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AIBU?

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Original poster

to think this is not a career choice of a decent person?

54 replies

itsbeingsocheerful · 09/11/2009 17:04

DH has played around with tarot since he was a teenager. Always out most when he's feeling stressed, unsure of future etc.

I don't have any issue with and think they can be quite fun/diverting but mean absolutely nothing.

He was made redundant a couple of months ago, and the tarot have become almost a permanent fixture, which I sort of understand. But now he's talking about trying to turn it into a business - premium phoneline schtick - and has done quite a lot of detailed research.

I hate this idea with a passion, and am not sure I want to be with a man who thinks it's ok to prey on what I see as others' vulnerabilities. And for some reason the phoneline thing seems worse that a face/face reading.

He says I'm a 'stuck-up prig' to object. Am I?

OP posts:
Hullygully · 09/11/2009 17:05

I don't know.

Tidey · 09/11/2009 17:07

That was my first ever biscuit. I feel so proud.

cocolepew · 09/11/2009 17:07

Ask the cards.

mumblechum · 09/11/2009 17:07

Hmm, no worse than those religious tv progs in the states which screw money out of idiots vulnerable viewers.

However on the practical side I don't think there can be THAT many gullible people around willing to give him a decent salary out of the tarot.

I guess he doesn't believe it's screwing the gullible, but actually believes all that stuff??

wannaBe · 09/11/2009 17:09

Well why not?

If people are gullable enough to ring those phonelines, then why shouldn't there be someone waiting to cash in?

If he doesn't have a job atm so there is no income coming in, then tbh I would go for it.

BalloonSlayer · 09/11/2009 17:09

"stuck-up prig"?

Is his name Dick or Julian, by any chance?

I am a complete cat's-bum-facer when it comes to any kind of fortune telling but I was once told by someone who read tarot cards that you find out what the cards in question mean to the client and help them to work things out. She said it was more counselling than clairvoyance.

I would be more worried about you thinking that this makes him not a decent person. I mean, he obviously believes in tarot and thinks it helps him. Why would he be being a charlatan just because you don't believe in it?

ilove · 09/11/2009 17:11

lol

I work for the biggest company in Europe selling psychic readings. In the UK, £ sterling alone, JUST the UK we take around £10k a day. Some of my readers earn £5-7k a month. That isn't including US$, AUS$ or Euro. We advertise and take calls from all over the world, and operate 24/7/365.

It is a lucrative business.

Disclaimer - I don't do the readings nor do I cold-call

displayuntilbestbefore · 09/11/2009 17:11

YANBU
too much of that sort of thing already

wannaBe · 09/11/2009 17:13

£5-7000 a day? where can I start?

Original poster
itsbeingsocheerful · 09/11/2009 17:13

Oh yes, Mumblechum, he believes, which I still find quite odd, cos he's in other ways quite rational

I know there are worse scams going on, but not sure that makes it ok for him to join in and at the lower ends.

I did ask him what the cards said. Apparently they were inconclusive .

OP posts:
BadgersPaws · 09/11/2009 17:17

He appears to believe in the cards so it's not as if he's doing it cynically to exploit people or views it as a scam.

wannaBe · 09/11/2009 17:17

why is it a scam though?

I don't believe in it personally but lots of people do.

And as long as he's not cold calling people then they're making a conscious choice to ring his phoneline and get a reading. I don't see what's wrong with that. If he doesn't gain from it, someone else will.

And the lower end? now see if he was going into prostitution I might have issue with that, but I don't personally see what's wrong with this. There are people out there with money to pay for these readings, all he's doing is providing a service.

displayuntilbestbefore · 09/11/2009 17:19

but it's a service that is taking advantage of vulnerable people by making them think there really is something in the cards and I'd be like OP in not wanting to be part of that when there's money involved.

Original poster
itsbeingsocheerful · 09/11/2009 17:24

Balloonslayer, I know he's decent, but I suppose it concerns me too much what others will think, who could mistake him for a charlatan. Although apparently he's quite good.

And no, he's not a Julian or a Dick, just tends to sound that way when he gets through-gritted-teeth angry. Opposite of that recent 'golly gosh' thread

He didn't come up with figures like that ilove Maybe I could come to terms with it after all . How do your readers find you?

OP posts:
BalloonSlayer · 09/11/2009 17:25

Surely no-one is so vulnerable that they are unaware that some people think the cards cannot really predict the future?

JeremyVile · 09/11/2009 17:26

I agree - I dont think it is the career choice of a decent person.

SolidGoldBangers · 09/11/2009 17:27

Well, on the one hand, obviously Tarot is bollocks so in that way he is conning people - but on the other hand, these woo-lines often provide at least a listening ear for the dumb and desperate, and as long as the people doing the actual readings are checked for sensibleness (ie they are not going to tell callers to saw their own feet off or apply to be on Question Time or anything) there's not much harm in it. The most ethical way for your H to do it would of course, to be to charge the cheapest rates for the phone lines.

Ivykaty44 · 09/11/2009 17:30

would you be ok with him writting a horoscope chart for the newspaper or on tv?

Most people know that these are a crutch for when things are perhaps going worng a little ...

Why not tbh for some it is a form of counselling, I have friends who have tryed both and friends whom both have worked or them

BalloonSlayer · 09/11/2009 17:31

I hope he never calls you a Fathead, itsbeingsocheerful.

TrillianAstra · 09/11/2009 17:35

If he believes it's real then it's not un-decent, just very gullible and naive.

Is he planning on setting up on his own, or joining ilove's company?

ilove · 09/11/2009 18:43

OUr company I don't believe I can post on here, it would be seen as advertising I think, although I only work for them I don't have any vested interest in them!

TrillianAstra · 09/11/2009 19:21

OP - if your DH is serious about it then you should def CAT ilove, that way at least he won't be both gullible and broke.

It is ridiculous of course.

SolidGoldBangers · 09/11/2009 19:22

Ilove, so if you don't peddle the woo directly, what do you actually do at the company? Obviously you don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but my interest is not specifically in your lot but in the range of jobs there are within such a company IYSWIM.

busybutterfly · 09/11/2009 20:11

I used to work for a national newspaper and believe me, these tarot ads rake in a fortune. The idea is (of course) to keep you on the phone as long as possible, this is done by lots of drawn out...pauses...keep you hanging...

That'll be £10.80 please

busybutterfly · 09/11/2009 20:12

I used to work for a national newspaper and believe me, these tarot ads rake in a fortune. The idea is (of course) to keep you on the phone as long as possible, this is done by lots of drawn out...pauses...keep you hanging...

That'll be £10.80 please

And please do call again tomorrow night

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