As a recent college graduate, I was eager to find employment. Coming out of college it is often difficult to obtain a position that you are 100% satisfied with. I had sent out numerous resumes and cover letters to various companies in hope that some would call back for an interview. After having no luck, I decided to go online and look for jobs using monster.com. Right away, I felt that I had numerous opportunities to pick from as there were many job listings in front of me. I came across a job entitled 'Entry Level position-Looking for Sports Minded People!' This caught my attention right away and I decided to send out a resume online.
After sending out my resume, I tried to look up information on the company. I came across a website for the company that seemed legit. I read about the clients they serve and how they are an expanding company. One section of the website listed several professional sports teams that they claimed to work for. The teams included the Yankees, Knicks, Nets, and others.
I received a phone call the very next day asking me to come in for an interview. I was thrilled and could not believe to hear back so soon! I quickly set up a time and date. I told several people about my interview and that I had a good feeling about this. I arrived at around 1:00 that day and walked in to find NO ONE sitting at the front desk. I sat down to wait and figured they had just stepped away for a minute. About 10-15 minutes later, a young woman finally came back to her desk. I could hear her and a man talking and laughing not too far from where I was sitting. I did not want to go and interupt so I sat there and waited instead.
My first impression of the place was great. I walked in and was in awe of how the office looked. There were pictures of jsut about every NY team and athlete on the walls. From A-Rod to Stephon Marbury to even Islanders and Yankees logos. I felt like this company really dealt with professional teams. I continues to watch ESPN as I waited on a nice flat screen. The whole sports theme impressed me very much and only made me more excited for this job.
When the attractive young woman finally realized I was waiting, she quickly asked who I was and had me fill out a form. A few minutes later, I was introduced to a young asian man who was dressed in a t-shirt and jeans. I was a little taken back at this but he explained that he was leaving for a business trip in a few hours. I had no problem with it at first as I just wanted to go on with the interview and hopefully land the job.
The interview lasted no longer than 10 minutes as we discussed my previous work and school experience. He went on to tell me about what the company does. I was told that they work for every professional sports team in NY except the Jets and Giants. Just as previous reporters have stated, I was also told that their was unlimited growth potential and could be making 6 figures in less than a year. I will say it again-make 6 figures in LESS than a year!
I think I got so hung up on those words that my mind shut down. It was explained to me that I would be trained before reaching management level. No mention of selling anything to anyone was mentioned. Because I was so eager to get a job and was still hung up on the idea of making 6 figures, I failed to ask about salary and benefits. He then said that he was impressed and would let me know if I would be asked back or not. I left the office and drove home dreaming about the possibility of making great money!
THE VERY NEXT DAY, I received a phone call asking me to come back for a trial day in which I would get to see first hand what goes on during a regular day. I arrived for my trial day and was introduced to someone my age who would be with me all day answering questions and helping explain what the company is all about. I thought it was a great idea. They also then told me that it does not mean I am guaranteed a job as they want to see my enthusiasm for the position. I knew I would be able to blow them away with my enthusiasm so I figured there was no way I could lose.
I was brought into a room where other employees where gathered. The room had a white board and maps all along the wall. In one corner there were tables and 2 chairs with a stereo on it that was blasting rap music. It was 7:30am, I don't think rap music is the way to start your day. Anyway, after being introduced to some people, I was asked to wait in the lobby outside of the room. Shortly after, this young man came out and told me to follow him and 2 other guys to his car which was outside.
We got in and he told me that they had an appoinment with certain businesses. In my head, I thought they meant businesses in office buildings. I would soon find out to be dead wrong. Everyone was dressed in a suit so I felt that this was a very professional company. The drive took about an hour. We pulled into a shopping mall where one of the passengers in the back was dropped off and was told to call when he was done. I had no idea what was going on. During the drive I was asked about school and what I was looking for in a job. The driver continued to avoid directly talking about the company and said that I would be able to find out more throughout the day and especially at lunch.
After dropping off one of the passengers, we continued to drive for another 10 minutes before parking. We all got out in an area that was considered lower class. We went to his trunk to open a box. Inside the box were about 100 Entertainment books. For those of you who aren't familiar with this, an Entertainment book is nothing more than a book of coupons to restaurants and retail locations. I was handed a few books to hold as the three of us started to walk towards the sidewalk. The other worker that was with us at the time was going through his 'training.'
Before I knew it, I followed the two of them into a hardware store and watched them approach the person at the counter and offer them an Entertainment book to buy. I stood there watching them to see what exactly was going to happen. The woman quickly said no thanks and we walked out. Then we went to a nail salon which was right next door. Again, the two of them tried to sell a book and were shut down. We then went to a pharmacy and the same thing took place again. I quickly got the idea that this was going to take place all day. The three of us went from store to store trying to sell these books or as they call it 'merch.' They each took turns trying to sell the books and were shut down every single time. The reason for selling these books was to help raise money for D.A.R.E. (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) program. I thought it was a good idea to help fund the program but did not realize it would be like this all day. I started to wonder what the hell were they talking about when the monster.com listing said they were looking for sports-minded people. What did this have to do with being sports-minded???
We started around 9am and continued until around 12:30. We then had lunch. The person bringing me around bought me lunch which turned out to be the only good thing to happen to me the whole day. Between the two of them, they were only able to sell 1 book. During lunch I asked a ton of questions about hours, schedule, pay, etc. I was told the same thing as when I was being interviewed. My hopes were raised again as he went on to explain how they go on trips and playoff games for the NJ Nets as a way of being thanked by them. I was told that the Entertainment book was something they are doing in order to help raise money for DARE funding and that the next project will be for the Yankees.
After lunch, I was told to try to figure out the 5 steps in selling. I was finally informed of what they were as I spent the whole time guessing until I got them right. This must be their way of keeping my mind off of all the walking we were doing. We continued to go into every store possible (even into warehouses that were down an alley). We walked through mud all day. One of the guys with us that day had a shoe that was falling apart. He made a joke saying that it must be from all of the walking and received an odd look from the guy who was bringing me around that day (not until now do I realize that the look was to make him shutup so that I wouldn't become discouraged from wanting to take this job).
At one point we walked near the water where a bunch of seagulls were gathered and of course one of them dropped you know what on my shoulder. I should have known right then and there that this was a mistake. We continued on as I watched the two of them pathetically try to sell these books. The odd thing was that everytime they heard 'no' they acted as if it wsa no big deal. Around 5:30 we finally walked back to the car. The two of them combined to sell 6 books. I still do not know how they were able to sell 6 considering about half of the stores we went into did not speak english.
We finally get back to the office and I was told to wait in the lobby as a decision would be made if I would be offered the job or not. I had to fill out a form stating what I learned. In the background I heard bells ringing and people chanting. 5 minutes later I was called into a room and was told that I impressed them very much and would be offered the job. At that time, being offered a job was music to my ears. I quickly accepted and was told to start the next day for training. I walked out not asking about pay or benefits. This was completely my fault but I was caught up in the idea of actually getting a job no matter how weird of a say I had just experienced.
I reported to the office the next day at 7:30am and once again tried to ignore the blasting rap music. Around 8am one of the managers came in and asked everyone to listen up. Each employee (about 30) made a huge circle in the room. All I can remember from this part of the day was constantly hearing everyone in the room say 'juice.' To this day, I have no idea what juice means. It got to the point where at the end of every sentence they were saying juice.
I wanted to start laughing but everyone had a serious look on their face. After the gathering, the 4 of us once again went to his car and drove to another destination. The only difference was that I would be selling today. The whole morning went by and we didn't sell any books. He told me that he was greatly impressed at how well I was doing. I wondered if he was bs-ing or not. Several stores had no soliciting signs on the door yet he ingored that and we walked in anyway. Several managers were upset by us coming in. This did not phase him at all. I felt completely uncomfortable doing this but went along with it.
Remember how I said this was their way of helping raise money for the DARE program??? Well get this. The book costs $20. Guess how much of the $20 goes to DARE? 50 CENTS! I have no idea where the other $19.50 goes but I sure know that it doesn't go in my pocket! Many people picked up on this as there was a small sticker on the front of the book stating that only 50 cents goes to DARE. We were being laughed at. They would rather give $20 without a book to DARE instead of only 50cents of their money foing to DARE.
We went into grocery stores, mcdonalds, subway, hair/nail salons, a dentist office, car dealerships, restaurants/bars, carvel, department stores, office buildings. You name it, we went into it to sell this pathetic book. We went into office buildings and I followed him rudely walk into the middle of law offices and other medical practices.
We went into every single door on every floor. I was exhausted from walking 2 days in a row. I cannot begin to tell you how many miles I walked in 2 days. Constantly on my feet. I considered telling him that I was done and did not want to do this anymore. I decided to continue and torture myself. Around 2:00 I lost my voice. He told me that it was a natural thing as everyone he has taken out in training has gotten sick during the first few days. I walked with him as he continued to try to sell these books. FINALLY we made it back to the car and drove back to the office. He told me that they do this in any type of weather. I started to wonder what it would be like in rain, snow, or even in the summer. At the end of the day we sold 4 books in 8 hours. That's 1 book every 2 hours.
I made up my mind during the day that this was not for me. I was so annoyed for falling for this scam and could not help but hate the idea of having to look for a job all over again. We got back to the office and I told him that I was going straight to my car to go home. I have not heard from them since and did not call them to let them know that I wasn't coming back. They must have this happen a lot. I only wish that I had come across this website earlier.
