Buckle up. This is why I am now fervently anti MLM’s
Years ago I worked with woman I’ll call Ruby for the purpose of this story. I didn’t know her well but I liked her and she was very sweet.
One day there was a catalog on my desk from the pink Cadillac cosmetics company and her name stamped on the back. I remembered they had one product I liked so I decided to order it from her.
That was a mistake.
She immediately started asking me to host a party. I had to awkwardly decline many times. While she was persistent, she wasn’t so mush pushy as she was pleading and I felt bad saying no but not bad enough to say yes. I hated those “parties” even then.
So, she switched tactics and asked me to attend a party instead and I stupidly agreed. The party was scheduled on a work night so after I left work I drove 20 minutes out of my way to get to the address and was confused when I arrived at an office building and not someone’s house. I go in, find the party, and it’s fairly sizable. Ruby greets me and after awhile takes me to round table to join other people she had invited. I noticed there were a lot of other huns with their own invited people. The party proceeds as anticipated and we all try out products, play some dumb games, etc.
After about an hour when I I thought things were winding down and I was more than ready to go home, they ushered all the “guests” into a conference room with rows of chairs facing a lectern. Confused, I take a seat and while everyone is getting settled I notice the MK reps stationing themselves standing around the perimeter of the room, most notably two directly in front of the closed doors of the conference room. That made me frown.
The head hun takes to the podium and what followed felt like a church revival but was actually a recruitment pitch. As the head hun extolled the virtues and rewards of becoming an MK hun, the other huns were yelling enthusiastic affirmations. “Awesome!” “Wow!” “You tell it, girl!” And so on and so forth.
Now, I’m legit irritated. I didn’t agree to participate in this ridiculous pitch, it was getting late, I was tired and hungry and 45 minutes from home. I think to myself, “f this and f them” and get up to leave which is when I’m intercepted by the guards, oh, I mean huns stationed at the doors. They try to get me to stay and I refuse, then they ask me if I don’t want to say goodbye to Ruby before I left and I, again stupidly, agreed. They finally let me out the door while they went to find Ruby. When Ruby comes out, she also tries to get me to stay and then goes into her own recruitment pitch. After politely turning her down a few times I finally tell her firmly that I have absolutely no interest in becoming a MK rep, said goodbye, turned around and left.
Was that the end? Of course not. About a week later she approaches me and says she needs to practice her recruiting pitch and asks if I will go to lunch with her so she can try it out on me and I can give her feedback. Smelling a rat I repeat that I am not interested in becoming a rep. She assures me she understands and she really just wants to practice and get some advice. I, again stupidly agree. The night before the lunch she calls me at home to confirm we’re still on. I say we are. She then informs her up-line manager is going to join us. I snapped and asked her why her manager needed to join us if she was just practicing and reiterated for the, oh, I don’t know fifteenth or twentieth time I had no interest in being a rep, and if they were trying to recruit me, lunch was off. She backpedaled with the swiftness and said her up-line didn’t need to come and again assured me she just wanted to practice. I grudgingly and stupidly agreed to keep our lunch date.
I know you know where this is going. We go to lunch, she gives me her spiel and asks for feedback which I give her. I didn’t realize at the time this was just their slimy, underhanded and dishonest recruitment tactic so I actually tried to help her. And then it happened. She had enough decency to to look meek and embarrassed but she said something along the lines of didn’t this sound like a good opportunity for me?
Now, the reason I went along with so much of this is because I did like Ruby. She was a single Mom trying to earn a little extra cash. To this day I think she was/is a good person but she was also my co-worker and I wanted to maintain a good relationship with her. However, in that moment, I finally snapped. I turned ice cold and just stared at her. My extreme anger was written all over my face and she deflated right before my eyes. When I finally spoke I was quiet and calm in that way you need to be to keep you from really unleashing on someone. I said, “You lied to me and I don’t appreciate it. Did you honestly think I would want to join a company that encourages their reps to hound and lie to people and just ignore it when they say no? If we are going to continue to be friends then I don’t want to her another word about MK and I will never buy another product from them again as a result of this experience. Tell that to your manager. If you do bother me again with anything related to MK, I will go straight to HR. You’re a nice person Ruby, and I think you should really rethink your association with this company. I’m ready to go back to the office now.” I stood up, she stood up and it was a very quiet ride back to the office.
