They were being polite. The real reason no one wanted to refer their friends to you was because they wanted to keep them as friends.
People are leary of MLM schemes. Even if they aren’t actual pyramid schemes, they don’t want to be hassled by old “friends” they haven’t seen in 10 years pitching garbage to them. They don’t want to expose themselves to the world of cultish scumbaggery who tend to be in the employ of these types of companies.
I don’t know if I would consider them litterally “scams”, but there is certainly something very offputting and sketchy about a lot of these entry level MLM, direct sales and boiler room style jobs. Probably because every facet of these jobs appears to be trying to lure you in under false pretenses and then “sell” you on the job. To anyone with half a brain, it should immediately set off warning bells whenever you need to be “tricked” into just walking in the door. If you are dishonest or evasive about the first thing you say, how can I believe anything you say afterwards?
Out of college, went to an “interview” for a retail sales position. Turned out to be selling crappy art door to door. Apparently, if you go somewhere important and fill out a form, you can bypass the “no soliciting” signs and Girl Scouts do this all the time.
Then, recently being unemployed, got a lot of the “accounting” offers, which were essentially me receiving checks, depositing, and sending a money order with my “commission” taken out. I had some back and forth with a few, just to see what they would say (things like, “great, but I’m sure you know I have to wait a week for the money to clear” to which they replied “it needs to be done as soon as possible” over and over).
A similar one was “secret shopper” at the money order counter. That guy was using a real company as his front and I reported him to that company.
Another was an ad that, when I replied to it, was basically “place this same ad everywhere you can think of.”
Then there are the “make money from home using google ads.”
FWIW, I’ve had CUTCO knives sold to me by two people over the years: The wife of a co-worker of my ex-husband and the college-aged friend of one of my daughters. I felt sorry for the second and bought their cheapest set - they are great knives. If someone else I know peripherally wants to sell me some, I’d be all ears.
This type of stuff drives me up the wall. Jobhunting is hard, it’s stressful, it’s time-consuming…all the more so when you absolutely have to get work within a few days or weeks before your money runs out. These people are bloodsuckers.
I’m a freelance writer, and find a bit of my work on Gumtree and Craigslist. I also take occasional jobs doing pretty much anything when I need some extra cash or when commissions are slow. It pisses me off no end when I answer an ad for part time work, write a cover letter, amend my CV etc etc, only to get a form email back saying that the ‘job’ is ‘paid weight loss product testing’ (which is in itself a scam). Luckily as I work remotely I’ve never wasted time putting on a business suit and getting across town for a fake interview, but I would really lose my temper once I got there if I did.
I’ve written a few newspaper articles about stuff like this, and admit I do enjoy sometimes telling the latest timewaster that they’ll be featured in the next one.
I know, some people make it in this racket-and do very well.
But it seems (to me) that this industry operates by sucking in a huge number of people-most of whom quit very shortly after joining.
With such enormous turnover, some small percentage will make out…but it can’t be fun.
Hmm… but what about a Leatherman-like multi-tool that has built-in knives, cleaning tools, a supplement dispenser, and complementary gift wrap with every purchase?! I’m seeing dollar signs friend. Tell you what, I’ll set everything up and if you want to take advantage of this amazing opportunity I’ll see you Friday at 2:00PM. Oh, and bring a cashier’s check for $300 so we can get your kit to get you started.
I got sucked into one of those right out of college. They, too, were surprised when I had no interest whatsoever.
I also got another interview for one of those places, for an actual job as a secretary or something. I left when I realized what it was - I didn’t have any warning, since it was a regular-sounding interview, not an all day one, so I accepted the interview and showed up. They were also surprised I didn’t want to work there - though based on the number of people actually in the rather large office, it appeared they were having a hard time getting anyone to stay
Years ago, I responded to an ad in the paper for a job requiring internet skills. Hey, I can do that! They said, “No sales.” Yeah, I’m on board with that, too! “Set your own hours.” OK–let’s do this!
Turns out that their agents were expected to join various internet communities, what would later become messageboards, and ask for monetary donations to help poor people pay their utility bills. Out of the blue. Just like that.
Oddly enough, I have encountered at least one person whose entire means of support seemed to be people who were willing to send money to help pay huge utility bills. This person preyed upon the good nature of kind Christian folks on various message boards. Often the desperation ploy was posts claiming that there was not even enough cash on hand to buy toilet paper…
Oh I had this one too. They said over the phone it was something like “art sales” so for some reason I thought it was going to be selling stuff to hotels or some legit thing like that. It turns out they expect you to fill your trunk with Ansel Adams and Successories knockoffs and peddle them around. I was stuck half the day with a guy who would go to industrial parks and just barge past the receptionists and into offices with armfuls of prints until someone came to throw him out. At lunch I told him I was 100% NOT INTERESTED and he said he’d get in trouble for not keeping me the whole day so he dropped me off like two blocks from where I parked so the company wouldn’t see him. Tragic.
