When I was in college, a cousin of mine was unemployed. He couldn’t find work that, in his opinion, merited his time. If I were his wife, and mother of his young daughter, I would have thought that any job resulting in a paycheck would have merited his time. My cousin’s solution: Amway.
To try to get me interested in buying Amway products and, presumably, selling the business system to others, he gave me some samples of some of Amway’s products. I don’t even recall what they were, shampoo and lotion maybe? I thought the products sucked. Even if I had thought the products were high quality, I have absolutely, positively no desire to sell anything to anyone. None.
Exposure to Amway through my cousin was my only experience with multi-level marketing. Until yesterday.
To really appreciate my experience, I actually have to start my story a couple of months ago. One evening, after filling my belly with Indian food and Indian beer at the Star of India, I stopped by Best Buy to browse their music selection (which, incidentally, is not great but it is cheap). As I was browsing, some random guy introduced himself to me and then started a conversation. I hate that. If I don’t know you, don’t talk to me. I don’t mean to be harsh about it. It’s okay in certain situations when you are confined in a small space with a stranger, like on an airplane, in my opinion to strike up a conversation. But if I’m browsing in a store, don’t randomly talk to me unless I already know you.
Anyway, I was a bit irritated that this guy was ruining what had started as a pleasant evening. I tried to give him a mental, “Leave me alone,” vibe. He didn’t get it. He eventually got around to asking me what I do. I wanted to ask, “What does that question even mean?” I always want to answer it with, “I do a lot of things. For example, I like to watch movies and read. I like to spend time with my dogs. I sleep sometimes.” Instead, I just told him my profession and where I am employed.
From there, he jumped into a sales pitch about a professional business team that he is a part of, and asked me if I might be interested. Talking to some random guy at Best Buy is not my preferred way to find new business opportunities, so I immediately blew him off and left.
A few days later, I received a call, from a number I did not recognize, on my mobile phone. I generally do not answer calls from numbers I do not recognize so I let it go to voice mail. When I listened to the voice mail later that afternoon, I was shocked when I heard my doctor’s voice. I’m a bit of a hypochondriac so, obviously, I do not like to receive unsolicited calls from my physician. I hung up. What I thought my doctor could be calling to tell me about my health, I have no idea. But I firmly believed that it was bad. I sat for a few seconds as I felt my chest tighten and my heart rate speed. Then, reason took over to some degree. I thought, “I haven’t been to see him in months. There is no way he could be calling to tell me something about my health.” Still, as I dialed my voice mail again, I could feel my heart pounding in my chest.
When I listened to the voice mail, I was relieved that he was not calling for any medical reason. He was calling to ask me if I would be interested in joining a professional business team he is a part of. “Strangely coincidental,” I thought. Then he went on to tell me how a friend of his had run into me in Best Buy, he had told his friend that I am one of his patients, and they both thought I’d be a good candidate. His revealing that I am a patient of his to the random Best Buy guy is the first time I have confirmation of my doctor breaking HIPAA.
He wasn’t clear in his voice mail what the business opportunity, or the professional business team itself, is or what sort of business they are involved in. However, he is my doctor and, to stay on good terms, I called him back and let him know that I would be interested in hearing more. I gave him my email address, but he said that it would be better if we met for a cup of coffee or something so that he could explain it in detail. I do not like evasiveness, especially when a physician is involved. However, he had piqued my interest a bit.
For several weeks while we tried to find a convenient time for both our schedules, we traded phone calls. During this time, a co-worker of mine happened to have an appointment with my doctor. I know this because, during the afternoon after she saw him, she asked me if I know Dr. _______. I told her that I do. She said, “Thought so. He said you’re one of his patients.” That was the second time I have confirmation of him breaking HIPAA.
We finally found time to meet last night. The summit occurred at Starbucks. It started off badly; I had to buy my own coffee. Also, he brought random Best Buy guy. For a while, it was just small talk. It turns out that random Best Buy guy and I attended the same college. We started talking about people we might mutually know. I went through the list of people, who I know well and who attended the college. One of them happens to also be a patient of my doctor. So, when I mentioned that person’s name, he said something like, “That person is a patient of mine.” Third time that I have confirmation that he broke HIPAA. By this time, I was thinking that he’s an idiot. A doctor, yes, but still an idiot.
I listened to his presentation and tried to treat him with respect. But he was still evasive in what he told me and in answering the questions I asked. In fact, he went so far as to say, “We’re not prepared to give you the full financial details today.” Instead, he invited me to a seminar next week where they will “run the numbers.” I’m out on that. Anyway, from what I could gather, it seems that the “business opportunity” is basically an internet version of Amway.
When I got home, I did a little research to see if I could find out more about the company which I think is called LTD; not even that is clear. Remarkably, I could find very little. I did find a couple of message boards with postings that discussed the company. The message boards supported my belief that it is an Amway-like organization. I also found two company owned websites. One is a teaser site that they use as a marketing tool. It can be found here . The other is the portal to their member-only site. It doesn’t provide any information at all but, if you are curious, it can be found here .
In the end, I may find a new doctor. I may not. I like that he freely gives prescriptions when you need one. But I don’t like that he apparently breaks HIPAA at will. Under the circumstances, I don’t care that he tells others that I am his patient. But, in general, it makes me wonder what else he would do to benefit himself financially.
Sort of tangentially related, while doing my research on LTD, I ran across a website called MLM Watch that has an interesting page that lists ten big lies of Multi Level Marketing. It interested me because I heard some of them during my doctor’s presentation. It’s here if you want to read the myths.
