Recruited by Primerica - should I be insulted or flattered?

August 16, 2004 5:40 AM

The other night at work, I was the only employee to be approached by a recruiter for the pyramid scheme company Primerica. Should I be flattered that he thought I had incredible customer service and sales skills, or insulted that he thought I looked like the biggest sucker?
posted by circe to work & money (7 comments total)

Probably both--he wouldn't approach someone he didn't think could help the scheme work, but it's definitely not flattering to have someone come up and basically put a "Kick Me" sign on your back.
posted by LairBob at 5:48 AM on August 16, 2004

don't do it! run away. quickly.
posted by damnitkage at 5:49 AM on August 16, 2004

Heh, it was especially amusing to hear his response when I asked him if the company was a pyramid scheme. After explaining to me that it was not shady at all, he then told me that they have orientations every Thursday and I should bring friends along who are looking to make easy money.

Right. Not a pyramid scheme my butt.
posted by circe at 5:55 AM on August 16, 2004

Choice B.
posted by adampsyche at 6:40 AM on August 16, 2004

I was approached by a very chic woman while shopping at Whole Foods a couple of weeks ago who gushed first over my spectacular shoes, then gushed over my incredible skin, and then went on and on how "put together" I was...for a moment there I thought I was about to be asked out for cocktails until she hit me up with her recruitment sales pitch. I felt kinda stupid for a minute but consoled myself knowing my shoes were pretty spectacular as I politely walked away from her.
posted by oh posey at 7:05 AM on August 16, 2004

I have* a friend who has been with Primerica for a good number of years now and says she is very happy, and feels she helps people with her services. She has, to her credit, never tried to recruit me, but I always got the feeling she would be more than happy to sell me any of their products if I would only open that door a crack.

*Actually, that should be past tense, since, I guess, she has made "so much money" that she no longer hangs out with the riffraff. Or those who won't open that door a crack. Maybe she's stalking people with nice shoes. I don't know.
posted by sageleaf at 7:18 AM on August 16, 2004

My mother and a friend of mine both joined Primerica a while back. Neither stayed with it more than a year, or made enough money to talk about without embarrassment. Neither tried to recruit me, but both tried to recruit my girlfriend. I'm not sure what exactly that means.

I read an article about a lawsuit against Citicorp, which owns Primerica. According to the reporter, the motivation for creating Primerica was that Citicorp didn't want to devote salaried investment brokers to low-income demographic groups. But if you recruit people who are looking for easy money and don't recognize a pyramid scheme when they see one, you tend to get people in that low-income group ... and they'll tend to sell to their friends. Pretty brilliant, in a devious sort of way.
posted by Acetylene at 8:31 AM on August 16, 2004