(previously on ATOT)
*A 'friend' invited me to a multi-level marketing seminar.
*I just got back, utterly disgusted. Here's the follow-up:
Chapter 1: Welcome to My Nightmare...
So I decided to attend the event after Sunday school out of good gesture. I arrived at the Double Tree hotel in Waltham, MA around 2pm-ish. My friend Bill greeted me and regurgitated the same 'you're gonna meet some powerful people here' phrase. At this point, I realized that he truly believed in his company and sincerely wanted me to experience what he went through. Good, I thought. I was no longer offended because I initially thought he 'invited' me to this seminar because he assumed I was gullible enough to fall into his multi-marketing scheme.
Realizing it was evidently false, I decided to be optimistic and just have a good time with Bill and the adventure with his company. But little did I know my worst nightmare would come true in next two hours...
Chapter 2: Everyone worships Michael Mo
The hotel was beautiful with the luxurious marble-finish lobby welcoming the crew. I was surprised to see about twenty to thirty people casually mingling with one another before the seminar. Bill placed his hand on my back and said, "Let's introduce you to my people." And he did. I noticed that everyone was young, around my age and older. (21~) They also looked very sharp. Young eager minds dressed in crisp suits and flashy shoes, I noticed most of them also boasted a lot of nice looking watches and jewelry. The ladies were very attractive as well as if to outdress the already handsome gentlemen.
Bill introduced me to about twenty people before the seminar. By the beginning of the seminar, I realized that people were obviously trained/told to be extra friendly with the newcomers. Every single one of them made flattering remarks about me the moment I shook their hands and gave me exaggerated irrelevant compliments as if they already knew me. "You seem like you'll be a great leader!" "You seem like you're very open minded!" "You'll meet some powerful figures today, including the district CEO, Michael Mo himself!"
Now let me indulge in more phrases regarding this Michael Mo. "He's the greatest leader you'll ever come across in your life." "He's only 21 and is making 6 digits already, we all try to follow his footsteps." "We celebrated his birthday last month. We all came and cooked and played basketball together, he's very down to earth!" I could not believe my ears. Who is this Michael Mo every single freaking person are talking about? And why do they all individually talk to me about him in unison? I felt like I was in a business-reglious fusion cult. Stay tuned...
Chapter 3: LOLyourFACE tries to dig up some dirt...
As I stated before, Bill was a very friendly guy. He spoke very highly of me upon introduction to others and as far as for him, I knew it was sincere. He also kept on telling people about how I just got back from church as a Sunday school teacher which I thought was awkward because that was just a small fleeting comment I made. Everyone I met there were energetic, excited and overly welcoming. But something was amiss. I noticed that underneath all the empty talks and routinized responses, they never actually talked about what they really did as work. The only response I got from everyone in unison was, "We're the front marketing force for the company!" and (not)surprisingly, "I can't tell you, you have to hear directly from Michael Mo. He'll tell you all about it."
Among the twenty-something people I met, I came across this rather calm guy named Danny. For an employee of this happy-go-lucky company, he was timid, subdued and quiet. After ME initiating conversations with him for several times, I decided to dig up some real dirt from Danny. I first asked about what he and everyone actually do for living, again. He didn't budge and gave me the exhausted, "You'd have to hear from Michael Mo" response. But it was interesting how he said it in a very monotonous manner. I dug further, "So you must make lots of money huh?" and carefully examined his reaction. "It's alright.. It's not about money but teamwork." Danny commented as he shrugged with a slight sense of dissapointment. Not about money? All I've been hearing WAS about money since I set my foot in here.... Nice defense mechanism, I thought.
Chapter 4: Introducing.. Michael Mo himself!!!
When it was 3pm, we all entered the ballroom in the hotel. There must've been about 200 people, all were young and looked sharp. We all sat in rows of chairs with Michael Mo himself standing in the center stage. As soon as the seminar started, the expected lameness began. "EVERYONE WELCOME MICHAEEEL MOOOO!!!!!!" A guy yelled to the microphone as techno music thumped the whole room. I recognized it was Alice Deejay as I rolled my eyes. Everyone stood on their feet clapping, shouting and whistling. The music got louder, the crowd got louder and this went on for about good five minutes until they sat.
And there he was, the great Michael Mo himself, standing in front of the idolizing crowd awaiting to be enlightened once more. He was a very young looking chinese guy in a nice black suit with an"iced-out" watch and oversized rings. He was clearly showing off his status through attire.
