Big or small, companies need to make money, and the only way to do that is for customers to buy their product or enlist in their services.
Most companies try to create products or services that will help people. However, some companies lose their way and end up making bad decisions. They become almost evil. That’s when the customers stop coming.
People rarely want to buy from a company who is doing bad things. From the company CEO said some disparaging things to the company treating their employees with zero respect, anything can turn customers off a company.
Redditors know this all too well. They were happy to share the companies they would never want to give money to, and why.
It all started when Redditor 3Dmee asked:
“What company will you never give your money to?”
Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself
"Amazon."
"The Wrong Amazon is Burning”
– tokyobandit
"Jesus! How did I have to scroll so far to find this? My partner refuses to use Amazon, ever. I'm a hypocrite who was gifted a Kindle... occasionally when I'm feeling broke I'll buy an e-book. I justify it by telling myself that I'm supporting the author, but really I'm just an a**hole."
– waiting_for_Falkor
Leaves A Bad Taste In My Mouth
"Amway"
– Smoke-00
"Had my wifes (gf at the time) friend want to reconnect and meet me after not speaking for a couple years."
"We go to lunch and her dad is there, no big deal. She gets nervous and pulls out a folder and starts trying to sell us on this Amway stuff."
"Turns out her dad does it and got her to join up. Also what do you know theres an Amway thing down the road lets get some stuff."
"I had no idea what a MLM was at the time but knew it felt like a scam of some sort. My wife and I grew up poor and knew to lookout for scams like this."
"Imagine using your own daughter to get people to sign up to this."
– Batesy1620
Evil Incarnate
"I would say Nestlé, but they are an octopus of malice that have their tentacles in every f*cking thing, it’s really hard to not buy something and accidentally give them money"
– nakedboi03
"For those interested, the app buycott has a barcode scanner that can tell you if a product you want to purchase is from a group of preselected companies or participates in select unethical practices. You can really vote with your dollar on the companies you want to support with this. This has saved me from accidentally purchasing anything from Nestlé because I will be dead before they peel one measly cent from my hands. If you don't know...go find out. You won't be the same. Pure disgusting greed."
– Happy_Chick21
"i try to stay away from Nestlé and chick fil a"
– chickennuggetoverlre
It's A Big Big World
"My grandma absolutely hates Walmart. She’s always talking about growing up, her town was all small business and everyone knew one another and supported their local businesses"
– BigThistyBeast
"Walmart."
"Young people now may not remember when there were small independent stores everywhere."
"You know how everything is chains, giant big box stores, and Walmart now? There was nothing like that in much of the country in the 1980s, you had family run grocery stores, butchers, clothing stores, furniture stores, etc. everywhere."
"Walmart’s strategy of selling the cheapest-made products from overseas drove them all out of business, while they treated their employees horribly, had their workforce subsidized by tax funds, and got tax breaks from municipalities for their stores."
"They pay their employees so little they qualify for food stamps, I had friends who worked there in high school, and they gave them a start time but no end time, they just had to agree to be there until they were no longer needed, ignoring laws regarding the employment of minors, not to mention the trouble they’ve gotten into for violating labor laws regarding overtime."
"All to funnel unimaginable wealth to one specific family, the Waltons, sucking the life out of communities and humans everywhere."
– Trssty
The Wrong Family
"Any Kardashian/Jenner related companies"
– That_Engineering6795
"If you're buying Disney+ you're paying them down the chain in some form."
– white_male_centrist
"This should be everyone’s answer"
– geauxandy72
Scary Bad
"Wells Fargo. How many times do they need to get in hot water over sh!tty business practices before people lose confidence?"
– eieioelena
"I used to work for them. They deliberately screwed over veterans in fraudelent scheme after fraudelent scheme. Total pieces of sh*t."
– realitygroupie
"My answer as well. Predatory practices, institutionalized fraud, screw those guys."
– palookapalooza
Should Be Illegal
"Pfizer, i still havent forgiven them for failing to disclose that the 'anti-depressant' i was given as part of an extended clinical study, worked by suppressing certain hormones, causing other hormones to flourish."
"I was 18, about 112lbs (anorexic) when i started. 6 months later, i was 220, and had to wear a large B Cup sports bra to wear shirts."
"I am a man. Also started balding, but gettign hairier on my back and gut, and broke out in acne, had lactation events, etc."
"Yeah no warning that they knew about those symptoms, which they did, and no compensation, even though they failed to disclose these side effects, which they were required to do by law."
– lowexpectationsguy
The Man Makes The Machines
"Tesla. I'd love an electric car, but I don't want to give money to that pompous a**."
– uncreativemynameis
"Same. I was all on board to buy a cyber truck but this d**khead has gone too far."
– atxdevdude
Missing The Good Old Days
"I don’t know if anyone has said it yet but Nintendo. They really haven’t been releasing many good games since 2018 besides a few gems. But that’s not even a reason really. Their scummy business practices, mistreating their fans, copyrighting many things (most notably soundtracks of their games uploaded to YouTube), and taking down any fan game that gets popular makes them a terrible company pan imo. 2020 was the last year I supported Nintendo until I realized the scummy things they actually did in 2021. And even then, I was skeptical of many business decisions they did. I wish I could go back to to the 2006-2017 days of Nintendo."
