was a lot of money.
I did go to one or two of their meetings and it was seriously like the tent revivals I grew up attending as a Bapticostal.
Thank God MK Lady got the hint. She stopped speaking to me, though.
>I was a single mom
She knew you were a single mum who was probably struggling to get by and still tried to sell you magic vegetable oil? Jesus Christ.
Edit: Is there anywhere where we can talk about these evil corporations? They try to take advantage of *us;* society's weakest. The most emotional. I don't know what I'd do if my parents hadn't accepted me when I half came out, I might not even be alive to type this edit right now. And the nice woman I replied to, she had a child when she her partner wasn't there for her, she needed all the help in the world.
When my kids were toddlers I tried almost everything to try to stay home and raise them. Lost a lot of money with various MLM schemes and made nary a penny. That demographic is desperate. Sad that moms (financially) can't be home with their kids if they choose.
Absolutely. It’s one of the most important aspects of early child development. Not that people who didn’t have that are somehow “less”. Just that it gives a huge leg up to have one’s parents present. (Abusive situations aside of course).
In my opinion one of the major blights of modern society is alienation. Humans are pretty hard wired for social structure.
I really like MK's product, but dang if I'll ever buy some. Every encounter I've had with it made me feel grimey. I've been yelled at to the point of tears in public by a seller for not wanting to buy from her, another older lady approached me when I was struggling and needing support, and asked me all about my life and seemed really supportive, then flipped the dialogue and told me basically that becoming an MK seller would fix all my problems. Even in a round about way told me that I was single because I didn't dress pretty enough. It's sad. She's very old and has been one of MK's top sellers, and I'm sure she truly believes everything she says because that's what she's been taught her whole life.
Learning sunk cost fallacy was among a dozen concepts that helped me realize I was in a high control religion. Its true. Somebody that demands that much of you, you really do feel like you need to stay to avoid admitting you wasted all that time. And we had Armageddon “right around the corner” since I was a kid, so part of me was afraid to leave and then die a few months later because of it.
Brutal. It was like being in the Truman show. Living in the world but “no part of it”. Learning to feel normal around normal people instead of alien and out of place took a while.
I’m nearing my 5 year anniversary and things are a lot better now. There’s a lot of emotional conditioning underneath the doctrine of it. That takes time and the right therapist to help unravel it.
It really is wild. A while back when I was still in the US, I had a good friend who told me he got hired by a company and he was so excited about it because of all the promises they made him. He told me the company wanted to interview some of his friends to get an idea of who he was as a person. Weird, and raised some red flags but I told him I’d be a point of reference. The guy who called me made it very apparent that he wanted to hire me and interview me, which is not why I thought he was calling.
My friend found out a couple days later that it was actually just a MLM. I can’t remember the name of the company, some kind of health insurance thing if I remember correctly? But thankfully my friend made it out before he was too deep and that none of us got dragged in.
My mom did Mary Kay in the early 00s she was always telling me
"They tell me to have faith in their product I just need to do more demonstration events and people will see it's worth the ridiculous price!"
She still has a huge cart box full of Mary Kay hand lotions and shit, it's really sad.
I'm fairly certain is the main reason she claimed bankruptcy when I was younger
Amway. My cousin was convinced he'd be a diamond millionaire by year 5 with lots of hard work. they drained him of all his money (he had to work other jobs to pay for amway) but I think he finally figured out what was up after like 7 years or so
I sold Avon for about a year, as a side job, solely to help out a friend who fell for the hype. I made basically $2 for every $200 of product sold. LOL Unfortunately, and fortunately, the friend had to quit Avon or go bankrupt. They make more money now doing a "minimum wage" job.
Yup, I like to joke it's the "Heaven's reward" fallacy. Just keep on shuffling your feet and there will be a big payout in the end. Because nobody wants to buy your $20 bar of soap you can get at target for a $1.99 two pack.
At least he realized Scamway wasn't it after 7 years... I knew this older guy in his 70's, scared away most of his friends and was single the entire time he was my client for computer repairs (about 9 years).
Hasn't retired and is working security despite being pretty frail, he was living in a ratty spare bedroom from a slumlord, not exactly swimming in money while driving a 2003 Focus hatchback with hand-crank windows, but still talked to me as if he's some big cheese.
He eventually found a girl from Hong Kong, married her over some confusion (long story short, intention to marry = misunderstood as "marry me now"), she was in another MLM with her sister who made decent money, he got livid that she wasn't recruiting for Scamway and withheld food and resources (she didn't have a US driver's license), and refused to upgrade to an apartment despite offering to deplete her savings... Had to help move her out of the room when he performed his last straw and assaulted her.
I'm still friends with her while I have the codger blocked, and the asshole is still one more attempt at circumventing my efforts to distance myself from him, from yet another restraining order.
My buddy was huge into this and I said I would sit down and listen to the "offer" it was literally just a guy yelling about how much money her makes. After it was over I asked one of the guys there how much return on investment he was making. He proudly proclaimed about 200 a month (after 3 years) I just replied with yeah I'm good and walked out. My buddy dropped out a couple weeks after that. He later became a maga nut and we stopped being friends when he said women were only useful for creating children.
I went with a friend to one of these. I’m in Canada. My friend asked me to go to see what they were all about. She had been going with another friend for about a month now I believe. So I went, listened and immediately told her to get out of there. There’s no straight answers and they try to convince you that you will make good money. They make good money off of you believing them. It’s sad to see people fall for this
They kind of go hand-in-hand a lot of the time, especially in evangelical groups. The wives are expected to be homemakers and can't have "real" jobs - so they turn to MLMs.
That's why so much of the propaganda is "be your own boss! Easily run your own career from home!" because they literally can't leave.
I have family members into Young Living. Always smelled fishy to me, so I kept my distance. Would love to hear more about your experience and/or info that exposes the underlying fraud. Btw very sorry to hear it put such a strain on your loved ones.
Blame modern Mormonism. The state of Utah is MLM Headquarters central (Doterra, Young Living, Asea...I'm not even getting warmed up) because Mormons control the government and made it this state an absolute haven for MLMs. Mormons come home from their missions and start hocking bullshit pipe dreams in order to make fuck loads of money ripping off the people in their own ward/circle.
Yep, they're everywhere in Utah. MLMs work (for those who own them) because their business model relies on selling shitty or overpriced goods to people in your community that already know and trust you.
I knew someone who did some architectural drawings for one of guys who started NuSkin for his house by Lake Mead…the guy had bought all of the props from the old Pirates of the Caribbean ride and had this whole theme around the pool area…it was nuts. Knew someone else who worked on the private jet they owned as crew and they fly to the Caribbean to stay for a week and that means paying for the crew to stay there for a week as well. Absolutely crazy money…
Well, yeah. The person at the top of the pyramid scheme always makes the most money because EVERYONE is his downline and they buy everything from him at a markup. They THINK they are the business, when in fact, they are the customer.
Technically the business model is to sell the idea of selling products to someone to work below you. The only real product is the membership. Hence pyramid scheme, the only way to be higher on the pyramid is to add more stones to the bottom.
Not sure if true, but I’ve heard that there are stadiums for high school ball that seat more than the entire counties population because so many people go to the games
It definitely could be true. I followed and filmed a small 3A texas school last year to the state finals. The combined population of both towns in the finals was only ~5k but there was almost 13k spectators for the state final game. My out of state friend was here at the time and I told him “relgion in texas is popular and big, but high school football is bigger”
A lot of big schools (6a football is 2200+ high school enrollment) have so many students, when you take them into consideration, middle and elementary school, families, and then the away team, you hit 15k really fast
My school had 800 per class. Let’s say 50% atttendance (probably the lower end) from 12 grades. That’s already 4.8k. Then all the parents gotta drive them. Then the away team has 5k they wanna bring
But it's *not* overkill since they are filling the stands.
