Business is business.

Sunday
[Backdated post]

Well, i start the day with this interesting experience and encounter. Wee kiang introduced me very much earlier to this mysterious job which he din want to explain much. I asked him alot but he just wouldn't say and replied constantly " very hard to explain ar! You go there you will know alr. " So my curiousity was stirred up and i wonder what kind of job can this be ... when the introducer to this job is always avoiding questions regarding the job. It just makes your imagination go wild .. if you get what i mean.

So what am i feeling before i step into the office? Confuse, curious, alittle uncomfortable. The unknown definitely puts many people in this position don't you agree? Well for that matter, i decided to ask turtle along since she has alot of free time and wouldn't mind taking a job [that i was told as flexible and good ]. Plus, i need another person with me to sorta relate how i feel. That would certainly reduce the anticipation spinning in me.

I wasn't very affected in case if u r wondering. I am not feaking out. Just that you know, another friend with you in an unknown enviromment gives you an ease of heart. And the turtle with me gives good perspectives too. [ sometimes only .. ha!]

*continued*

After a while of chatting, i started reading my favourite Sunday Times & Lifestyle. It seems that i've forgotten about Office rules [ SAF taught me alittle !] No reading newspaper and sleeping in the office. I was asked politely by one of the sub-managers [ they wear coat in the office] not to read. And so i slouch in my chair. [ unkowningly which i later came to realise my rude way of sitting in the office. ] One of the sub-managers came to talk to the 2 of us. He started the conversation by getting to know turtle and me better. He asked which school we are from, what is our dreams and what we plan to do after graduation. Here comes the interesting part. He starts bombarding the 2 of us with stats. Like " Do you know that in India alone, they are producing 5 million graduates per year. ." something like that. And here i start to wonder what's all thsi about. I know about the high rate of production of graduates around us. And its not just in India alone. In China, in the U.S. , Europe, and the list goes on. So what is he actually trying to say?

As i listen on, he rattle non-stop on the debts we'll owe after graduation. 30k of debts are how much we owe after we are out of university. And if not that's all he starts asking personal questions about whether we are going to marry at the age of 30. "Oh normal Singaporeans will want to marry at that age! Unless you are those single-minded or career-minded individuals .." So what are the rest? abnormal?

Hey that's not all. He tells turtle about the life of a researcher .. and how hard it is to be a researcher because there are alot of hurdles to clear. For me, i gave about the same response because i haven been very clear about my future job endeavours. I still can't decide yet. And when he pops that question suddenly to me, its very hard for me to answer. I guess it does open up my eyes alittle about how little time i have left to decide.

That's besides the point. What he has basically rattle on for about close to an hour is about our grim future. Like what turtle says ... he's proclaiming the end-time prophesies to us. Prices of everything is inflating. We are in debt unknowingly ! Competition is raging furiously. You'll need to work forevever! Life is uncertain. Need any more sad news? I have more to share! This is the first impression he's presenting to us ... With presenters like this, who needs the devil?

Above that, he loves to ask us questions about stats and also much about our future life plan. "How are you sure you are going to get a stable job ? There are 5 big economic recessions you know....", " how are you sure you'll get what you want? It's one thing to live for a dream and another to live for reality..."

Basically it just shows one thing. He approaches us with a "scare and awe" presentation . Sad to say it doesn't work on us...

I joke with Wee Kiang earlier about showing the presenter my hand ... and say "Talk to my hand! ha" It seems like he's really asking for it. I shalln't rattle about his no-common-sense attitude. Basically even after i told him we get what he's saying. He completely ignores what i just said and continued rattling on.... He must have pins stuck on his head. I just basically lower my cap and shut off completely infront of him. That sure sends him off. After about another 5 mins of chatter, he finally gets off.....

Wee kiang explains to us NTI's way of promoting Network marketting. He mentions about MLM[ multi-lateral marketting which is more selfish] and the binary marketting [which is NTI's method of marketting. Less selfish is the idea they are promoting]. He then mentions about the huge path of success it brings to employees who engage in this formulae.

Later 2 guys came over to try to talk with us but it seems they also lost interest in talking with us. One of them said something like " we can't help those who can't help themselves... " You can see the implication behind it rite? I was down there listening to all these crap they throw at us. I wonder how turtle felt about all these statements all the time. Her body language shows it all actually.

Here's one extract from SgForums.
[ More info here ]

Dear all, I am a student. I am writing this because I have just came back from the NTI Paris office in Shenton Way. I was asked to go there by a friend who was in turned invited by an NTI Paris employee. Now, after listening to 2 hours of drivel from the NTI employee, all I have to say is that NTI Paris is a devious and despicable pyramid scam...

We've been thru 4 hours btw.

