My First View of the Real World: An Essay by Rhoslyn

Pink Poodle · 06-27-2007, 08:12 AM

Warning: This is pretty long, so I'll tell you now. I just wanted to share it.

I will start off and say that, I, technically, am a child still for a little less than a month. I do not have the knowledge of the "real world" like many others my age do. I'm unemployed, do not have my license yet (although I'm working on it!), and I generally stay at home all day.

Since I am going to Guatemala in early August for a bit over two weeks, I have found it hard to find a job, which my parents tell me to do so often. However, last Friday: Lo and Behold! A letter from some company who picked out "selected" 2007 high school graduates to schedule and interview and perhaps get a job with them.

This company is called Vector, who sells the Cutco knives.

$15.00 base pay on commission, no experience needed, hiring ages 17 and up, and so on. Did it look good? Oh yes.

Eagerly I dialed the phone number to schedule an interview. The phone rang for a while. I waited. Soon, a young lady, maybe a bit older than me, answered the phone. What I noticed first was the radio blaring Justin Timberlake's "SexyBack" song, or whatever the title is. Really, really, loudly.

I scheduled an appointment, as I intended to do, and I would arrive at 3:15 to fill out an application and go through with the 90-minute interview.

The next day, Dad dropped me off in front of the building along a series of smaller stores. I went up the stairs into a dark building and reached the third floor, and came to a dry-erase marker whiteboard on an easel with "Vector" and an arrow scribbled on it, in what looked like a faded red marker.

I go into the room, and it's quite small, really, full of folding chairs, a desk at the front, motivational posters with the corny "SUCCESS" messages and whatnot, a blaring radio playing whatever, and trophies in the back (huh?) I filled out an application, which was extremely short for one. No social security number or references or anything! There were about 10 people in the room.

The interviewer quickly talked to two of us at a time, and then had us wait in the folding-chair-room until he arrived with a box and some bits of rope, and a binder with a catalog of products. Just now I've learned what they're selling. He demonstrates how the Cutco knives can cut through a penny with little effort; and how the competitors’ knives couldn’t get through a bit of rope as easily as their own. He drew diagrams of the serrated edges and so on. Then, he went on to explain the commission system, how there’s a $15.00 base pay, and depends if you sell or not. It works by word out mouth, basically, and contacting as many people as you know to buy these said knives. Apparently, more customers equals more cash. We also learned that we would have to pay about $150+ for a sample knife set to bring to potential customers. Weird, I thought.

After a while he gave us all a paper with five questions, such as “Have you been convicted of a felony?” and “Would you consider yourself a positive person?” I answer yes to all but the felony thing, although the positive person thing is a maybe with me.

Then he took each potential employee into his office by twos and did basically a 3-minute interview with each. Another girl and I eventually went in and he basically explained what they’re doing, how it works, am I fit for this? I explain the Guatemala thing, they don’t mind this, and I say I think I have the potential for the job. The guy scrawled my name at the top of the paper and what times I need to be in for the three training sessions, Thursday through Saturday, shook my hand, and said: “Welcome to the team.”

He told me to put my paper away so the kids outside don’t ask me about it. So I did.

Then it dawned on me on the way home: I can’t drive to places! As mentioned before, I don’t have my license yet. “No problem,” I thought. “Public transportation!” My parents were unsure of me being able to handle a commission-type job. I thought I was ready for it, besides the car thing.

I decided to look up online. Of course, Google. But what do I see? A myriad of sites with “Vector Marketing scam” in the title, and such. Of course I get interested and examine them.

Oh.
My.
God.

Not only were the other students’ description of the office the same exact as the one I’ve been in, but these locations were as far as Oregon! (I live in Massachusetts.) The blaring music, the posters, everything mentioned – and there’s a lot of locations for this place. “Really creepy,” I thought.

Then the sites start linking to news sites, college sites, blogs, even organizations against Vector’s marketing campaign and recruitment. I of course did not take the words from the blogs too seriously, anyone could write anything on a blog, or a forum. But soon, I find more legit sites. I am shocked. It seems that any teenager could snag a job like this! There’s even been convictions of fraud and such with said company.

That being said, I apologize for the “paper,” but I’ve just wanted to vent and share my first big experience with the real world. I obviously will not take the job.