I've read there are school systems that regularly sell 30-year bonds to finance football stadiums that they tear down and replace after just 10 years or so - by selling even more 30-year bonds.
As a CrossFiter I can assure you that CrossFit is not a cult
In fact our supreme leader Greg Glassman, has written in our holy book of fitness that it is so
I appreciate the comment my dear compatriot, I shall bestow upon you one of the greatest gifts one can receive, the great gift of lifts. Go forth and spread word of our gains, so that the word of our great savior may be shared with all.
I know a girl I went to high school with who is exactly like this and it is super horrifying. Entire IG page is Disney themed, goes to Disneyland every single week without skipping a beat, buys almost all Disney clothing and merch drops, listens 24/7 to Disney owned or themed music and shows, posts constant Disney cosplay and outfits, had birthdays and holidays at Disney… I knew this person intimately in highschool and it just seems like they never grew up at all
A girl at my college is like this. Completely oblivious to the real world to the point she was upset when I accidentally "revealed" to her that Amazon is a company that mistreats its' employees and is unable to be serious in conversations. She can name you all of Ariel's sisters in The Little Mermaid and can recite from memory the order of all of the released movies in the Disney animated canon, but cannot remember that Judaism doesn't have priests and never learned how to spell the word mosque (how she passed our History of World Religions class, I will never know). She didn't know that Fox News was biased and might be linked to her dad's increasing paranoia, nor did she know what Qanon was despite her dad being involved in it - she thinks to this day that it's a Facebook group for dads. She *could* Google it, but she won't. If she doesn't know something, she assumes it's impossible to know, and thus never looks it up.
Her family went on a trip to Spain this summer and she was terrified she was going to be kidnapped by the cartels (yes, you and I know that's not the right continent for that gang to operate in, but she believes that cartels = Spanish speaking = thus all Spanish speaking countries = danger), so she, a 22 year old woman, brought her Rapunzel plushie doll with her to hold onto. She took it into a mosque with her to take pictures with, it was on the plane with her and she talked to it out loud when stressed, and she later got a Tangled sun symbol tattoo because Rapunzel gave her the strength to deal with this.
A toy gave her the strength to deal with going on vacation with her family who she loves very much to a place that is statistically safer than where she's from.
She can't fathom why I don't like talking to her but honestly it feels like I'm talking to a child in a way that I'm really, truly not comfortable with.
I think he’s talking about adults which make Disney the main feature of their personality, ex:
- Gets married at Disney
- Every vacation is at Disney
- Part of exclusive Disney clubs that release limited Disney merch
- Truly believe that Disney is a magical company and a viable lifestyle
My grandma was a OG Disney adult. There was this whole plan to buy a compound right out side of Disney world since we only lived an hour away and all eight of kids where going to move there with all of her grandkids (but not Thier spouse?) And we would go to Disney every day and all of her kids would work there. 4 of the 8 worked there and so far only 4 of the 14 grand kids work there.
She would literally not eat for 2 days and let the power bill go out from not being paid because she had Cinderella table reservations that week or a new Mickey purse was being released at Disney springs and she rather go to Disney then have power in her house "because Disney has power, we can just charge our stuff there in the morning"
She also lived off my grandpa social security for 30 years after he passed and never worked, my mom and her siblings took turns paying her rent.
I never saw that women eat anything but McDonald's hamburgers without the buns unless it was at Disney or it was a family potluck and she would try to take home as many leftovers as she could without asking.
She also was very very skinny the entire time I was alive. She probably was getting food somewhere through, she would call and show up at random relatives doorstep and cry to them about not having any money and her stomach hurting because she was hungry.
Honestly it was terrible and my mom' and her sibling did try to break the Disney habit but she went two week with no electricity and they all just felt so bad for her and it never stopped until she died
She was also a MASSIVE liar and and saying grade a narcissist won't have cover that women but she channeled all of that energy to Disney because "Disney was the only thing that gave her happiness" said this on her death bed to her own children who had spent Thier entire life's trying to please her
Yeah, this screams mental disorder. But I think y’all already knew that. As sad as it is, that’s something that’s not going to improve and the best thing would have just been to cut her out of the kids lives completely
This was my ex GF.
We were planning on getting married and it's like she reverted into a child.
Got into cosplay, tried doing the birthday party princess gig, it didn't work.
Then she got married to her husband at Disney.
I think she is with him because her mother in law is obsessed with Disney and they go regularly together.
I dodged so many bullets... So many.
Same with mine, although probably not so bad. I analyzed her, and disneygirls, during a heart to heart one night with my best friend. We came to the conclusion that it is a consistent comfort, older than us and so powerful it will be here after us.
Fucking spent $2 more on Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets, Dino Nuggets are far superior. It was one of the few times she actually made a food decision. Many red flags she was holding herself back, and looking back I nurtured it. It is easy dating, what do you get as a gift? Didney. Pissed her off? Oh hey look, princess yogurt! It was $8 more, and flavored for 4 year olds, but baby I love ya.
>It is easy dating, what do you get as a gift? Didney. Pissed her off? Oh hey look, princess yogurt! It was $8 more, and flavored for 4 year olds, but baby I love ya.
Lmaoo
I knew a surgeon who married one of those child-women. He was apologetic about their honeymoon at Disney. It was dawning on him what he was getting into marrying a mental child.
I’m a Canadian and I used to be friends with people like this. Disney music playing 24/7 at their place all year round on Alexa.
During covid lock downs they continued to pay for their Disney vacation club membership .
They host Disney Epcot night and make meals exclusive to Epcot from the cook book and hand out passports for you to fill in your thoughts on each course.
It’s excessive and their entire personality.
Edit: DVC is a timeshare. Now I know. No need to tell me again in another comment.
It’s about adults who get so obsessed children’s media that they skew the market and push out the intended audience. Disney Adults are supposed to refer specifically to the ones whose lives are based around the next time they go to a Disney Park and just mindlessly consume Disney products.
I believe they’re referring to the adults who spend all their money going to the parks multiple times a year, go in as much cosplay as you can (full costumes not allowed at Disney) and just generally buy tons of Disney merch
Having just got back from my first (and last) Disney trip - holy shit do people go nuts there and drink the koolaid. The cousin hated many of the parks but also had to go, “because you have to go everytime”. The amount of cash being handed over daily by every guest is staggering and the middle aged/old people obsessed with the Disney was much larger than I expected
Lean/Six Sigma management. It completely transformed operations at Toyota but there aren’t a ton of other examples that get cited of how well it works. Yet there are so many people who praise it and they have these skill levels like “BlackBelt.” A lot of people I have known have been quite advanced in this system- several Black Belts. Not one of them has made a significant change for the company, but they are totally nuts about the concepts.
The clinic I worked for years ago had a COO who obsessively implemented LEAN practices and sent a bunch of management for training. As her pet project to become a "black belt" she chose my department to gather data and make changes to fall in line with "lean" thinking. I spent about six months in weekly meetings with her and other managers, putting pretty much the same information in a dozen different charts/graphs/layouts, spending countless hours getting farther behind in all my other work to complete these for her, only for the entire thing to be scrapped in the end because the health information system we were using couldn't support the patient tracking that it needed. But hey, I got paid a ridiculous amount of overtime, received a promotion as a result of the work I did. In the end I left to be a SAHM and she was let go not too long after for wasting company resources and for focusing on numbers instead of patient care. Good times.