– thatonedragonslayer
But Not Really Though
"Apple!!
Sent from iPhone"
– system_reboot
Yeah, sounds about right!
It can feel like your constantly looking over your shoulder anytime you want to buy anything today, as if someone is following you around with a pen hoping for you to sign away your wallet on a dotted line.
Scams and schemes are all over the place, and while they may not be some shoddy-looking man in a suit hoping to take you for a ride, they manifest in different ways.
Ever heard of "convenience fees?"
They're everywhere, and we all seem to have to be okay with them.
Reddit user, Horror-Tap2093, wanted to hear how people have the wool pulled over their heads daily when they asked:
"What's the biggest scam in life that no one wants to admit?"
While the internet has certainly made things easier to sign-up for, you ever notice how difficult it is to cancel once you decide you want out? Why is that?
One Website To Join. Nine Phone Calls To Cancel.
"The easy-to-join, difficult-to-cancel subscription model."
[usernamedeleted]
"Pioneered by gyms. I cancelled mine as soon as lockdown started and I put together a home gym. Literally had to print out something from their website and mail it in then call them 3 times."
"That whole business model is based on people signing up, not going, and putting off canceling due to a combination of not wanting to admit failure and the whole process being a pain in the @ss. If everyone with a gym membership went just twice a week they'd have a real problem on their hands."
ac1084
We Make It Easier For You To Give Us More Money
"Online convenience fees"
Vast-Anxiety-4066
"My bank has free bill pay and will mail them a check if they don’t have any other option. So now they get a check from me and the “inconvenience fee” is their own cost to process the thing, get paid slower, etc."
RazorRadick
"I recently paid $10 in convenience fees at AMC to buy tickets online instead of purchasing tickets at the theater. Doesn't purchasing tickets online allow them to save money on having less employees run the ticket booth? I get that it costs them money to run a website but $10 for a convenience fee? It just isn't justified."
TLOC81
Once A Month, Every Month, Regardless Of The Quality
"The subscription based economy"
Shenanigamii
"This makes me so angry. Why does everything have to be a subscription now? I mean, I know why but I still hate it"
big_red_160
"I imagine it’s a ton of easy profit. Instead of having to constantly advertise to keep you hooked and buying each month, they just have to hook you once into a long term commitment."
RickTitus
There are certain things in this country, America, specifically, which should not cost the the amount that it does. Yet, here we are, in 2022, overcharging people for routine medical provisions.
Costs A Lot To Live
"How the f-ck does HEALTH insurance not cover dental and vision? What kind of shenanigans is that?"
OldDust8123
"Didn't you hear? Teeth are your luxury bones."
deepseascale
"And eyes are too complicated for health insurance, but your brain is simple enough."
OldDust8123
"Health insurance is the biggest scam of this century. You pay them every month in hopes they can cover you when you need it and they do everything in their power to not give you your money back. Even if a doctor says you need treatment or medicine your insurance can say f-ck you, and keep your money?"
CAHTA92
A Day Of Bliss And Drained Bank Accounts
"The entire wedding industry."
"To be clear, not marriage but weddings specifically."
"I’m happily married to my wife and we were content to do something special just the two of us, maybe spend a couple of grand and treat ourselves a little bit to something amazing."
"Cue the families getting involved and before you know it we’re spending closer to twenty grand on one day and feeding a bunch of people I’ve not heard of before or since the wedding."
J-ShapedNerd
Being Healthy Costs A Lot
"$18 Salad lol"
Marshmello7
"Water is 3$ while pop is 1$"
kitiikit
"Before telling people to make healthier choices, figure out why a burger is $9 and a salad is $18."
TomoyoHoshijiro
Death and taxes are the inevitables we should expect out of life, sure, but lest we forget the secret third expectation: Hidden fees.
Under 65? Tough.
"We work the majority of our lives, during our fittest years of health, for the promise of a golden retirement, when we will probably too old and ill to enjoy it properly."
Mr_Bob_Ferguson
"First you have strength and time, but no money."
"Then you have strength and money, but no time."
"Finally you have money and time, but no strength."
wordserious
Fees, Fees, Fees
"Ticketmaster"
bigsz
"I used them to go see my first comedian. Got two seats priced at $90 each. My total was $313. I'm not good at math, but I knew something was wrong there. Their fee per ticket is just nuts. I ended up getting seats that were about $45 each and it still cost me almost $200."
User Deleted
Earn That Cheddar
"Hustle culture"
BenjaminoBob
"Bought a "gold" membership in a greeting card mlm so I could send unlimited custom cards. My "coach" thought I was taking it seriously as a money maker (plus he wanted me to recruit more people for his downline). He actually asked, "Are there any friendships you can leverage?""
"Yeah, that made my skin crawl..."
ollieollieoxinfree
"I’m sorry but the “grind” and “hustle” cultures only generate a--holes. They think everyone else’s goal is to be rich as f-ck, working 100 hours a week."
"I just want to be able to pay my bills and feed my family. Anything after that should be time spent with my family."
am0x
Everyone's out to get you, it seems.
Keep your eyes and your ears open then, just to be extra safe, keep your hands on your wallet.
