In 1945, Lee S. Mytinger and William S. Casselberry became the national distributors of Nutrilite Products, starting what would become known as multi-level marketing. Or under the no less notorious abbreviation familiar to almost every person in the contemporary world - MLM.
Like almost any mass trend in the world, MLM has a wide range of completely truthful assessments - from stunning success stories to no less high-profile failures. About one of these failures, from the story by the user u/SmallNatural8820 on the AITA reddit community, we will tell you today.
The author of the post tells her sad backstory how her mom's marriage was ruined over her obsession with MLM
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Thus both the author and her elder brother grew up with a persistent aversion to anything MLM-related
Image credits: SmallNatural8820
Image credits: Ron Lach (not the actual photo)
Image credits: SmallNatural8820
Recently the author's future sister-in-law invited her to the bachelorette party
Image credits: Alina Levkovich (not the actual photo)
Image credits: SmallNatural8820
Imagine the author's indignation when one of the guests started pitching her MLM right at the party!
Image credits: Yuliia Auer (not the actual photo)
Image credits: SmallNatural8820
The author stormed off in anger, thus actually ruining the whole evening, and was almost instantly called a jerk
So, the Original Poster (OP) is now 28 years old and admits that her life, as well as her parents' marriage, were literally ruined by MLM many years ago. The thing is that the author's mother at one time joined a supplement MLM, and so unsuccessfully that she first drained the college funds of her own children (the OP and her older brother), and then also got into thousands worth of debt - just to maintain her rank.
Ultimately, when one day their father got injured and had to take some time off work, everything in their lives began to fall apart. The woman was so obsessed with her MLM that she chose to leave the family and huddle in the basement of the grandparents' house - just to stay in business. Well, it happens, but now we can easily understand why both the OP and her brother grew up with a strong distaste for anything related to MLM.
And so, one fine day, the author's future SIL invited her to her bachelorette party. There were 14 women in the house, including the OP's younger cousins, 18 and 19 years old. The party promised to be interesting - until one of the guests shared a "surprise" she had prepared. The woman went into the next room and then came back with a whole chest of sex toys and started pitching everyone in the room her MLM, claiming that the author’s SIL-to-be agreed to host the event.
And then the OP literally lost it. She could have just got up and left, she could have done the same and taken her young cousins away as well, but she was so livid that she lashed out at the hapless MLM agent, giving the gathering a real angry lecture about all the shortcomings of this business. And then, when she had finished venting her anger, she stormed out of the house, taking both cousins with her. Do I need to say that the bridal shower was thus completely ruined?
Meanwhile, the OP's brother found himself between the devil and the deep blue sea. On the one hand, he was also upset that his fiancee allowed her bachelorette party to turn into an MLM event, and on the other hand, he tried to politely explain to his sister that she probably overreacted. In her turn, the original poster was convinced she did the right thing by "standing up to a scammer at all."
Image credits: RDNE Stock project (not the actual photo)
"Of course, many people have a bias against multi-level marketing, and sometimes it's really justified," says Olga Kopylova, Ph.D., associate professor of economics at Odessa National Maritime University, with whom Bored Panda got in touch for a comment about this story. "Indeed, in the past, many MLM companies acted almost on the principle of financial pyramids. On the other hand, as far as I know, for about twenty years their activities have been strictly regulated by various legislative acts designed to prevent fraudulent options."
"As for the mental aspect of the problem, any business with the possibility of 'get rich quick' invariably attracts a lot of people. For example, the gaming business or bookmakers, whose activities are nevertheless absolutely legal. The whole point is not to get carried away with this business too much, not to let it destroy everything around you. But these are purely individual characteristics of each person," Olga states.
In the comments to the original post, the author noted that the so-called 'party' actually had all the signs of a sales pitch - for example, there were drinks but no food (a tactic used to drop your inhibitions, as the OP herself explains), while all the 'games' were related to the MLM. From this point of view, of course, according to the people in the comments, the author's actions were quite understandable and reasonable.
And, of course, the main fire of criticism was caused by the bride's behavior - after all, she knew well the history of her future husband's attitude to MLM. Some commenters call such behavior almost treacherous. As for the OP's reaction, "you could've handled it more graciously but I understand why you didn't," one of the folks in the comments summarizes. Pretty apt, isn't it? And what do you think about this particular situation?
However, most people in the comments sided with the author, dubbing her SIL's behavior nearly treacherous towards her future spouse as well