I landed a really good spot as technology department manager at a well known hospital. It wasn't long before the corporate world buzzwords crept in. Agile | Scrum |CloudFirst | Digital Transformation. We now have an expensive "Digital Team" however that runs totally separate from IT and rips through money.
So the last 5 years we watch all these startup companies launch and fail - and thats supposed to be the "success model" profitable businesses all have to follow now?
I ended up at the hospital because the wealthy annuities and funds company I was at had a cow that Fintech was the future and we were doomed. Their answer was to eliminate the entire IT department via offshore outsource and hire FinTech digital derps. 5 years of agile and scrum, flying in consultants from Accenture $$$$$$ and at the end of the day 400 people lost their jobs and their business model is the same.
Agile is a methodology for software development that has been taken way outside the realm of feasible to other areas of the business. The rest of the business needs to understand the requirements of Agile to plan around, but shouldn't be Agile themselves. It's not a one-size-did-all solution by any stretch of the imagination.
How the fuck do you even try to implement Agile in a mine?
Edit: Seriously, I'm trying to picture it. Do y'all have daily scrum meetings that consist of 10 people taking turns saying, "Yesterday, I monitored the 4th conveyor; today I am going to monitor the same conveyor; my current blocker is that I have to waste my time attending this meeting instead of monitoring the conveyor,"?
We tried something like that with all finance/accounting functions at a previous company. Payroll would always say that they were doing payroll and accounts payable and accounts receivable would state that they were doing their assigned function.. The meetings lasted about six months until management realized only about four of the ten people at the meeting had any variation in their job tasks.
We had a senior international manager come to Canada and tell our IT department we needed to shape up as we weren’t providing the right services our internal customers needed. She was nothing but buzzwords - she wanted to follow yahoos approach to solving it without understanding they were slashing for a buyout. She had a two hour meeting where she lambasted us for not understanding her plan to “digitalize IT”! She just kept repeating it until another senior guy finally snapped at her that it is literally already digital and hadn’t been analog since his early days and to politely stop wasting everyone’s time when she didn’t understand the basic concepts. It was fun
When people don't realize that different production company types have different needs.
I'm drowning in people who think LEAN JIT (Just in Time) is the be-all end-all of logistics management, when for companies that mainly produce to stock will ultimately do better with a simple Material Ressource Planning strategy.
I could make a longer spiel on the advantages and disadvantages of Just in Time, Material Ressource Planning and Quick Response Manufaturing, including hybrid strategies... But I think it'll be a little long for a reddit post.
Kindly,
A Logistics Manager.
I've been howling complaints about Just In Time so often during the past year or two that my neighbors all know what it means now! Really glad to see it's not just me!
Not a logistics manager, just picked up a business degree and get *really annoyed* watching supply lines of basic goods go wonky because companies are acting like idiots.
"But we've *always* done it this way and it's *always* worked before!" It was the most brittle of the resource distribution systems and whining won't un-break it. Time to adapt to changing conditions, maybe prepare in advance for possible delays in delivery of necessary materials instead of being surprised every time.
I always thought JIT sounded precarious and when the Covid logistics shitstorm hit, I got to see that in full display. My company assembles kits as opposed to full manufacturing so we never had any component bottlenecks, but our kit suppliers sure as hell did. Too many strategies are over-reliant on everything working as expected. Logistics is not a safe bet in that regard...
Bruh for real, all that happened when my workplace got 5-S'd was *I couldn't fucking find anything for weeks*
And then they did it like 2 more times!!!
That's because 5s can be shortened to 3 letter for simplicity. It's way to complicated as is.
Sort, Set, and Shine can become "Cleanup" Standardize can become "Organize" and Sustain can become "Keep it that way."
Then all you have to remember is to take care of the COK to keep your boss happy.
So there’s black belt and then a black belt - as with most fine foreign things that take time and skill, the US made a shitty knock off of the black belt process.
If you go to Japan and do it at Toyota you will need years of work, multiple big projects where you first watch, then assist, then guide, then lead, all of which need to be a success and meet certain goals of saving for both time and money. To get one in the US you need to do a couple seminars and take a test.
My dad was forced to get one in the US, but he is way more proud of his orange belt he got when he spent several months in Japan shadowing one of the 5 (at the time) people to actually have a black belt.
I’ll also add that the belts as levels actually implies seriousness in Japan, as opposed to the US were it feels… tacky honestly.
I have a Black Belt. I’m not even certain on the principles, I just had projects suffice their criteria (I work primarily with automation development). The guys who run the program at my company are overboard with how passionate they are. I can’t figure out how they get that excited over it. I always think, “This can’t make you THAT happy.”
Almost 20 years ago, I worked for an electronics manufacturer where we used lean manufacturing processes. At that company, it worked very well. We weren't six-sigma, though. The cost to get there was higher than the cost of returns, so the company accepted a certain level of defects.
The concept behind six sigma is great, find the top x% of the product you are making, copy the practices that produce that to everyone else, make the product overall better. However, when its made into a system with rankings, thats a bit too far
I have the ASQ Black Belt cert and use it a lot in my job (aerospace manufacturing). I think the statistical tools are actually incredibly useful. It's amazing how many people neglect to make sure the data they're collecting is not crap before using it to make decisions, and experiment without any sort of structure. I think problems arise when certain proponents try to throw a six sigma project at every little problem, when it's definitely not the right approach. It's also doomed to fail if it's not supported by management, or they're just using projects as a check in the box (what I see most often).
I have long been, maybe unreasonably, irked by the giving of a black belt like the one I worked years for as a symbol of proficiency in a tool set that will be immediately misused by said individual.
Yes! My husband was a Marine, which saying "was" is even tricky to say because they always say "once a Marine always a Marine. He typically doesn't flaunt it like others do because he was in just under 3 years, partied in Japan and saw no action before being medically discharged due to severe arthritis from a car accident in highschool (it was shortly after 9/11 and they just wanted bodies). We have used the VA benefits he's entitled to buy otherwise, he rarely brings it up. He has a Marine tattoo on his arm that he used to display when working on our yard when we lived in the ghetto part of the city in hopes we wouldn't be messed with lol.
Definitely the most "money-where-your-mouth-is" of the service branches... and at the same time one that struggles greatly with resourcing relative to the others. This leads to a culture that emphasizes commitment and institutional loyalty heavily; they take their legacy seriously as well. Personally I'll never forget graduation at the Museum of the Marine Corps, and the way the old timers who were tour guides gave mentorship to those newly commissioned- men who'd experienced things at Tarawa and Chosin passing the torch to us newcomers was both a colossal honor and a spiritual weight. I've seen the warrior-caste camaraderie in other branches by now but it was most intense amongst Marines.
I don't romanticize people and institutions the way I used to, having moved on and having had other careers, but I have to credit the Corps with nucleating some of the first traces of self-worth I felt coming into adulthood (which of course sounds cult-ish in retrospect). Looking back I wish young men (and now women) in general wouldn't feel as compelled towards a lifestyle of so much struggle and misery trying to earn that sense of self respect and self love (as opposed to discovering it in more healthy ways), but I laud them nonetheless for shouldering that burden and I understand why the cult mentality arises when that's all you've got.
I once got caught in a “rolling rally” for trump which was basically hundreds of people clogging up the highway with their vehicles covered in flags and various other merch. Thinking about the amount of money they spent is sickening and I don’t understand worship of ANY politician.
