Before I get on with the meat and potatoes of my outrage, I wanted to share a little summat I figured out.
I know why people hate John Oliver.
He’s genuinely invested in the topics he discusses, and walks through some stories that are incredibly complex with humor that a lot of folks can relate to. But those topics are things that some of us have already formed a concrete opinion about without really examining them from more than one angle, and he has a snooty accent, so he’s clearly wrong and right up there with wildly snobbish and likely misinformed people who berate us to ‘take a moment and educate ourselves’.
And I’m sorry people feel that way. No, I don’t think he’s always funny, but I do think he truly cares about the people he’s trying to impart information to… and in a time when a lot of people in media are just looking for the next two points to score off the Great and Powerful Cheeto… well, maybe a slightly weasel faced, adult language Mr. Rogers is the hero we need.
That said, back to your regularly scheduled rant, now with supplemental rant material, courtesy of one John Oliver.
MLMs are kind of the devil to me, for a couple of reasons. Yes, I’ve been caught in one before. Yes, I’ve had friends who wanted to just come demonstrate X Y Z for me (and wouldn’t take no for an answer even though we were a one income household and there was no spare money for anything, let alone extremely expensive X Y Z). I’ve had my phone number given out to these companies because I was an ‘interested salesperson’. TL:DR- Lost an entire group of friends who were all caught up in the MLM insanity because I wouldn’t play along and got pissed about being called up while I was at work for a second job that meant pissing off the rest of my friends by pulling the same shit.
So, once that debacle had ended, I already had a pretty jaundiced view of the industry. If one can call it that.
Then, on a wild hair, I updated by Facebook profile to include where I went to school. And holy chao, so many people from the past started reaching out, people I remembered through a haze of twenty years and a patina of nostalgia.
People who listed their profession as ‘consultant’ or ‘entrepreneur’ or ‘boss babe’. People who wanted to know if I’d heard about this amazing new opportunity.
And suddenly I remembered that I did not have a lot of friends in high school, and I was much more okay with that.
A little more time went on, and Rick and I started our chainmail business. We’re two pretty shy and reclusive people, and for us, going to events and speaking for our product wasn’t the easiest thing we’ve ever done. But you know, we managed it. Every time someone asks us, “Did you make this?” we get to say yes, yes we did with a little glow of pride at the amazement in their voices. To be fair, we’re not going to get rich off this work- for us, the enrichment comes in the satisfaction of creation, not in dollars and cents. There’s always something new to try, a smile we can bring to someone’s face when they get the piece they truly wanted just right, and in the fact that there’s two very happy members of our family that enjoy everything we create just as much as we do.
It’s a different kind of currency, but we love it. We give up vacation time to it, evenings, weekends, and we’re fine with that, because it’s all about the next piece, the next event.
Then more time went by and I started writing again. Four books in four years, and yes, they are published and out in the world. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to describe the thrill I felt when I picked up my first physical book and held it in my hands. I kept opening the pages and running my fingers over the letters, like it was a dream that would disappear if I didn’t hold onto it. Every November and December, I give up normal life to make this happen, because the act of creation is a sacred thing to me. They may not be the best books ever written, but you know? They make people laugh, keep them guessing, and make them want to follow my characters for a little while, and that’s not nothing.
I took a long time wending my way around to get here… but what I’m trying to say is-
I’m going to close with the infamous words of Lloyd Dobler.
“I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.”
Pretty close to how I feel… I want to ask questions, create, ponder, and answer questions.
And that’s working out pretty well for me so far.
Curiouser and Curiouser 