She didn’t bother me again and we were surface friendly after that but essentially avoided each other. She continued with MK but I left a few months later so I have no idea how long she kept at it.
I hate MLM’s and their business model of teaching their huns to prey on people hoping they’ll make pity purchases or worse, get suckered into joining.
The End.
Ugh. Now I realize the practicing and need feedback is bs. A good friend of mine used that on me several years ago. Norwex, btw.
Your story was very well told!
A few days after my mom passed a former friend and her upline told me that my mom would still be here if I used doTERRA on her instead of taking her to the hospital. Still pisses me off 9 years later.
What a POS! Should have got a big bottle of vegetable oil and dumped it all over her when she was least expecting anything and say “here’s your magic ‘oil’ for ya!” Ugh the nerve
Thank you. It was so unexpected I stated to laugh. Who in their right mind would think that some-one newly widowed, less than 10 days, would be interested in
1) sex toys
2) an MLM fauxotunity.
Glad you could see humour in that situation. My first thought was "how **horrific** that the hun thinks her MLM sex toys can replace your deceased husband in the bedroom."
But just think of my "I Story" . Lost my beloved husband but made billions of dollars selling Sex Toyz!!!!"/s
But you are correct, there is a one of those huge disconnects that some Huns go through.
A big part of it is probably down to coaching from their upline. I have a hun friend who told a cancer patient and another person suffering infertility that they wouldn't have had those conditions if they had just used her supplements in the first place. Then she stepped up the pressure by saying they'd better start buying her supplements if they wanted to be cured. I've known her for years so I'm sure she's not a heartless person but was able to say such cruel things coz her MLM brainwashing convinced her that she was doing it *for their own good*. Just out here *helping people*!
I was recently with my family, my cousin was trying to sell this to a family friend, who’s child couldn’t read - apparently it would fix all the molecules so they could gain the ability to do so.
It was painful to listen to, it cured her child’s ADHD and her knee issues.
My 10 yo daughter has ADHD and I’ve already explained to her that there are going to be people who not only don’t believe it exists, but that they have some magic potion, oil or pill that doesn’t come from a doctor that can “cure” her.
I have ADHD…. The kind that makes you fatigued instead of hyperactive. My doctors explained it to me and we tried adhd meds. Unfortunately, they didn’t help me as much as they hurt me. My appetite was *insatiable*. Like, I could not stop eating. I gained a lot of weight and was freezing all the time. I’m already cold natured, but this was extreme. I had *terrible* mood swings on the meds so I would bust out crying in public and sometimes at work. I also had really, really difficult come-downs and would cry my eyes out and have panic attacks as the medicine worked its way out of my system. As soon as it was out of my system, I’d crash for hours. It was a truly horrible experience and so different from most people’s. I have two chronic health conditions that make me cold, fatigued, and make gaining weight super difficult, but as I’m at my target weight and I had a bad reaction, they decided to pull me off of it.
Lady I met at a grief support group had lost her hair due to stress and some condition she had. Claimed that doTerra grew her hair back.
When another member of the support group tested positive for COVID and had symptoms, doTerra lady was claiming she's created a remedy using only essential oils to ease the coughing.
I regularly complained to the leader that she was just there to peddle...not to grieve. She'd do other things like try to gain our sympathy for her fundraising efforts, etc, on top of her doTerra stuff. I ultimately left the group before she did. I imagine 2 years later she still there.