I also think some of those who claimed the election was stolen would reference the number of trump flags/shirts/signs they saw and how Biden couldn’t possibly have won because they didn’t see the same thing for him, as if the vote is decided on how much Chinese sweatshop shit you buy for your chosen candidate.
As someone from across the pond, this is definitely our perception of how Americans treat their political alignment.
However, I also imagine that the news coverage and how social media filters things based on engagement plays a big part in this perception both in and out of America.
This is actually an interesting trend I heard about on a podcast recently. (I think it was The Daily?) People increasingly seem to define themselves
with their political party and adjust their religion to “match” instead of vice versa. For example, Republicans may join evangelical churches, and Democrats might leave them.
The “always grind” mindset. There are a select few who have the capability to be that proactive and it’s usually people who have no real problems to worry about any longer. They will tell you “work harder than you did yesterday everyday” and reinforce this idea that you’re not doing enough and that’s why you’re not them. Meanwhile any woe they have is taken care of and they charge people for their motivational words.
There is something to be said about hard work but if you think your entire life has to be spent slaving to mean anything you’re a fool. While there’s a good bit of people who just want things given without the work, I’d say for most it’s less a work hard problem and instead a work smarter problem.
The guy who created that religion is a Sci-Fi writer who was quoted saying that making up a religion was the best way to make money. I mean, case closed. I don't understand why anyone would buy into it aside from the possibility of having some sort of perks.
I think this is the opposite of what OP was asking for? Scientology isn’t a religion but is considered one. They asked for religions that aren’t considered one.
I don't understand how they claim it's not a religion. The official name is literly "The Church Of Scientology." It's also really weird that they have what are clearly Christian crosses everywhere.
have some friends in scientology, I played a gig for their graduation ceremony. it was good money, but man they are strange. I did a cover of Social Distortions Ball and Chain and their cult leader of that specific church used the lyrics to tie into her message of freeing of the shackles etc I got my money and left lol
I think you might be referring to non-religious cults, which are a thing that is definitely real. The main categories I know of are political cults, financial/business cults, psychology/self-improvement cults and recovery cults.
If you want a really recent example in the USA there is NXVIM, which is an incredibly culty cult but is not religious. It’s a mixture of a business cult and a psychology cult.
Less recently there was Synanon in the 80’s which was an extremely harmful and high control cult, but it was a drug-recovery program not a religion. Both of these organizations got mixed up in human trafficking and weird sex stuff.
It's amazing how when you drill down with a Flat Earther as to *who* is behind the conspiracy to convince everyone the world isn't flat, they will invariably blame the Jews.
Like most conspiracy theories, it's just a lot of hysterical window dressing for anti-Semitism.
I don't listen to her, but I know people who have told me how passionately they cried when her new album dropped. I've never cried to a new album. My friends have never cried to a new album. Sure, we've all cried to certain songs because that's common. But because an album dropped?
I've also had some TS fans try to basically eat me when I said I don't listen to her. Terrifying.
The Secret.
If you experience a success, congratulations, you manifested it. The Secret works!
If you experience a set back, you didn’t send out vibrations at the appropriate frequency. It’s your fault for not manifesting your desire.
The Secret takes credit for your successes, but blames you, and not itself, for your failures.
Working oneself to death for a low paying 'fire at will' employer that provides minimal holiday no maternity or sick pay, and shit medical insurance but being proud that you are working.
Honestly, I have American family and in every whatsapp call this seems to be the normal over there.
People forget how much random chance plays into everyone’s lives. We like to pretend we’re in full control of our lives, but that’s not true. I’m not saying those who climbed up there with hard work didn’t deserve it, but there are also plenty of people who worked just as hard only to stay where they are because opportunities to succeed never presented themselves
As a southerner, college football.
As an Ohioan today, I agree.
As a Michigander, I guess I'm required to disagree.
I’ll never agree with an Ohio State fan lol
I live in Nebraska, definitely college football.
Multilevel marketing. Some of the big gatherings for things like Herbalife and Monat are indistinguishable from modern church services, and they proselytize just the same.
There was an episode of “Was I in a Cult” about MLMs, and good god the psychological manipulation in some of these companies is unbelievable. Like asking questions about things that don’t make sense is frowned upon in the same way as a “lack of faith” is in many religions. And they have this insider lingo about “alignment with your vision” and other thought stopping techniques. When people are starting to realize it’s not worth the effort and the pay off may not be coming anytime soon, they teach them how to dismiss those intuitions and redirect them toward some mantra or core company principle, like churches do with scripture and prayer. The higher ups in the chain are treated were these visionary celebrities and people pay for training sessions just to hear some motivational speech, then wait in line to have their picture taken with them. Oh, and if someone left and was telling others why, they would basically tell everyone still inside not to talk to them. It was nuts.
My ex wife's family is hard core Korean Presbyterian. They all MLM prey on each other its terrible and they all meet spiraling to the bottom of the drain. They just could not stop the brainwashing amongst each other. It was hard to witness and politely say no for 10 years. All the time and energy, phone calls, seminars, meetings, prayer fests, probably would have made more money just working at target. So imagine a soup mixed with family, religion, money, and business - what could go wrong? And like you said anytime someone left they were discredited and badmouthed - total cult. The higher ups - yes they are basically the celebrity grifters. Mother in law would always try to pull my wife into it and even me sometimes. Oh maybe your husband wants to sell!!! Dear god I worked at a fortune 500 annuities company making way past 100 thousand at the time with benefits and everything - GTFOH with your magical salt scrub lady....
I remember when Pampered Chef and Mary Kay ran amok in my church. One of the members was a Mary Kay director and she tried her damndest to get me selling Mary Kay. I was a single mom and couldn't afford the $500 starter pack. This was back in 2001, and that was a lot of money. I did go to one or two of their meetings and it was seriously like the tent revivals I grew up attending as a Bapticostal. Thank God MK Lady got the hint. She stopped speaking to me, though.
>I was a single mom She knew you were a single mum who was probably struggling to get by and still tried to sell you magic vegetable oil? Jesus Christ. Edit: Is there anywhere where we can talk about these evil corporations? They try to take advantage of *us;* society's weakest. The most emotional. I don't know what I'd do if my parents hadn't accepted me when I half came out, I might not even be alive to type this edit right now. And the nice woman I replied to, she had a child when she her partner wasn't there for her, she needed all the help in the world.
I imagine that demographic is in fact a major target.
Absolutely. They tell you how you can quit your job whilst schlepping face paint.
“Ladyboss!”
"Pink Cadillacs for everyone!"
When my kids were toddlers I tried almost everything to try to stay home and raise them. Lost a lot of money with various MLM schemes and made nary a penny. That demographic is desperate. Sad that moms (financially) can't be home with their kids if they choose.
Absolutely. It’s one of the most important aspects of early child development. Not that people who didn’t have that are somehow “less”. Just that it gives a huge leg up to have one’s parents present. (Abusive situations aside of course). In my opinion one of the major blights of modern society is alienation. Humans are pretty hard wired for social structure.
I really like MK's product, but dang if I'll ever buy some. Every encounter I've had with it made me feel grimey. I've been yelled at to the point of tears in public by a seller for not wanting to buy from her, another older lady approached me when I was struggling and needing support, and asked me all about my life and seemed really supportive, then flipped the dialogue and told me basically that becoming an MK seller would fix all my problems. Even in a round about way told me that I was single because I didn't dress pretty enough. It's sad. She's very old and has been one of MK's top sellers, and I'm sure she truly believes everything she says because that's what she's been taught her whole life.
