The Triangular, Four-Sided, Pointy-Top Scheme
A while back, I attended a meeting concerning the building of a home-based business–well, actually, it turned out to be a meeting for the building of a pyramid scheme.
At the end of a long, droning, boring, Gantt chart presentation, I asked one of the presenters for written material about how the company works and how someone actually makes money beyond the people at the top of that thing they had drawn on the chalkboard that sure looked like a "pyramid," but that they refused to call a "pyramid."
They told me no, they couldn’t give me any written material on the "we're-not-a-pyramid" operation because I might share it with someone and that person might not "understand properly how the company worked." Yeah, that person might think it’s a pyramid scheme.
After that, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. However, they were just as happy to see me go because I had dared to question how this pyramid-scheme-they-refused-to-call-a-pyramid-scheme works. In fact, once I asked that question of them, they literally turned away from me, crossed the room, and put all of their attention into some poor soul who had driven in all the way from Staten Island and who, at the end of the meeting, said, "Well, how would I get involved?" Uh-oh; mistake. What was this Staten Island guy (SIG) thinking!?
With that, the two presenters, one male and one female, descended on this SIG like birds of prey, sitting on each side of him, smiling, almost cheek to cheek, ready to get him to sign up. The woman presenter kept touching his arm and smiling seductively, leaning forward in such a way that her bosom was just inches from his face. The male pyramid scheme guy just kept talking in circles, round and round, saying not much of anything except to insist the SIG would eventually earn a lot of money and eventually just sit back and collect profits on the efforts of everyone else. Right. Probably not.
All I could think was, yeah, let's everyone buy $300 of this company's products to get started, spend hours of precious time selling the products, get nothing in return for years, pay $100 for the privilege of becoming a distributor, and maintain and continually reinvest in a $250 inventory.
Here, let us give you this MONEY so we can SELL your products for you. Hey, show me where to sign up!
As I grabbed my bag and said a quick goodnight (the presenters never even looked at me as I left), I heard the SIG ask for a pen to "sign up." Sad. Even now, a few years later, I think of him and how he'd been taken, as many have before him. Sad. Welcome aboard the "triangular, four-sided, pointy-top scheme" train. We're going for a ride!
At the end of a long, droning, boring, Gantt chart presentation, I asked one of the presenters for written material about how the company works and how someone actually makes money beyond the people at the top of that thing they had drawn on the chalkboard that sure looked like a "pyramid," but that they refused to call a "pyramid."
They told me no, they couldn’t give me any written material on the "we're-not-a-pyramid" operation because I might share it with someone and that person might not "understand properly how the company worked." Yeah, that person might think it’s a pyramid scheme.
After that, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough. However, they were just as happy to see me go because I had dared to question how this pyramid-scheme-they-refused-to-call-a-pyramid-scheme works. In fact, once I asked that question of them, they literally turned away from me, crossed the room, and put all of their attention into some poor soul who had driven in all the way from Staten Island and who, at the end of the meeting, said, "Well, how would I get involved?" Uh-oh; mistake. What was this Staten Island guy (SIG) thinking!?
With that, the two presenters, one male and one female, descended on this SIG like birds of prey, sitting on each side of him, smiling, almost cheek to cheek, ready to get him to sign up. The woman presenter kept touching his arm and smiling seductively, leaning forward in such a way that her bosom was just inches from his face. The male pyramid scheme guy just kept talking in circles, round and round, saying not much of anything except to insist the SIG would eventually earn a lot of money and eventually just sit back and collect profits on the efforts of everyone else. Right. Probably not.
All I could think was, yeah, let's everyone buy $300 of this company's products to get started, spend hours of precious time selling the products, get nothing in return for years, pay $100 for the privilege of becoming a distributor, and maintain and continually reinvest in a $250 inventory.
Here, let us give you this MONEY so we can SELL your products for you. Hey, show me where to sign up!
As I grabbed my bag and said a quick goodnight (the presenters never even looked at me as I left), I heard the SIG ask for a pen to "sign up." Sad. Even now, a few years later, I think of him and how he'd been taken, as many have before him. Sad. Welcome aboard the "triangular, four-sided, pointy-top scheme" train. We're going for a ride!
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| Visit Egypt if you must (well not right now), but don't invest in companies using this scheme. |
posted by Zed on Friday, February 04, 2011
5 Comments:
Did you at least get a free meal out of it?
Nope. I got potato chips and diet soda. Sad.
What was the code name for this company?
I love how they try to disguise the pyramid. Why don't they realize, if they've got to cover it up, it's not worth it.
Exactly, Teri. I just don't know how anyone can fall for this. The very fact that they pretend it's not a pyramid scheme screams to me that it is, especially when they refuse to explain how it all works. That's basic information, no?
I can't tell you the name to be honest, I don't remember (it was about 4 years ago). Market America maybe? I could definitely be wrong there. I'll go see if I can find it.
Yep, Market America.
One article I read said there were more Google searches for "Is Market America a pyramid scheme or scam?" than there were for Market America itself.
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