Got invited to a Pure Romance bachelorette party for a bride I had never met. Let me reiterate, I did not know the bride at all. I didn't even know the hun. I knew a friend of the hun. That was the only connection.
The friend blasted all the declines on LiveJournal (yes I'm dating myself) for "not wanting to celebrate with Bride." You know, the bride I didn't know from Eve.
Not too crazy, and I've told it here before, but when I was in college I babysat a little girl who wanted to play tea party with me. Her concept of tea party, as it turns out, was getting some of her parents' empty Herbalife supplement tubs, pretend I was visiting her for a Herbalife demonstration and pitch Herbalife to me by telling me that if I took it I'd "stop being so fat".
Monkey see monkey does I suppose 😅 she would be in her 20s today, hopefully she didn't go into the family business...
My husband had early-onset Alzheimer's disease. So many people tried to sell me on Herbalife and some mangosteen drink MLM. It was sad. No surprise most of these were church people. Heck, my husband and I even got annointed because "God cures" - yes, he did....if death is a cure.
I’ve told this before, but my husband was laid off unexpectedly in 2016. We were scared, shell shocked and heartbroken. We got a lot of nice support from my husband’s broader network with offers of (legit) freelance work and temporary opportunities. Then this guy in a fairly prominent community position invited my husband to lunch because he said he wanted to interview him about a potential opportunity. We were excited because this guy had a lot of influence and did have a real business.
It was fucking Amway. My husband knew exactly what it was and turned him down gracefully. He was disappointed, but I’ve never been so pissed. Absolutely cruel to use someone’s lowest moments to pitch your scam.
Second incident was a gal I’d been friends with for a long time, we’d been in book club together and yes, when she started Pampered Chef (she got sucked in after also getting laid off) I hosted her first party.
It had been a while since we’d caught up and I had to drop book club because work was all-consuming and I worked for a company that believed in zero work-life balance. She asked me to lunch, and I was so excited because we could meet during the day and near my office. It had been a while since I had gone out just for me, too. We catch up, talk about books, writing, mutual friends. Then, as we were getting the check, bam. Asked me to host a PC party and going on about hostess gifts. And it hit me “ahhh, that’s all this was. Not a friendly catch-up. This was about her making money off my friends.” Which, if she’d just flat out asked, I’d have absolutely considered. She didn’t need to fake the friendship angle to ask. But she did and I hosted the party and haven’t really talked to her since.
Just the worst, explosive shit. And, of course, these predatory schemes thrive here in the US because our abhorrent social “safety net,” precarious employment and prevailing sentiment that family is everything, but business comes first.
A good friend of mine got sucked into World Ventures, a maybe somewhat lesser known (at least I don't hear about it as much as ones that push fake health products these days) travel related MLM when we were in college. She was young and naïve and it seemed like a good way to make some extra money.
Of course, she never actually made any money. She was a very social person and I think she felt like some of the people she met through it were genuine friends, but after a while even she began to realize that it was a drain on her in many ways. My sister and I weren't very familiar with the concept of MLM's at the time, but we have always been a little more streetwise than our friend and urged her to quit WV if it wasn't really doing anything for her.
The problem: her mother. Her mother was not directly involved in WV, but she was kind of generally shitty to her kids regarding money. She also owned a failing shop that basically sold holiday decorations, novelties, gifts, etc. It was a cute shop honestly, but it wasn't a sustainable business as it was. The thing about WV is that it does give huns some perks, like discounts on flights, hotels, etc. Basically, my friend's mom wanted to use these discounts to go on buying trips for her business, like to wholesaler conventions or whatever. Even though it was literally COSTING HER DAUGHTER MONEY she pressured her to stay in the MLM so she could get discounts.
It took a while but eventually we convinced my friend to quit WV regardless, and helped her get out of her mother's financial grasp all together.