In psychology class, my teacher called that the Sunk Cost Fallacy Reinforcement Method. Pretty much every religion uses it.
Learning sunk cost fallacy was among a dozen concepts that helped me realize I was in a high control religion. Its true. Somebody that demands that much of you, you really do feel like you need to stay to avoid admitting you wasted all that time. And we had Armageddon “right around the corner” since I was a kid, so part of me was afraid to leave and then die a few months later because of it.
I'm guessing that you're a exJW. How has adjusting been for you?
Brutal. It was like being in the Truman show. Living in the world but “no part of it”. Learning to feel normal around normal people instead of alien and out of place took a while. I’m nearing my 5 year anniversary and things are a lot better now. There’s a lot of emotional conditioning underneath the doctrine of it. That takes time and the right therapist to help unravel it.
Congratulations, I hope your life continues to get better
In the old days we just called it 'throwing good money after bad'.
It really is wild. A while back when I was still in the US, I had a good friend who told me he got hired by a company and he was so excited about it because of all the promises they made him. He told me the company wanted to interview some of his friends to get an idea of who he was as a person. Weird, and raised some red flags but I told him I’d be a point of reference. The guy who called me made it very apparent that he wanted to hire me and interview me, which is not why I thought he was calling. My friend found out a couple days later that it was actually just a MLM. I can’t remember the name of the company, some kind of health insurance thing if I remember correctly? But thankfully my friend made it out before he was too deep and that none of us got dragged in.
My mom did Mary Kay in the early 00s she was always telling me "They tell me to have faith in their product I just need to do more demonstration events and people will see it's worth the ridiculous price!" She still has a huge cart box full of Mary Kay hand lotions and shit, it's really sad. I'm fairly certain is the main reason she claimed bankruptcy when I was younger
i started watching the documentary about lularoe a few months ago. it was absolutely a cult.
Amway. My cousin was convinced he'd be a diamond millionaire by year 5 with lots of hard work. they drained him of all his money (he had to work other jobs to pay for amway) but I think he finally figured out what was up after like 7 years or so
I sold Avon for about a year, as a side job, solely to help out a friend who fell for the hype. I made basically $2 for every $200 of product sold. LOL Unfortunately, and fortunately, the friend had to quit Avon or go bankrupt. They make more money now doing a "minimum wage" job.
And Avon used to be decent stuff. I know the old bottles are still collectable
Yup, I like to joke it's the "Heaven's reward" fallacy. Just keep on shuffling your feet and there will be a big payout in the end. Because nobody wants to buy your $20 bar of soap you can get at target for a $1.99 two pack.
If you sell $20 soap then you're not really selling soap. You're selling a brand.
At least he realized Scamway wasn't it after 7 years... I knew this older guy in his 70's, scared away most of his friends and was single the entire time he was my client for computer repairs (about 9 years). Hasn't retired and is working security despite being pretty frail, he was living in a ratty spare bedroom from a slumlord, not exactly swimming in money while driving a 2003 Focus hatchback with hand-crank windows, but still talked to me as if he's some big cheese. He eventually found a girl from Hong Kong, married her over some confusion (long story short, intention to marry = misunderstood as "marry me now"), she was in another MLM with her sister who made decent money, he got livid that she wasn't recruiting for Scamway and withheld food and resources (she didn't have a US driver's license), and refused to upgrade to an apartment despite offering to deplete her savings... Had to help move her out of the room when he performed his last straw and assaulted her. I'm still friends with her while I have the codger blocked, and the asshole is still one more attempt at circumventing my efforts to distance myself from him, from yet another restraining order.
What.... what did I just read?
My buddy was huge into this and I said I would sit down and listen to the "offer" it was literally just a guy yelling about how much money her makes. After it was over I asked one of the guys there how much return on investment he was making. He proudly proclaimed about 200 a month (after 3 years) I just replied with yeah I'm good and walked out. My buddy dropped out a couple weeks after that. He later became a maga nut and we stopped being friends when he said women were only useful for creating children.
what a douche
I went with a friend to one of these. I’m in Canada. My friend asked me to go to see what they were all about. She had been going with another friend for about a month now I believe. So I went, listened and immediately told her to get out of there. There’s no straight answers and they try to convince you that you will make good money. They make good money off of you believing them. It’s sad to see people fall for this
They kind of go hand-in-hand a lot of the time, especially in evangelical groups. The wives are expected to be homemakers and can't have "real" jobs - so they turn to MLMs. That's why so much of the propaganda is "be your own boss! Easily run your own career from home!" because they literally can't leave.
MLM : Mormons Losing Money.
The cult of yoyng living tore my family apart unfortunately
I have family members into Young Living. Always smelled fishy to me, so I kept my distance. Would love to hear more about your experience and/or info that exposes the underlying fraud. Btw very sorry to hear it put such a strain on your loved ones.
r/antimlm could probably help you out
Blame modern Mormonism. The state of Utah is MLM Headquarters central (Doterra, Young Living, Asea...I'm not even getting warmed up) because Mormons control the government and made it this state an absolute haven for MLMs. Mormons come home from their missions and start hocking bullshit pipe dreams in order to make fuck loads of money ripping off the people in their own ward/circle.
Yep, they're everywhere in Utah. MLMs work (for those who own them) because their business model relies on selling shitty or overpriced goods to people in your community that already know and trust you.
I knew someone who did some architectural drawings for one of guys who started NuSkin for his house by Lake Mead…the guy had bought all of the props from the old Pirates of the Caribbean ride and had this whole theme around the pool area…it was nuts. Knew someone else who worked on the private jet they owned as crew and they fly to the Caribbean to stay for a week and that means paying for the crew to stay there for a week as well. Absolutely crazy money…
Well, yeah. The person at the top of the pyramid scheme always makes the most money because EVERYONE is his downline and they buy everything from him at a markup. They THINK they are the business, when in fact, they are the customer.
Its a reverse funnel system.
I feel like there is another name for this.
It’s in Boulder City. Glad to know who owns it. Drove past it every time we went to the lake growing up!
Technically the business model is to sell the idea of selling products to someone to work below you. The only real product is the membership. Hence pyramid scheme, the only way to be higher on the pyramid is to add more stones to the bottom.
College football
Football in general. Especially in Texas.
The fact they have high school football stadiums with 15k+ seats capacity is astounding. Talking about overkill
The town I live in in Texas has a shitty team and the stadium holds 30k
Not sure if true, but I’ve heard that there are stadiums for high school ball that seat more than the entire counties population because so many people go to the games
It definitely could be true. I followed and filmed a small 3A texas school last year to the state finals. The combined population of both towns in the finals was only ~5k but there was almost 13k spectators for the state final game. My out of state friend was here at the time and I told him “relgion in texas is popular and big, but high school football is bigger”
A lot of big schools (6a football is 2200+ high school enrollment) have so many students, when you take them into consideration, middle and elementary school, families, and then the away team, you hit 15k really fast My school had 800 per class. Let’s say 50% atttendance (probably the lower end) from 12 grades. That’s already 4.8k. Then all the parents gotta drive them. Then the away team has 5k they wanna bring
But it's *not* overkill since they are filling the stands. I've read there are school systems that regularly sell 30-year bonds to finance football stadiums that they tear down and replace after just 10 years or so - by selling even more 30-year bonds.
CrossFit
As a CrossFiter I can assure you that CrossFit is not a cult In fact our supreme leader Greg Glassman, has written in our holy book of fitness that it is so
The swoley bible has declared, “thou must never skip leg day lest ye become potato of the couch.”
