I am a former "employee" of DDM, Inc. (aka Difference Defined Milwaukee, Davis Direct Marketing, Quantum) a first warning STAY AWAY from this "company".
I responded to one of their many, many ads on Craigslist/Monster/Milwaukeejobs etc., and I realized going into this it may be a scam of sorts. I had no idea how correct I would actually be.
I went into my first round interview, where they ask you simple questions that do little but see if you can smile. Then I was called back the next day for the 2nd Round Interview, where I showed up on time and then was told i was going to be driving to an event outside of the office. This is obviously an odd thing to do on an interview, but I went down to Racine (40 mile drive) wasted a lot of gas as well, and stood outside of a Pick N' Save. Then I read some propaganda on the company, stood in front of the table and called people over to the table.
After that I sat down with one of the current employees where he laid out the hierarchy of the company. The most promising aspect of this was the pay scale where at Phase 1, where you come into the company, paid $350 to $450 a week SALARY (important). You work for 5 days a week and what they really don't mention is that you work from ~9am until ~8pm.
Without going farther into the scale this was the thing that made me say, alright this is a crap job... But I can actually pay my rent and get some debt out of the way. So then I have to drive back the office (another 40 miles) and then sit down and they ask me what I thought about the position.
I made it then to the 3rd round interview which is a full day on the job (unpaid), I came into the office into the Morning "Juice" Session. Which had blaring rap music, and everyone talking about work ONLY, and everything was "Juice" (i.E. We had a Juicy day yesterday, I hope I get a "juicy" location today). Then in walks the owner Julia Davis, a very attractive 24 year old woman who is as fake as the company she runs.
During this time, the higher ups Talk up the company, and tell you that those people working normal jobs are the ones who are sad poor individuals who deserve your pity. This is after looking around and realizing that everyone's cars are falling apart, no one looks like they eat well and who I'm sure make less money than those we are supposed to be pitying. This is all while making it seem like you will be rich and running your own office within an Office making $1000 a week minimum, within a year. Yet there are people who have been working as Field people for 2-3 years... But no questions should be asked about the validity of the company.
Then out in the field (Starbucks, Pick N' Saves, Gander Mountains and Sears), we set up a tattered table and banner that says we are working for the CPEA. However after asking a few questions
35% of the sale goes to the Person at the table.
~40% goes to the Managers/Owner/etc
~20% goes to the cost of the items
5% goes to the Charity
Also the banner I had one day said "Davis Direct Marketing", which is not the company I was working for "Difference Defined Milwaukee", when I asked about that I was told that it was something I shouldn't concern myself with.
Well after 2 weeks of doing the same ~11/12 hour days, I was expecting 2 paychecks totaling $700 before taxes. However when I received my checks, they were less than $150 COMBINED. Meaning that I made $1.30 an hour. This on top of spending well over the $150 in gas, and food in the 2 weeks working there. This is deplorable, and I am now officially deeper in debt.
In short, this is a crap semi-legal pyramid scheme. They force you to fund everything, and give you nothing in return. Avoid this company of sleaze.
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