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People Share The Industries That Would Immediately Go Bankrupt If People Became More Intelligent
We would hope the world isn't out to get us. However, going through this list of all the scams and grifters and liars, hoping to get their grubby little hands into our pockets, it's easy to think otherwise. With a little foresight and some critical analysis, you can avoid these pitfalls, keeping your money right where it belongs.
Yet, people keep falling for them every day. If only, I don't know, some magical wave spread out over the planet, increasing everyone's base level intelligence ten fold...
...I wonder what would happen...
Reddit user, SEX_CEO, wanted to know what people keep falling for when they asked:
"What industry would be the first to go bankrupt if everybody on earth suddenly gained an increased intelligence?"
You'd be surprised the first things to fall away if suddenly all of our collective intelligence rose. Like, say, some reality stars who have somehow convinced us they're "interesting."
We're All Getting A Bit Smarter
"Tutoring centers like Kumon or SAT prep"
macaronsforeveryone
"For a second I thought “wait are those places scamming kids? What’s the deal?” Then I realized you meant people wouldn’t need tutoring anymore and well…..guess I need to sign up for kumon"
Blanche-
"OMG, She's The GOAT"
"Kardashians and everything related to them"
VermicelliFormer2458
Make Your House Smell Better? Absolutely. Cure Cancer? Probably Not.
"essential oils"
skyx24
"Depends. If people think they are gonna cure cancer and their dog's depression with funny smells they are insane."
"But for example Tee Tree Oil is a known potent anti-microbial agent, particularly lethal to fungal issues when applied topically. There are bloody research papers written on it..."
"https://www.mayoclinic.org/drugs-supplements-tea-tree-oil/art-20364246 here is proof. Hopefully Mayo Clnic, one of the US's top medical authorities suffices."
"...The problem is the insane people who somehow think that the 1 compound found in 1 plant will do more than treat a couple related conditions. They might be found in nature, but like any compound, they only have a limited range of effects upon the body."
"And don't get me started on the insanity of people thinking they are healing themselves by inhaling it. Like Tea Tree will clear up a case of Ringworm, but it won't do sh-t against high blood pressure. And atomizing it into the air sounds like a great way to irritate the sh-t out of your lungs, as its a mildly caustic oil."
"People also shouldn't be messing around with the extracts of medical plants without first talking to their doctor. Herbs and plants CAN have fatal complications with prescription drugs, and some can make conditions FAR worse if used incorrectly."
nordoceltic82
It's not like we didn't see the signs. There's evidence, now, in the present, that shows a lot of the scams and schemes people have fallen for which we should ignore.
Not All Traditions Are Good
"Diamonds."
"The prices are inflated due to a fixed supply market."
"They're just shiny clear rocks and there are tons of different cheaper options out there."
ialo00130
Buy Low, Sell High
"“Hype brands” Like supreme and stuff like that, ain’t no way a random hoodie is worth 3000 bucks"
kaytzee
"Yeah, especially as clothes can depreciate in value and can get messed up like any other brands of clothes. Designer brands are overrated. People can do whatever they want but yeah, designer brands are overrated to me."
gotpeace99
"Yeah I swear to god the stuff to make it was at most 30 bucks, they literally just got a hoodie and put the word, "supreme" in a little box on it"
Jerry_Berry2
They Take A Little More, Every Time
"Rent to Own"
ELSMurphy
"My brother used to have a crap tonne of rent to own stuff and we didn't know. When we found out we finally realized why he was always broke despite working a lot of overtime at a decent paying job."
sammygirl1331
"Sorry, mind explaining? I’ve been looking into rent to own, and now seeing this… yeah I will need some context before I get into something that might f-ck me up financially"
Warm-Spread-6960
"You pay a fee every month until you've paid so many months and then you own the item. Thing is if you add up all the money you've paid over those months it's exponentially higher than if you bought it outright."
sammygirl1331
If You Recruit 10 People And They Recruit 10 People And They...
"MLMs"
Althea_The_Witch
"Curious, is Scentsy a MLM?"
bL1Nd
"Yes definitely. If you have to buy the products to sell them…. You are the customer"
User Deleted
For The Low Value Of $500, You Too Can Be Saved
"Televangelism...MLMs"
beowolff
"What's the difference?"
MustachedBaby
"There are only two levels in televangelism: grifter and grifted. (Yes, understand that two is technically “multiple,” but it isn’t a Russian nesting doll)"
FuzzySparkle
There are some bad people in the world, looking to score their latest prey and latest buck off individuals who might be a little too trustworthy.
Don't buy NFTs.
Buy Nothing
"Nft buying and selling"
Character-Industry-9
"NFTs confuse me. Somehow someone convinced people that buying someone's receipt was a good, sound investment."
"You don't own the thing, you just have proof of owning a receipt of it."
Kinetic_Symphony
They're Watching Us Through The Tiny Cameras Hidden In Our Toothbrushes
"There are many different types of intelligence and intelligence does not mean common sense. However, besides MLM's, which a few people have said, I think that standard block intelligence would eliminate conspiracy theory scams, like 5g eliminators and stuff."