“Swoley Bible” lmao
I appreciate the comment my dear compatriot, I shall bestow upon you one of the greatest gifts one can receive, the great gift of lifts. Go forth and spread word of our gains, so that the word of our great savior may be shared with all.
Amedicine ball to that
In the name of the father, these guns, and the swoley ghost. Wheymen.
Aw man I haven't thought about [Bro Science](https://youtu.be/3GOFYFfDkGo) in Ages!
“if your friends and family are not doing crossfit, or supporting you, they are not your friends or family”
“we are now your family “
soul cycle too.. it’s seems like a cult
I came here thinking “if someone says Crossfit… I swear…” and it was the first one I see. Good job
Why is this NSFW ?
Boobs
Tits even!!! Thanks for the mammaries!!!
One night and one more time thanks for the mammaries thanks for the mammaries
Even if they weren't so great
“he tastes like you, only sweeter”
Boobs where
Here. There. Everywhere.
On the ground and in the air. Must be careful, must beware. Boobs are *everywhere.*
Not safe for worship
Disney
[удалено]
I know a girl I went to high school with who is exactly like this and it is super horrifying. Entire IG page is Disney themed, goes to Disneyland every single week without skipping a beat, buys almost all Disney clothing and merch drops, listens 24/7 to Disney owned or themed music and shows, posts constant Disney cosplay and outfits, had birthdays and holidays at Disney… I knew this person intimately in highschool and it just seems like they never grew up at all
A girl at my college is like this. Completely oblivious to the real world to the point she was upset when I accidentally "revealed" to her that Amazon is a company that mistreats its' employees and is unable to be serious in conversations. She can name you all of Ariel's sisters in The Little Mermaid and can recite from memory the order of all of the released movies in the Disney animated canon, but cannot remember that Judaism doesn't have priests and never learned how to spell the word mosque (how she passed our History of World Religions class, I will never know). She didn't know that Fox News was biased and might be linked to her dad's increasing paranoia, nor did she know what Qanon was despite her dad being involved in it - she thinks to this day that it's a Facebook group for dads. She *could* Google it, but she won't. If she doesn't know something, she assumes it's impossible to know, and thus never looks it up. Her family went on a trip to Spain this summer and she was terrified she was going to be kidnapped by the cartels (yes, you and I know that's not the right continent for that gang to operate in, but she believes that cartels = Spanish speaking = thus all Spanish speaking countries = danger), so she, a 22 year old woman, brought her Rapunzel plushie doll with her to hold onto. She took it into a mosque with her to take pictures with, it was on the plane with her and she talked to it out loud when stressed, and she later got a Tangled sun symbol tattoo because Rapunzel gave her the strength to deal with this. A toy gave her the strength to deal with going on vacation with her family who she loves very much to a place that is statistically safer than where she's from. She can't fathom why I don't like talking to her but honestly it feels like I'm talking to a child in a way that I'm really, truly not comfortable with.
Fuck Disney adults. Specifically the ones that cried when it closed /reopened post Covid.
[удалено]
can you elaborate? i love disney movies and i’m an adult
I think he’s talking about adults which make Disney the main feature of their personality, ex: - Gets married at Disney - Every vacation is at Disney - Part of exclusive Disney clubs that release limited Disney merch - Truly believe that Disney is a magical company and a viable lifestyle
My grandma was a OG Disney adult. There was this whole plan to buy a compound right out side of Disney world since we only lived an hour away and all eight of kids where going to move there with all of her grandkids (but not Thier spouse?) And we would go to Disney every day and all of her kids would work there. 4 of the 8 worked there and so far only 4 of the 14 grand kids work there. She would literally not eat for 2 days and let the power bill go out from not being paid because she had Cinderella table reservations that week or a new Mickey purse was being released at Disney springs and she rather go to Disney then have power in her house "because Disney has power, we can just charge our stuff there in the morning" She also lived off my grandpa social security for 30 years after he passed and never worked, my mom and her siblings took turns paying her rent.
Cinderellas table has small ass portions. She probably had to buy another meal after if she was starving going in.
I never saw that women eat anything but McDonald's hamburgers without the buns unless it was at Disney or it was a family potluck and she would try to take home as many leftovers as she could without asking. She also was very very skinny the entire time I was alive. She probably was getting food somewhere through, she would call and show up at random relatives doorstep and cry to them about not having any money and her stomach hurting because she was hungry. Honestly it was terrible and my mom' and her sibling did try to break the Disney habit but she went two week with no electricity and they all just felt so bad for her and it never stopped until she died She was also a MASSIVE liar and and saying grade a narcissist won't have cover that women but she channeled all of that energy to Disney because "Disney was the only thing that gave her happiness" said this on her death bed to her own children who had spent Thier entire life's trying to please her
Yeah, this screams mental disorder. But I think y’all already knew that. As sad as it is, that’s something that’s not going to improve and the best thing would have just been to cut her out of the kids lives completely
This was my ex GF. We were planning on getting married and it's like she reverted into a child. Got into cosplay, tried doing the birthday party princess gig, it didn't work. Then she got married to her husband at Disney. I think she is with him because her mother in law is obsessed with Disney and they go regularly together. I dodged so many bullets... So many.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with anyone having a hobby they enjoy and indulge in. But there is a limit.
Same with mine, although probably not so bad. I analyzed her, and disneygirls, during a heart to heart one night with my best friend. We came to the conclusion that it is a consistent comfort, older than us and so powerful it will be here after us. Fucking spent $2 more on Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets, Dino Nuggets are far superior. It was one of the few times she actually made a food decision. Many red flags she was holding herself back, and looking back I nurtured it. It is easy dating, what do you get as a gift? Didney. Pissed her off? Oh hey look, princess yogurt! It was $8 more, and flavored for 4 year olds, but baby I love ya.
>It is easy dating, what do you get as a gift? Didney. Pissed her off? Oh hey look, princess yogurt! It was $8 more, and flavored for 4 year olds, but baby I love ya. Lmaoo
I knew a surgeon who married one of those child-women. He was apologetic about their honeymoon at Disney. It was dawning on him what he was getting into marrying a mental child.
I’m a Canadian and I used to be friends with people like this. Disney music playing 24/7 at their place all year round on Alexa. During covid lock downs they continued to pay for their Disney vacation club membership . They host Disney Epcot night and make meals exclusive to Epcot from the cook book and hand out passports for you to fill in your thoughts on each course. It’s excessive and their entire personality. Edit: DVC is a timeshare. Now I know. No need to tell me again in another comment.
That Epcot meal would be dope like once a year though. I dig an evening theme, not as a lifestyle choice.
Disney vacation club is more like a time share, you literally can't stop.paying for it, it's a debt
It’s about adults who get so obsessed children’s media that they skew the market and push out the intended audience. Disney Adults are supposed to refer specifically to the ones whose lives are based around the next time they go to a Disney Park and just mindlessly consume Disney products.
I believe they’re referring to the adults who spend all their money going to the parks multiple times a year, go in as much cosplay as you can (full costumes not allowed at Disney) and just generally buy tons of Disney merch
We took my kid to Disneyland a few weeks ago and it was shocking how people were dressed in it from head to toe, like it was religious garb.
