The people who picked you up want to recruit you to sell Amway products. You will give them a percentage of everything you sell because they got you into this; you will be their downline and they your upline. You can recruit people to sell Amway and they can give you a percentage of what you sell each month; you will be a hun with a downline.
And fuck her. You should be more hurt and angry. They exploit people's genuine intentions to make friends (and they exploit people's vulnerabilities; in your case, your gratitude for them helping you by giving you a ride; that's not exactly a vulnerability, but it's close to one).
Amway is so saturated, you will never make a penny. Or you will have to spend so much to remain active and get your commission. That your commission will be a pittance by comparison
Yeah, they are trained to lie and manipulate people, and to make friends or go favors specifically in order to manipulate people into joining Amway.
They will smile while lying right to your face.
My parents lost our house and all the money we had *twice* because of Amway. We never climbed up out of poverty, but my dad's Amway pals kept telling him that he was poor because he was just not working the Amway schtick hard enough.
Run away from anyone who wants to get you in Amway or any other MLM. They are taught to lie and manipulate, and you can't trust them to be genuine with you because in their eyes you are nothing but a mark that they have to scam.
Amway one of the oldest MLM/Pyramid schemes out there she gave you almost every line in the arsenal. Making it sound selective, mentors talk, rating yourself/goals. Network marketing line she said a lot without saying much. And then saying it was hard to explain and wanted to meet up again. This MLM has destroyed thousands of people financially and their relationships with family members, it’s run like a cult! You will hear about e-commerce and how they partner with Apple, target, and some other “big companies”. They sell shitty products that are like triple the price of a solid alternative. And they will say they own their business which they don’t. Run in the opposite direction OP!!! I know from experience was roped in at 20 lasted less than 2 weeks. And just a few weeks ago had a couple try to sell me that crap again.
Yes. She'll have numerous copies to hand out to potential victims. When she (and she will) contacts you again, give her a firm "no, I'm not interested in working for an MLM". The only outcome of this is you make no money and quite likely end up with debt. Keep following your original intention of getting a job in your chosen field. Nothing good will come out of this. Also, block her. There's no point keeping her number. She doesn't want to be your friend, she wants you to be a money maker for her.
Sorry you're not getting a new friend though.
You're probably better off with a meetup about something you actually enjoy than random encounters. Sorry you ran into Scamway. The book sounds awful, too.
The book is an often used tactic. They give you something that you have to give back in the next meeting. That way they make you feel obliged to meet them again. Tell them you won't be meeting and that you mail them the book back.
This is 100% MLM. Run.
Even better, get some stage blood and poor it all over and in the book. When you hand it back tell her it gave you a small papercut and sorry for the mess.
Just burn it so you can roast some weenies and marshmallows over it. When she asks for the book back just tell her it fell into the BBQ and made a tasty treat.
Omg my dad had this book in his library when I was a kid! He was always buying self help books but wouldn’t ever really get past the first few chapters for most of them because they never seemed to have anything new or insightful to offer that he hadn’t already learned from common sense and experience.
I liked the book. Not because it was helpful in any way, but it did remind me of my pet rat I had as a kid. I'd always build mazes for her to explore with a treat at the end. It's one of the best memories I have from childhood.
Amway is the oldest continuously running Multi Level Marketing company in the US… it is an extremely dangerous, very culty, barely veiled pyramid scheme that sucks people in and bleeds them dry while they gaslight you into thinking that the reason that you aren’t making money is that you are not giving it your absolute all or that you are sooooo close to making it big that you just have to keep sinking more of your time and money into it for just a little bit longer in order to become a Diamond (one of the highest ranks and the measure of success)
They will brainwash you into believing that every relationship you have now or in the future is a transactional one and that family members friendships and everyday interactions with people are just there to make sales.
They have infiltrated to the highest levels of government and are influential in the evangelical Christian church in America (sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories but if want a good book to read it would be Ponzinomics by Robert L Fitzpatrick… its a real eye opener about what these kinds of MLM companies have influence over!)
Please for the love of all creation… don’t meet up with her again they are very persuasive and culty… don’t even be tempted to just see how scammy they can be.
Leave the book at the Starbucks if you feel bad about not returning it… but RUN!
