Back when newspapers were the primary source of information the same cheesy work at home scams were posted in the classified section. The advent of the Internet created a wonderful breeding ground for those who use work at home scams to prey upon unsuspecting people. Even some of the legitimate word of mouth work at homes schemes such as Mary Kay are misleading. I remember when I was in my early twenties a friend insisted that we both had to go to this great make-up party with a Mary Kay representative.
The lady applied lots of make up to my face and told me I looked really great. I believe her because she was praising me so, but they were pressuring me quite a bit to buy a bag of their products and start selling it with them. I fell for it and did buy the make-up bag, but I decided not to participate with this company after I realized how much work is involved to make even a small salary. When I got home I realized I had made a mistake since the lady pointed out I looked like bozo the clown. What I learned then was Mary Kay representatives literally have to push themselves and know a large network of people if they want to even make full-time salary.
If you buy a bag of make-up with Mary Kay and decide not to sell with them they act cultist and make you feel bad about it. When the next day I told the representative I had changed my mind, she guilt tripped me and said "What is going on?" I was very firm and told her sorry but I am not interested, but she kept calling me and insisting we get together sometime. After her incessant phone calls I agreed to meet her at the local sandwich place and she brought a higher up Mary Kay representative with her. The higher ranking lady was successful enough to have earned one of those Cadillacs Mary Kay women drive, but all she could talk about was selling lots of products to earn this vehicle. I had not even said I was going to change my mind about selling products with them, and she took out a piece of paper and started listing all the Mary Kay products I needed to to get rid or my acne. She made such a big deal about how a Mary Kay representative could not have acne on her face, but still did not hear me say no I was not interested in selling these products.
Afterward I called the original Mary Kay contact and told her I was not going to sell products, but had only met with them because she kept insisting. At this point she seemed apologetic and said she regretted having purposely continued to contact me after I originally said no. It did not seem worth it to an introvert like me who would rather be at home than at a Mary Kay party. I did not feel bad about having bought that original bag of make-up, but I was not about to become a slave for Mary Kay LOL.