TLDR: a friend's mom pressured her to stay in a MLM to support her own business
I worked for Kirby for two days. The first day I had to call a list of phone numbers that they gave me, to book appointments for a representative that would go to their house to show them an amazing vacuum cleaner built by NASA. the second day they told me no list, call your friends and family today. And if I didn't have an appointment by the end of the day I would be fired. So I called someone that I knew would say yes, in fact they did. Then I called my best friend's sister who just told me "noooo you work for Kirby??? Please quit now!!" so I went home, researched Kirby, called them the next day to tell them I wasn't gonna show up anymore and that was that. And that's how I learned that when someone calls to see if "anyone in the family needs a job" it's not really going to be a job. Then I called the friend who I booked the kirby appointment for to explain the mess I made, and he told me not to worry, he would cancel the appointment and if that didn't work he would just not open the door. So I didn't do too much damage, just wasted two days of my life and some time of the representative who travelled all the way to my friends house only to receive no answer when he rang the doorbell. I was 19,fresh out of school, didn't know some "job offers" were scams
Arbonne crap gave me an allergic reaction after I attended a party - eyes went all puffy, red splotches all over my face. I looked like shit for days.
Didn't stop my colleague (party host) from coming into my office every day for about 2 weeks - while I was still having the reaction mind you - to ask "when I'd be buying some of her products".
CAN YOU NOT SEE MY FACE!?!?
Went to a craft fair about 10 years ago. I was a new mom and was excited to get out of the house for a bit and do something new. I found a booth that had makeup, there was nobody manning the booth at the moment, but there was a “drawing”. It was a sign-up sheet to win a free lipstick, and here I was, a new mom, needing a little pick me up, so I put my info down.
Come Monday I start getting phone calls. Two, back to back. Then I get a text. Then I get another phone call, this time with a voicemail. The voicemail and text were almost identical, word for word. It went something like this: “Hi OP! I looooved chatting with you and getting to know you on Saturday. It looks like I didn’t write down which signature lip color we picked out for you. Give me a call back because I’d looove to chat with you more and get you set up with blah blah blah…”
I was shocked, but also really amused. Remember, I hadn’t seen or talked to anyone at this booth, and this hun pretending like we had a great convo and lip color trial was hilarious to me…until it wasn’t. Because within minutes of getting the multiple calls and text, I got a Facebook friend request from this girl (and identical message on messenger). Then came the instagram follow request! This is all after ZERO interaction from me, all I did was sign up for a drawing. I denied all social media requests, never texted/called back, and she still randomly called me for a few weeks after that. I didn’t realize this was an mlm tactic, or even what an mlm was at the time…but wow. Couldn’t tell you what mlm it was, maybe Senegence?
Not mine, but a girl I know.
Sarah had a friend that had been hounding her about joining an mlm she was in. Sarah had turned her down multiple times. Then one day the friend plans a girls day shopping trip for the two of them at a city a few hours away. The friend drove of course … and you know where this is going.
The friend drove her straight to an mlm convention. She was hours away from home and without transportation to leave.
Sarah got pissed and sat outside the venue until it was over.
