So my girlfriend took me to an Amway meeting yesterday. When she'd told me about it a couple weeks earlier i told her it sounded like a pyramid scheme, but she said it wasn't and that i should come to one of their meetings and see for myself. So i did, and while i was sitting through four hours of some woman's presentation where she basically just talked about how amazing her lifestyle was, i realized this is definitely a fucking pyramid scheme. I'm not sure how viable a career something like that is, I'm researching it now, but i know i felt something off about the whole set up. It was a little terrifying to see people blindly following a stranger's guidance in the name of generating money. I want to break my girlfriend out of this and make her realize she's involved with people that only want to use her to buy products and make money off her. She's been doing it for five years and has never generated more money than she's spent on "alkaline bottled water" and beauty products, so she's dug herself deep into believing these products and is fairly close with her "mentors" that brought her into this. I want to pull her out of this but she's convinced it's her ticket to retiring early in life. How do i change her mind about this whole thing and make her realize the truth of this whole debacle?
I want to hear the other side of this too if there's a solid argument for it. When i talked to my gf she told me i should talk to her mentors about this kind of thing, but i don't care about them, i only want to convince her.
Show her comedy shows where someone gets into a pyramid scheme, the friends try to help but the person is too blind too see how thats a pyramid. Can you grab a blank piece of paper and show her the "ranks" forming the pyramid, like draw it out
>>17250293
As soon as a i mention the word pyramid she won't have anything to do with it. It is hilarious how distributors are ranked "diamond" and "emerald" or whatever bullshit. Watching something like that is a great idea though.
>>17250303
Have you seen the episode of the office where the boss joins a pyramid scheme bu then Jim asks him to draw it for him and once he finishes, Jim draws the pyramid around his explanation, can you do something like? Have her explain the ranks
>>17250311
Lol nice, i haven't seen that episode but I'll check it out. I don't want to seem like I'm making fun of her or something though if she takes offence to it. I'd like to convince her verbally that she's being scammed. I might make her draw it out though, that's fuckin' gold
>>17250165
I would say you should show her this:
http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1620-amway-5-realities-multi-billion-dollar-scam.html
But it would probably have the opposite effect of the one you want.
She's "in it" right now, and she knows it can't be a pyramid scheme, because pyramid schemes are bad, and she has lots of friends in amway, and they can't be bad, and also falling into a pyramid scheme trap is something gullible people do, and she's not gullible; she's smart!
So you see, it's this disaster of a situation where looking at the truth would cause her a lot of embarrassment and discomfort, while ignoring the truth makes her feel clever and part of something secret and wonderful, and makes her special and have lots of special friends.
You won't be able to lead her directly into the realization that it's a pyramid scheme. You'll have to lead her the long way round. Look up some stories about people who were part of non-amway-related pyramid schemes, and who got out. People who were intelligent and thoughtful but got caught up in a scheme anyway because these fuckers are professional con men, and then tell the tale of the courage and strength it took for these people to recognize that it was a scheme and get out of it, even though it meant finding all new friends.
She needs a way to save face, and you can save her fucking life by giving her one. These companies trap people with their pride. People are too proud to admit to themselves that they got caught up in a really old and common scam, and so they never do. But if you can show her that getting out of a pyramid scheme is an act of courage, then maybe she will find the strength to see it for what it is.
>>17250335
Thanks, yeah i read that Cracked article and while i agreed with a lot of it i could see how she might find it a little one-sided and take offense. I agree that this is likely a long road to get her out, i can't be very blunt and will have to be careful about what i say. I'll look up some stories of people abandoning cults and see how that helps, thank you, that's a great idea.
>>17250165
Amway is actually one of the slightly more legitimate "multilevel marketing programs" in that they do have products and do make some of their money selling them. But it is at core a pyramid, in that the big selling point in recruiting people is promising the riches they'll get by recruiting others.
Work out the math with her. Assume the worst case scenario - she doesn't recruit anyone into her downline. How much can she reasonably expect to make from just selling product? (Answer - a whole lot less than they promise her) Then assume the best case scenario - she makes millions. How many sub-dealers would she have to recruit, and how many would each of them have to recruit, and how much would each have to sell, for her to get rich? (Answer - a whole lot more than is remotely likely)
>>17250382
I don't think you can out-cult a cultist.
Doing math about the scheme only legitimizes it. It turns it into a discussion about how viable it is as a career instead of how toxic its mentality and tactics are. I recommend against this line of advice.
Tell her you don't have any money for Amway because you put it all into online gaming and you are going to make a fortune from it.
Explain in (pyramid) detail how this fortune is going to come to you and tell her that she should get into it. Soon she will be crowing about the crapness of your scheme and you can head into compare/contrast.
>>17250165
>I want to hear the other side of this too if there's a solid argument for it.
Are you fucking crazy? This is scam, it ALWAYS is. It's pure common sense, if people murder/sue even their families for money, nobody is gonna help YOU become rich. It's quite the opposite, they try to take everything they can from you.
Also if it worked to earn money that easily and get rich with it, nobody on this planet would be poor anymore. Everyone would catch how it works pretty quickly and would be doing this.
She's kinda trapped in an organisation which is pretty much the same as Scientology ("her mentors").
