I think the word betrothed is preferable because the french words are too often used incorrectly.
http://m-w.com/dictionary/fiance
Main Entry: fi·an·cé
Function: noun
: a man engaged to be married
http://m-w.com/dictionary/fiancee
Main Entry: fi·an·cée
Function: noun
: a woman engaged to be married
(bolding mine)
I just wanted to congratulate you on being the only one to get it right.
Well if nothing else comes of this thread, at least a bit more of my ignorance is fought.
Problem right there - “friends” don’t try to suck you into multi-level marketing, Scamway, pyramid, or other schemes. I still remember being berated by “friends” who invited me and several other folks to their house, and who yelled at me as I left “You can’t save yourself rich, Una. You’re walking away from free money, and you’re too poor to do that. You’re stupid and you’re not going to succeed in life being stupid.”
Ironically, nearly 10 years ex post facto I got an update on them. Crushed under a crappy mortgage, 2 car payments, credit cards maxed out, no money in the bank, in their late 30’s and still haven’t contributed to their 401k…oh yeah, I was the stupid one alright. :rolleyes:
Hmm…
Seems I should have just posted my anecdote at the end of that thread and saved myself the hassle. Thanks for the link!
No sweat, just Pit the original recruiter – not too satisfying by itself, but then her job is to identify three more people to Pit, and so on. It adds up.
Boy, sometimes I am really glad I’m single.
I’m never amazed when people try to rope others into their schemes, my brother-in-law got hit up by Quickstar twice in a week. I have a friend who keeps trying to push some sort of special high-class flavored water on me…I’m just convinced some people out there have absolutely no idea how others view them and their schemes.
Ugh. Before we married my husband got into a MLM - prepaid legal services. His brother invited us all over for a get-together. There were promises of cocktails and little sausages on toothpicks. As soon as the presenters walked in the paperwork came out and it was high pressure. I said and said and said that I didn’t think it was a good idea. My husband mulled it over a few days while I tried to dig up dirt on them and even went so far as to call the state Attorney General to see if this particular company had complaints as a pyramid scheme. No luck. He was sucked in and by the time he figured it out we were out $250. It wasn’t huge, but it was a big fat I-told-you-so. Of course, I didn’t really do the dance and song when he realized it because he knew he had firmly fastened those jack-ass ears himself and it didn’t need to be said.
A couple things have come up since then that he will jump at (oh look! butterfly!) but he looks at me and I just shake my head silently.
Damn them. Damn them all to hell.
By the thread title, I too thought that money had been exchanged, deals signed in blood, etc. I was relieved to hear it was just an evening wasted, although I can see the anger at having your evening wasted for dishonest purposes. At this point, I’d say chalk it up to experience and have a talk with your fiancée about what to do in the future when you want to go and she wants to stay out of (misplaced) politeness.
Is the OP Canadian? In Canada, a man can have a fiancé and a woman can have a fiancée. 
I got sucked into having lunch with this old guy once trying to sign me up for Pre-paid legal services. I let him buy me lunch but did not sign on.
I’ve also had my brother and a friend ask to speak to me about a “business opportunity” that turned out to be Amway. 
Glad you lived through it Brewha now you have something to laugh over when you’re old. I’m hoping you can do a passible imitation of the chirpy’s voice.
Not really. Often the representatives will recruit “helpers” that get a cut for selling to thier friends, co-workers, etc. The company discourages this, but it is really the only way for the reps to make any significant money. Also there are 1-2 levels of managers that get bonuses based on sales of thier underlings.
What seperates it from pyramid schemes is that the focus really is on selling the product, rather than recruiting for your “down line”.
What really sucks about Avon, though, is that the reps are given free products as bonuses. This would be great if they could sell it, but it is exactly the stuff that didn’t sell well, so they keep getting stuff that they have no customers for.
This means that every family member, friend, paperboy, etc. is going to be recieving nothing but Avon products as gifts from the rep. Prepubescent boys really don’t need or appreciate aftershave for a birthday present. And there will be a bunch of stuff that isn’t suitable as gifts for anyone the rep knows, so the house will start filling up with the crap.
Kevmom was a an Avon rep for 10-15 yrs. These statements are based on the observations of a teenager, and so may not be strictly accurate. Mom did make some money, and it got her out of the house and she made a lot of real friends out of her customers, who she still spent time with 10-15 years after she quit selling Avon. AND there were still 10-20 boxes of Avon crap in the house when my sister and I had to clean it out 25 years after she quit selling it.
Don’t be too quick to dismiss Amway as having ties to dominionist Christianity.
(I realize DailyKos isn’t a super reliable source, but I have interactions with dogemperor elsewhere and he seems the sort who’d be welcome here - does his research, backs up his assertions…)
I read this thread, and the older linked Amway thread again last night. One of my bosses asked me to lunch with him today (we have been a few times) and amazingly, when we got in his truck to go he picked up a CD and and asked “Have you heard of so and so?”
This thread flashed through my mind and I jokingly said “Who is he, some motivational speaker? You’re not going to try to recruit me into Amway are you?”
He said he was into Amway and I said I think it’s bullshit and perhaps we shouldn’t talk about it. He said that was cool, and that was the end of it.
What a trip this was the day after I read the threads.
In my experience, this is the surest and clearest sign that what you’re dealing with is, in fact, a pyramid scheme.
I can’t agree 100%. Obviously people really do believe that these things are great opportunities worth sharing with their friends, or they wouldn’t exist. Of course, the sort of high-pressure crap you describe is right out, and anyone who tried this more than once would probably earn a place on the shitlist.
I’ve only ever been invited to a presentation like this once, and that was by a friend of mine who is known for being rather sweetly naive. His uncle was giving him the presentation, and he asked me to join him because he knew I could “smell crap from a mile away”. I told him it was crap, and he apologized profusely.
Is there another way?
There’s a big trend around here right now for pyramid schemes for bogus health products, mostly exotic berry juice blends at $40 or so a bottle. For me it’s like a perfect storm of pet peeves.
Yup, I keep getting pestered by a holiday firm that insists “we’re not a timeshare”, even though you pay money for a “share” of some “time” at a particular resort. :rolleyes:
If it looks like a duck, talks like a duck…