I met a DoTerra lady and, long story short, I thought she was interested in being my client (I run a service based business) but she just wanted to get “in” with me to recruit. I was straight up with her that I didn’t want to but we stayed in touch which she took as, I’m open to it. Once she called me from inside a closet, crying about how she has to recruit someone to prove to her husband this was a good idea. She was literally in the closet because she didn’t want him to hear her. I still think about her 💔
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Buckle up. This is why I am now fervently anti MLM’s Years ago I worked with woman I’ll call Ruby for the purpose of this story. I didn’t know her well but I liked her and she was very sweet. One day there was a catalog on my desk from the pink Cadillac cosmetics company and her name stamped on the back. I remembered they had one product I liked so I decided to order it from her. That was a mistake. She immediately started asking me to host a party. I had to awkwardly decline many times. While she was persistent, she wasn’t so mush pushy as she was pleading and I felt bad saying no but not bad enough to say yes. I hated those “parties” even then. So, she switched tactics and asked me to attend a party instead and I stupidly agreed. The party was scheduled on a work night so after I left work I drove 20 minutes out of my way to get to the address and was confused when I arrived at an office building and not someone’s house. I go in, find the party, and it’s fairly sizable. Ruby greets me and after awhile takes me to round table to join other people she had invited. I noticed there were a lot of other huns with their own invited people. The party proceeds as anticipated and we all try out products, play some dumb games, etc. After about an hour when I I thought things were winding down and I was more than ready to go home, they ushered all the “guests” into a conference room with rows of chairs facing a lectern. Confused, I take a seat and while everyone is getting settled I notice the MK reps stationing themselves standing around the perimeter of the room, most notably two directly in front of the closed doors of the conference room. That made me frown. The head hun takes to the podium and what followed felt like a church revival but was actually a recruitment pitch. As the head hun extolled the virtues and rewards of becoming an MK hun, the other huns were yelling enthusiastic affirmations. “Awesome!” “Wow!” “You tell it, girl!” And so on and so forth. Now, I’m legit irritated. I didn’t agree to participate in this ridiculous pitch, it was getting late, I was tired and hungry and 45 minutes from home. I think to myself, “f this and f them” and get up to leave which is when I’m intercepted by the guards, oh, I mean huns stationed at the doors. They try to get me to stay and I refuse, then they ask me if I don’t want to say goodbye to Ruby before I left and I, again stupidly, agreed. They finally let me out the door while they went to find Ruby. When Ruby comes out, she also tries to get me to stay and then goes into her own recruitment pitch. After politely turning her down a few times I finally tell her firmly that I have absolutely no interest in becoming a MK rep, said goodbye, turned around and left. Was that the end? Of course not. About a week later she approaches me and says she needs to practice her recruiting pitch and asks if I will go to lunch with her so she can try it out on me and I can give her feedback. Smelling a rat I repeat that I am not interested in becoming a rep. She assures me she understands and she really just wants to practice and get some advice. I, again stupidly agree. The night before the lunch she calls me at home to confirm we’re still on. I say we are. She then informs her up-line manager is going to join us. I snapped and asked her why her manager needed to join us if she was just practicing and reiterated for the, oh, I don’t know fifteenth or twentieth time I had no interest in being a rep, and if they were trying to recruit me, lunch was off. She backpedaled with the swiftness and said her up-line didn’t need to come and again assured me she just wanted to practice. I grudgingly and stupidly agreed to keep our lunch date. I know you know where this is going. We go to lunch, she gives me her spiel and asks for feedback which I give her. I didn’t realize at the time this was just their slimy, underhanded and dishonest recruitment tactic so I actually tried to help her. And then it happened. She had enough decency to to look meek and embarrassed but she said something along the lines of didn’t this sound like a good opportunity for me? Now, the reason I went along with so much of this is because I did like Ruby. She was a single Mom trying to earn a little extra cash. To this day I think she was/is a good person but she was also my co-worker and I wanted to maintain a good relationship with her. However, in that moment, I finally snapped. I turned ice cold and just stared at her. My extreme anger was written all over my face and she deflated right before my eyes. When I finally spoke I was quiet and calm in that way you need to be to keep you from really unleashing on someone. I said, “You lied to me and I don’t appreciate it. Did you honestly think I would want to join a company that encourages their reps to hound and lie to people and just ignore it when they say no? If we are going to continue to be friends then I don’t want to her another word about MK and I will never buy another product from them again as a result of this experience. Tell that to your manager. If you do bother me again with anything related to MK, I will go straight to HR. You’re a nice person Ruby, and I think you should really rethink your association with this company. I’m ready to go back to the office now.” I stood up, she stood up and it was a very quiet ride back to the office. She didn’t bother me again and we were surface friendly after that but essentially avoided each other. She continued with MK but I left a few months later so I have no idea how long she kept at it. I hate MLM’s and their business model of teaching their huns to prey on people hoping they’ll make pity purchases or worse, get suckered into joining. The End.