"Edit: I commented further down this thread, but I'll say it on this comment too. People often compartmentalize things that don't match up. Intelligent people can have what others might consider unintelligible beliefs. So believing in conspiracy theories and such doesn't necessarily have anything to do with intelligence because of said compartmentalizing."
Traditional_Hall_268
"So many of those conspiracy theories make no sense if you hold them to even the slightest scrutiny, so this is probably an accurate take."
Resolute002
Do You Need Cash Now?
"The scummier parts of the finance industry would be nervous"
haveAGreatDayPeople
"RIP payday loans."
Thunder_Zerker
"I was thinking this too. Payday loans, scummy car dealerships, tax preparation places, rent-to-own places...I was looking for a work car once and asked about one at one of those lots. They only accept payments. You can't just buy a car."
ryan_503
While some magical smart wave is not going to suddenly sweep the planet, it's still possible for us to learn how to critically think, critically read, and not be swept up in fads that want nothing more than to take our money.
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People Who Have Worked For A Multi-Level Marketing Scam Share Their Horror Stories
Pyramid schemes are illegal in the United States, but I promise you we are exposed to them all the time. Only now, we call it "multi-level marketing" - and it's a total scam.
What's the difference? It's all in the technicalities, my friends. See, what makes pyramid schemes illegal is that you're paying participants to recruit other participants. MLM's claim that they're different because they're not paying you to recruit other people, they're paying you based on how much product those recruits buy and sell.
You're not getting paid for the recruits, technically. It's just that you can't really get paid without them.
It reminds me of the story of my local bikini hot dog lady (listen, I've lead a weird life in a weird town.)
She used to sell hot dogs from a cart at the side of the road wearing nothing but a string bikini and some sky-high heels. There would almost always be a line of cars waiting to buy from her. It became an issue with traffic flow so police stepped in and shut her down. She didn't have a food license and it was illegal to sell food without one.
She opened back up a little while later selling "plates, cups and napkins" - but giving away "free hot dogs" with those purchases. She wasn't technically selling food. She just to happened to be giving it away with all these plates ...
If a pyramid scheme is selling hot dogs, an MLM is selling plates and giving away a free hot dog with purchase. Same same, but different.
So MLMs aren't technically breaking the law because there's a product involved in the recruitment...
I don't know where bikini hot dog lady is now, but I hope she is recognized for her genius. So now that we understand what makes an MLM different from a pyramid scheme (see also: nothing but technicalities) we can more easily talk about how badly they suck, how predatory they are - most importantly - how people are getting out!
Reddit user pastel-vibes-forever asked:
Things got ... enlightening, to say the least.
Making Friends
My mother did Amway years ago. She told me she quit when she realized she approached every new acquaintance with an aim to make a sale instead of making a friend.
This is what got me out of selling Insurance. It wasn't a pyramid scheme, just a bad commission job. My coworker and I were at a bar just chilling after a sh!t day, started talking to this guy, and without either of us realizing it we had launched right into the pitch.
Debt
My recruiter told me she made $400 at the party I was at. I later learned she made 25% of that.
I was told if I could get 2 people under me, I would make $400-$500 per month.
Then I was told I needed 4 people instead of 2.
Then I was $2,000 in debt with nothing to show for it.
Deleted them all and changed my phone number.
I am an owner of 2 businesses, so I thought adding a small side hustle would be an easy transition, but it turned out that as a legitimate business owner, I couldn't bring myself to use the toxic business practices that were expected of me (cold messaging, hounding people for orders, constantly reminding people about deals, etc.).
When I left, I helped the two girls who were under me get out as well, and apologized for roping them into something I thought was a good deal.
Unfortunately one lived 4 states away, and the other didn't have qualifications necessary for my fields so I couldn't give them jobs at my other businesses. I did, however, take on the debt that they had gone into to get them in the clear.
- Trawhe
Tupperware
GiphyI've been wanting to tell this story for ages, and never got round to it.
When my husband died (abusive prick so don't feel bad for me) he left me with a tonne of debt (ok you can feel bad for me now lol). Not long after he died I had gone to a Tupperware party for a friend, and made some positive comment about one of the products, and that put me on the presenter's radar. This presenter happened to be one of those top tier ladies that ignored their family to make it big. She was/is the regional person. Whatever the title is.
I was BROKE. Paying off so much stuff while waiting for the life insurance to come through, you'd be surprised at the amount of companies that don't give a sh!t that you've lost a spouse, they just want their money. So Tupperware was spun as a way to earn extra money. She even gave me the starter kit without having to pay up front.
Problem was, I worked full time, and it was near impossible to book parties. I did my first presentation at my house and booked no parties. I reached out to all my friends and family and booked no parties.
The pressure from this woman was IMMENSE. She'd call me while I was at my day job. She try to convince me to quit my day job to focus on Tupperware. She knew I was broke, but she was adamant that if I quit my job I'd make it big, and before I know it I'd have a Tupperware car just like her.
She never listened to me. Even when I said to her "How do you expect me to pay my bills if I quit my job and start up Tupperware?" She had a response for everything. Nothing was based in logic and every time she called me, which was weekly, I was filled with dread.