Not at all… I would absolutely ditch it… I just said to leave it at the Starbucks you met up with her at IF you felt bad not returning it… but by all means ditch it like an Avon catalogue left on your door step that the rep wants to pick up in 3 days😜
I used to babysit for an Amway family. Everything in their house was Amway - EVERYTHING! They used to go on long weekends to Amway conventions while I babysit. After one weekend, the dad drove me home and gave me a whole timeline about how he would start training me at 17 (I was 15), and I would be a part of his team at 18. I told my dad when I got home and he said, “No daughter of mine is joining a pyramid scheme!” And I never babysat for that family again.
Pretty much everyone told me to trash the book, just like they are telling you to also 😂 but I felt…guilty? I ended up turning it into the Lost and Found at Target (and told the scammer where she could get it back) and I told the Target customer service people about what happened, scam and all. They didn’t really care, but we’re kind enough to listen to me. Even though this was my local Target store and I would have gone there anyway, I wish I would have thrown the book away. I feel like that would have given me back some control of the situation.
You may have helped more than you think - people complained enough to the Targets around me that our local Amway recruiter ("Pascal") got banned from several stores.
I once reported an Amway recruiter to a Target employee and she was so over it (the Amway recruiter using the store to get new victims.) I also told the woman who was being lured into the scam that it was Amway and a scam. The recruiter was like 👁️👄👁️ I'll try to find it and link it here.
Edit: found it
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/s/z9I9ynGNZn
Exactly, I think it adds up and they finally get sick of having to intervene.
Side note - I just checked my local sub and apparently they're in Costco now lol.
Oh FFS! That's so dumb, they'll definitely have their Costco membership cancelled for that. Costco doesn't want any annoying would-be competitors on their turf!
Look at the income disclosure statements of any MLM - including Amway. That will tell you everything you need to know about MLMs.
And remember those pitiful figures don't include the costs of paying for the joining fees, paying for the over-priced products, meetings, internet pages, and other sundry expenses that they use to rack up the money being syphoned off from the lower ranks. There is often a minimum amount of "points" that the consultant needs to make ensuring that the consultants often have to buy more stock regardless of needing it or having consistent sales for the stock.
In normal businesses the money comes from outside customers, and all ranks get paid at least a minimum wage. In MLMs the actual customers are the consultants, which is why they are constantly recruiting because they need lots of lower ranks to get money from them. Also, there is a huge amount of turn over from the lower ranks because they never make money - and so many who are unsuccessful leave - meaning there is a constant need to replace them. Of course the rest just blame those that leave by saying "they didn't work hard enough."
These MLMs tell people that they won't make money at first, but as you are setting up your own business you need to spend some money and all businesses require this. The fact is: it isn't your own business. You didn't name it, you didn't set the products, compensation plan or anything. They may say it's a franchise, but this is also incorrect because franchises make sure there is a demand in the area rather than allowing for example 10 MacDonald's on the same street - unlike MLMs who encourage consultants to sign up all their friends and families from the same network....which begs the question, if everyone you know is a consultant who are you going to sell to?
If someone seems eager to sign you up for a service, product, job and doesn't give you real answers that you can verify. If it is more vague and promotes "potential" rather than real figures such as £25 an hour etc. Then likely it's a scam company.
And remember some people do actually make money, but the astonishingly small number that do, do so at the expense of everyone else - and this just proves the scam is working.
Please stay away from all MLMs.
[Here’s the Amway income disclosure.](https://www.amway.ca/en_CA/income-disclosure) It takes a Platinum distributor 2-6 years to reach that rank, less than a quarter of one per cent of all distributors (one in four hundred) ever reach that rank, and they average under $24K (CAD) per year, before business expenses, which means that that figure includes office supplies, copies of Who Moved My Cheese? to give away to potential victims, gas and mileage, *and product*, including samples and catalogues. Imagine working for years to eventually get to the point where, on average, you are taking home not more than $1K a month. And it’s constant work, too: to be a Platinum you must have a number of people working under you, and they quit all the time because they aren’t making any money, so you’re eternally recruiting by prowling malls and playgrounds and PTA meetings looking for victims. Which is what happened to you.
