Saying "no thanks" to joining the Quixtar Revolution

I was at a bookstore over the weekend, trying to pick up some pointers on how to write well in the autobiographical form. I was standing in the sociology section, checking out a couple of books when a gentleman of Indian descent tried to strike up a conversation with me by asking I was interested in sociology.

I have hung out in bookstores often enough that I pretty much knew what this guy wanted the minute he opened his mouth. Yet I tried to give him the benefit of the doubt by being polite. He told him I was looking at a couple of books that I found interesting, one particular book was written by the father of someone I went to UVA with. He tried, very poorly I must say, at continuing the small talk. He asked what I do and I told him I was starting an MBA at UNC. He finally got the point when he said he works with a couple of people in the I.T. sector and was in the process of helping them set up business opportunities over the Internets.

I then told him I am familiar with Quixtar and am not interested in becoming an independent business owner (IBO). He then countered that he too thought about pursuing an MBA a few years back (I have a theory that everyone that has ever seen the starting salary for Harvard Business School graduates feels qualified to say "I considered an MBA a while back.") and decided against it because "with an MBA, I would still be an employee. I don't want to be an employee, I want to be my own boss." The guy obviously does not understand what an MBA is because if he does, he would know that MBA graduates are capable of (and many do) starting their own businesses. He asked me if I am familiar with the concept of creating different streams of income and I said I have read about it in Rich Dad, Poor Dad. The mention of that title brought a smile to his face, I know from past experiences with these people that they love to quote the books by Robert T. Kiyosaki. Recognizing that he was going through a script they gave him at the training session, I ended the conversation as quickly as I could.

I am very familiar with what he was selling because I have sat in on two presentations by these Quixtar (former name is Amway) folks before. They tell you that they have an alliance with big companies such as Ford, Marriott, IBM, and try to get you to sign on as an IBO so you can sell their products over the Internets and get others to become IBOs as well. Ironically, everytime I encounter these Quixtar folks I am at a bookstore somewhere and am too polite to tell someone to go away.