I started to ghost her. It took months for me to work up the courage to tell her I didn't want to do it anymore. It took weeks for her to accept me "don't want to do it anymore". She dragged it on, and on, and on. Finally she sent me a curt "Leave your kit at the front door" message which I did.
She tried a couple of years down the track to recruit me again. I ignored her calls.
All I wanted to extra income to help me. I also wanted to add to my friend group. All I got was stress, anxiety, and frustration.
Business Partners
Joined a jewelry-based MLM thinking it would be cute to sell jewelry as a side hustle in July after I relocated across the country. I got roped in to the "be your own boss" and "make money while you sleep" mentality, and for a while, it boosted my confidence because I truly thought I was doing a great job running my own business. On paper, I brought in good money (about $100 per live show, which was one hour a week), but I had to ship out the jewelry to them, which ate about 20% of the profit, then the money earned went back into ordering more jewelry.
By September, once the glitz and excitement of it all wore off and I realized nothing was coming back to me, my boyfriend told me the only way to earn money in the business was to add new "business partners." I told him I wasn't interested in doing that, but that was part of the scheme. I was so hurt by the people who had roped me in to the business. So I quit that same day. Luckily, I made it out with only like $30 lost, but I still have a ton of jewelry and packing materials taking up space in my house.
Do Not Contact
I joined Primerica, I didn't see any red flags at first but small ones started popping up.
Like my team leader telling me to basically live outside my means to make people think I was doing really good and then they'd join and then I'd do really good.
Or finding out all the contests ran around recruitment and not sales numbers.
I left as soon as I realized, even put my name and number on the do not contact list.
Blew a lot of money trying to make that work only to realize I wasn't going to make any money without screwing my friends.
Been there, tried that. Term life insurance and financial advising. The biggest red flag for me after joining was that everything was focused around recruiting and building a team rather than building a book of business and developing the knowledge necessary to actually help your clients. I "noped" out of there pretty quick and without any issue. I am still friends with he guy who recruited me. He does very well, but admittedly inherited his dad's book of business who started with Primerica back in the 80's and never had to build his own client base.
Didn't Even Realize
I had just started college right out of high school. Was going to an art school (i know, bad idea) and was looking for a job to do between classes. Classmate of mine mentioned CutCo, so I naively went in for an interview.
Few points to know. I had no previous job experience at all, the "office" was in the next town over, and I didn't have a driver's license at the time, let alone a car. My freaking Mom drove me to the interview. Got the job anyway.
So I get the CutCo bag of stuff to show off and was sent on my way to harass my relatives. I thought that I was only doing example shows to them, practicing for the real deal. My Dad and StepMom even bought some knives (no idea what happened to them though, last I saw they used a different set). Once I run out to people to bother, i start running into problems.
Problem 1 was i didnt sell anything other than that one set. Problem 2 was i hadn't gotten any other people to talk to. The "pyramid" part of my pyramid scheme wasnt working real well. Problem 3 was the straw that broke the camel's back apparently. I couldn't get to the weekly meetings because my mom refused to drive me across town every week (she had a long commute).
In the end I got a call from my "manager" telling me he was basically letting me go and I needed to turn in my swag bag. I told him I couldn't get to him so he had to come to me. Later that day he rolled up, o gave him the bag and that was it. Dont think I ever got my cut from the knives I did sell either.
The real kicker was that I didn't even realize it was a MLM until almost a decade later, browsing this very sub.
Heavy Boxes
GiphyOur office had an Avon lady that would take our orders on a bi-weekly basis. She was the sweetest person, not pushy at all. Unfortunately she passed due to an illness and we did not know anyone else who sold Avon.
I got the bright idea of signing up as I read on their website that many people would join up solely for the discount. It sounded easy as I was planning on only taking orders for the office. Paid my $25 online and waited for the brochure to come in.
Our apartment was always the last stop for the UPS guy. He stopped by one evening near 8pm hauling a heavy box with AVON all over. He gave me this look of utter hatred. I felt so bad when he asked me if I had signed up to sell. That should've been a red flag.
Every time you placed an order you had to buy the catalogs which were heavy and a nuisance since I only needed two at the most for the office. Whatever small credit I gained ended up reinvested on having to buy the catalogs.
Not too long after I signed up the calls started. I began receiving calls from various people during work hours to attend meetings, to meet the regional so and so, to place orders, how to boost my sales. It became so frustrating at the time as my father became ill and had to be hospitalized so I kept having to answer every call in case it was hospice nurses or other medical staff. One woman kept calling and calling so I snapped one day. Told that I didn't plan on attending any meetings and that if she didn't understand that the first few times I told her, then she was a moron.
With everything else going on, I would forget to place the orders and I finally told the gals I would no longer sell as I had no time for it. They understood and we lost our Avon fix. It was not worth the hassle and we should have just found someone to take our orders.
On the bright side, our UPS guy was happy he no longer had to make his routine deliveries of heavy boxes that would end up chucked in the dumpster.
"Financial Hardship"
I was a call agent for Tahitian noni for the USA and Germany (now called Morinda). It was horrible fielding calls near when people's $120 monthly auto payment was due for 4 one liter bottles of juice. I couldn't cancel their subscription on late notice without a fax with their signature at least a week in advance, unless they claimed "financial hardship."
