Simply The Worst Star Wars Fan

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.

Thanks for tagging me @otterandterrier!

slow burn or love at first sight // fake dating or secret dating // enemies to lovers or best friends to lovers // there’s only one bed or long-distance correspondence // hurt/comfort or amnesia // fantasy au or modern au // mutual pining or domestic bliss // smut or fluff // canon-compliant or fix-it // reincarnation or character death // one-shot or multi-chapter // kid fic or road trip fic // arranged marriage or accidental marriage // high-school romance or middle-age romance // time travel or isolated together // neighbours or roommates // sci-fi au or magic au // body swap or gender bent // angst or crack // apocalyptic or mundane

The site is using music that plays during the opening credits of The X-Files as background music, and is also using some visualizations that I believe are intended to evoke The X-Files as well, though I’m not familiar enough with the show to know for certain. Under normal circumstances, I would assume the United Stated government got permission to use the music, but this administration’s MO falls almost completely in “Act now, apologize later throw a hissy fit and threaten to sue everyone before quietly undoing what we were’t allowed to do in the first place” territory. That combined with the insanely polarizing messaging that the music is undergirding leads me to believe they’re using it without permission, and I would like to notify the proper parties about this. This site has not been, to my knowledge, widely circulated, so it wouldn’t shock me if someone didn’t know about it.

I know the composer of the theme, Mark Snow, died last year. I know 20th Century Fox owns The X-Files, and that Disney owns 20th Century Fox, but I don’t know that they have control of the theme.