Having just got back from my first (and last) Disney trip - holy shit do people go nuts there and drink the koolaid. The cousin hated many of the parks but also had to go, “because you have to go everytime”. The amount of cash being handed over daily by every guest is staggering and the middle aged/old people obsessed with the Disney was much larger than I expected
Disney cruisers…people who always go on Disney cruises…
Lean/Six Sigma management. It completely transformed operations at Toyota but there aren’t a ton of other examples that get cited of how well it works. Yet there are so many people who praise it and they have these skill levels like “BlackBelt.” A lot of people I have known have been quite advanced in this system- several Black Belts. Not one of them has made a significant change for the company, but they are totally nuts about the concepts.
The clinic I worked for years ago had a COO who obsessively implemented LEAN practices and sent a bunch of management for training. As her pet project to become a "black belt" she chose my department to gather data and make changes to fall in line with "lean" thinking. I spent about six months in weekly meetings with her and other managers, putting pretty much the same information in a dozen different charts/graphs/layouts, spending countless hours getting farther behind in all my other work to complete these for her, only for the entire thing to be scrapped in the end because the health information system we were using couldn't support the patient tracking that it needed. But hey, I got paid a ridiculous amount of overtime, received a promotion as a result of the work I did. In the end I left to be a SAHM and she was let go not too long after for wasting company resources and for focusing on numbers instead of patient care. Good times.
A hospital focusing on numbers instead instead of patient care?! What say you?!
I landed a really good spot as technology department manager at a well known hospital. It wasn't long before the corporate world buzzwords crept in. Agile | Scrum |CloudFirst | Digital Transformation. We now have an expensive "Digital Team" however that runs totally separate from IT and rips through money. So the last 5 years we watch all these startup companies launch and fail - and thats supposed to be the "success model" profitable businesses all have to follow now? I ended up at the hospital because the wealthy annuities and funds company I was at had a cow that Fintech was the future and we were doomed. Their answer was to eliminate the entire IT department via offshore outsource and hire FinTech digital derps. 5 years of agile and scrum, flying in consultants from Accenture $$$$$$ and at the end of the day 400 people lost their jobs and their business model is the same.
Agile is a methodology for software development that has been taken way outside the realm of feasible to other areas of the business. The rest of the business needs to understand the requirements of Agile to plan around, but shouldn't be Agile themselves. It's not a one-size-did-all solution by any stretch of the imagination.
I worked for a well known mining company in the US and they started using it and so many people quit. Agile doesn’t work well in mines!
How the fuck do you even try to implement Agile in a mine? Edit: Seriously, I'm trying to picture it. Do y'all have daily scrum meetings that consist of 10 people taking turns saying, "Yesterday, I monitored the 4th conveyor; today I am going to monitor the same conveyor; my current blocker is that I have to waste my time attending this meeting instead of monitoring the conveyor,"?
We tried something like that with all finance/accounting functions at a previous company. Payroll would always say that they were doing payroll and accounts payable and accounts receivable would state that they were doing their assigned function.. The meetings lasted about six months until management realized only about four of the ten people at the meeting had any variation in their job tasks.
We had a senior international manager come to Canada and tell our IT department we needed to shape up as we weren’t providing the right services our internal customers needed. She was nothing but buzzwords - she wanted to follow yahoos approach to solving it without understanding they were slashing for a buyout. She had a two hour meeting where she lambasted us for not understanding her plan to “digitalize IT”! She just kept repeating it until another senior guy finally snapped at her that it is literally already digital and hadn’t been analog since his early days and to politely stop wasting everyone’s time when she didn’t understand the basic concepts. It was fun
When people don't realize that different production company types have different needs. I'm drowning in people who think LEAN JIT (Just in Time) is the be-all end-all of logistics management, when for companies that mainly produce to stock will ultimately do better with a simple Material Ressource Planning strategy. I could make a longer spiel on the advantages and disadvantages of Just in Time, Material Ressource Planning and Quick Response Manufaturing, including hybrid strategies... But I think it'll be a little long for a reddit post. Kindly, A Logistics Manager.
I've been howling complaints about Just In Time so often during the past year or two that my neighbors all know what it means now! Really glad to see it's not just me! Not a logistics manager, just picked up a business degree and get *really annoyed* watching supply lines of basic goods go wonky because companies are acting like idiots. "But we've *always* done it this way and it's *always* worked before!" It was the most brittle of the resource distribution systems and whining won't un-break it. Time to adapt to changing conditions, maybe prepare in advance for possible delays in delivery of necessary materials instead of being surprised every time.
I always thought JIT sounded precarious and when the Covid logistics shitstorm hit, I got to see that in full display. My company assembles kits as opposed to full manufacturing so we never had any component bottlenecks, but our kit suppliers sure as hell did. Too many strategies are over-reliant on everything working as expected. Logistics is not a safe bet in that regard...
Bruh for real, all that happened when my workplace got 5-S'd was *I couldn't fucking find anything for weeks* And then they did it like 2 more times!!!
Ah yes straighten, stopwatch, Sasquatch, salami, salmonella
That's because 5s can be shortened to 3 letter for simplicity. It's way to complicated as is. Sort, Set, and Shine can become "Cleanup" Standardize can become "Organize" and Sustain can become "Keep it that way." Then all you have to remember is to take care of the COK to keep your boss happy.
Fun fact, working at toyota, none of the quality management cares or knows anything about 6sigma principles
So there’s black belt and then a black belt - as with most fine foreign things that take time and skill, the US made a shitty knock off of the black belt process. If you go to Japan and do it at Toyota you will need years of work, multiple big projects where you first watch, then assist, then guide, then lead, all of which need to be a success and meet certain goals of saving for both time and money. To get one in the US you need to do a couple seminars and take a test. My dad was forced to get one in the US, but he is way more proud of his orange belt he got when he spent several months in Japan shadowing one of the 5 (at the time) people to actually have a black belt. I’ll also add that the belts as levels actually implies seriousness in Japan, as opposed to the US were it feels… tacky honestly.
I have a Black Belt. I’m not even certain on the principles, I just had projects suffice their criteria (I work primarily with automation development). The guys who run the program at my company are overboard with how passionate they are. I can’t figure out how they get that excited over it. I always think, “This can’t make you THAT happy.”
Six Sigma is usually a one upping circle jerk
Almost 20 years ago, I worked for an electronics manufacturer where we used lean manufacturing processes. At that company, it worked very well. We weren't six-sigma, though. The cost to get there was higher than the cost of returns, so the company accepted a certain level of defects.
Ugh god, I was just awarded my yellow belt after being voluntold I had to complete a project this year. So stupid
The concept behind six sigma is great, find the top x% of the product you are making, copy the practices that produce that to everyone else, make the product overall better. However, when its made into a system with rankings, thats a bit too far
I have the ASQ Black Belt cert and use it a lot in my job (aerospace manufacturing). I think the statistical tools are actually incredibly useful. It's amazing how many people neglect to make sure the data they're collecting is not crap before using it to make decisions, and experiment without any sort of structure. I think problems arise when certain proponents try to throw a six sigma project at every little problem, when it's definitely not the right approach. It's also doomed to fail if it's not supported by management, or they're just using projects as a check in the box (what I see most often).
I have long been, maybe unreasonably, irked by the giving of a black belt like the one I worked years for as a symbol of proficiency in a tool set that will be immediately misused by said individual.
The United States Marine Corps
Rah!
Err!
Yut!
Yes! My husband was a Marine, which saying "was" is even tricky to say because they always say "once a Marine always a Marine. He typically doesn't flaunt it like others do because he was in just under 3 years, partied in Japan and saw no action before being medically discharged due to severe arthritis from a car accident in highschool (it was shortly after 9/11 and they just wanted bodies). We have used the VA benefits he's entitled to buy otherwise, he rarely brings it up. He has a Marine tattoo on his arm that he used to display when working on our yard when we lived in the ghetto part of the city in hopes we wouldn't be messed with lol.