I am jsut another victim of this scam full of false promises. After reading the other reports, I also saw that they go under various different names throughout the country. How can they get away with this??? I just hope that someone reads this first before going through what myself and others have gone through. I also feel bad for those who continue to work there as they are completely brainwashed. I wish them luck. The guy bringing me around those 2 days was one of the nicest people I have ever met and it kills me to think that he might make the living he hopes for.
Again, this company goes under several different names so be careful and good luck to everyone in their job search. Use this as motivation to make sure you are finding the job for you. I will use this experience to my advantage from now on.
Hank , New York U.S.A.
Allanfan20@ 11/24/2008 11:46 AM
What Hank reported in that article is eerily similar to what I went through last November, and it was for the same company! It's called Focus Marketing.
Now this was at a time when I was scrambling around looking for jobs, b/c I hated where I was at. I was sick of serving tables, and I was out of school at the time, and only had an associates. So I found this jobs on Monsters.com, and saw they were associated with the Knicks and Yankees and thought that was awesome. I was thrilled when they called me in for an interview. I came in the next day, and an unbelievably sexy woman was sitting at the desk. She was SMOKING hot. She was dressed a little slutty and she also had CFMBs (Come F' Me Boots.). This was probably the same woman Hank described and the office was exactly the same. It was so impressive!
I was also interviewed by that same Asian dude he was talking about, and he seemed cool as hell. So he asked me to come in the next day, which I did. That's not the eery (Is that spelled right?) part though. The eery part is the whole car ride. My "Leader" (As they call him) was telling me about the company and what I'd be doing. And he told us that we'd be selling Knicks pamphlets to businesses, and thought that was cool. We'd be going into office buildings to do business. lmao. I thought so wrong.
And also, we dropped off a very attractive Phillipino chick (It's important for the story, that she's Philipino) at some mall (Just like in Hanks report, except he didn't mention it was a hot chick) and we dropped some dude off somewhere else. Some guy my "Leader" was training, hung around with us too. So we got the day started on Gun Hill Road in the Bronx, which is a pretty bad area. We were all in suits, and I immediately had a bad feeling about everything. I had a feeling I was in for a long day instantly, and I was right.
We were selling these ripoff Knick pamphlets (Which I don't even know if they are legit or not) and nobody was hiting. We went to every store and every person on the street. We even went up to people driving in their cars. We went up to kids and we went up to homeless people as well. We even said to certain people that they can buy these pamphlets off us and they could rip off other people with them. And here's some of the other things the guys were saying:
"Hi, my name is ... and we're here on bahalf of the NBA (Or the Knicks)."
"We're celebrating that the Knicks have been winning lately, by giving away these Knicks tickets." (The Knicks were only 2-2 at the time and that was just before their downward spiral)
"Ya know, Stephon Marbury has been banned from the team, and we all know teams improve when he leaves, so you gotto get to the games." (Ya think Dolan would approve of that?) This was just after that Phoenix saga btw, so that's why he said that quote.
Most people laughed at us. A lot of others shrugged us off. Some got pissed off by our mere presence. Some have seen people just like us come by before, in the "T" which is short for "Territory". Quite frankly, I wasn't comfortable being a white boy in a suit and tie, in this poor as hell neighborhood, watching these people sell Knicks pamphlets. It was frustrating and exhausting. We walked for many hours, all down Gun Hill Road. And my leader was telling me how you can move up so quickly if you're good enough, and he sounded desperate to want me to take the job. I wasn't biting, unlike Hank.
Even though they said they were impressed with me, I told the guy I wasn't taking the job.
So on the car ride back, we picked up the other dude, and that hot chick. As we were driving back, they were saying how they were going to take their OWN time to try and sell these things. As if they hadn't dug their own graves, with me, enough. Then they start talking about how they like to party and all. Then my leader says "I hear Phillipino girls like to get wild." and she confirmed that and said how she's a wild girl and yada yada. All this was obviously to impress me, so I could change my mind. It wasn't happening.
I can't tell you how fast I got to my car. Driving away was such a breath of fresh air. My feet hurt so bad, that I had trouble taking my shoes off, when I got home. I even threw up my dinner.
Needless to say, I feel bad for anyone that falls for this crap deeper than what Hank and I went through.
I wanted to know if anybody else had similar experiences though.
[Edited by - Allanfan20 on 24-11-2008 12:10 PM]
Solace@ 11/24/2008 12:56 PM
I can't say I've experienced a job interview like that, but you definitely have to be aware on a job interview. Generally just keep your ears open. The most important thing is to listen to the issues that are being avoided or to listen for any changes in story, since that's a major warning sign, in my mind. Kudos for wising up early enough.
Nalod@ 11/24/2008 2:21 PM
I feel like a sucker for just reading this story!
Allan, don't feel bad. This is part of your education. I remember in college selling Cutco knives and actually did ok, but was like "WTF is a 20 year old selling knives for!!!"
Last year I bought $500 worth from a neighbor! Great knives btw!!! just hated the process!
Tried telemarketing for a nonprofit. Lasted a day! Hated it! Think the Movie "Boiler Room"!
Wouldn't trade of the experiences. You will sniff BS out much earlier in life. Great story and a good experience!!!!!
Don't worry, Keep working hard and it all comes together! Nothing is easy if its real.
Allanfan20@ 11/24/2008 3:39 PM
Oh I don't feel bad about it. It was an interesting experience and I learned MANY lessons out of it. It just so happened to cross my mind, so I searched for focus marketing on google to see if I could find their webpage (For sheeots and giggles) and happened to cross that little rant. I just happened to find it funny how his experience was so similar to mine, so I figured it would make a good thread.
It is nuts, however, what people will do and say just to make an extra dollar.
Solace@ 11/24/2008 3:42 PM
Posted by Allanfan20:
Oh I don't feel bad about it. It was an interesting experience and I learned MANY lessons out of it. It just so happened to cross my mind, so I searched for focus marketing on google to see if I could find their webpage (For sheeots and giggles) and happened to cross that little rant. I just happened to find it funny how his experience was so similar to mine, so I figured it would make a good thread.
It is nuts, however, what people will do and say just to make an extra dollar.
Yes, but it's typical. Between you and me, I have yet to work at a company where the recruiters or HR department didn't attempt to intentionally misrepresent the company or benefits. They figure once you're there, you'll just deal with it and hopefully stick around; not to mention that they want their commission for hiring you. My approach now is to generally assume that any items I haven't received in writing are probably only partially true, and if it is the case, do I still want the job. I guess with the kind of job you've described, it's even a lot worse.
TMS@ 11/24/2008 3:53 PM
And also, we dropped off a very attractive Phillipino chick (It's important for the story, that she's Philipino) at some mall
So on the car ride back, we picked up the other dude, and that hot chick. As we were driving back, they were saying how they were going to take their OWN time to try and sell these things. As if they hadn't dug their own graves, with me, enough. Then they start talking about how they like to party and all. Then my leader says "I hear Phillipino girls like to get wild." and she confirmed that and said how she's a wild girl and yada yada.
can u forward me the info for this obviously awesome company? thanks broham.
And also, we dropped off a very attractive Phillipino chick (It's important for the story, that she's Philipino) at some mall
So on the car ride back, we picked up the other dude, and that hot chick. As we were driving back, they were saying how they were going to take their OWN time to try and sell these things. As if they hadn't dug their own graves, with me, enough. Then they start talking about how they like to party and all. Then my leader says "I hear Phillipino girls like to get wild." and she confirmed that and said how she's a wild girl and yada yada.
can u forward me the info for this obviously awesome company? thanks broham.
Hahahahahahahaha. Be sure the actual benefits are as good as advertised first.
Hey man, I got you there, but if you seriously wanna get a laugh out of their page, just copy and paste that above link. Funny stuff.
TMS@ 11/24/2008 5:02 PM
is Grace Rizzo the name of that hot chick at reception?
Allanfan20@ 11/24/2008 5:29 PM
I think so actually.
Allanfan20@ 11/24/2008 5:30 PM
And she's not a hot chick. She's a smoking slutty hot chick.
TMS@ 11/24/2008 5:31 PM
i know exactly what to say on my interview
Allanfan20@ 11/24/2008 5:37 PM
Oh, you're gonna be one of the screaming reporters as I Mr. T her ass?
Allanfan20@ 11/24/2008 5:45 PM
I just sent a myspace request to a Grace Rizzo who lives in Little Neck, NY. Her main pic definitely doesn't have the one I saw, at the office, but if she accepts and it's actually her, I'll post her in the Alba thread.
TMS@ 11/24/2008 5:55 PM
i've taught you well Young Skywalker.
4949@ 11/25/2008 12:22 AM
Yeah, I paid $50 dollars for a scam once. It was the best $50 I ever spent to learn a valuable lesson. No one's got me since.
TMS@ 11/25/2008 12:26 AM
i once got scammed by an "entrepreneurial marketing recruiter" to come w/him to a special conference where i would be able to network with some high profile industry leaders in my field... turned out to be 1 of those Amway meetings where they pitch a pyramid marketing scheme while hocking their line of Amway products... didn't cost me anything but a wasted night & some false hope tho.
93BUICK@ 11/25/2008 9:55 AM
When I ws 16 I bought a John Coltrane album and I spent the next 20 years trying to be a jazz musician. Does that count?
