I could have sworn we heard the same pitch many years ago too!
We were shown charts of how this trend was supposed to occur over the next few years with sales going up. This chart was part of the business plan flip cards that were shown at every Amway meeting.
There might be some changes but whether or not they’re exciting is debatable. I’m not really here to discuss Amway policy and what changes are going on in their company. This blog exists to curse out my former upline and inform others what it was like living with an Ambot.
Here are the (not-exciting) changes I observed in Ambot:
1. he got into huge arguments with people he normally got along well with who didn’t want to come to Amway meetings
2. he sneered at people who had J.O.B.s and weren’t willing to consider an Amway career
3. he was very rude to friends who weren’t interested in supporting his business by buying overpriced Amway products
4. he dropped whatever he was doing to respond to phone calls or text messages from the upline who wanted him to haul his ass to where they were for whatever they deemed was more important
5. he quoted Amway speak constantly and parroted whatever his upline brainwashed him into repeating
6. he questioned everything I did and how that was making him money in his Amway business
7. he had the brainwashed delusion that his upline sponsor was some sort of god and therefore we must lick his asshole
8. he became a slob around the house littering his Amway garbage wherever he happened to be and refused to put the consumed items containers into the garbage or recycling bin
9. he used his previously debt free credit card for Amway related purchases including treating the entire upline out for meals and maxed it out
10. he became increasingly agitated, argumentative, rude, and snobbish
11. he accused everyone with different points of view (from his upline) of being negative
The changes since Ambot got out of the cult are a lot more positive. Becoming a nice person again is one. Despite the upline’s proclamations that being in Amway makes you a nicer person to distract the IBO’s from paying attention to the money they’re not making, I’m here to dispute that and say NO WAY does being an IBO make you a nicer person. As a group mentality they might all put on a fake nicey nice act at functions and seminars but in private they’re nasty, surly, unapproachable sorry excuses for human beings. Funny how losing money in Amway can change a person’s personality especially since the upline brainwashes them into thinking the reason they’re not succeeding is because they’re not trying hard enough or because they’re losers.
I’m here to say watching someone getting brainwashed by the Amway cult is not an exciting change.
Wow! The most exciting times weren't in the mid 90's? My Gawrsh! I was lied to!
ReplyDeleteDon't kid ourself folks, RIGHT NOW! is always the best time to have gotten involved in Amway. That's one of the reasons that you are told to avoid listening to other people's experiences. Because it will be familiar and you will see it for the steaming pile of monkey crap hyped up motivational material it is.
Who knew?
Why does anyone think anything has changed? This is precisely the type of behaviour that I observed in the 90's.
I don't ever want to hear that my experience was outdated again. There is absolutely zero empirical evidence suggesting otherwise.
The upline tried the same thing our 2nd time around. "This is not the same Amway it was a few years ago. There's been a lot of changes." The only real change was the move to the Internet and IBO's now purchase a portal web page to access Amway. And I'm sure a few product changes over the years. But the bullshit is the same. The abuse is the same. Losing money is the same.
ReplyDeleteBridget/ibofb says the same thing that it's a diff amway today. For some reason i think ibos today are maybe losing more money.
ReplyDeleteWe lost more money the 2nd time around.
ReplyDeleteThe reason people lose more money now than before is there are more ways to pay into the Amway Tool Scam now than there used to be. Two examples are voice mail and web sites. These didn't exist in past years.
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what I hear in the mid to late 90's. While the apologists claim things are different, they cannot explain why the same stories keep popping up regardless of when you were involved.
ReplyDeletewe use to have major amway functions locally and people are now expected to travel all over the country. The travel for functions with what tex mentioned with voicemail,websites etc makes it more expensive than when i was in.
ReplyDeletecolin,
ReplyDeleteYou're right. In fact, Amway run local major functions are even mentioned in the 1979 FTC lawsuit, and eventually evolved into the long distance travel to upline provided major functions. I have a solution for this issue on my website: http://texsquixtarblog.blogspot.com/ - do a search for "The Solution," it is under the 2nd point.
Another code phrase used in my Amway experience was "this business is quickly reaching critical mass and now is the time to build it, so you can reap all the benefits of the impending exlposion in our numbers!" I heard "critical mass" used a number of times to lend credence to their ridiculous claims. Explosion? more like implosion!
ReplyDeleteHi David, now that you mentioned it, I'm sure I heard "critical mass" at board plan meetings too. IBO's are desparate to sign up new prospects so they'll say anything.
ReplyDeleteAnna: Thanks for letting me know I had something noteworthy to contribute to the discussion. Being trained in The Sciences, "critical mass" is a frequently used term, especially in physics. Anything to lend credibility to this destructive cult.
ReplyDeleteI quit about two and a half years ago. I don't miss it or think about it much. I have much more productive things to do! I'm glad there are people out there like you and Joe Cool who regularly blog about Amway, getting the truth out about it. It's kind of funny how I find the "Anti Amway" sites and blogs much more interesting than the "Pro Amway" sites and blogs, that parrot the repetitive and boring propoganda heard on the CD's and functions of the various LOS'. I'll continue to read your blog and comment when appropriate. In the meantime, I will continue to laugh at my former direct upline, an emerald (talk about an asshole!), regarding him with nothing but scorn and contempt. They say duplication is the key to success in the biz. The only thing that has been dupicated is failure.