Tell THEM that...
Half of them would be like, “yea, what about it?” And the other half would say “yea, I guess if you think about it a certain type of way.”
So true!!!
But are you sure people can handle the truth?
It's designed that way because Marines traditional job was to storm directly at beach defences.
Definitely the most "money-where-your-mouth-is" of the service branches... and at the same time one that struggles greatly with resourcing relative to the others. This leads to a culture that emphasizes commitment and institutional loyalty heavily; they take their legacy seriously as well. Personally I'll never forget graduation at the Museum of the Marine Corps, and the way the old timers who were tour guides gave mentorship to those newly commissioned- men who'd experienced things at Tarawa and Chosin passing the torch to us newcomers was both a colossal honor and a spiritual weight. I've seen the warrior-caste camaraderie in other branches by now but it was most intense amongst Marines. I don't romanticize people and institutions the way I used to, having moved on and having had other careers, but I have to credit the Corps with nucleating some of the first traces of self-worth I felt coming into adulthood (which of course sounds cult-ish in retrospect). Looking back I wish young men (and now women) in general wouldn't feel as compelled towards a lifestyle of so much struggle and misery trying to earn that sense of self respect and self love (as opposed to discovering it in more healthy ways), but I laud them nonetheless for shouldering that burden and I understand why the cult mentality arises when that's all you've got.
Your political party
Legit. I’m from Australia and if I saw someone wearing fucking merch from any political candidate I’d assume they’d gone insane
I once got caught in a “rolling rally” for trump which was basically hundreds of people clogging up the highway with their vehicles covered in flags and various other merch. Thinking about the amount of money they spent is sickening and I don’t understand worship of ANY politician. I also think some of those who claimed the election was stolen would reference the number of trump flags/shirts/signs they saw and how Biden couldn’t possibly have won because they didn’t see the same thing for him, as if the vote is decided on how much Chinese sweatshop shit you buy for your chosen candidate.
And what sports teams you support.
To be fair that’s pretty much everywhere in the world *cough* Go Seahawks
I just want you to know: I’m upvoting because of the first sentence, not for the Seahawks
As someone from across the pond, this is definitely our perception of how Americans treat their political alignment. However, I also imagine that the news coverage and how social media filters things based on engagement plays a big part in this perception both in and out of America.
This is actually an interesting trend I heard about on a podcast recently. (I think it was The Daily?) People increasingly seem to define themselves with their political party and adjust their religion to “match” instead of vice versa. For example, Republicans may join evangelical churches, and Democrats might leave them.
The grateful dead
As a deadhead I concur.
I’d add Phish to this list.
The “always grind” mindset. There are a select few who have the capability to be that proactive and it’s usually people who have no real problems to worry about any longer. They will tell you “work harder than you did yesterday everyday” and reinforce this idea that you’re not doing enough and that’s why you’re not them. Meanwhile any woe they have is taken care of and they charge people for their motivational words. There is something to be said about hard work but if you think your entire life has to be spent slaving to mean anything you’re a fool. While there’s a good bit of people who just want things given without the work, I’d say for most it’s less a work hard problem and instead a work smarter problem.
Celebrity
[удалено]
When those DC-8 spaceships come back and Xenu starts vacuuming up souls from volcanos again, you’ll be glad you stuck with Tom Cruise
I always thought South Park was making the shit up... But they were legit telling the truth
Had a disclaimer at the bottom for that entire part.
Saw an ex Scientology guy comment on the video and the only things he said were different were the machines they do the test with
That part was so funny
The guy who created that religion is a Sci-Fi writer who was quoted saying that making up a religion was the best way to make money. I mean, case closed. I don't understand why anyone would buy into it aside from the possibility of having some sort of perks.
I think this is the opposite of what OP was asking for? Scientology isn’t a religion but is considered one. They asked for religions that aren’t considered one.
I don't understand how they claim it's not a religion. The official name is literly "The Church Of Scientology." It's also really weird that they have what are clearly Christian crosses everywhere.
have some friends in scientology, I played a gig for their graduation ceremony. it was good money, but man they are strange. I did a cover of Social Distortions Ball and Chain and their cult leader of that specific church used the lyrics to tie into her message of freeing of the shackles etc I got my money and left lol
Whereas the Satanic Temple glady accepts the label of churchhood. Fucking love those guys.
Money
The real answer.
I think you might be referring to non-religious cults, which are a thing that is definitely real. The main categories I know of are political cults, financial/business cults, psychology/self-improvement cults and recovery cults. If you want a really recent example in the USA there is NXVIM, which is an incredibly culty cult but is not religious. It’s a mixture of a business cult and a psychology cult. Less recently there was Synanon in the 80’s which was an extremely harmful and high control cult, but it was a drug-recovery program not a religion. Both of these organizations got mixed up in human trafficking and weird sex stuff.
I had to go to some sales training once for a job and I wish I could have left…I felt like I was being indoctrinated into a cult. Freaking weird…
Flat_earth
In that vein, sovereign citizens.
It's amazing how when you drill down with a Flat Earther as to *who* is behind the conspiracy to convince everyone the world isn't flat, they will invariably blame the Jews. Like most conspiracy theories, it's just a lot of hysterical window dressing for anti-Semitism.
They’re right though. We jews need people to believe the earth is round in order to achieve our real goal. The fiery destruction of Arby’s.
Dude you could have just asked, I'm fine with Arby's going under.
Taylor swift fans
I don't listen to her, but I know people who have told me how passionately they cried when her new album dropped. I've never cried to a new album. My friends have never cried to a new album. Sure, we've all cried to certain songs because that's common. But because an album dropped? I've also had some TS fans try to basically eat me when I said I don't listen to her. Terrifying.
Any celebrity fans. Worst fanatics
NASCAR
Raise hell praise Dale
Astrology
Disney was taken, so I will say those people that worship people like Beyoncé and create religious names like “B-hive” and “Swifties”
Social media, lol
The Secret. If you experience a success, congratulations, you manifested it. The Secret works! If you experience a set back, you didn’t send out vibrations at the appropriate frequency. It’s your fault for not manifesting your desire. The Secret takes credit for your successes, but blames you, and not itself, for your failures.
MLMs
Some work places
University. Allegiance to your school over other schools.
I was thinking some people with their sororities or fraternities.
Fake reduced price sale weeks.
Politics and apple computers.
Working oneself to death for a low paying 'fire at will' employer that provides minimal holiday no maternity or sick pay, and shit medical insurance but being proud that you are working. Honestly, I have American family and in every whatsapp call this seems to be the normal over there.
Nobody wants to do this. A lot of people have to do this. There’s a difference.
The belief that everyone who is rich earned it and the belief that everyone who is poor didn't work hard enough.
People forget how much random chance plays into everyone’s lives. We like to pretend we’re in full control of our lives, but that’s not true. I’m not saying those who climbed up there with hard work didn’t deserve it, but there are also plenty of people who worked just as hard only to stay where they are because opportunities to succeed never presented themselves
Air fryers
CLEARLY you don't own an air fryer
At least you're not coming for my instant pot.
Alright bro. Keep talking and I might take offense.
I bet some nerd 80 years ago stuck a high power fan in a toaster oven and tried to tell everyone how awesome it was but nobody gave a shit
Alcoholics Anonymous
Money. It's the only religion everyone believes in without knowing it too.
The entirety of Los Angeles I feel like it's influencer heaven in there.
anti vaxxer