OMG this Pampered Chef woman is THE biggest pain in the history of arses!!!

[yorkshirepudding]

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Aargh I feel your pain! I went to one of these "shows" last year and stupidly said I would think about having one at my house sometime (although had no intention of hosting one as we were new to the area and didn't know anyone!). She kept calling me (at least 6 times a month) until I started ignoring her calls and she eventually gave up!

Best way to lose friends from my experience - I now avoid the woman who invited me to one as she seems unable to have a conversation without mentioning it. Overpriced gadgets you can buy anywhere imo - they're not as 'exclusive' as they make out.

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and she'll wait 6 months and then start calling you again to get you to host another show!

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You could always leave Lakeland catalogues scattered around the room.

YP - so sorry that you're having this experience! I do PC shows (and I often call them parties!) and I hope that I never cause any of my hosts this amount of angst (and, yes, I know its not me coming to you - no show this evening). We're not all the same, just as in real-life, there are lots of different types of people that do this, and some are better than others about listening to what is being said to them and picking up on tones of voice etc.

I do hope that you have a good party this evening despite this! If I were you, if she immediately launches into 'would you be interested in the job' when she arrives, I would say that you've already told her that it's not something that you would consider and you don't want to continue that line of conversation, or words to that effect - otherwise you'll just end up seething!

My recommendation is to go for stoneware to use your points on - it cooks really well, you don't need to turn things over to brown on both sides, and you can do practically everything in oven - eg spag bol, put all ingredients, raw (eg, uncooked diced onion and raw mince etc) into rectangular baker and bang in oven - stir 40mins/1hr later, and leave to cook a bit more - won't dry out, doesn't need initial browning of meat etc. BTW, is she doing YP's for you? That's one of my favourites as they cook so well and are very impressive...

I would love to know who she is - is there any chance that you could put her initials down here?

lol.

In all seriousness the pampered chef stuff does sell itself, it is expensive but on the whole it is good. But the woman shouldn't be so pushy. What is she cooking btw?

lakeland definitely comparible but not cheap either.

My kitchen is practically a shrine to the pampered chef as a friend of mine is a consultant so I've had two shows for her and have also ordered enough stuff in one go to count as a show of my own so got lots of points from that.

They're not put under pressure at all to meet targets etc so there is no reason why this woman should be giving you the hard sell.

the only thing I think that doesn't cook at all well on stone is chocolate chip cookies. Because of the chocolate and the heat of the stone they don't come off properly so on that score I have ditched the stone in favour of my conventional metal baking sheets.

Everything else though is fab especially bread and I love my stone loaf pan.

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YP - but doing a party is a collaborative thing between the two of you and it doesn't sound as though she is really listening to you. If I have a host who says that she is not interested in the job (in a never, no, kind of way) I say to guests that n has said that she isn't interested in becoming a consultant, but there may be someone else here tonight that maybe - where it says (on the feedback sheets) 'would help host by hosting a show' would you be prepared to host a show for someone else here tonight... We are being asked to 'offer the job' as there is a lot of capacity, but she clearly isn't listening to you.

(So, once you've finished your degree and sorted yourself out, if you do fancy spending an evening or two having fun and making a bit extra money, do get in touch with me )

I do hope you have a fun time with your friends tonight and that what's gone before doesn't overshadow it too much.

Ditto, yorkshire pudding. I have made the mistake of agreeing to one of these too and the woman is a pain in the rear, to say the least. I wonder if it's the same one? Are her initials CT? I feel your pain, if it's any help!

I really can't see how there is capasity for this.

I know two pc people, and one of them has recruited three others so there's at least 5 of them in the fairly local area around here.

Surely there will, at some point, be a saturation point?

I considered doing it btw but twas ve impractical for me so I didn't.

YP make sure your hoast gives you your points for providing ingredients as it was her fault she lost your details.

And whatever you do don't buy the cookie press - it's shite. .

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I had something similar, was going to do one as a fundraiser for an organisation, it got way too hassley. The organiser kept emailing and being v pushy, then gave me a list of stuff I had to buy for her to cook (I had thought they brought all that...?) and in the end I just cancelled it, and started to avoid all calls/emails. It really left a bad taste in my mouth, and I won't volunteer to host again!!!!!

Re numbers - this is the last set of figs I was given, so may be slightly out of date... Avon has over 70,000 reps, Virgin Vie 17,000, Pampered Chef 1,700. I know that there are more consultants in the south - I believe that there is a very rural village with 5 of them working from it - clearly not all parties will be in the village, but even so, this shows that you can have quite a few in the locality without problems.

Its such a shame when things go wrong like this, particularly for fundraisers. I've done lots of fundraisers, and you can still have a good time with a relatively modest number of guests - its just you tend to make more with more people...

I am trying to raise as much money for Cancer Research as I can in the month of October - PC has special link up with them for that month, and extra % will be going to the charity, as well as special pink products (that are really lovely), so if there is anyone Yorkshire based that would like to help me, please let me know! I promise that I wouldn't be pushy - I would do my best to help you to have a good party and have fun with your friends, but I wouldn't ring you up and make demands in the same way, I promise!

HI

I am a consultant in the suffolk area and am quite new to it really but I would hate to be that person. I am not pushy with my hosts or guests, I would not like it if I was treated this way. I tend to call people who have shown an interest and if they are not interested at that time then I ask if they would like me to call them again in a month when I know the host bonus for the following month. Then again by not being pushy means I probably do not get half the bookings that I could but then I don't pee off potential people (I hope!) I quite like what I do as I love the majrity of the products that are sold and where else would you get the chance to try before you buy. the guarantees are great, if you do not get on with the product in first 30 days then you just get it collected and a full refund!!

On that note, anyone wishing to try a non pushy one then please feel free to get in touch!!!!!!