My conclusion is that self-knowledge is a good thing and some introspection is warranted when contemplating an unfamiliar social interaction. You need to ID that the social interaction is unfamiliar and not make unwarranted assumptions about your reaction to unfamiliar social pressure.
It appears that in your case you have done that and furthermore the sales schtick isn’t unfamiliar to you. It would be somewhat unfamiliar for me, though not entirely: eg I once attended a talk by a UFO cult on a lark some years back. (No, I didn’t join or buy anything. It was disappointing: I was hoping to see pictures of frisbees in the air and other stunning evidence.)
I opine that humans are prone to over-estimate their self-knowledge, especially when faced with circumstances unusual to them. I think it’s wrong for anyone to assume that their defenses are impregnable to all forms of attack, not that hajario did that.
There is also the very real problem of others being encouraged that the deal might be legit because you are attending. Whatever you actually say or do, you will be used as an example to others.
If what’s being sold as no appeal for you and you’re resolved not to sign anything or spend money, it’s highly doubtful even a sales pro could sway you.
But there are lots of people who swore they’d never be taken in by a scam who wound up being scammed.
Honestly a good if not foolproof rule of thumb is to not lay out any money on the day that your are subjected to the sales tactics. No downpayments, no nothing. If you are offered a one-day-only deal, decline. Take the paperwork home and think about it when you are not under immediate social pressure. Not everyone has the temperament to make rules for themselves and stick to them though: such people need a different strategy.
Also while most everyone works off of narratives of one kind or another, some have the critical thinking skills and inclination to form plausible counter-narratives. That’s a necessary defense component, though it’s not sufficient.
Someone said that a good tactic is to tell them that you need to have your lawyer look over any paperwork before you sign or pay for anything. You can even agree to everything they say. It’s hard for them to come up with a counter, especially if you’re agreeing to everything they’re selling. “Sounds great! Give me the contract and I’ll take it to my lawyer and financial advisor to look over.”
Whoa, now that’s impressive. My parents once got a small sack of Susan B. Anthony coins in exchange for attending a time share presentation (complete with a tour of a model property) in Gatlinburg, TN.
We went to a timeshare presentation in Mexico to get tickets for a birdwatching tour. They put the squeeze on, including the “I have to get my manager” schtick. The manager played bad cop, accusing us of not looking at the property in good faith. We replied that we were interested to learn more about it, but didn’t like their location, and that the terms certainly hadn’t included that we committed to a timeshare without seeing it. He then played the social pressure card about would we want our neighbors to know how miserly we were? Didn’t we feel great when we bought a new car? I replied that I was driving a 15-year-old Tercel. He threw the tickets on the table and stomped off. Score!
I’ve never been to one of these things, but I’ve heard the psychological tricks they employ are worthy of a master’s thesis.
My father went to one a couple decades ago. He kept saying “No.” They finally brought out a female salesperson who said something along the lines, “I’m a Christian, single mother of three children. It’s hard, but I am really trying my best to be a good mother, and I got this job to provide for them. If I don’t make a sale this week, the guy you just talked to is going to throw me back onto the streets.” She was even a bit teary-eyed.
The tugging at the heartstrings would cause many to buy. My father told her to take a hike.
I would love to go to one of these things. I can 100% guarantee you I would never fall for their B.S. Hell, I’m almost 58 and I’ve never even made a car payment in my life.
It didn’t include a dinner, but several months before my wife died I got an invitation to join the Illinois Cremation Society. Since at that time it was apparent that she didn’t have long to live, and we had already decided on cremation, I got in touch with them and signed up in her name. It made some of the final arrangements much easier to handle.
I didn’t think to ask if they offered a Viking funeral option.
I got kicked out of a timeshare presentation once. This was around 1986 or so, and the presentation was for campground/resort shares. We were there just for the goodies (portable TV, dinnerware set, and something else). We sat in a group to get the main spiel, then they broke us up and sat each couple with their own sales person in a cube farm arrangement, with cube walls that were only 4’ tall (important detail). We sat politely with our sales ‘counselor’, and eventually convinced him after about half an hour he was not going to make a sale with us, so he excused himself to get our gifts so we could leave. He came back and said his manager said we had to sit with the sales guy for the full 90 minutes to get our gifts, so we sat, and I explained to him why their offering was not a good deal. He got up and tried to walk away, but I insisted that we were going to make use of the full 90 minutes, so I followed him as he weaved his way through the cubes, describing how the timeshares were a ripoff and a financial trap. People in other cubes were turning, watching, and listening. Then the manager came rocketing out of his office, steam coming out of his ears, and he hissed to our sales guy, “GET THEM THEIR STUFF AND GET THEM OUT OF HERE!”
