Duped in New Releases

So I'm at Barnes & Noble on State, looking for a book so Eric and I can start our book club. I make my way to the "New Fiction" table and read the back of one book before a woman walks up to me.

"find anything good yet?" she asks with a smile.

Me being me, I immediately run the gamut of possibilities through my head; she's a creep, she's homeless, she's a lesbian, she's hitting on me.

So then I stop myself to give ol girl the benefit of the doubt. I figure I maybe could use a new friend... She seemed ok... Hangs out in bookstores so she's probably at least a little smart.

So I talk with a girl for ten minutes. Thinking I made a new friend - she tells me about the business she has with her husband. "We work with big names like B&N, Best Buy, blah blah blabbity, and they share part of the profits with us. We work with a great team of experts who show us how to do everything! BTW, would you be interested in making extra money on the side?"

Bitch. I thought you were about to be my new friend and you only talked to me bc you thought I looked like a network marketing go-getter.

Met your husband on a bus here in Chicago. You might wanna reevaluate your future with a man who makes money by convincing others that he has happened upon the greatest opportunity known only to a select privileged few.

At this point my feelings are hurt and I stomped out bookless and in the rain.

Network marketing. At its finest. A total stranger makes you feel like they're interested until they dupe you into joining their team of sick and tired professionals just looking to change their stars. Aka- a group of phonies on the search for other phonies who alienate themselves and everyone around them along the way.

The next time you go out "recruiting", remember this - pretending to give a shit about someone so they come to a business seminar, PBR, networking party, or webinar makes you the kind of person who would rather meet someone for financial gain than to find a common interest and make a friend.

And at a Barnes & Noble, connected to DePaul University? Why don't you just carry around a sign that says "College Is A Waste Of Time! Calling ALL Simpleminded and Easily Influenced!" Try the self-help section at the local library. They might have their guard down enough to let u more easily, weasel in.

Anybody else been had??