Pardon me if I am wrong, but isn't the main concept of any business, MLM or not, to sell *products* and not to recruit people into the company for monetary gains? This was the overwhelming impression that I was given at NTI Paris. The employee who talked to me consistently refused to answer questions about the actual products (aromatherapy stuff) that they were selling, concentrating instead on the amount of money that I can earn each month by building up the pyramid under me. He emphasized very strongly on the fact that money is mainly made from recruitment; each time someone joins your binary-downlink tree, you get money from it. When questioned about what the company actually have to does for a living, he evaded the question, and zealously went back to talking about the immense monetary benefits of creating "business centers." He continuously points to the benefits of buying business centers and bringing in more people to the fold, going so far as to warn me not to spread the word too much, because as of now, I am "not sufficiently trained to advertise the company," and that the time will come when I will be sufficiently trained to advertise this business plan to further recruits.

Now i'm not warned not to spread the word. I think that's partly because the managers are quite unimpress with our attitudes. We aren't impress with their attitudes either.

Now this begs the question, if the business plan is so amazingly good that every employee become instant millionaires if they work hard enough, then why is there a need for such secrecy? Also, and the more pertinent question is, WHERE DOES ALL THIS MONEY COME FROM? Simple mathematics will tell you that it comes from all the people at the bottom of the pyramid, the people who have been sweet-talked into giving hundreds or even thousands on dollars to the company, with no hope of getting any returns either because the market is already saturated, or because the people at the top of the pyramid has run away with all the money. The NTI Paris employee frequently brings up the subject of "following your dreams" and "becoming what you want to be," as do most MLM employees in this thread. I encourage people to do their best in life too, and to strive to make as much money as they can, if that is indeed their aim. But the question is, AT WHAT COST? Is it worth it financing your dreams by bilking other people out of their hard-earned money? That is crime, and at a time like this, I cannot possibly condone such dastardly business acts.

He might have put it in a very extreme way but i must say i felt the same way too. I was quite disturbed when i see Wee Kiang spending every ounce of effort to get us in. He's never like this before. [infront of my eyes in this case]. I also feel bad if things dun go the way it should be cos it's wasting his time and effort too.

The names "James Phang" and "Dato Dr. Eric Tan Eng Huat" was frequently mentioned during my talk with the NTI Paris employee. It was mentioned in such reverence, suggesting that they are saintly figures who have made it rich, and are interested in helping us commoners to be "part of the wealth" too. Believe none of this. If indeed they are aware of this, they are cheats indeed, and very malicious ones too. They are the rich who wants to get richer by swindling the poor of even more wealth. Charitable businessmen? More like decadent frauds. And the employees who use their names as part of the recruitment speech should be deeply ashamed. Now you may ask, why am I so outraged? Am I working for another MLM that wants to see NTI Paris go down? No, I am not. In fact, I stand to gain nothing from NTI Paris' demise, if that occurs. But I do have friends who have invested much of their money in the scheme, and are prepared to further recruit more innocent people into the scheme to finance their earnings. They do not realize that the business plan is fundamentally flawed, or that the money that they get comes from people at the "bottom of the pile." It is never a Win-Win situation, it is Win-Lose; the people at the top of the pyramid gets richer, the people at the bottom gets poorer. And don't pull the curtains over my eyes by telling me that the pyramid can go on getting deeper forever ... a fool is born every minute, but a binary tree made up of "business partners" won't go beyond 50 levels even if you include all the people who have ever set foot on the earth, past and present.

His statements makes some sense alittle. The whole thing does smell fishy from my point of view. I don't want to condemn since i don't know much about business and the plan they are presenting.

Just want to make afew points. First, if you are going to present something, never follow this NTI manger's way of approach. Unless you seriously want to talk to a hand .... Second, it's hard for me to say that this company's offer is all scam. NTI might seem weird in its way in doing things but that doesn't mean that they are bad and all out to cheat. For all you know, its more about the ignorance in us that cuts us off from the message they are bringing. I don't take stands so easily [ which is why i take an awful long time to write a GP essay.] Its my habit to see the many sides of things. So for one, even though i was very put off at the start .... shu ting [ my other classmate who's also in NTI] present to us in a much better way. She show us about why the manager approach us this way [ which i still feel its a rubbish-way of approach ] and also how she sees NTI in her light. Just as turtle put it, shuting feels its a personal character and skill development rather than a money-making venture. She relate to us how she feel which is a good thing to do as we see a better perspective ... a more friendlier approach i would say.

I am not really hungry for a job. But like what Shuting said, i need finance. I don't wanna struggle with allowance because of the case with my granny. I want to be more independent. To learn to support myself and den support others. So i will not totally throw this idea away but i will have a good talk with my uncle about it.

Pray for me for good time management. Thx pat for giving me the sites :)