Eventually I learned that I would just need to feed them what to say and then gladly cancel for them on the phone. Total scam. Only people who made money were the early people to sign up and the founders, who are multi millionaires.
- Chasicle
Boss Babe
I know a girl who got sucked into Arbonne. She constantly makes videos on FB and instagram acting like she has this perfect life and last I heard, her boyfriend (that she claims in her husband on social media) had to call her from a gas station to see if they had any cash in the house because both their credit cards were declined and he needed gas to go to a friend's birthday party. Needless to say, he didn't go. It literally says "boss babe" on her Instagram.
It All Felt Criminal
I worked at the head office of a large MLM, and one of the OG's. Mary Kay.
You have to live, breathe, and sh!t pink. Honestly, I once got sent home from the office because I had made a cardinal mistake... I had worn a pantsuit to the office. As a woman, we were expected to wear a skirt or dress daily. I was new and didn't really think they'd get upset over a pantsuit, all things considered. I was wrong.
I know this is a different perspective, but hear me out. I didn't really know what Mary Kay was initially, all I remember is seeing the old school pink eye shadow cubes in my mom's makeup drawer. I started to discover that things were all a bit strange and ... predatory. We would run campaigns inside of universities and colleges because the older generations all "knew" what was up. The company was marketing toward these younger girls specifically because they didn't know the shtick, and hinging on the fact that we would somehow be able to convince them of making easy money. I heard a lot of horror stories the longer I worked there. Specifically from people who were angrily demanding answers from directors at the annual "Seminar" held in Toronto for Canadian Mary Kay consultants. People losing thousands of dollars. It all felt so criminal to have been a part of.
The Product Works
My ex boss brain washed me into Hempworx. I was very skeptical about cbd working for anxiety. I had tried everything and nothing had worked before. CBD actually worked, surprisingly. This was before the big hemp boom so CBD wasn't available everywhere like it is now.
So my dumb self paid the 20 bucks - luckily that's all. I thought it was rather weird that my manager kept pushing me. Talking about "Running your own business." My mom had her own business before she died. I knew it wasn't "my business" - but the CBD worked.
After trying other CBD products and getting better deals, I basically saw they were exploiting people and charging way too much for their product. I was very back and forth on whether or not to sell to people most the time. The company was terrible, but the product helped me and it did work.
In the end I paid 20 bucks and never sold anything.
Shake Shops
GiphyLong story short, my ex and I were going through the process of making funeral arrangements for our stillborn son. The cremation cost was about $2,500 give or take. The job I had at the time wasn't paying very much and do to her mental state I opted to pick up a little extra work on the side at my friends Shake Shop.
Before I know it, I'm being roped into that good ol Herbalife bullshit. Of course, I didn't know much about them at the time I thought they were legitimate. At first, I'm there just helping wash dishes and make shakes. The next thing I know, I'm helping to recruit people and using the product myself.
I eventually left ( within a three-month window of time) when I began to notice all the red flags and they just kept piling up. You aren't allowed to have the Herbalife logo anywhere, you weren't allowed to say you were an Herbalife shop, had to explicitly used the term Shake Shop, the distributor had to pay me under the table and wasn't allowed to mention the fact that she'd been doing it. Things like that.
I was about a week in when the funeral home knocked the whole cremation down to $800 and put me on a monthly payment plan. So in truth, after a week I no longer needed to be there. But it was nice having the extra $300 a month.
But after that time spent there, my inability to ignore all the red flags, and the fact that I was peeing neon green from using the product myself, I just thanked The Shake Shop owner and left one day.
For about 14 days after leaving I had Representatives from the company calling me to ask when I was going to start up my own branch. - without getting into a lot of detail, I told them to lose my phone number.
By now, I was actually taking steps to heal and I was in no position to get into something convoluted and dishonest as Herbalife. I did research on the company and what the product actually does to your body. Armed with of the new knowledge I honestly felt guilty. To simplify it, whenever you drink an Herbalife shake, tea, and any of the sawdust they call supplements, you are killing your kidneys.
There's something to be said when a Monster energy drink is healthier than an Herbalife shake. And yet, we still have 5 "Shake shops" in an 18 mile radius from where I live.
Big Yikes
I was a "coach" for an online fitness MLM. While I do still enjoy the company as a consumer, being a coach was terrible. I joined it in a financially weak position and in a lonely time too, so I was desperate for a community. In the end, it only made my debt worse because the expectation was that you would subscribe to all the shakes and supplements and you HAD to get the newest program as soon as possible, even though it'd be part of your regular subscription months later.
Biggest red flag was uplines giving unrealistic goals with deadlines, and employing the idea of "if you aren't succeeding you aren't working hard enough, because anyone can do this" and promoting burnout by encouraging you to use all your free time towards your "side hustle". Big one: "If you have time to scroll on your phone, you have time to send invites!" like....never ever relax, work 24/7?
So basically I was super burnt out and depressed because I had a demanding full time job and was expected to treat this MLM like another full time job on top of it. Got so bad that family reached out because my "uplifting" posts were so thinly veiled that they could see how depressed I was.
Big yikes, haven't been able to do one of their programs since.