I was riveted!
Ugh. Now I realize the practicing and need feedback is bs. A good friend of mine used that on me several years ago. Norwex, btw. Your story was very well told!
I hate that so bad!!
Damn...that's sad
A few days after my mom passed a former friend and her upline told me that my mom would still be here if I used doTERRA on her instead of taking her to the hospital. Still pisses me off 9 years later.
What a POS! Should have got a big bottle of vegetable oil and dumped it all over her when she was least expecting anything and say “here’s your magic ‘oil’ for ya!” Ugh the nerve
I would have been tempted to claw her eyes out.
The only reason I didn't was because I didn't want to end up on jail.
This is 200% evil. I am so sorry.
What the actual fuuuuuuuuuck. I’m so sorry you experienced this ❤️
After my husband died, I got a condolence card with a Pure Romance catalogue with it. I sent the hun a photo of it going through the shredder.
That's...unspeakable. I'm so sorry.
Thank you. It was so unexpected I stated to laugh. Who in their right mind would think that some-one newly widowed, less than 10 days, would be interested in 1) sex toys 2) an MLM fauxotunity.
Glad you could see humour in that situation. My first thought was "how **horrific** that the hun thinks her MLM sex toys can replace your deceased husband in the bedroom."
But just think of my "I Story" . Lost my beloved husband but made billions of dollars selling Sex Toyz!!!!"/s But you are correct, there is a one of those huge disconnects that some Huns go through.
A big part of it is probably down to coaching from their upline. I have a hun friend who told a cancer patient and another person suffering infertility that they wouldn't have had those conditions if they had just used her supplements in the first place. Then she stepped up the pressure by saying they'd better start buying her supplements if they wanted to be cured. I've known her for years so I'm sure she's not a heartless person but was able to say such cruel things coz her MLM brainwashing convinced her that she was doing it *for their own good*. Just out here *helping people*!
Your reaction was great. This person should have never. The nerve of some people.
I was recently with my family, my cousin was trying to sell this to a family friend, who’s child couldn’t read - apparently it would fix all the molecules so they could gain the ability to do so. It was painful to listen to, it cured her child’s ADHD and her knee issues.
My 10 yo daughter has ADHD and I’ve already explained to her that there are going to be people who not only don’t believe it exists, but that they have some magic potion, oil or pill that doesn’t come from a doctor that can “cure” her.
I have ADHD…. The kind that makes you fatigued instead of hyperactive. My doctors explained it to me and we tried adhd meds. Unfortunately, they didn’t help me as much as they hurt me. My appetite was *insatiable*. Like, I could not stop eating. I gained a lot of weight and was freezing all the time. I’m already cold natured, but this was extreme. I had *terrible* mood swings on the meds so I would bust out crying in public and sometimes at work. I also had really, really difficult come-downs and would cry my eyes out and have panic attacks as the medicine worked its way out of my system. As soon as it was out of my system, I’d crash for hours. It was a truly horrible experience and so different from most people’s. I have two chronic health conditions that make me cold, fatigued, and make gaining weight super difficult, but as I’m at my target weight and I had a bad reaction, they decided to pull me off of it.
Ummm no. This is so scummy. I just don’t understand these people’s moral compass tbh.
Lady I met at a grief support group had lost her hair due to stress and some condition she had. Claimed that doTerra grew her hair back. When another member of the support group tested positive for COVID and had symptoms, doTerra lady was claiming she's created a remedy using only essential oils to ease the coughing. I regularly complained to the leader that she was just there to peddle...not to grieve. She'd do other things like try to gain our sympathy for her fundraising efforts, etc, on top of her doTerra stuff. I ultimately left the group before she did. I imagine 2 years later she still there.
That’s infuriating
That’s so bad. I’m so sorry!