About 25 years ago, when I was in high school I went to a job interview. It was selling some kind of humidifier/disinfecting thing. You put some menthol smelling goo with water into this thing that sounded like a jet taking off. The office suite was totally empty except for folding chairs and folding tables. I sat though the interview there was another guy with me at the time. When it was over and we left I talked with him in the parking lot. We both thought there was no way anyone would buy that thing. I called back the next day and was told that I was hired and to come in the next day. I never went to this job. I have no idea what the scam was but I didn’t see anyway that this job was legitimate.
I almost got sucked into a vitamin selling pyramid scheme (similar to cutco) when I was very young and naieve. Those assholes REALLY fucking pursued me; I’ve since become much more firm.
One of my very good friends from college actually sold Cutco in high school and college. He made a really good chunk of change - but you have to understand, he came from a decently well off family, and went to a very nice prep school, so he had tons of contacts to do demos and such. He actually called me once out of the blue in the middle of the summer between freshman and sophomore year of school, to beg me to convince him not to drop out of school and work for Cutco. He’d just been promoted to being a manager, making some insane amount, 60ishk a year (he’d held an office job with them for awhile, he hadn’t been doing door to door for over a year). So yeah, I talked him off the ledge, and he quit, but I always laugh when I think of it.
A couple of years ago Mrs. Mustard and I agreed to let a family acquaintance do the Cutco demonstration to us; he assured us he didn’t care if we bought anything - his demonstration was part of a class project for school. He came over, showed us the goods, and we said, “Nice job, but we really don’t need any knives.” He thanked us for our time, then left.
Here’s the thing, though: I was damn impressed with the knives! I really wanted some. The only reason I didn’t make a purchase was because I didn’t want to be SOLD anything. Now, when I’m using my crappy knives to try to cut a tomato or something, I think about how nicely designed those Cutco knives were.
I’ve experienced something similar to other posters…
When I was living in phoenix right out of college (a year ago) I applied to hundreds of places. After a couple of weeks this funeral home called me back. It was a craigslist ad that seemed legit. The position was something akin to reception. They asked to set up an interview and I agreed. It seemed promising.
The next day I drove to a hotel by the highway, the people at the front desk directed me to the correct room. I sensed something sinister in their smiles - a la lyrics from “Hotel California.”
All of a sudden I’m in this gigantic room filled with a hundred people. A short woman greets me at the door and stares at my shoes, “I love your shoes” she said. I looked around, It was true, I did have the nicest shoes. And a tie. And I was ‘kempt.’ Was someone wearing a NASCAR shirt over there? “Here” she says “Fill out this form and then the interviews will get underway.” I took a seat. A man 20 years older then me says “Hey what do you think about question 6? I’m thinking of putting 100K but I don’t want to go to high.”
Question 6: How Much Would YOU like to earn this year!
I shuddered. Then I see another man walk in, similar to me, prepared for an actual interview. He looked like Clark Kent. Let’s call him that. As Clark Kent enters the same reserved horror washes over his face. He flashed me a look, “They got you too?” he seemed to express. I hadn’t started my form and everyone else was done. “Ok” The short woman said “Almost time for our personal interviews but first…” She lifted up the screen in front of the white board and drawn on it in blue dry erase marker - I kid you not - was a pyramid. In a flash Clark Kent sprang into action running out of the room, the short lady chased him outside yelling “You can’t take our form with you, IT’S OUR PROPERTY!!!” At the moment I decided to slink out the door. I shoved the form deep into my pocket and walked briskly back through the lobby. The two at the front desk gave me that same sinister smile and said “Where are you going?” :cackle: :cackle:. When I got home my girlfriend asked “How’d it go?”
Some friends turned us in as a reference, so we got the pitch. Part of the pitch is showing how inadequate one’s own knives are. Upon asking me, I brought out my prized Wusthof chef’s knife which I hone religiously. The demonstration didn’t go quite as well as he wanted.
In the end, though, I ended up not wanting one of his sets, but did end up buying a paring knife (I was in the market) and a boning knife (I was also in the market), and some serrated, multitasker that I hate and which has no use, but which my wife liked for some strange reason. The construction of all of them is kind of crappy (not in the shoddy sense, but kind of low quality), the blades are stamped, and they were pricey, but buy golly!, they’re just as sharp as my good German stuff, and seem to holding their edges. Cutco offers lifetime “free” sharpening, but it’s just as cheap to get them done at the knife store down the road when you factor in shipping.
Oh, yeah, I refused to provide him any additional references. I was nice about it, but friends don’t do that to friends.
