Turbo Ether
Smash Master
- Joined
- Apr 12, 2006
- Messages
- 3,601
Link to original post: [drupal=1622]The Hustler's Spirit: A Short Tale of Lust and Deception (True Story)[/drupal]
So this amazing "job" I was hired for, is not so amazing. It's actually a pretty shady gimmick. Is it a scam? Nope. Is it legit? Yes, but that's conditional. Let me explain.
I find a job posting on Craig's List about this job with a good salary, flexible hours, etc. There's no job description and no visible information about the company. So i'm skeptical, but apply anyway for the hell of it. I receive a phone call literally 45 minutes after I complete the application. I answer and it's a girl with a cute Italian accent. I'm assuming she's a receptionist. I answer her questions. She asks me to come in for an interview at 6 PM! It was already like 4:30 PM, making this incredibly short notice. She has the nerve to ask me why I can't come in, so I try to think of a lie. No luck, so I just say, "I don't have a ride at the moment. Can we schedule this for tomorrow?". She agrees.
I go in the next day for the "interview". When I get there, there are already three guys sitting there, waiting to be interviewed. It's really awkward, because we're sitting there being entertained by the most socially-inept person I've ever met, while we wait for his boss to bring us into his office for the interview. We're filling out paperwork as the worst pop-music of all-time blares from a nearby radio. We are brought in two at a time for some reason. Whatever. The boss is an Asian dude, around age 26-27, well-dressed, so I'm thinking, "he MUST be trustworthy!". Needless to say, it was the easiest "interview" I've ever had. We're sent back into the front room, where I notice three more people have arrived. They go in for their interviews, and we wait with the social-reject again.
After the late-arrivers finish their interview, they rejoin us and are followed shortly by the Asian guy. At this point we still don't know what the hell is going on. We are asked to pull our chairs up to the Asian guys desk, so we do just that. He pulls out a knife. Yes, a knife! He also pulls a rope and cutting board from the drawer. He hands the knife to one of the onlookers and tells him to cut through the rope. The onlooker struggles, but manages to cut through eventually. The Asian guy enthusiastically says, "Wow, that took a lot of sawing, huh? Here, try this knife!". This time the guys cuts through it instantly! We all get to try this and we all "ooh and aah". The Asian guy finishes giving us his spiel and eventually concludes the presentation.
The company we're applying for turns out to be "Vector Marketing". They represent the company, "Cutco". Vector Marketing is a company that targets college-aged kids and hires them as independent contractors to sell Cutco's products. Cutco is a cutlery company and they honestly do sell some pretty cool products, primarily knives.
After his presentation we fill out more paperwork and are told we would be informed of our acceptance some time after we leave. I receive a phone call, less than 15 minutes after exiting the building. It's the Asian guy. I got nervous for a second, because he kinda mindgames me. He says, "As I said earlier we can't accept everyone... but i'd like to congratulate you, we've decided to hire you!". I thank him, he tells me that I need to come in for three days of training; Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Saturday?! No can do, that was the weekend of Apex, so of course I make up a lie on the spot to get out of it. So my training was delayed until the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week.
I go in for the training, and man, the office is packed with people. So i'm going through the motions of professional etiquette, primarily making sure to keep an eye out for attractive females. "Meh, some of these chicks are ok I guess...", I think to myself. Asian dude starts yapping, eventually he brings in a few people that have apparently had some notable success with the company. One of them is the cute Asian chick that I mentioned in my crew thread(http://www.smashboards.com/showpost.php?p=7388090&postcount=218)! So, us trainees are listening and taking notes, everyone's *ss is in severe pain from sitting in these awful, metal folding chairs for an extended amount of time. We eventually get a break. I go outside and chat for a bit with some of the trainees. I make sure to chat with the Asian cutie and find out a bit about her. Training concludes for the day. I get to talk with the Asian cutie again, but I end up having to take a phone call from a relative I hadn't spoken to in a while, so I excuse myself and end up leaving before I could finish charming her. Sigh.
Second day of training, second day of boring nonsense. No Asian cutie in sight. Lame! Third day of training, same deal. I give them my $145 deposit and receive the kit i'm supposed to use when I give my presentation to potential customers. Yes, $145. It's 100% refundable so I don't sweat it. I mess around with the kit and give two practice presentations. I actually end up going to bed pretty depressed that saturday night, because, man, this kinda sucks. I give two more presentations the next day.
Between saturday and today, I browse the web and come across all kinds of mixed reactions, regarding Vector Marketing, mostly negative. You're basically expected to pester and peddle extremely expensive knives to your friends and family, using a canned script. From there, you eventually branch out to the referrals that they're supposed give you. Um, yeah. Sure, the knives are really good, but this is just something I feel really uncomfortable and conniving, participating in. Can Vector Marketing be a lucrative opportunity? I would say, "yes". The business model is quite solid and the product is good, but the methods just ooze sleaziness. This isn't for me.
So after much deliberation, i've finally come to a decision. I'm just gonna sell my demo kit on Craig's List for $300, perfectly legit and a reasonable price, considering the $145 I payed was a 75% employee discount. I'm also gonna hand in my qualified presentation reports for another $50 something bucks. So, in the end i'm gonna end up with $350 for my troubles over the last few days, and a decent story to tell. Not bad, I guess.