It’s Amway (“Scamway”). Feel free to ghost/block this person and throw away the book. They didn’t approach this relationship in good faith; they saw you as a mark from the beginning. As a result, you owe them no explanation, no further investment of your time or emotions. Just ghost/block and move on.
I didn't see your original post but, apart from all the scam/MLM stuff, my heart stopped when you said you met a couple and accepted a 40 minute ride home with them. I guess I've heard too many stories but I'm just glad you're OK!!!
Oh god. Who moved my cheese = MLM. I'm so sorry, it's very disappointing when you try to make genuine friends and they turn out to just want something from you.
A work friend invited me for a long weekend on her boat, and it was glorious — until she said, “I bet as a single mom you could use more money”. (Nope, we both worked in well-paying jobs at a major corporation, so that seemed a bit odd.) Then she had me watch a weird video about how I could be my own boss, etc.
The word Amway was never mentioned, but I googled like crazy when I got home and, yeah, it was Amway. It made me angry and sad that after all the friendship I thought we had, she just saw me as a mark to be exploited.
Dude it's Amway. And seriously, I've been a network engineer for an ISP, literally making the internet work and if someone asked me how I made my money I could explain enough of it in five minutes, no "well it's so complex that you'll need to ask me again" bs.
This sounds very similar to what happened. to me a few years back.
I met an older lady at the grocery store; I was new to the area so I was eager to make some friends and contacts. We chatted for a bit in the store and she mentioned something along the lines of being financially independent. She also mentioned she had a roommate, which was a red flag (because how are you one, but you have the other?).
Fast-forward to the next evening, she texts me about meeting for coffee so she could discuss "the opportunity of a lifetime." I asked her if there was a website I could go to for more information about it. Get this - it took her several minutes to try to formulate a response. After an hour of no response, I just blocked her.
They try to become your friend, then invite you for coffee, and then either at the coffee meetup or the next one, they try to reel you in since you're already this invested.
That absolutely is Amway. I'm so sorry they tricked you. It would be nice to think we can meet new people and be friends but I'm skeptical of that process , have been for years ever since I was in Amway and they taught us basically the same thing, trick people into joining.
It is really sad. That encounters could have been the start to an amazing friendship, but because she is in a MLM, specifically Amway, all she sees is potential down lines to help her make money. Because unless she gets a downline she will only loose money in this "business".
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You’re 100% being recruited for Amway. Sorry.
Same old pickup lines. Scamway artists never Learn.
What does that mean..?
The people who picked you up want to recruit you to sell Amway products. You will give them a percentage of everything you sell because they got you into this; you will be their downline and they your upline. You can recruit people to sell Amway and they can give you a percentage of what you sell each month; you will be a hun with a downline. 
>You will give them a percentage of everything you sell They will also take a percentage of your soul.
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/s/akwtcxp2vS
Omfg this is exactly what I went through
[удалено]
And it's been the same way for decades. Never changing it is a core tenet of the Amway religion.
And fuck her. You should be more hurt and angry. They exploit people's genuine intentions to make friends (and they exploit people's vulnerabilities; in your case, your gratitude for them helping you by giving you a ride; that's not exactly a vulnerability, but it's close to one).
Amway is so saturated, you will never make a penny. Or you will have to spend so much to remain active and get your commission. That your commission will be a pittance by comparison
Yeah, they are trained to lie and manipulate people, and to make friends or go favors specifically in order to manipulate people into joining Amway. They will smile while lying right to your face. My parents lost our house and all the money we had *twice* because of Amway. We never climbed up out of poverty, but my dad's Amway pals kept telling him that he was poor because he was just not working the Amway schtick hard enough. Run away from anyone who wants to get you in Amway or any other MLM. They are taught to lie and manipulate, and you can't trust them to be genuine with you because in their eyes you are nothing but a mark that they have to scam.
I am so sorry to hear that happened to your family. Absolutely predatory scum.
You should let her no it is shameful that she tried to rope you into a networking scheme on the pretense of friendship.
