Thanks to Ben for sharing his Amway Free Enterprise Days experience. Nothing has changed in Amway!
THE FED (Freedom Enterprise Days)!!! Can we first
start with the name? How ridiculous is it for them to use the term freedom with
their enterprise...? Anyways...back to the story...The first day was grueling.
I had just completed a full work day, and then I had to battle with traffic to
get to the show. The "CONference" started at 5 p.m., but I wasn't
able to get there until 6. The stadium was enormous, and I heard there were
about 8,000 people in attendance. HOLY COW!!! The scene was electric as people
ranging from 18-80 were all dressed in their business suits and ready to engage
in the learning.
The first speaker I saw was ELECTRIC! He brought history alive, and told us about how far we have strayed from the Constitution. I love history, and this guy was TERRIFIC... at making Amway sound like the answer for our journey away from the traditions started by the founding fathers.
Then I heard the first diamond speaker...
I can't remember who they were, and quite frankly it doesn't matter, because the diamonds are just different shapes and sizes of the same brainwashed human being. The diamond came out to a thunderous applause, and a video played of the most extravagant lifestyle. There were vacations, planes, cars, mansions, love, and GOD! The speech was bland a filled with fluff about the prototypical rising from the dumpster to the penthouse, and how they couldn't have been where they were without the business...basically another ego massage similar to the Mike Carrol event.
Then the show continued similarly to the first diamond with about 10 more diamonds coming out and dragging on until MIDNIGHT! Ugh I was pooped...but I had a long drive home, and I had to stay pumped because I was about to do it ALL DAY SATURDAY!
Saturday begins at 9 a.m. and I'm on less than 5 hours of sleep after a close to 18 hour day...I'm not feeling the buzz (Dateline does a great documentary and they talk about sleep deprivation). Sure enough, the day starts just like the last one ended, MORE DIAMONDS! At this point, I'm going in and out of the building, and I'm hoping to learn any secrets to success from anyone...and that's when I learned about cross-lining. YOU ARE NEVER TO DISCUSS BUSINESS WITH MEMBERS OF A DIFFERENT ORGANIZATION...excuse my french, but what a crock of shit. We were all listening to diamonds and other ranks from other organizations, so why not listen to the ground floor troops. This business is supposed to be "easy and duplicatable" yet talking to others could screw everything up? Anyways...I went back inside and took more notes on the inside of eyelids until lunch time.
The first speaker I saw was ELECTRIC! He brought history alive, and told us about how far we have strayed from the Constitution. I love history, and this guy was TERRIFIC... at making Amway sound like the answer for our journey away from the traditions started by the founding fathers.
Then I heard the first diamond speaker...
I can't remember who they were, and quite frankly it doesn't matter, because the diamonds are just different shapes and sizes of the same brainwashed human being. The diamond came out to a thunderous applause, and a video played of the most extravagant lifestyle. There were vacations, planes, cars, mansions, love, and GOD! The speech was bland a filled with fluff about the prototypical rising from the dumpster to the penthouse, and how they couldn't have been where they were without the business...basically another ego massage similar to the Mike Carrol event.
Then the show continued similarly to the first diamond with about 10 more diamonds coming out and dragging on until MIDNIGHT! Ugh I was pooped...but I had a long drive home, and I had to stay pumped because I was about to do it ALL DAY SATURDAY!
Saturday begins at 9 a.m. and I'm on less than 5 hours of sleep after a close to 18 hour day...I'm not feeling the buzz (Dateline does a great documentary and they talk about sleep deprivation). Sure enough, the day starts just like the last one ended, MORE DIAMONDS! At this point, I'm going in and out of the building, and I'm hoping to learn any secrets to success from anyone...and that's when I learned about cross-lining. YOU ARE NEVER TO DISCUSS BUSINESS WITH MEMBERS OF A DIFFERENT ORGANIZATION...excuse my french, but what a crock of shit. We were all listening to diamonds and other ranks from other organizations, so why not listen to the ground floor troops. This business is supposed to be "easy and duplicatable" yet talking to others could screw everything up? Anyways...I went back inside and took more notes on the inside of eyelids until lunch time.
The show continued, and the excitement level got turned up! They had a Christian rock group play a little concert, and then I got to see a Diamond crowning...talk about over the top. The couple (Trevor and Lexi Baker) walked down a gigantic red carpet as peons from their organization rushed to the surrounding gates to blow kisses and touch them...it was like watching the frickin royal family in England. They had their two lovely twin girls with them as they continued to the stage where their parents (Glen and Joya Baker...executive diamonds) were waiting. They had a lovely speech for their children, and then their children completed their transformation with another exaggerated fluffy, emotional, motivational speech...wonderful. After they were done, it was about 9 o'clock which gave plenty of time for more diamonds to do their diamond things on stage until MIDNIGHT AGAIN!!!
I told my sponsor after that day that I would probably not be attending the Sunday show, and he was not having it! He said Sunday was the most important or something, and I replied, I was going to be late because I didn't feel comfortable attending the religious opening ceremony. He again suggested that I would be missing something critical and guilted me into coming...which I'm glad he did.
SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY (Football reference)...Started at the lovely hour of 9 AM again, and that was when I got to see the most magical person of them all...THE PREACHER! This guy was in his 70's, but he was prancing around like he was in his 20's and he was lively! The guy was amazing as he talked about this being the greatest business ever while mixing in some notes about god, and then he did something incredible. He got people to DONATE to him! HOLY COW! We were at a supposed "business" conference to learn about making money, and he got people to GIVE their money away...OH THE IRONY! He finished off by having everyone come close to the stage and stretch out their arm to send magical energy to a person dying of terminal cancer...he was a real life TELEVANGELIST!!! Check that off the ol' bucket list. (For the record I have nothing against religion, and don't care what you want to practice, but this was really weird and not like any church service I had attended before...)
Then the rest of the day...It was pure bleh as people from lower ranks got to cross the stage which was a "goal" apparently and got to rehearse their diamond speeches for the future. This went on until the very end, and then I got to unlock my new achievement... (video game reference) FED COMPLETED!!!
Never would I ever wish that upon an unwilling participant, and I hope that this magic show finds a fiery end.
Amway forbids cross-lining (i.e. talking to persons in Amway who are not in your direct line of sponsorship) because they are terrified of lowly IBOs comparing notes.
ReplyDeleteIf several IBO's from different lines of sponsorship began to discuss Amway, they'd soon discover that they are all being ripped off. They'd be forced to recognize that they are LOSING money, not getting it.
But if they are forbidden to do this, and can only talk to their up-line, they will learn nothing at all about how they are being used and cheated. They'll think that their situation is just a normal part of "the Plan."
Never trust any organization that tells you not to talk to other people, and not to think for yourself. Such an organization is cultish and totalitarian.
Anonymous - it was said at every Amway cult meeting not to talk to crossline. Usually followed by some bullshit about how each group has different training methods and you don't want to fuck yourself up even more by fraternizing with a different group.
DeleteBut as you pointed out the real reason is because the Amway cult leaders don't want people talking amongst themselves about how much money they're losing and they've gotten ripped off.
Amway - the Cult of Greed.