- Jfiliko
Gastric Bypass
A former coworker of mine struggled to lose weight. She was also ALL UP in Arbonne. She also had a minor physical disability, which she blamed for her inability to lose weight. She was only maybe 20lbs over weight. Well, she gained 50lbs in order to be approved for gastric bypass, after which she lost the weight...and then proceeded to say Arbonne was the cause for her weight loss.
- c8080
Look At Their Shoes
The IT guy at my old company roped me into going to a "presentation" at a fancy hotel in town on how I could "make money at home in my own time" — Naturally, being the naive person I am, I accepted. He told me to "bring a friend" if I could, which should have been the first red flag. So I roped in another friend saying there would be free food and off we went.
We get to this really fancy hotel and people are dressed in suits (I was under-dressed) and my IT guy finds us and introduces me to his "up line guy" and it was our IT Manager!! (Second red flag)
Anyways, IT guy introduces some other dude, me, and my friend (whom he had not met before and didn't bother introducing himself to) to the IT Manager by saying "These are my three guys". This was Red Flag #3.
So my friend is getting super weirded out by everyone and decides to leave. I confront him and was about to give him a guilt trip for bailing on me when he looks at me and just says, "Look at their shoes."
So I start looking around at all these people in business suits and lo and behold they are all wearing the worst shoes — some of them were even in sneakers. That's when I realized these were just people trying to put out the appearance of success where there was in fact none. I bailed with my buddy and never looked back.
Possible Side Effects
I left about five months after I joined. I started to see through dõTERRAs lovely guise at a team meeting where "cut people off" was a big theme. One of them had cut me off already when I told her I hadn't the financial income to buy 100PV to make commissions and that other oils are better quality for cheaper.
But, their usage guidelines have led to a horrible thyroid episode fueled by oils that stimulate the immune system. As my thyroid condition is autoimmune based, it was inevitable. I didn't know that the oils had an immune system effects. I suffered with a thyroid wrecking itself for months because I had no idea what the oils were doing.
Lack of warnings about potential side effects was something I should have paid attention to.
Harassing People All Day
So I got into Scentsy originally because I really liked the product. After a few months, my cousin wanted to join under me. She and I promoted and I was enjoying the extra money every month, but usually it all went right back into Scentsy.
Once I had my baby and decided to stay home, I realized I wasn't really doing as well for myself as I thought. The people who were ordering regularly from me stopped ordering and my husband and I were starting to use our extra finances to keep up with the quarterly quotas.
About three months ago, I decided enough was enough and have let my membership lapse. I still order from my cousin when I want a new wax melt. I really do enjoy the products, but unless you're harassing people all day every day, you just don't get sales.
My sponsor and up line kept telling me to do events and follow up. Get the information and follow up. I sent mailers every month to every person who purchased. I sent texts and emails. I would check in about non-Scentsy things just to keep the relationship there.
Ultimately, I stopped because it just wasn't worth the extra stress. I have since stepped out and started my own craft business- something I've wanted to do for a long time. I'm taking classes and getting certified to have a compliant product with US guidelines and I'm going to school for a business degree. There's no sales pressure or quotas to meet. I have fun and best of all, my husband doesn't complain about how I'm wasting money anymore. Lol
Forced To Leave Campus
So when I was in college in the early 2000s, this one guy I knew (who we'll call Ryan) got taken in by a MLM of some kind. I can't remember the name sadly, but he bought in big time. I'm talking missing classes we had to travel to conferences on his own dime, missing work and eventually quits, the whole deal. Ryan recruited a decent number of people he knew to do it although I'm still not sure how. I got the pitch from him at one point and it wasn't all that persuasive.
So this goes on for about a month and then every student in the entire student body gets an email blast from the campus chancellor/president. It explicitly warns students about MLMs, how to spot them, and warns that anyone recruiting for them would be asked to leave the premises.
Those of us not involved in the MLM have a good laugh at the fact that this guy's efforts apparently got to the top of the campus leadership. A few more weeks go by and we realize none of us have seen Ryan in a while. Turns out, he dropped out of school.
We were never sure if it was to do the MLM full time (which seemed to be where it was heading), if he ran out of money at some point and couldn't attend, or something else. From what I could tell years later, Ryan ended up re-enrolling and did graduate, but about four years after everyone else did.
Fight Club
GiphyThis was back in the late 80s, which just goes to show you how old the whole MLM scam is.
I lived in a small town, worked with a really lovely guy who one day mentioned he was part of this amazing new business, would I be interested in hearing him out, etc etc. I knew nothing about ''pyramid'' schemes, as they were called back then, but knew of Amway as they were a mail-order catalogue you would see in people's houses from time to time. I agreed to listen to his pitch, met him after work and he ran through the whole thing. He was going to be making millions within a couple of years, and so was I if I signed up with him.
Total sucker that I was, desperate to find some kind of life and success that could get me out of my town, I signed up. My girlfriend at the time was totally skeptical about it, she kept saying to me that I was not going to make any kind of money at all selling household cleaning products and the like to people who would have to wait weeks for them to arrive. People want that shit now, they'll buy it at their local store when they need it. You get this filter on though, you just filter out any negativity, you think you're on some genius thing.