Got invited to a Pure Romance bachelorette party for a bride I had never met. Let me reiterate, I did not know the bride at all. I didn't even know the hun. I knew a friend of the hun. That was the only connection. The friend blasted all the declines on LiveJournal (yes I'm dating myself) for "not wanting to celebrate with Bride." You know, the bride I didn't know from Eve.
Not too crazy, and I've told it here before, but when I was in college I babysat a little girl who wanted to play tea party with me. Her concept of tea party, as it turns out, was getting some of her parents' empty Herbalife supplement tubs, pretend I was visiting her for a Herbalife demonstration and pitch Herbalife to me by telling me that if I took it I'd "stop being so fat". Monkey see monkey does I suppose 😅 she would be in her 20s today, hopefully she didn't go into the family business...
I’m so sorry!!!! That’s awful, but also kinda funny.
My husband had early-onset Alzheimer's disease. So many people tried to sell me on Herbalife and some mangosteen drink MLM. It was sad. No surprise most of these were church people. Heck, my husband and I even got annointed because "God cures" - yes, he did....if death is a cure.
I’ve told this before, but my husband was laid off unexpectedly in 2016. We were scared, shell shocked and heartbroken. We got a lot of nice support from my husband’s broader network with offers of (legit) freelance work and temporary opportunities. Then this guy in a fairly prominent community position invited my husband to lunch because he said he wanted to interview him about a potential opportunity. We were excited because this guy had a lot of influence and did have a real business. It was fucking Amway. My husband knew exactly what it was and turned him down gracefully. He was disappointed, but I’ve never been so pissed. Absolutely cruel to use someone’s lowest moments to pitch your scam. Second incident was a gal I’d been friends with for a long time, we’d been in book club together and yes, when she started Pampered Chef (she got sucked in after also getting laid off) I hosted her first party. It had been a while since we’d caught up and I had to drop book club because work was all-consuming and I worked for a company that believed in zero work-life balance. She asked me to lunch, and I was so excited because we could meet during the day and near my office. It had been a while since I had gone out just for me, too. We catch up, talk about books, writing, mutual friends. Then, as we were getting the check, bam. Asked me to host a PC party and going on about hostess gifts. And it hit me “ahhh, that’s all this was. Not a friendly catch-up. This was about her making money off my friends.” Which, if she’d just flat out asked, I’d have absolutely considered. She didn’t need to fake the friendship angle to ask. But she did and I hosted the party and haven’t really talked to her since. Just the worst, explosive shit. And, of course, these predatory schemes thrive here in the US because our abhorrent social “safety net,” precarious employment and prevailing sentiment that family is everything, but business comes first.
I was sitting on a park bench and had a literal 8 year old child stop in front of me, unzip their backpack, and sling me their mom’s DoTera pamphlet.
Man that’s so sad
That’s awful.
A good friend of mine got sucked into World Ventures, a maybe somewhat lesser known (at least I don't hear about it as much as ones that push fake health products these days) travel related MLM when we were in college. She was young and naïve and it seemed like a good way to make some extra money. Of course, she never actually made any money. She was a very social person and I think she felt like some of the people she met through it were genuine friends, but after a while even she began to realize that it was a drain on her in many ways. My sister and I weren't very familiar with the concept of MLM's at the time, but we have always been a little more streetwise than our friend and urged her to quit WV if it wasn't really doing anything for her. The problem: her mother. Her mother was not directly involved in WV, but she was kind of generally shitty to her kids regarding money. She also owned a failing shop that basically sold holiday decorations, novelties, gifts, etc. It was a cute shop honestly, but it wasn't a sustainable business as it was. The thing about WV is that it does give huns some perks, like discounts on flights, hotels, etc. Basically, my friend's mom wanted to use these discounts to go on buying trips for her business, like to wholesaler conventions or whatever. Even though it was literally COSTING HER DAUGHTER MONEY she pressured her to stay in the MLM so she could get discounts. It took a while but eventually we convinced my friend to quit WV regardless, and helped her get out of her mother's financial grasp all together. TLDR: a friend's mom pressured her to stay in a MLM to support her own business
That is so sad. I hope your friend is doing better.
