A Gathering In Which You Try To Sell Me Crap Is Not My Idea Of A Party

The BBQ Pit
21

No kidding. I went to one with my mother and brother recently (they would give us about a 40% discount on things we actually wanted to do, like horseback and ATV riding if we went) and they would. Not. Give. Us. A price. For anything! Anytime we tried to find out how much a condo would actually cost, or maintence or trading fees, etc. they would launch into their spiel about how “I don’t think you understand the VALUE of what we’re offering here” and how we would experience “pride of ownership” from our purchase of one week’s time in one of a hundred randomly-assigned condos, and try to guilt-trip us about “I don’t think you’re really working with us here/why did you go on this presentation if you didn’t really want to buy?” Yes, I really feel bad about disappointing a time-share condo salesperson by disingenuously trying to find out what the actual cost will be rather than signing over a blank check!

The scary thing is, this approach must work on some people. I mean, somebody’s buying these condos. I just can’t imagine buying anything where you’re not allowed to get a written offer and go do some independent research before you buy.

Quote from the sales pitch:
Salesguy: You just bought a condo, right? What would you say if I said I could get you two condos just like yours for the exact same price as you paid for one?!
My brother: I’d say you’re lying to me.

22

Yes, I agree. One’s friends should be just that: friends. Never should they be considered a target market.

We have one set of friends who are pretty agressive this way. They have money (both families are fairly wealthy) and they currently sell this series of healing magnet things. OK, forewarned is forearmed.

A while ago they invited us to dinner so baby Kate can player with their two. Simple enough.

After dinner when the kids were playing they tried to get us to join this ‘Landmark’ thing. Sounds like the stupidest thing since Scientology. Female pal turned on the waterworks about how it’s changed her life (three times). Male pal went off to distract Lady Chance while I got the pitch.

After she got done telling me the great benefits of Landmark I turned her down. More waterworks. Didn’t I want to break free of my emotional bonds? Didn’t I want to succeed in life?

She didn’t really take it well when I told her everything Lady Chance and I had was earned and that I could buy and sell her AND her husband. Given that fact, I asked, why would I want to change anything?

“But aren’t you secretly unhappy?”

“No”

“You’re fooling yourself. Everyone’s unhappy.”

“…”

Sorry. I’m still mad about it now.

23

Which would include people who have bought these things. Erggh. I’m glad no one ever tries this shit on me. I wouldn’t be so kind about it, I don’t think.

My mother used to go on those time-share presentations when I was a kid. We would get a free weekend at a ski lodge or a trip to the Bahamas. My mother was the salesperson’s worst nightmare. The whole time she would smile and say things like “Yes, it’s very nice.” “Wonderful condo”. Then when they said so are you interested she would simply say:

“No.”

“But I thought you said they were great?”

“They are.”

“Well than why don’t you want to buy?”

“I’d rather spend my money on other things.”

“You people are the worst. You never had any intention of buying anything you just are taking advantage of our offering free trips!”

“As far as I was told - no purchase is neccesary. Thanks for insulting me though. See you next year! I’m going to go ski.”

Worked out real nice for me. I’d ski while she went throught the half-day sale pitch. Then, sure enough, every year, they would send us a new one. We got a free weekend a year and once, a free airline ticket to the Bahamas! Suckers. A person with self control and intelligence is their worst enemy.

DaLovin’ Dj

24

I like some parties, I don’t like others. Pampered Chef? Love that stuff. Bought some, would buy more. The ice shaver, while a bit bulky, is great in summer. The garlic press is the best one I’ve ever used. The family sized pitcher that stirs with a pump of the handle? My kids loved playing with it so much they fought over who got to make juice, instead of fighting over who shouldn’t have to make more juice (until the pitcher met with a sad end, but that’s another story). I like Tupperware. Mind you, I’d rather look at the catalogue and order over the phone then spend the evening with a bunch of semi-strangers. My Mary Kay lady is wise to this. She mails me the catalogues, and phones me every 4 months. This is good. No parties, no pressuring my friends to come out for the evening.

Parties I don’t like? Candles. I already have a major fear of fire, so not only are candles at the bottom of my list to begin with, but I certainly don’t want overpriced candles. Crystal. My home is decorated in “early-Roseanne”. Crystal does not exactly fit in with the decor. Overpriced kids toys. There are enough of those everywhere I go.

I would like to have a sex toy party!

On the basic issue of parties, I’m a bit divided. I used to do home sales, and I know how hard it can be. I got out of it because I absolutely cannot pressure anyone to buy anything. You like it? Take it. You don’t? Thanks for your time. I hate being pressured to buy something. Not only will I not buy if you are pushing me to, I’ll get pretty pissy about it too. And I get irritated if someone isn’t demonstrating the product well. “Hey, I like the stuff, but I’d rather buy it from someone who will still be selling it in three months. You suck.”

25

OH! You just reminded me of a Mary Kay experience. First day at a new job- 20 years old. I then had perfect skin (I no longer do) and did not wear makeup (as I rarely do now).