Then he opened his mouth and for the next 90 mins, he aurally raped my ears and defiled my mind. I don't quite know how to explain his waste of braincells so I'll just paraphrase the things he said. They get progressively worse and worse.
"Be a great leader, and make lots of money. If you have money, you start to think differently!"
"Man, if someone borrows $50 from you and don't pay back. You get all angry and shiet and you dwell in negative energy. But if you're rich, you're above all that. Ain't I right? (the crowd: YES!) right? (YES!)"
"You know why poor people stay poor and rich are rich? Because poor think in the 'survival' mindset whereas the rich in 'living' mindset. You got to LIVE your life! (YEA!)"
"That's why 1% of the world are rich and 99% are poor because they THINK that way!" (tell that to starving children in Africa)
"You wanna make LOTS of money! Be a LEADER and buy a Viper GT! And you know? Don't even drive it. Just keep parked in the company lot so people will talk about you and how rich you are! Then you tell them you just like to collect it!"
"Be a great leader, drugs are bad for you. Be independent! Imagine you're a leader and you're like, "I'm gonna go sniff some more crack." What kind of leader are you? (Booo~) That's not a true leader! Don't depend on drugs!"
"Be a True leader... like Jesus.. he was a true leader. Martin Luther King, Jr. was not. And JC.. JK.... (the crowd: JFK?) Yea, JFK.. you gotta be like him!"
(he writes some BS about appreciation vs possessive-ness) "How do you spell Possessive?" (He WROTE POSSESIV)
"I was never good at SAT...(crowd laughs)
"You got to THINK like a leader! A Lot of people get scared away because of our $450 JOINING FEE, but it's an INVESTMENT! You got to INVEST to be an Independent Representative, that is who you are now!"(CHEER)
(keep in mind they also paid $10 to attend this very seminar, including myself.)
By this point, I had to leave. I could not stand this garbage of feel-good talk with zero substance. This business-religious fusion crap was starting to make me want to fork my nuts off and chew on it
I faked a phone call from my parents and told Bill I had to go. Upon departing, Bill asked how it was. And then was the moment I had to tell the greatest white lie of my life... "It's good.... the work culture is very energetic and encouraging... It's very lively..."
*A 'friend' invited me to a multi-level marketing seminar.
*I just got back, utterly disgusted. Here's the follow-up:
Chapter 1: Welcome to My Nightmare...
So I decided to attend the event after Sunday school out of good gesture. I arrived at the Double Tree hotel in Waltham, MA around 2pm-ish. My friend Bill greeted me and regurgitated the same 'you're gonna meet some powerful people here' phrase. At this point, I realized that he truly believed in his company and sincerely wanted me to experience what he went through. Good, I thought. I was no longer offended because I initially thought he 'invited' me to this seminar because he assumed I was gullible enough to fall into his multi-marketing scheme.
Realizing it was evidently false, I decided to be optimistic and just have a good time with Bill and the adventure with his company. But little did I know my worst nightmare would come true in next two hours...
Chapter 2: Everyone worships Michael Mo
The hotel was beautiful with the luxurious marble-finish lobby welcoming the crew. I was surprised to see about twenty to thirty people casually mingling with one another before the seminar. Bill placed his hand on my back and said, "Let's introduce you to my people." And he did. I noticed that everyone was young, around my age and older. (21~) They also looked very sharp. Young eager minds dressed in crisp suits and flashy shoes, I noticed most of them also boasted a lot of nice looking watches and jewelry. The ladies were very attractive as well as if to outdress the already handsome gentlemen.
Bill introduced me to about twenty people before the seminar. By the beginning of the seminar, I realized that people were obviously trained/told to be extra friendly with the newcomers. Every single one of them made flattering remarks about me the moment I shook their hands and gave me exaggerated irrelevant compliments as if they already knew me. "You seem like you'll be a great leader!" "You seem like you're very open minded!" "You'll meet some powerful figures today, including the district CEO, Michael Mo himself!"
Now let me indulge in more phrases regarding this Michael Mo. "He's the greatest leader you'll ever come across in your life." "He's only 21 and is making 6 digits already, we all try to follow his footsteps." "We celebrated his birthday last month. We all came and cooked and played basketball together, he's very down to earth!" I could not believe my ears. Who is this Michael Mo every single freaking person are talking about? And why do they all individually talk to me about him in unison? I felt like I was in a business-reglious fusion cult. Stay tuned...