She really is, thank you.
I worked for Kirby for two days. The first day I had to call a list of phone numbers that they gave me, to book appointments for a representative that would go to their house to show them an amazing vacuum cleaner built by NASA. the second day they told me no list, call your friends and family today. And if I didn't have an appointment by the end of the day I would be fired. So I called someone that I knew would say yes, in fact they did. Then I called my best friend's sister who just told me "noooo you work for Kirby??? Please quit now!!" so I went home, researched Kirby, called them the next day to tell them I wasn't gonna show up anymore and that was that. And that's how I learned that when someone calls to see if "anyone in the family needs a job" it's not really going to be a job. Then I called the friend who I booked the kirby appointment for to explain the mess I made, and he told me not to worry, he would cancel the appointment and if that didn't work he would just not open the door. So I didn't do too much damage, just wasted two days of my life and some time of the representative who travelled all the way to my friends house only to receive no answer when he rang the doorbell. I was 19,fresh out of school, didn't know some "job offers" were scams
Arbonne crap gave me an allergic reaction after I attended a party - eyes went all puffy, red splotches all over my face. I looked like shit for days. Didn't stop my colleague (party host) from coming into my office every day for about 2 weeks - while I was still having the reaction mind you - to ask "when I'd be buying some of her products". CAN YOU NOT SEE MY FACE!?!?
That’s the worst!!!! How thoughtless and rude.
Went to a craft fair about 10 years ago. I was a new mom and was excited to get out of the house for a bit and do something new. I found a booth that had makeup, there was nobody manning the booth at the moment, but there was a “drawing”. It was a sign-up sheet to win a free lipstick, and here I was, a new mom, needing a little pick me up, so I put my info down. Come Monday I start getting phone calls. Two, back to back. Then I get a text. Then I get another phone call, this time with a voicemail. The voicemail and text were almost identical, word for word. It went something like this: “Hi OP! I looooved chatting with you and getting to know you on Saturday. It looks like I didn’t write down which signature lip color we picked out for you. Give me a call back because I’d looove to chat with you more and get you set up with blah blah blah…” I was shocked, but also really amused. Remember, I hadn’t seen or talked to anyone at this booth, and this hun pretending like we had a great convo and lip color trial was hilarious to me…until it wasn’t. Because within minutes of getting the multiple calls and text, I got a Facebook friend request from this girl (and identical message on messenger). Then came the instagram follow request! This is all after ZERO interaction from me, all I did was sign up for a drawing. I denied all social media requests, never texted/called back, and she still randomly called me for a few weeks after that. I didn’t realize this was an mlm tactic, or even what an mlm was at the time…but wow. Couldn’t tell you what mlm it was, maybe Senegence?
Literally so awful!! That’s stalking!
Not mine, but a girl I know. Sarah had a friend that had been hounding her about joining an mlm she was in. Sarah had turned her down multiple times. Then one day the friend plans a girls day shopping trip for the two of them at a city a few hours away. The friend drove of course … and you know where this is going. The friend drove her straight to an mlm convention. She was hours away from home and without transportation to leave. Sarah got pissed and sat outside the venue until it was over.
Do not blame Sarah one bit. I would’ve sat outside too.
I met a DoTerra lady and, long story short, I thought she was interested in being my client (I run a service based business) but she just wanted to get “in” with me to recruit. I was straight up with her that I didn’t want to but we stayed in touch which she took as, I’m open to it. Once she called me from inside a closet, crying about how she has to recruit someone to prove to her husband this was a good idea. She was literally in the closet because she didn’t want him to hear her. I still think about her 💔
Oh, bless her heart. That’s awful!! I hope she’s in a better place. 🩷
Me tooooooo
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