This bitch walks up to me and hands me her Mary Kay card and says “looks like you could use a makeover!” I told that it it “looked like she could use some lipo!” in the same singsong, cheery voice. (Of course, now I need lipo. And a makeover. Oh, the freaking irony.)

Where do these people get off with their pushy salescrap? Am I supposed to feel shamed into buying your crap? I won’t be and I resent the implication that I “Don’t want to look my best”, “don’t know the value that I’m passing up” or am “secretly unhappy because I don’t do MLM”

I’m with ya on the party thing and all that goes with it. Gag me.

Zette

26

Heh. My Dad used to be into Amway. He got into it while I was at university. I came home once for Christmas or Thanksgiving, and he sat me down in the living room:

Dad: “So have you thought about what you want to do when you graduate?”

Me: “Oh, I don’t know, maybe find a research or writing job or something. I’ve still got a couple of years to think about it.”

Dad: “Well, how’d you like to make sure you’ve got something to tide you over until you’ve decided? Have you thought about making money while you’re in school?”

Me: “Um, no. I thought we’d agreed I’d work over the summer and spend the rest of the year concentrating on my work.”

Dad: “See, that’s the beauty of this. You can spend as much or as little time on this as you want to. And the more people you recruit, you can spend less time.”

Me: “Oh, jesus, Dad! Are you into Amway?!?! That’s nothing but a glorified pyramid scheme!”

Dad: "It’s not a pyramid! It’s…etc. ad nauseum

He was involved for a couple of years. Dragged me to a couple of “motivational” seminars, dragged my mom along on his sales pitches to distract the wives, listened to nothing but “YOU CAN DO IT!!!” motivational tapes. He even dumped a load of tapes and booklets on me to pass out to my roommates. I dropped them in a drawer and forgot about them.

He finally gave up when he realized that he looked like a complete git and people were starting to stop returning his calls. He’s now incredibly fun to hang out with. He’s stayed with the program, though, just to get cheap household necessities.

They do make good chocolate chip cookies…

27

I was once tricked into buying life insurance, and they tried to get me join up with the company. After I went to their indoctrination ceremony, I became sufficiently frightened enough to do some research on the company. Turns out they are not very trustworthy. I’m glad I didn’t get sucked into the madness (or lost anymore money.) (FWIW, it works just like a MLM scheme)

28

I have been to 4 of these parties and they’re a BLAST!! Totally fun - we were all giggling at the thought of the sales woman’s accountant trying to deal with the number of “Clit Critters” sold when tax time rolled around! :smiley:

To the OP - I understand your point. If you don’t want to go to one of these parties, you just shouldn’t go, and no one should make you feel guilty for it.

Personally, I love them - I always have fun, and always buy something - I’ve never been to one where I didn’t find something I really liked, however, I pretty much stick to Pampered Chef, Tupperware and Partylite (candles) - these are all things that I really like. I think the scrap book thing would be kind of a drag though (I’m just not really into that sort of thing).

I like to have these parties too, however, I always stipulate that unless one of my guests absolutely LOOOOVES something, they shouldn’t buy it, I don’t give a shit about the free product, I don’t care if they buy anything or not, and I will have really, REALLY great snacks. This has only backfired once, when one of friends that I hadn’t seen in a while came to a candle party knowing that she wasn’t buying anything (I told her not to - in fact I think I said “If I see you with an order form, I’m going to smack it out of your hand”). When ordering time came around, she and I were chatting and the obnoxious Candle woman started badgering her in front of everyone “You haven’t ordered!” “It’s your turn.” “Are you going to at least book a party.” Finally I had to cut in and tell sales lady to back off.

She (sales lady) has NOT been invited back to my house - now when I need candles I get them from someone else.

29

Poisyn, a blonde hottie on the boards, sells sex toys this way.

So I’m afraid I must heartily disagree.

30

I went to a candle party freshman year that a girl I knew held in her dorm room, just for kicks. I wanted to see how many of the girls were going to go into hock buying overpriced votives (that we’re not supposed to have in dorms anyway). Nearly everyone exercised their college-educated brains and said they’d “look at the catalog later”.

We played a game where we sat in a circle and passed around envelopes with notes in them that said that you either got a free candle, had to host a candle party of your own, or nothing. You didn’t have to open them if you didn’t want to, but if you got the candle party note, you HAD to have one under penalty of death by candling, or something similar. Me and another girl were the only ones who resisted opening our envelopes, and found out that both of ours had the dreaded “party” note inside. Another girl that opened hers and found the note was pissed!

Why the hell would anyone think that college kids have this kind of disposable income???

31

If Amway is such a scam, why on EARTH have they not been prosecuted or shut down? I mean, I’m not denying they’re scamming people, but I still don’t know how they’re still in business. I thought pyramid schemes were illegal?

32

I have hosted one and attended several sex toy parties, they really are a ball.