Chapter 3: LOLyourFACE tries to dig up some dirt...
As I stated before, Bill was a very friendly guy. He spoke very highly of me upon introduction to others and as far as for him, I knew it was sincere. He also kept on telling people about how I just got back from church as a Sunday school teacher which I thought was awkward because that was just a small fleeting comment I made. Everyone I met there were energetic, excited and overly welcoming. But something was amiss. I noticed that underneath all the empty talks and routinized responses, they never actually talked about what they really did as work. The only response I got from everyone in unison was, "We're the front marketing force for the company!" and (not)surprisingly, "I can't tell you, you have to hear directly from Michael Mo. He'll tell you all about it."
Among the twenty-something people I met, I came across this rather calm guy named Danny. For an employee of this happy-go-lucky company, he was timid, subdued and quiet. After ME initiating conversations with him for several times, I decided to dig up some real dirt from Danny. I first asked about what he and everyone actually do for living, again. He didn't budge and gave me the exhausted, "You'd have to hear from Michael Mo" response. But it was interesting how he said it in a very monotonous manner. I dug further, "So you must make lots of money huh?" and carefully examined his reaction. "It's alright.. It's not about money but teamwork." Danny commented as he shrugged with a slight sense of dissapointment. Not about money? All I've been hearing WAS about money since I set my foot in here.... Nice defense mechanism, I thought.
Chapter 4: Introducing.. Michael Mo himself!!!
When it was 3pm, we all entered the ballroom in the hotel. There must've been about 200 people, all were young and looked sharp. We all sat in rows of chairs with Michael Mo himself standing in the center stage. As soon as the seminar started, the expected lameness began. "EVERYONE WELCOME MICHAEEEL MOOOO!!!!!!" A guy yelled to the microphone as techno music thumped the whole room. I recognized it was Alice Deejay as I rolled my eyes. Everyone stood on their feet clapping, shouting and whistling. The music got louder, the crowd got louder and this went on for about good five minutes until they sat.
And there he was, the great Michael Mo himself, standing in front of the idolizing crowd awaiting to be enlightened once more. He was a very young looking chinese guy in a nice black suit with an"iced-out" watch and oversized rings. He was clearly showing off his status through attire.
Then he opened his mouth and for the next 90 mins, he aurally raped my ears and defiled my mind. I don't quite know how to explain his waste of braincells so I'll just paraphrase the things he said. They get progressively worse and worse.
"Be a great leader, and make lots of money. If you have money, you start to think differently!"
"Man, if someone borrows $50 from you and don't pay back. You get all angry and shiet and you dwell in negative energy. But if you're rich, you're above all that. Ain't I right? (the crowd: YES!) right? (YES!)"
"You know why poor people stay poor and rich are rich? Because poor think in the 'survival' mindset whereas the rich in 'living' mindset. You got to LIVE your life! (YEA!)"
"That's why 1% of the world are rich and 99% are poor because they THINK that way!" (tell that to starving children in Africa)
"You wanna make LOTS of money! Be a LEADER and buy a Viper GT! And you know? Don't even drive it. Just keep parked in the company lot so people will talk about you and how rich you are! Then you tell them you just like to collect it!"
"Be a great leader, drugs are bad for you. Be independent! Imagine you're a leader and you're like, "I'm gonna go sniff some more crack." What kind of leader are you? (Booo~) That's not a true leader! Don't depend on drugs!"
"Be a True leader... like Jesus.. he was a true leader. Martin Luther King, Jr. was not. And JC.. JK.... (the crowd: JFK?) Yea, JFK.. you gotta be like him!"
(he writes some BS about appreciation vs possessive-ness) "How do you spell Possessive?" (He WROTE POSSESIV)
"I was never good at SAT...(crowd laughs)
"You got to THINK like a leader! A Lot of people get scared away because of our $450 JOINING FEE, but it's an INVESTMENT! You got to INVEST to be an Independent Representative, that is who you are now!"(CHEER)
(keep in mind they also paid $10 to attend this very seminar, including myself.)
By this point, I had to leave. I could not stand this garbage of feel-good talk with zero substance. This business-religious fusion crap was starting to make me want to fork my nuts off and chew on it
I faked a phone call from my parents and told Bill I had to go. Upon departing, Bill asked how it was. And then was the moment I had to tell the greatest white lie of my life... "It's good.... the work culture is very energetic and encouraging... It's very lively..."
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