Now, I descend back into the dreadful rat race, looking for summer employment... Maybe i'll just start winning tournaments. Well, this is my life.
So this amazing "job" I was hired for, is not so amazing. It's actually a pretty shady gimmick. Is it a scam? Nope. Is it legit? Yes, but that's conditional. Let me explain.
I find a job posting on Craig's List about this job with a good salary, flexible hours, etc. There's no job description and no visible information about the company. So i'm skeptical, but apply anyway for the hell of it. I receive a phone call literally 45 minutes after I complete the application. I answer and it's a girl with a cute Italian accent. I'm assuming she's a receptionist. I answer her questions. She asks me to come in for an interview at 6 PM! It was already like 4:30 PM, making this incredibly short notice. She has the nerve to ask me why I can't come in, so I try to think of a lie. No luck, so I just say, "I don't have a ride at the moment. Can we schedule this for tomorrow?". She agrees.
I go in the next day for the "interview". When I get there, there are already three guys sitting there, waiting to be interviewed. It's really awkward, because we're sitting there being entertained by the most socially-inept person I've ever met, while we wait for his boss to bring us into his office for the interview. We're filling out paperwork as the worst pop-music of all-time blares from a nearby radio. We are brought in two at a time for some reason. Whatever. The boss is an Asian dude, around age 26-27, well-dressed, so I'm thinking, "he MUST be trustworthy!". Needless to say, it was the easiest "interview" I've ever had. We're sent back into the front room, where I notice three more people have arrived. They go in for their interviews, and we wait with the social-reject again.
After the late-arrivers finish their interview, they rejoin us and are followed shortly by the Asian guy. At this point we still don't know what the hell is going on. We are asked to pull our chairs up to the Asian guys desk, so we do just that. He pulls out a knife. Yes, a knife! He also pulls a rope and cutting board from the drawer. He hands the knife to one of the onlookers and tells him to cut through the rope. The onlooker struggles, but manages to cut through eventually. The Asian guy enthusiastically says, "Wow, that took a lot of sawing, huh? Here, try this knife!". This time the guys cuts through it instantly! We all get to try this and we all "ooh and aah". The Asian guy finishes giving us his spiel and eventually concludes the presentation.
The company we're applying for turns out to be "Vector Marketing". They represent the company, "Cutco". Vector Marketing is a company that targets college-aged kids and hires them as independent contractors to sell Cutco's products. Cutco is a cutlery company and they honestly do sell some pretty cool products, primarily knives.
After his presentation we fill out more paperwork and are told we would be informed of our acceptance some time after we leave. I receive a phone call, less than 15 minutes after exiting the building. It's the Asian guy. I got nervous for a second, because he kinda mindgames me. He says, "As I said earlier we can't accept everyone... but i'd like to congratulate you, we've decided to hire you!". I thank him, he tells me that I need to come in for three days of training; Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Saturday?! No can do, that was the weekend of Apex, so of course I make up a lie on the spot to get out of it. So my training was delayed until the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of last week.
I go in for the training, and man, the office is packed with people. So i'm going through the motions of professional etiquette, primarily making sure to keep an eye out for attractive females. "Meh, some of these chicks are ok I guess...", I think to myself. Asian dude starts yapping, eventually he brings in a few people that have apparently had some notable success with the company. One of them is the cute Asian chick that I mentioned in my crew thread(http://www.smashboards.com/showpost.php?p=7388090&postcount=218)! So, us trainees are listening and taking notes, everyone's *ss is in severe pain from sitting in these awful, metal folding chairs for an extended amount of time. We eventually get a break. I go outside and chat for a bit with some of the trainees. I make sure to chat with the Asian cutie and find out a bit about her. Training concludes for the day. I get to talk with the Asian cutie again, but I end up having to take a phone call from a relative I hadn't spoken to in a while, so I excuse myself and end up leaving before I could finish charming her. Sigh.
Second day of training, second day of boring nonsense. No Asian cutie in sight. Lame! Third day of training, same deal. I give them my $145 deposit and receive the kit i'm supposed to use when I give my presentation to potential customers. Yes, $145. It's 100% refundable so I don't sweat it. I mess around with the kit and give two practice presentations. I actually end up going to bed pretty depressed that saturday night, because, man, this kinda sucks. I give two more presentations the next day.
Between saturday and today, I browse the web and come across all kinds of mixed reactions, regarding Vector Marketing, mostly negative. You're basically expected to pester and peddle extremely expensive knives to your friends and family, using a canned script. From there, you eventually branch out to the referrals that they're supposed give you. Um, yeah. Sure, the knives are really good, but this is just something I feel really uncomfortable and conniving, participating in. Can Vector Marketing be a lucrative opportunity? I would say, "yes". The business model is quite solid and the product is good, but the methods just ooze sleaziness. This isn't for me.
So after much deliberation, i've finally come to a decision. I'm just gonna sell my demo kit on Craig's List for $300, perfectly legit and a reasonable price, considering the $145 I payed was a 75% employee discount. I'm also gonna hand in my qualified presentation reports for another $50 something bucks. So, in the end i'm gonna end up with $350 for my troubles over the last few days, and a decent story to tell. Not bad, I guess.
Now, I descend back into the dreadful rat race, looking for summer employment... Maybe i'll just start winning tournaments. Well, this is my life.