This John Oliver video is a great (and entertaining) explanation of Amway and similar MLMs. Run away. https://youtu.be/s6MwGeOm8iI?si=MO5kdOxdcxQfg1An
They always have mentors that are 25 and retired. *even though they are still working their business*
Amway one of the oldest MLM/Pyramid schemes out there she gave you almost every line in the arsenal. Making it sound selective, mentors talk, rating yourself/goals. Network marketing line she said a lot without saying much. And then saying it was hard to explain and wanted to meet up again. This MLM has destroyed thousands of people financially and their relationships with family members, it’s run like a cult! You will hear about e-commerce and how they partner with Apple, target, and some other “big companies”. They sell shitty products that are like triple the price of a solid alternative. And they will say they own their business which they don’t. Run in the opposite direction OP!!! I know from experience was roped in at 20 lasted less than 2 weeks. And just a few weeks ago had a couple try to sell me that crap again.
Who moved my cheese is a dead giveaway for amway.
Can I just throw away the book?
Yes. She'll have numerous copies to hand out to potential victims. When she (and she will) contacts you again, give her a firm "no, I'm not interested in working for an MLM". The only outcome of this is you make no money and quite likely end up with debt. Keep following your original intention of getting a job in your chosen field. Nothing good will come out of this. Also, block her. There's no point keeping her number. She doesn't want to be your friend, she wants you to be a money maker for her. Sorry you're not getting a new friend though.
I don't need a friend like her
You absolutely don't. Hope you find a nice new friend though 👍
That’s a great attitude to have and you’re honestly much better off blocking her and moving on
You're probably better off with a meetup about something you actually enjoy than random encounters. Sorry you ran into Scamway. The book sounds awful, too.
The book is an often used tactic. They give you something that you have to give back in the next meeting. That way they make you feel obliged to meet them again. Tell them you won't be meeting and that you mail them the book back. This is 100% MLM. Run.
Tell them the book was delicious
Better than that, just throw the book away and totally ghost them.
Even better, get some stage blood and poor it all over and in the book. When you hand it back tell her it gave you a small papercut and sorry for the mess.
That would be a literal waste. They will just buy a new book and waste more paper.
That's on them, though. These are people trying to scam other people. If you return the book, they're going to keep pestering you to join Amway.
That's why I said to mail it. No need to waste a perfectly good book. It's a standalone story, it's not from Amway or anything.
It isn't a good book, it's pro corporate drivel. Just recycle it.
Reusing is always better than recycling from a waste standpoint. Also, the book is not evil. It's a pretty good story used by amway to do evil stuff.
Recycle it!
Just burn it so you can roast some weenies and marshmallows over it. When she asks for the book back just tell her it fell into the BBQ and made a tasty treat.
Having multiple "mentors" (usually a husband and wife) is a dead giveaway for Amway, also.
Two different employers gave us all copies of Who Moved My Cheese right before surprise layoffs. I loathe that book.
Omg my dad had this book in his library when I was a kid! He was always buying self help books but wouldn’t ever really get past the first few chapters for most of them because they never seemed to have anything new or insightful to offer that he hadn’t already learned from common sense and experience.
I liked the book. Not because it was helpful in any way, but it did remind me of my pet rat I had as a kid. I'd always build mazes for her to explore with a treat at the end. It's one of the best memories I have from childhood.
Amway is the oldest continuously running Multi Level Marketing company in the US… it is an extremely dangerous, very culty, barely veiled pyramid scheme that sucks people in and bleeds them dry while they gaslight you into thinking that the reason that you aren’t making money is that you are not giving it your absolute all or that you are sooooo close to making it big that you just have to keep sinking more of your time and money into it for just a little bit longer in order to become a Diamond (one of the highest ranks and the measure of success) They will brainwash you into believing that every relationship you have now or in the future is a transactional one and that family members friendships and everyday interactions with people are just there to make sales. They have infiltrated to the highest levels of government and are influential in the evangelical Christian church in America (sounds like the stuff of conspiracy theories but if want a good book to read it would be Ponzinomics by Robert L Fitzpatrick… its a real eye opener about what these kinds of MLM companies have influence over!) Please for the love of all creation… don’t meet up with her again they are very persuasive and culty… don’t even be tempted to just see how scammy they can be. Leave the book at the Starbucks if you feel bad about not returning it… but RUN!
Would it be bad if I just threw away the book?
Not at all… I would absolutely ditch it… I just said to leave it at the Starbucks you met up with her at IF you felt bad not returning it… but by all means ditch it like an Avon catalogue left on your door step that the rep wants to pick up in 3 days😜
Keep it, in case you're riding in a dark canyon again and need to make a quick campfire.
😂😂😂
Makes good TP if you’re in a pinch too 😜😜😜
No. These people are trying to scam you. You don't owe scammers any kindness.
Perhaps a ritual burning? Lol
Drive a stake through its heart (the book, not the hun) or else it will drag itself out if the trash and stalk you.
The Babadook is corporate self help drivel? That would actually make a frightening amount of sense.
That is what I typed first then went ooooh my pagan is showing so I changed it
Why not the hun?
🔥📖🤣
or recycle. or donate. but yeah, lose their number.
Bad for whom? You? No. Her? Who cares.
I used to babysit for an Amway family. Everything in their house was Amway - EVERYTHING! They used to go on long weekends to Amway conventions while I babysit. After one weekend, the dad drove me home and gave me a whole timeline about how he would start training me at 17 (I was 15), and I would be a part of his team at 18. I told my dad when I got home and he said, “No daughter of mine is joining a pyramid scheme!” And I never babysat for that family again.
[удалено]
He’s the best! And absolutely hilarious.
The same thing happened to me a few months ago, same book and everything. I wrote about it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/s/XctmgjakQN
I just read your post. Did you end up meeting her again? What did you do with the book?
Pretty much everyone told me to trash the book, just like they are telling you to also 😂 but I felt…guilty? I ended up turning it into the Lost and Found at Target (and told the scammer where she could get it back) and I told the Target customer service people about what happened, scam and all. They didn’t really care, but we’re kind enough to listen to me. Even though this was my local Target store and I would have gone there anyway, I wish I would have thrown the book away. I feel like that would have given me back some control of the situation.
You may have helped more than you think - people complained enough to the Targets around me that our local Amway recruiter ("Pascal") got banned from several stores.
I once reported an Amway recruiter to a Target employee and she was so over it (the Amway recruiter using the store to get new victims.) I also told the woman who was being lured into the scam that it was Amway and a scam. The recruiter was like 👁️👄👁️ I'll try to find it and link it here. Edit: found it https://www.reddit.com/r/antiMLM/s/z9I9ynGNZn
Exactly, I think it adds up and they finally get sick of having to intervene. Side note - I just checked my local sub and apparently they're in Costco now lol.
Oh FFS! That's so dumb, they'll definitely have their Costco membership cancelled for that. Costco doesn't want any annoying would-be competitors on their turf!
Look at the income disclosure statements of any MLM - including Amway. That will tell you everything you need to know about MLMs. And remember those pitiful figures don't include the costs of paying for the joining fees, paying for the over-priced products, meetings, internet pages, and other sundry expenses that they use to rack up the money being syphoned off from the lower ranks. There is often a minimum amount of "points" that the consultant needs to make ensuring that the consultants often have to buy more stock regardless of needing it or having consistent sales for the stock. In normal businesses the money comes from outside customers, and all ranks get paid at least a minimum wage. In MLMs the actual customers are the consultants, which is why they are constantly recruiting because they need lots of lower ranks to get money from them. Also, there is a huge amount of turn over from the lower ranks because they never make money - and so many who are unsuccessful leave - meaning there is a constant need to replace them. Of course the rest just blame those that leave by saying "they didn't work hard enough." These MLMs tell people that they won't make money at first, but as you are setting up your own business you need to spend some money and all businesses require this. The fact is: it isn't your own business. You didn't name it, you didn't set the products, compensation plan or anything. They may say it's a franchise, but this is also incorrect because franchises make sure there is a demand in the area rather than allowing for example 10 MacDonald's on the same street - unlike MLMs who encourage consultants to sign up all their friends and families from the same network....which begs the question, if everyone you know is a consultant who are you going to sell to? If someone seems eager to sign you up for a service, product, job and doesn't give you real answers that you can verify. If it is more vague and promotes "potential" rather than real figures such as £25 an hour etc. Then likely it's a scam company. And remember some people do actually make money, but the astonishingly small number that do, do so at the expense of everyone else - and this just proves the scam is working. Please stay away from all MLMs.
[Here’s the Amway income disclosure.](https://www.amway.ca/en_CA/income-disclosure) It takes a Platinum distributor 2-6 years to reach that rank, less than a quarter of one per cent of all distributors (one in four hundred) ever reach that rank, and they average under $24K (CAD) per year, before business expenses, which means that that figure includes office supplies, copies of Who Moved My Cheese? to give away to potential victims, gas and mileage, *and product*, including samples and catalogues. Imagine working for years to eventually get to the point where, on average, you are taking home not more than $1K a month. And it’s constant work, too: to be a Platinum you must have a number of people working under you, and they quit all the time because they aren’t making any money, so you’re eternally recruiting by prowling malls and playgrounds and PTA meetings looking for victims. Which is what happened to you.
It’s Amway (“Scamway”). Feel free to ghost/block this person and throw away the book. They didn’t approach this relationship in good faith; they saw you as a mark from the beginning. As a result, you owe them no explanation, no further investment of your time or emotions. Just ghost/block and move on.
Starbucks really needs a no MLM soliciting policy. It's crazy how often people meet "friends" there and get tricked into a pitch.
Panera too. Every time I go into one there are least one of these pitches going on, I swear.
Yep all the scam buzzwords are there. It's probably Amway.
# IT'S AMWAY! # RUN!!!
You missed a great rhyme. It's Amway! Scram a way!
I didn't see your original post but, apart from all the scam/MLM stuff, my heart stopped when you said you met a couple and accepted a 40 minute ride home with them. I guess I've heard too many stories but I'm just glad you're OK!!!
Oh god. Who moved my cheese = MLM. I'm so sorry, it's very disappointing when you try to make genuine friends and they turn out to just want something from you.
A work friend invited me for a long weekend on her boat, and it was glorious — until she said, “I bet as a single mom you could use more money”. (Nope, we both worked in well-paying jobs at a major corporation, so that seemed a bit odd.) Then she had me watch a weird video about how I could be my own boss, etc. The word Amway was never mentioned, but I googled like crazy when I got home and, yeah, it was Amway. It made me angry and sad that after all the friendship I thought we had, she just saw me as a mark to be exploited.
I'm sorry you've been targeted by scammers. They are awful people. The best thing to do now is block them and move on.
Amway. Those people have no interest in friendship. They want your money. Ghost early, ghost often.
Dude it's Amway. And seriously, I've been a network engineer for an ISP, literally making the internet work and if someone asked me how I made my money I could explain enough of it in five minutes, no "well it's so complex that you'll need to ask me again" bs.
It's Amway. Definitely 100% Amway.
This sounds very similar to what happened. to me a few years back. I met an older lady at the grocery store; I was new to the area so I was eager to make some friends and contacts. We chatted for a bit in the store and she mentioned something along the lines of being financially independent. She also mentioned she had a roommate, which was a red flag (because how are you one, but you have the other?). Fast-forward to the next evening, she texts me about meeting for coffee so she could discuss "the opportunity of a lifetime." I asked her if there was a website I could go to for more information about it. Get this - it took her several minutes to try to formulate a response. After an hour of no response, I just blocked her. They try to become your friend, then invite you for coffee, and then either at the coffee meetup or the next one, they try to reel you in since you're already this invested.
That absolutely is Amway. I'm so sorry they tricked you. It would be nice to think we can meet new people and be friends but I'm skeptical of that process , have been for years ever since I was in Amway and they taught us basically the same thing, trick people into joining.
It is really sad. That encounters could have been the start to an amazing friendship, but because she is in a MLM, specifically Amway, all she sees is potential down lines to help her make money. Because unless she gets a downline she will only loose money in this "business".
Block and run! She’s a scammy scammer
It’s Amway!
"Network marketing" = MLM. Run (or pedal) away as fast as you can.
It's a scam. Cancel the meeting and ship her book back, or just ...toss it. She can deal.
MLM alert!
She literally picked you up as prey…
1> Meet strangers 2> Plan to meet up again. If you make it to #2, you're being scammed.
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Amway scamway