Then I realized that, sort of like Fight Club, there were members everywhere. This whole Amway pyramid thing had gone viral through our town, every second person that I approached had already been signed up by someone else. All the others that I approached were completely not interested, and not shy of telling me what they thought of the stupidity that was spreading through town. It was this weird vibe, you had half the town - including me - running around thinking they were smarter than everybody else and had discovered a goldmine. Thankfully, it didn't take me long to realize that we were all just selling shit to each other, and bothering heaps of other people with our ''pitches'' to get people to sign up and do the legwork for us. I was running around like an idiot getting the odd sale, and all in my spare time.
The wind truly went out of my sails after a few weeks, but I was now having to fend off the Spanish Inquisition from my work colleague as to why I hadn't signed up any new recruits or sold any more dishwashing liquid. I cracked it with him one day and told him that I was no longer interested and just wanted to get on with my job and my life. Then the truly weird stuff started, and again it was kind of like Fight Club.
Every person that I encountered that was a recruit, my name was mud to them suddenly, and I was getting the cold shoulder and in some cases outright harassment as I tried to do my job and live my life. I had a security guard strip my truck down when I was leaving an industrial site that I had just made some deliveries to. Delivered to this place for years, all through the same security checkpoint and guard. He was checking for ''stolen goods'', while chastising me the whole time about abandoning ''his business''. Some friends stopped inviting me on social outings, it was total whacko weirdo cult stuff.
Eventually, this weird-assed cloud that had descended on our town just kind of lifted - I think people just realized that it was all bullshit. The dude at work, he had refused to speak to me for months, started being his normal self again. I couldn't resist one day and asked him how his business was going. Of course it had all turned sour for him, he realized that he was investing a lot of effort into something that only made him a small amount of money, so he himself had quit the whole thing. He was a bit shamefaced about it, as he should have been.
My girlfriend? Oh, how she laughed...
Crushes are a pretty common experience, especially among teens who are dealing with the hormone rushes of puberty. A crush can be a pretty strong thing, too. Often the crush fades over time, or the person with a crush just realizes that they're not a good match.
But there are some things that just instantly make any attraction to a person disappear. A person who treats service or wait staff badly will instantly lose all respect from me, for example.
Reddit user u/goldclouds09 wanted to know why people's crushes faded and asked:
"What made you stop liking your crush?"
10.
Wildly beautiful woman I was talking to said she has to REALLY like a guy to not cheat on him.
9.
She was playing me along and eventually said how she wasn't really into me, but how she was really into this other guy who she found out likes her back.
Edit: Okay, this blew up quite a bit for me, but I should say that personally I was only kinda interested in her, she knew this and cut it off before I got too into her since she found another guy she liked and didn't want me to be too hurt by it all. I'm thankful that she cut it off early instead of stringing me along for too long.
8.
I had a crush on her, and so did my buddy. I was going to ask her out, but my friend (who hadn't ever had a girlfriend to that point) asked me not to, so I stepped back.
When he did ask her out, she laughed at him. Crush gone.
7.
A 'friend' of mine convinced my crush to write a list of all the reasons he wouldn't date me. Apparently I needed to wear make up, style my hair, wear cooler clothes, and not be weird.
6.
Asked him out. Found out he had a girlfriend, but then he said, "Don't worry about it, she's out of town this week anyway ;)" and I was like oh, ew.
5.
It was my freshman year of high school. I was 14 and he was 18. I know it was bad but I didn't know better back then. His girlfriend recently broke up with him and he started to catch feelings for me but still hasn't gotten completely over his ex.
When his ex found out I was coming on to him, she made a fake email account posing as me and sent an email to herself saying I told her to kill herself. She showed the school counselors the fake email and things got messy. The three of us plus four school counselors and the vice principal gathered in a room together to sort it out. Most of the conversation didn't involve me and I was only there for part of it.
When it was over I got to talk to my counselor alone and I was a sobbing mess. It was so overwhelming for me at 14, I had no idea what to do. It became obvious I didn't do anything so they let me go. Him and the ex eventually got back together and as far as I know she didn't get in trouble. So yeah, didn't talk to that guy much afterwards.
4.
All of my crushes have turned out to be lesbian. Every single one.
All of my crushes have turned out to be straight, so I feel you.
3.
While on a semester abroad he had started a relationship with a girl, still kept me on hold for 6 months. Found out through a third party when he came back. The realization that I had still been dreaming about him, talking to to his friends all exited about him, all while he was making new memories with someone else... Totally crushed me.
2.
A long time ago, I was hanging out with her and her brother when her brother took out a lighter and started burning worms. I told him to stop and he gave me a dirty look and asked me why. My crush then asked me, "Wait, you're not an animal lover, are you?"
I never thought I'd have to defend myself trying to stop a guy from burning a creature to death. And the idea of "animal lover" being a grave insult to her was really eye opening. It was hard to be attracted to her after that.
1.
I had a crush on this guy who stayed at my university dorm for one whole summer. He switched dorms afterwards and I did not see him again until graduation.
Four years later, a mutual friend introduced us through Facebook wherein he asked for my number. We've been texting for a month, kinda flirting, when he asked to meet personally. It sounded like he wanted to have a date.
Turns out he wanted to recruit me to one of those multi-level marketing schemes.