I just recently graduated from college and while searching for jobs I ran across something that interested me. This job promised a $35,000-$45,000 base salary in its first year of work and a fun, lucrative management career with your own office within 6-8 weeks.
Little did I know this was a complete SCAM! Coming out of college, I was excited to have a management training position offered to me. Though the selection process for this position was merely picking and choosing through a stack of resumes, I still felt good about this opportunity I was given.
This all changed that first Monday when I stepped into Elmhurst's local office. With music blaring and people screaming in your face about the great day that lie ahead, I felt apprehensive at the beginning. The attitude around the office was like no other I have been around. The people working there used the loud music and their bright, flamboyant, in-your-face personalities to make the office seem like a fun, enjoyable place to work.
The first several days I was there I took notes as I was told. Throughout all of the profanity and abusive language I still managed to copy some good notes about the company history and background. The only times I lost track is when we were instructed to give attitude checks. Attitude checks consisted of standing up and screaming at the top of your lungs while jumping and clapping. These were done daily for fun, but in my case they made me feel like I belonged in a psychiatric ward. The most important part of the notes that were repeated over and over for two days was the 4 step process in becoming your own office owner and manager. The promise made to you was that managing your own office could be done in 6-8 weeks by just being a "go-getter" and having a "winning attitude".
After the first several days I began to realize that I still didn't know exactly what my job was. All I knew was that I was working in the wholesale fragrance industry. The first assignment we had was to learn about the product and how to sell it. We were given a list of fragrances (not the actual product) and sent home that night to sell to our friends, family, acquaintances and relatives. (FFAAR) Our goal was to sell 20 fragrances each. Not a person in my office came back with even half that.
After that night I realized I could be in a bad position where I could be cornered into being a knock-off cologne salesman for quite sometime. After a talk with one of my office leaders I was told adamantly that my job was not a door to door salesman. The next morning I came back and it was all rah-rah around the office like usual. It was brought to my attention that I would be going out in the field today to "drop some pieces", or as I knew it as, "peddle some shit". The day was a long one. Around 8 hours on my feet walking door to door to businesses with a box of colognes under my arm trying to sell them my fragrance product. Nonetheless, I gutted it out and made several sales. My first full 8 hour day was in the books and I made $20 bucks. Two boxes of cologne for $30 a pop. My commission was I got to pocket $10 from each sale. When I returned to the office I was congratulated on my great first day. I was the cream of the crop in my new class of employees with my $20 bucks to prove it. I learned soon after that there was no salary and my earnings would be straight on commission and bonuses that were offered around the office.
The days to come were more of the same. Going out on routes to new territories where people haven't been bothered by solicitors yet. I felt cheated and used by this whole system. I was being run out on the street to be a business to business salesman of knock-off fragrances. I knew that's not what I got a degree at a Big Ten school for. The promises of owning an office and terrific personal income never really add up unless you plan on making yourself one terrific salesman over the course of a couple years. The people working there ahead of me must have been brainwashed by this system because they had been clinging on to the same "management training" job for months and even years without the luxury of their own office. I worked only one more day after that before deciding that I had reached a dead end and it was time for me to look elsewhere. I couldn't have been happier with my decision.
Kurt
Munster, Indiana
U.S.A.
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