Friend is hijacking our weekend away with her Body Shop shite

[Youngatheart00]

In a fortnights time DH and I are going away with some other friends for a weekend away in a cottage. One of my friends has recently joined the Body shop cult at home and has been pushing it any excuse she gets.

She’s now suggested the girls in the group have a ‘pamper evening’ which basically just means her trying to sell to us. Of the 8 of us, 2 have already said ‘great idea can’t wait’ and another ive spoken to isn’t keen on the products but wants to support her. I don’t want to fall out over this but I really don’t want to waste a Saturday night when I don’t agree with MLM and hate what it’s doing to my friend!!

How to approach this tactfully?

One of my friends used the sensitive skin / allergies line. It was a mistake as she then got bombarded with a schpiel about which ranges were best for what skin type blah blah blah

Does anyone actually make money??!

I think in your case I would definitely be stating before the event that you won’t be joining. Think I’d say that a pamper evening isn’t really your thing and you’ve done all your Christmas shopping so you’ll probably sit it out but hope everyone else has fun.

Hmm. After that last CF message from her just reply: “We don’t do Christmas tat gifts any more, sorry.”

I would suggest that she goes to the pub with the men. That way she can wait until they've had a few drinks, then get them to do all their Xmas shopping in one easy go!

Oh god at the don’t forget your wallet ladies 😱 this would upset me too. It does sound like the ship has sailed a wee bit for refusing now however, and although on a longer group trip somewhere overseas a date night with your DH would be a great excuse, that doesn’t really work for a quick cottage getaway.

I think the best approach is to maybe be quite helpful and busy pulling together snacks for the pampering, do the drink pouring, smile and smell a few things and maybe budget to buy literally one thing off her so it seems like you’re supportive.

You could also say you and DH are on dinner duties that night, and plan something lovely - this way you have quite a good excuse to leave the pampering session early because you “have to get started on the roast potatoes now, but I would love to buy one of the hand creams, so pop me down for that!”

Love that @Hugoslavia!

So post back on Facebook and say you really don’t want to buy body shop stuff on a Saturday night with friends, could we do something else?

She’s literally now posted on our group that she’ll be ‘taking orders for gifts so don’t forget your wallet ladies

Excellent news!! Just in time for you to BOAST about your preparedness for the forthcoming festive season.
You've done ALL of your Christmas shopping and it's ALL WRAPPED UP AND READY TO GO! so you don't need any of her crap and won't be taking your wallet (what happened to owning a purse)

Or perhaps you could get hold of some cheap Poundland beauty stuff and try to flog it back to her for a profit.

Does anyone actually make money??!

In MLMs, less than 1% I believe. Infant remember if Body Shop at Home is one of the few MLM companies to do an income disclosure - most of them don't.

Even though refusing point blank does seem tempting, it will probably ruin your own night for you as you’ll be worried if the other women think you were a bit cold/rude - better to hold your tongue and just engineer the evening to minimise your presence at the pamper eve.

How fucking annoying. Message and say it’s not for you, you are going to the pub etc. You won’t be the only one.

As soon as the MLM bots approach me I pull all my vegan, against animal testing, sensitive skin, and being 'too poor to afford it' cards out of the box until they give up and leave me alone!

Just be honest and say it’s not your thing and you’ll be spending the Evenig with the guys drinking and playing pool!

I would say ‘lovely although I can’t spend anything because I’m saving for Christmas & this weekend has cleared us out! Would love to be pampered tho’

I've already done all mine. I think me and DH will go out for a meal that night and leave you to it.

Don't buy anything to look supportive. If they are making even a small number if sales it is easier for them (their upline) to convince themselves that they can make money. Better your friend fails before she loses too much money...

There's a meme around MLM recruitment and sales techniques for a reason.

MLM recruitment messages are the dick pics of the Mom world

me.me/i/mlm-recruitment-messages-are-the-dick-pics-of-the-mom-8afe377128344c52b16cf08705716296

You won't be the only person feeling like this. I agree with PPs saying that the way to go is a breezy response of "You crack on, but I'll be joining the blokes for their strip gin rummy/reading of Kierkegaard/piss up down the pub". I bet you some of the other women join you in the anti-MLM lifeboat.

I won't give body shop any money since they were so unpleasant to JK Rowling.

But to preserve friendships in your case I'd probably just go with super sensitive skin, stick with known brands/items only. So much as you'd like to participate you will probably go out with DH that night instead.

Or better still, make up some Xmas 'mrs hinch' style cleaning hampers packed with zoflora and try to market your new xmas hamper business to her!! Every time that anyone buys anything from her, remind her that she's just made a profit and suggest that she might wish to reinvest in your women 'business women supporting other business women'. You could have a lot of fun.

I'd just reply clearly that it's not for me so I'll join the guys or anyone else who doesn't fancy it. Wouldn't make an excuse.

What happened with JK Rowling?

I did used to like the products too, it’s the sales tactics I object to so I now avoid it (or try my best to!) out of principle

Find out who else does not want the pamper evening and go out with them.

I'd just be straight and ask if she's planning a pamper night or a sales ptich. If its the latter, have you got a mate who fancies flogging some new windows the same night?