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?

The beauty of "no thankyou, I don't want to do that" is that you can't problem solve your way round it. It's final. You have to give a negative with no possibility of the CF finding a solution such as "oh I don't have any money" " no problem they have cheap stuff too ! "

They have scripts to get round every excuse

They have scripts to get round every excuse

Even for "no thank you"?

Even for "no thank you"?
Aw, hun – I’m disappointed you’re not being more supportive of my business. As a small business owner yourself/As a friend/As a person with a face upon which my products could be used, I’d expect you to support me, a struggling mum/small business owner/person with a face.

They will have a script for “No”.

"Aw, hun – I’m disappointed you’re not being more supportive of my business. As a small business owner yourself/As a friend/As a person with a face upon which my products could be used, I’d expect you to support me, a struggling mum/small business owner/person with a face."

"Don't try and guilt trip me, you know it won't work"

@RampantIvy

"Aw, hun – I’m disappointed you’re not being more supportive of my business. As a small business owner yourself/As a friend/As a person with a face upon which my products could be used, I’d expect you to support me, a struggling mum/small business owner/person with a face."

"Don't try and guilt trip me, you know it won't work"

I pinched a line from Sarah Millican for situations like these.

"Aww, sorry, I don't respond well to peer pressure."

Even better @ScottChegg

@HollowTalk

Urgh bright light and uncomfortable chairs... nothing worse is there

@hotmeatymilk

Even for "no thank you"? Aw, hun – I’m disappointed you’re not being more supportive of my business. As a small business owner yourself/As a friend/As a person with a face upon which my products could be used, I’d expect you to support me, a struggling mum/small business owner/person with a face.

They will have a script for “No”.

And the response to that is the MN classic

"No is a complete sentence"

Or you could use the one that evokes the point over consent

"No means No".

Or the even more direct

"Which part of no, do you fail to understand?"

Or

"I said no. I don't want any and no amount of high pressure sales tactics and emotional blackmail is going to change it."

They can have a script for no. You just stonewall them with more dead end no responses rather than trying to justify why you say no.

If they don't like being told no, they aren't your friend. You should always be able to say no to friends or family. Not excepting that shows a lack of respect for you.

Did you hear any more from her or the others today? I'm all for keeping the peace to avoid ruining a holiday, but as there are more of you cringing about this than the ones being up for it, I'd suggest a blatant but light-hearted refusal to attend. "Not really our thing so we're off to the pub. See you later, have a good time!" Cheery wave as you vanish out the door. She's the one looking like a knob if she gets huffy about it. Dressing it up as a nice 'pamper' night (god I hate that word!) is a load of old BS.

The more of you who say no on the main chat the more of you will Come out the woodwork saying no.

Everyone is just too scared to rock the cart.

Can you suggest that the ones who are interested go off into a separate room with Pampering Pam - a bedroom? The rest of you can cook and drink until they're done, that way it looks as though you're trying to accommodate everyone.

Put this in your WhatsApp group

www.talentedladiesclub.com/articles/the-10-ugly-truths-mlms-dont-want-you-to-know/

Op, I thought of you today and was thrilled to think of all the replies on this thread. I was happily having tea and cake with my friend and she invited me over next week for a little gathering of friends with wine and nibbles. Sounds great I said. Then she said that she'd put on a little "pamper party" for us to make the evening more special. I asked if it was Body Shop and she confirmed that it was. "Ah, in that case I'll pass thanks. I don't enjoy that sort of thing". There were a couple of suggestions that it would be fun, I'd enjoy it, it would be relaxing kind of stuff and I just repeated "Thanks for the invite, but it's not for me".
Before leaving I told her to enjoy her evening and I'll arrange a wine and food gathering at mine next time.

God, the word pamper is really starting to piss me off now!

OP I don't blame you for pushing back, I would also hate this kind of thing. But just be prepared for the fact that your friend will probably ignore you and cause a horrible atmosphere, ruining the weekend.

The fact that she said it was a 'treat' for everyone - which bit exactly? The part where her pockets are lined courtesy of her friends? She's got a thick skin that's for sure and I certainly don't think she's going to be contrite about her behaviour.

Pamper makes me think of nappies 🤣

Also send your mate amd her husband this to read- it may save them ellebeaublog.com/poonique/

@10yearwarranty oh wow they’re obviously doing the rounds if they tried to snare you with the same line too!!!

I’ll take a read of the MLM stuff and if conversation turns to it on the weekend away I’ll send it on!!!

Also watch this; it features NuSkin and Younique but the failure rate is pretty much the same for them all so it’s entirely relevant for BSAH.

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p076n2hg

Also, remember that on Planet Mumsnet “No” is a complete sentence but on Planet Pyramid Scheme (sorry “MLM”) “no” means “not right now”, so they are taught to keep trying to sell to you, or even better, recruit you and start creating a downline to put a buffer between them and the losses (which they’re happy for you to incur in the desperate and usually fruitless scrabble to keep their head above water).

10yearwarranty don’t be surprised if your friend turns up to wine and nibbles at your with all her BS stuff to sell!

I have absolutely nothing useful to add but it all reminds me of when I worked for a well known pushy high street brand. It was drummed into us that if a customer didn’t want our assistance (hard sell) we just hadn’t found the right way to approach them . We were supposed to try again in a different manner or get another sales assistant to try. I hated that place!

@NameChanged15729

I have absolutely nothing useful to add but it all reminds me of when I worked for a well known pushy high street brand. It was drummed into us that if a customer didn’t want our assistance (hard sell) we just hadn’t found the right way to approach them . We were supposed to try again in a different manner or get another sales assistant to try. I hated that place!

Was that a non-clothes place beginning with L by any chance?! I fucking hate that place for this exact reason! Most irritating, overbearing staff EVER one time I actually had a row with one of them 🤣

Oooh where was that?

Say "I'm not really into MLM scenes so I'll give it a swerve"
Guaranteed to drive your friend bananas.

Was that a non-clothes place beginning with L by any chance?!

I have stopped going in or buying anything online from there due to a couple of particularly aggressive hard-sell attempts. I’m amazed they have any customers left!