Oh my word. So, in 2013, I had a job as the only executive assistant for this small software company owned by a horrible private equity firm. About six months into that job, another executive assistant was hired for a specific department. I’ll call her “C”. She and I got along just fine, but we weren’t friends or anything (and I did have a solid handful of friends at this job). About six months after that, my position was deemed unnecessary after it had sort of shifted focus, and I was laid off after less than 13 months of employment with that company. I continued to interact with a couple of friends I had from that job, but I don’t think C and I ever saw each other again. I’m pretty sure we commented on each other’s Facebook posts a couple of times, and that was it.
Then, in 2021 (well over six years after C and I worked together), I received this message:
Now, I know a multilevel marketing scam when I see one, and this entire message screams MLM. She doesn’t name the firm, she doesn’t specify what sort of positions are open or what kind of experience you need (well, I guess she says “no experience is required”, but she doesn’t even want to mention the type of work in case someone does have experience???) and it sounds like you can work as much or as little as you’d like. I also find the wording of “who may be open to making some extra money” particularly telling since MLMs love to word things in such a way that you feel a little stupid for saying you aren’t interested.
I got curious and looked either at her other posts on Facebook or maybe on Linked In or something and saw that she was working with Primerica. Now, Primerica claims they aren’t an MLM, Wikipedia claims that they are, but no matter where you fall on the “Is Primerica an MLM?” debate, it is undeniable that they have shady business practices and they end up scamming people out of money. Even the average income that they voluntarily report on their website is only about $10K/year (and that’s the average. There’s a reason these types of companies never seem to disclose the median income of their representatives.).
So, not wanting to get into it with a vague acquaintance I have who’s clearly in an MLM or at least helping a scammy company, I responded pretty neutrally:
Wouldn’t you know it, I just never thought of anyone who would want to give Primerica a bunch of money.
Two years passed, and I received this message, which was notably not sent on my birthday (though it’s close):
I just never responded to this. It had now been well over eight years since we’d worked together, and this message was unhinged. Like, she doesn’t even attempt a conversation, find out how I’m doing, etc? That’s just bad salesmanship. Find out literally anything about me so you can try to tie whatever scam Primerica is running this month to my wants/needs. What the heck are we doing here???
Anyway, nearly three years have passed since that last message. Last week, I saw that I had a private message on Linked In. I went to check it and saw this:
And I don’t know what came over me. Maybe it was just the realization that this woman was contacting me over a decade after we worked together, and not just to try to get me trapped by Primerica, but also wanting me to suggest an MLM scam to my professional network. I’m a data analyst for goodness’ sake! My last job was at a Fortune 250 company! I currently work for a very large, very well-respected org! Every company I’ve worked for that offers a 401K has also had a financial institution manage that 401K, and that financial institution contacts me more often than I’d prefer to ask if I want help with financial planning! Why would I risk the perception of my judgment by promoting Known Scam Primerica to people I work/worked with who likely also have access to legitimate financial planning?!
Anyway, this was my response:
And she responded with this:
And our final exchange was this:
I feel rude tbh, but holy cow, the only thing that frustrates me more than weird, underhanded behavior is people who are really bad at performing their weird, underhanded behavior. Like, I’m not even a great salesperson, but I can tell you that, with every single one of these interactions, there was a better way to go about trying to get me to actually do what she wanted me to do.
Anyway, when she hits me up on TikTok or something in three years, I’ll be sure to update y’all.