BUT:

The markup on this crap is out of this world! Cheap lotions and skanky underwear is not, I repeat NOT worth what they charge!

Be a sharp consumer, doubt the validity of everything they claim, and think for yourself - you KNOW that a mere cream cant tighten the vagina for example. (what it is, is an irritant, making the nerve ends more sensitive to the fricking of the penis, its not TIGHTER, its irritated.)

Sorry, pet peeve. I have been to some and seen mature women, who have kids and husbands, totally snowed by outlandish claims. Grrrrrr.

Hey a dildo is a dildo though. No outlandish claims there!

33

I went to my one and only Mary Kay party not too long ago. A friend that I don’t get to see much called me up and she was really straight forward about it. She basically said “I know you don’t wear make-up but I am having this Mary Kay thing at my house and if I get X number of people I get some free stuff. Want to hang out for a couple of hours and get a make-over? You don’t have to buy anything!” It was pretty cool and I got to see her for a while after the party and didn’t buy anything (she didn’t expect me to and didn’t change her tune once I was there.}
The only thing that got me was the actual sales lady. They handed out the stuff and told me (in front of everyone, mind you): “This is the concealer. It goes around the eyes and stuff. You have a pimple on your chin you should use it on. Actually, you should just put the concealer on your whole face because you have a ruddy complexion.” :eek:
After I was covered in the icky stuff they said I should use some blush to give my cheeks some color. Well, if I had just not put concealer all over my freakin’ face, it would already have color, you idiot!
But I’m not bitter. :slight_smile:

34

Crap, how could I forget this one? I must have had a memory block.

A few years ago, my dental hygienist tried to sell me Shaklee products WHILE I WAS IN THE CHAIR! Talk about a captive audience! She gave me her Shaklee card and everything.

If I did not have a longstanding relationship with her I would have complained to the dentist. But it was a very soft sell and she only did it over two or three visits. I also quickly learned not to mention any peripheral health, beauty, or cleaning concerns.

35

A sex toy party? Hmm. That sounds way more fun than a votive party.

I think that time-shares, business schpiels, etc. are different, because it’s not some “friend” throwing a “party” (read: social gathering) and expecting you to buy crap, on pain of feeling like a callous thoughtless fair-weather friend – as if the measure of a true friend is willingness to buy cheap crap you don’t really want and maybe can’t afford.

And I can totally see “come anyway – you’ll be a warm body towards my quota. I’llll get some free stuff, and you don’t have to buy jack.” I’d be fine with that – I think a friend would do that. But my “friend” expected me to go as a genuine “guest” (guest – ha!) and buy my expected share of junk. And that I wasn’t willing to do. My bad, apparently. :Rolleyes:

36

Perhaps you need me to craft your replies to such friends. I could do wonders for your image.

37

I sell Mary Kay and I sure as hell wouldn’t point out people’s facial flaws or tell them “you look like you need a makeover!” Since when is it a good selling tactic to insult a potential customer? I mostly sell out of the book. If someone wants a makeover, I’ll do it. Plus I keep an eye out on trends and new colors I can recommend. I don’t make a ton of money, but maybe I’m too easygoing about it.

38

Got a makeover at a Mary Kay party twenty years ago. Picked up my 2.5-year-old daughter from her gramma’s; in the car on the way home, she asked, “Mama, why you got eyes like a witch?” (Hit the cold cream as soon as I got home.)
I know some people who love going to these parties, and don’t complain about the prices – maybe they figure it’s the price of socialization?
Me, I’d rather have a Pictionary potluck.

39

Hmmm! And here I was gonna ask if anyone wanted to do a soap and candle party for me…

Seriously, I used to sell Partylite at home shows. Even though I make my own candles now (wanna have a party for me?), if I didn’t, I would still probably burn PL candles. Expensive, but then so are the other really good brands.

But I digress. I have to say that I LIKE parties, for the most part. I don’t usually go to Longaberger basket parties, just because they are so darned expensive (and I make baskets, too), and I don’t get invited to Partylite shows, for obvious reasons. But I love Pampered Chef and even Tupperware would be okay. Heck, food, friends, shopping, what more could I ask? Heh.

Gotta say though, that most home shows (like Tupperware, PL, etc) are NOT like Amway. Ick. PL is a MLM company, for instance, but leaders (or whatever they’re called) don’t make money by selling stuff to their downline, they just make a (fairly small) percentage off their downline sales. It can add up like crazy, if you have a heck of a lot of downline folks, but Amway it AIN’T. It’s a decent way to make a little extra money, if one is so inclined.

FWIW, I never, ever tried to recruit anyone, nor do I now ('cause I don’t want to share my profits with sales reps now!) I mostly let everyone sniff the candles, ask questions, eat, and order. Very laid-back parties are the only way to go, imo.

(And my candles are even better than those “expensive” ones out there. :D)
~karol

40

So… I’m holding a sex-toy party at my house on Friday night…

Any female Dopers wanna come?:wink: