Mary Kay Parties

So a neighbor of mine invited me to a Mary Kay party she was throwing to have 'fun' and to 'help out her friend' so she could earn a car. I've had mixed feelings about Mary Kay parties in the past, but this sounded like mostly no pressure, so i went.

And i hated it.

It was an hour and a half of selling product, selling the idea of becoming a consultant, and selling me on going to another mary kay event. I feel like its so deceitful to say it's a no pressure fun party, and then spend the whole time listening to a sells job that pulled at your emotional 'help me earn a car' and 'of course you WANT all the products listed... but which one the most?'

This was a pedicure party, so we tried about 5 different lotions all over our body... and, did i mention i hate lotion? I felt disgusting by the time i got home... and took a shower. However, i didn't wash it off my face for some reason, and a couple hours later, my face was so oily, my husband was disgusted... which is rare.

My very favorite part of the whole party (and that's severely sarcastic) is the part where we wrote down our favorite facial makeup item and then whoever relinquished the greatest number of friends and phone numbers got their favorite item. I hate getting referred, so the last thing i want to do is help my friends get contacted. However, i got talked into playing the game... and i got the most names down... so i won... except my phone numbers weren't there, so then i lost. Then since i lost, i decided i definitely wasn't giving up my list of friends personal information, changed every phone number, and then left early before she could collect my paper.

Of course, she called me a couple days later. She changed her mind and told me i had won, but that she needed my paper, and she would bring over the facial makeup item. Of course i won now... she just lost proof of me even being to that event, plus she was 10 phone numbers shorter. I didn't call her back.

Now, i know i have a few friends who work mary kay. And that's fine... it is a job. But, my anger is with how the company seems to set it up. The product seems to need salesman because it's overpriced and the quality is debatably not competitive. Secondly, the company sets it up so that salesmen are motivated by rewards and working on your own time, but at the expense of your friends. I know a few people who avoid mary kay consultants simply because they do not want to deal with being confronted with buying something. Thirdly, they use emotional strings, fun games, and promises of rewards or prizes to get you to buy into it.

Mary Kay is like car sales. (This is the part where my reader needs to stop reading. Because at this point, i'm just ranting.) Definitely out to sell, and not to Actually care what you're Actually interested in. I'm Actually not interested in make up at all. I don't think i've even worn any in 5 months. Next, i'm broke. And she only had $35-60 product packages available. Of course, i've been broke for 10 years now... actually, my whole life. I've got about 100 items on my buy-someday list, and makeup hasn't made it on that list yet.

I hate sales. i hate sales. i hate sales. i hate sales. i hate sales. I like salesmen who are informative and helpful, but if they start applying pressure at all, my walls shoot up and i get defensive and uncomfortable. I hate sales. i hate sales. i hate sales.

The End.