Arghhh!!! It happened again!! I was walking through Fry’s, really tired, I had just picked up a pack of CD-Rs and was milling around, minding my own business, when I met another freakin’ Amway guy!!! (For those of you unfamiliar with my prior experiences, a little historical reading is in order, see my posting on September 3, 2001).

He was a dead giveaway, using all of the familiar tag-lines: "I own my own business" (he *is* president after all :), "It’s an e-commerce business that deals in goods and services", "I do it on the side", "I’m looking for a select few people to help me", "Can do in my part time, without affecting my life (that cracked me up, he knows my life so well!)", "Very lucrative if I keep an open mind" etc. He sported a business card with the company name of GK Business Solutions, that provided – get this – "e-Commerce Business Development" (whatever the hell that means). As per Amway (Quixtar, i-commerce, whatever) standard operating procedure he wrote his cell phone number on the card as he handed it to me and asked me if I had a card. Unfortunately I had *just* run out or else I would definitely have given one to him ;-). He then suggested that we get together and have coffee at some point and he would be able to explain the whole thing in more detail, I told him that I would get back to him.

However recognizing who he was almost right off the bat, I had a little fun with the guy watching him squirm when I tried to get some specifics out of him…

     "So what does your business do?"
     "We are an e-commerce business that provides online services."
     "What kind of online services do you provide?"
     "My business deals with goods and services, utilizing the internet to better enable people."
     "Better enable people, what does that mean?"
     "Well, we work with the manufacturing sector, moving valuable goods and services to people that need them."
     "What kind of goods?"
     "All kinds of goods that people need."
     "For example?"
     "Well, mainly recession-proof goods, stuff that is not subject to the fluctuations of market conditions."
     "What does recession-proof mean?"
     "Standard goods that all people need. [Seeing my blank look] You know, like what you can get at Walmart."
     "Well, I’m sure Walmart was also affected by the recession."
     "No but the goods that they sell are universal, needed by everyone."

This went on for a while before I grew tired of playing with him.

If I had an infinite amount of time, I would be really interested in taking one of these guys up on their "offer" and seeing how they target people, *just* so I can learn, what the hell is it about me that makes me such a mark for these guys???

Unbelievable, one of the Amway guys that I have spoken to in the past (see the September 3 rant below) actually called me up at home. Now before you say anything, yes, I realize I was asking for it when I gave him my home number (tho for the life of me I can’t remember doing that). The really ridiculous thing is that he expected me to devote part of my Thanksgiving weekend speaking to him about his opportunity.

Well, I was cleaning out my wallet when I came across the business card of this guy I met last week. Let me ask you, what is it about me that attracts all of these stinkin’ Amway salesmen??? For some reason I have met way more than my fair share of these people in the last couple of years.

[For those of you who are not familiar, Amway is a complicated pyramid scheme – do a Google search on "Amway" an you will come up with many sites that will explain it better than I can (obviously, skip the first link that comes up to the Amway site itself, you won’t get any useful information there!)]

Let’s analyze my interactions so far…

When	Where	Who approached me
November 21, 2001	Unbelievable, the guy calls me up at home (I can’t believe that I gave him my home number!) and wants to know if I’ll spend part of my thanksgiving weekend meeting with him	Either Raja or Rajesh below (can’t remember)
August 24, 2001	Palo Alto Fry’s, I was looking at mice, minding my own business	Raja, president of RM International
Mid 2000	Sunnyvale Fry’s, I was checking out the new flat panel monitors, minding my own business	Rajesh, Bizonet
Mid-1998, on 2-3 separate occasions	Sapient’s Perimeter Atlanta office, in the elevator	Random dude in the elevator
Early 1998	San Bruno Comp USA, I was looking for a parallel port splitter, minding my own business	Jukka, JCM Enterprises

Based on my experiences, there are many common traits that these people all have. You can recognize an Amway salesman if:

• they use phrases like: "own your own company", "part-time job", "supplement your income", "utilizing e-commerce/the internet", "internet enabled business". Now that the bubble had burst, my most recent guy steered away from internet buzzwords and used phrases like "creating business plans for enterprises" etc. These phrases are very standard and with practice you will recognize them in their various forms very quickly
• they are quick to hand you business cards with fictional companies [cards printed on cheap paper, the company name is the person’s initials, the company URL takes you to a place similar to the links above, sports presumptuous titles
• they are vague when pressed for details and then try to get you to come to an informational session at a nearby hotel or someone’s house
• they always feel it necessary to give you some contact information that is not printed on the card (usually a home/cell/pager number)
• they absolutely deny any affiliation with Amway or Quixtar

Some of these guys are better at the spiel than others. A good Amway salesman will introduce their "opportunity" very casually into the conversation. If they are less experienced it will be clear that it is being forced into the conversation. I was alone at the time I was approached by each of my Away salesmen.

For those of you that know me, what is it about me that attracts these people???