I was Recruited by Quixtar....and Survived

I had never heard of Quixtar until a colleague at work began to accost various members of our company and urge them to join this organization. At the time, I was unaware that Quixtar is owned by Alticor Corporation, which also owns Amway. Both Amway and Quixtar employ Independent Business Owners (or IBO's) to sell the products the companies' market (the majority are Alticor products - which both sister companies have exclusive distribution rights). The IBO's then make a percentage of the sale. They also are able to recruit other IBO's and share in a portion of their sales.

Needless to say, the majority of the population is put off by the sales pitch by these IBO's, as well as the notorious reputations of these organizations being pyramid schemes. My colleague, whom I will refer to as Sanjay, was subsequently reported to upper management and promptly told to cease the recruiting of employees on company grounds immediately.

Later in the year, I was placed on the same team as Sanjay at work. Despite warnings from other friends and peers within the company, I kept an open mind about him. I found that he and I shared many of the same interests (same age, recently married, interested in raising a family, movie buffs, same field of study in college) and became friends. Along with our wives, we began meeting socially. We enjoyed going to movies and trying new restaurants together. Although I was in no way interested in Quixtar (and I mentioned this to him initially), I was put at ease as this topic never came up during our time together.

Looking back, there was one statement he made that raised a question in my mind. He said that he stopped renting or going to as many movies as he had because there was "nothing in it for him by participating in this activity." I then thought to myself, "What is in it for him by spending time with me and my wife." Besides, of course, our charming and effervescent personalities...