NEEDLING

Got a call yesterday to show up tonight for what I thought was some sort of job interview. I'm currently looking for part-time work I could do from home, to supplement my current income. The person who called me and set up the meeting time, did not even show up. Following is an email I've just wrote and sent to her. Maybe one should not write such emails when one feels that he's been had or been abused in any sort of way, but I felt as if it was necessary to tell this person what I thought.

Dear T.,

I arrived at the meeting to which you invited me to 15 till seven and left 20 after. I never received the information about Global Travel Trends you had promised me, and decided to go since I had said that I would. Unfortunately, after staying a few minute, what I had been afraid might be the case turned out to be true: I had been tricked into showing up at an MLM-type meeting, one which would undoubtedly prove to me how much money and how much fun I could have if I parted with a small amount of cash – an amount which for me is far from being small. I am upset about this. It’s partly my fault, as I did not ask you any specific question pertaining to the nature of the “business” meeting you were inviting me to, but I also blame you, though you did not lie to me in any way,you did not mention to me any of the pertinent bits of information I would have needed to make an educated decision on whether or not to show up. And I feel that by the ad you posted, as well as by your phone call, that you insinuated this would be a job-interview type of situation and not a sales pitch for some MLM company to "help improve my life" and get into my wallet (though I admit to being ungodly gullible and childishly trustworthy... maybe even a little simple... so perhaps I'm at fault here?) I did show up. I actually arrived at the hotel at 6h15. I drove directly from work since I did not have the time to drive home, and arrived early, went to the bar, had an over-priced coffee which tasted like burnt socks, and read USA Today, which I hate. There is nothing wrong with a person parting with 215 dollars expecting El Dorado – whether it be at the movies or in Vegas or wherever, dreams have always been for sell – but to abstain from telling such a person about what it is he is going to take part in, and not to send said person the promised “business” details, is wrong, and in this case, is equal to Lying. Please, refrain from finding “clients” or “associates” in this manner. Please, put some sort of link or some sort of explication on you craigslist.com ad to explain the nature of your ad so that you will get only REAL responses, and not waist the time of people like me who are actually LOOKING for a second income. (Hey, I’m not saying Global Travel Trends is necessarily a bad deal, maybe spending 215 dollars might buy me some much needed information so as to travel cheaply... but I’m not in such a position, and the places I will be traveling to in the next few months, I have no need for hotel fares, taxi, and such... this kind of traveling is not the kind I can afford, even with 90 percent off. When I’ve traveled in the past I’ve either slept in my car, at friends, friends of friends, people I just met, in a tent, eat sandwiches, or eat at side-road fruit stands, and I don’t care much for comfort. Basically I have no money. Could you prove to me that those 215 dollars would be well spent? I doubt it, but if you’d like to try, go ahead, write me why.) And last but not least, when you plan a meeting with somebody, have the decency to show up, or at least tell the person you’re inviting that this is a seminar at which you will not be present, but that I should go and listen anyway. Blablabla... Okay... I’m sorry, this is getting out of hand. I’m probably being too harsh, here. But you see, my family lost all their money in the mid 1983 oil crisis. We were living in West Texas at the time. The town we lived in went from 15000 population to 9000 population is less than a year, in almost six months. That’s a lot of folks for a small town. My parents owned a motel, and we went from full occupancy at fifty bucks a room, to quarter occupancy – on good evenings – at less than twenty bucks a room. I’m not asking for sympathy here, I’m about to tell you why I am upset at being lied to, or at least, at not being told why I was being invited to a “business” seminar. My parents, trying to make ends meet, did everything they could. My dad tried selling insurance, frozen food, my mom went back to school so she could become a teacher... and, all this time, people such as yourself, would come see them with “magical” money making deals, for such and such amount, and very little work on our part, you could make thousands, millions, whatever. Amway and all their copycats. My parents never made a dime, but those other people sure made plenty of money off my parents, who were simply trying to make ends meet, and easily influenced by the likes of such companies. And some people do make money with these types of companies, but they do it by preying on all kinds of people who cannot afford to be preyed on. So... sorry for this long email, but I had to get it off my chest, tell me why your MLM is different than all the others.

Sincerely yours,

Francois