Web Sites Mentioned:
http://cutcocomplaints.blogspot.com/
http://www.scam.com/showthread.php?t=13862
http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/rep...off0071189.htm
http://consumeraffairs.com/news03/save.html
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/savecampaign/message/1463
http://www.badbusinessbureau.com/rep...1189.htm#62964
http://www.indeed.com/forum/cmp/Vect...3c137e12787e43

MysidiaDrakkenbane · 06-27-2007, 09:16 AM

Don't be too hard on yourself. I was subject to something similar when I was about your age. Instead of selling knives, however, I'd be selling perfume.

Chalk it up to being a learning experience for you. Not all interviews are like that. Most of them are boring - usual BS about why you should be good for the job, what are your strengths and weaknesses, blah, blah, blah. More importantly, they're one on one.

That was really smart of you to do your research before jumping into anything. You are a step ahead of most.

You want to make decent money at your age? (And I did this until I needed benefits) Wait until you get your license, first. Then scour the papers for yardsales in your area. Pick up items that you think would have a decent resale value and sell them on Ebay.

If it wasn't for the fact that I needed medication for my migranes, I probably would have stuck with it. It was decent money for a while. And that job, you can stop when you want to and you don't have to worry about putting in your "two weeks". ;-)

Edit: For future reference, if you want to see if a business is legit and any complaints it may of had filed against them, search the BBB (Better Business Bureau). I've learned that if they're not filed with them, or, if they've had a considerable amount of complaints filed, that doing business with them is on your own risk.

Pink Poodle · 06-27-2007, 09:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysidiaDrakkenbane

Don't be too hard on yourself. I was subject to something similar when I was about your age. Instead of selling knives, however, I'd be selling perfume.

Chalk it up to being a learning experience for you. Not all interviews are like that. Most of them are boring - usual BS about why you should be good for the job, what are your strengths and weaknesses, blah, blah, blah. More importantly, they're one on one.

That was really smart of you to do your research before jumping into anything. You are a step ahead of most.

You want to make decent money at your age? (And I did this until I needed benefits) Wait until you get your license, first. Then scour the papers for yardsales in your area. Pick up items that you think would have a decent resale value and sell them on Ebay.

If it wasn't for the fact that I needed medication for my migranes, I probably would have stuck with it. It was decent money for a while. And that job, you can stop when you want to and you don't have to worry about putting in your "two weeks". ;-)

The yardsales thing does sound like a good idea, well, I should get the license. But perfume would be worse since lots of perfumes make me go "ewwww" Plus, when I'm 18, I'll be able to get jobs easier since, well, 18.

And I was glad I did research. However after reading some people's thoughts on Vector Marketing, they pressured them to not quit and said stuff like "You'll regret it," etc.

Yeah. I'm glad I'm not there.

Also, yeah, the BBB thing. They're on there but I can't find much. Just Google "Vector Scam" though. And a lot comes up.

Dreana · 06-27-2007, 09:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MysidiaDrakkenbane

Chalk it up to being a learning experience for you.

Exactly! Sorry it wasn't a very good one though. About half way through your story I was yelling at my monitor, "Run! Get out of there! It's a scam!"

You still have plenty of time to worry about getting a "real" job. Mysidia's idea sounds fun too, like getting paid to shop hehe.

Pink Poodle · 06-27-2007, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreana

Exactly! Sorry it wasn't a very good one though. About half way through your story I was yelling at my monitor, "Run! Get out of there! It's a scam!"

You still have plenty of time to worry about getting a "real" job. Mysidia's idea sounds fun too, like getting paid to shop hehe.

It felt like a cult, too. Like the employees were all freakishly happy. I was wondering when they were going to pass out the fucking Kool-Aid.

And I'll get a "real" job sometime. I might try Mysidia's idea. Hehe.

Tion · 06-27-2007, 09:41 AM

Haha, I sold cutco knives one summer after freshman year of college, and yeah everyone goes through that recruitment/interview process. They make it seem like you were selected out of the group because you were among the best of canidates, but really they take pretty much anyone who agrees to come along. As far as it being a scam, I don't agree there, you can make some good money. I was working like 10 hours a week maybe, and pulled in over $3,000 over the course of the summer.

But in a nutshell, the whole vector/cutco marketing goes like this; they send those letters to as many 17-25 year olds as they can, and recruit as many as possible to work for them. Then, all those people sell knives to everyone they know (family, friends, parent's co-workers, etc), and they usually sell a decent amount at first, because they are selling to people they personally know. At first, you only earn a small amount of comission, like 15% or so, but the more you sell, the higher % commision you get.

Now the real kicker is when you run out of friends and family to sell to, and this is when most people working for them are unable to continue selling and making money, and end up quitting. So I can see how a lot of people view their system as unfavorable, as the company just uses you to sell knives to all your friends and family, and all that promised money they talk about is unobtainable because by the time you reach higher comissions, you're low/out of customers.

However, if you have some good marketing-savy skills, you can sell a lot, and get new customers from previous customers friends. When I quit, I was making I believe 40% comission, and when the full knife set costs around $700, that's some really good cash for one sales demo.

So, I wouldn't call it a scam, though the company does tend to use you, but if you're good at it, you can make some decent money with little time/effort. But also, yeah you would definetly want a vehicle for this type of job, as you'll be going to customers homes all over the place.

Pink Poodle · 06-27-2007, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tion

Haha, I sold cutco knives one summer after freshman year of college, and yeah everyone goes through that recruitment/interview process. They make it seem like you were selected out of the group because you were among the best of canidates, but really they take pretty much anyone who agrees to come along. As far as it being a scam, I don't agree there, you can make some good money. I was working like 10 hours a week maybe, and pulled in over $3,000 over the course of the summer.

But in a nutshell, the whole vector/cutco marketing goes like this; they send those letters to as many 17-25 year olds as they can, and recruit as many as possible to work for them. Then, all those people sell knives to everyone they know (family, friends, parent's co-workers, etc), and they usually sell a decent amount at first, because they are selling to people they personally know. At first, you only earn a small amount of comission, like 15% or so, but the more you sell, the higher % commision you get.

Now the real kicker is when you run out of friends and family to sell to, and this is when most people working for them are unable to continue selling and making money, and end up quitting. So I can see how a lot of people view their system as unfavorable, as the company just uses you to sell knives to all your friends and family, and all that promised money they talk about is unobtainable because by the time you reach higher comissions, you're low/out of customers.

However, if you have some good marketing-savy skills, you can sell a lot, and get new customers from previous customers friends. When I quit, I was making I believe 40% comission, and when the full knife set costs around $700, that's some really good cash for one sales demo.

So, I wouldn't call it a scam, though the company does tend to use you, but if you're good at it, you can make some decent money with little time/effort. But also, yeah you would definetly want a vehicle for this type of job, as you'll be going to customers homes all over the place.

I still didn't like the looks of things, though. The blaring music and ugly trophies and motivational posters and all. I do understand that some people can rake in the cash, but for someone of my quiet personality... um... I think I'll decline, heheh.

I didn't catch all the guy said, because I was thinking "OK it smells in here and I just want out."

Dreana · 06-27-2007, 10:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tion

Now the real kicker is when you run out of friends and family to sell to, and this is when most people working for them are unable to continue selling and making money, and end up quitting. So I can see how a lot of people view their system as unfavorable, as the company just uses you to sell knives to all your friends and family, and all that promised money they talk about is unobtainable because by the time you reach higher comissions, you're low/out of customers.

While I understand your point, I think this is the part which leads me to believe it's a scam. I'm not doubting that there are some really good sales people out there that could make a go of things, but in my mind, if they were serious about things, they wouldn't be recruiting 17 - 25 year olds.

So, maybe not a scam exactly, but certainly shitty tactics.

Pink Poodle · 06-27-2007, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dreana

While I understand your point, I think this is the part which leads me to believe it's a scam. I'm not doubting that there are some really good sales people out there that could make a go of things, but in my mind, if they were serious about things, they wouldn't be recruiting 17 - 25 year olds.

So, maybe not a scam exactly, but certainly shitty tactics.

Especially 17-25 year olds with NO JOB EXPERIENCE. :<

Malachani · 06-27-2007, 10:27 AM

I went to one of those meetings and I just shook my head and got out. I didn't want to pay the $150 for knives I knew I couldn't sell lol! I suck at sales. At least I'm aware of that lol!