Preying on Desperation

Property of Stormberry

Classes are about to start for me (again) next week - both in my German classes as well as with the University for the fourth and last (hopefully) career in Marketing. With that in mind, I decided to pick up on a well loved practice of mine, which is the Letter Writing Mondays. Instead of the usual Starbucks close to the office, I went to another closer to home. There I've got a cup of fresh, diced fruits, a bottle of water and a Pumkin Spice Latte. Yes, it's back in season and I want to make the most of it.

This particular store has a very unfortunate space distribution, because the single tables are all next to the waiting line, and in front of the door. These are always windy, cold, and offer no sense of privacy at all. Thus, when studying here or writing letters, I always choose the large table. Since there isn't much space available for working, this table is usually ocupied also by other people, and this was also the case yesterday.

All was good and dandy, until the clients of the other two girls occupying the table arrived. At first I thought the girls were simply university students working on some project, but then it turned out that they were salespeople for some sort of academy/business that offered some flash-not-so-flash course on FOREX (it's a virtual stock market for divisas), and also gave the students/investors an account with US$50 for them to try out and make money. (Cost of the bundle? Around US$216). They were right in front of me, so I was forced to listen to their sales pitch, and goodness gracious, it was textbook scam case!

The leader saleswoman started introducing herself and empathizing with the "clients" (I put that in quotation marks because instead of potential clients, I believe them to be potential victims). She claimed she also had such a hard time, and had also taken fake FOREX courses and seminars, but then she decided to put her whole unemployment compensation check (Note: in Costa Rica, by law, when someone is fired by causes other than their own fault, companies must pay the person a month of salary for each year worked - proportional too, for the months that do not add up to the month, up to eight years maximum. This is the compensation check I mean.) into this academy-thingie and has been doing great every since. Now, THAT is a lie: people don't really put all their money into one uncertain thing, not in Costa Rica. Yes, people lose money and get scammed, but Costa Ricans are cautious by nature. They could put all their money into a store, a bar... something that can be sold if it doesn't work, but not into an academy/business with such a high risk.

She followed her pitch with the usual "success cases" of people who allegedly made it. People you can't check on. It's worthy to note that Costa Rica has a very incipient stock market, and that's so because all big businesses are family owned and remain so. If I recall correctly, we have only three or so publicly traded companies, and then the usual, Government papers, brent and so on. I might be mistaken, but the general feel is that. So, if there is no big stock market culture here, how exactly can you point to credible "success cases"? Well, there was a couple, who are preachers and have four kids. Yes, preachers here tend to do really, really well. When they are charismatic they become millionaires by preaching that "Prosperity Bullshit" thing. So, FOREX? Nah, more like the power of their god moving their flock to shower them in money.

The came the third part of the pitch: "you make as much as you work for". Now, in other pyramidal businesses, usually you can easily sell the idea that you can make as much as you want it you apply yourself to it. The usual pitch in this cases goes like: "Well, if you make a $5 sell each day, you'd make $25 in a week, and how much would that be in a month? It's up to you." They deliberately choose a low number to make you think it's so easy. What they purposefully leave behind is that you can't sell something everyday, that the moment you run out of friends and family to sell, you are up to your own devises, stuck selling some product or some investment idea that will sound shady for many. Not to mention that you may lose family and friends in the process, specially if you are desperate and this is the only way out you've found. It also leaves conveniently behind the fact that more often than not, pyramidal schemes push people into expenses and debts they didn't have before, locking them up in a worse situation. And so, when the market turns against you, this very pitch turns against you and make you think that you are the failure, the problem, and not the scheme that was designed to scam you out of your money and the money of the people you could rope into this.

The leader saleswoman went on showering the guys with a long list of off the mark comments, like telling them that bitcoin were "fake money", or that Trump started his empire by investing US$100 in the stock market. (His father lent him one million. He has been bankrupt three or four times, and he doesn't let anyone check on his finances, not to mention that his children and his company apparently made some shady business with the money of their charitable foundation. So yes, he is not the right person to convince someone to invest.) Not once did I hear any of the saleswomen tell the guys that FOREX has very loose rules and basically stands unregulated. Basically there are no protections - as far as I know, from what I've read and learned - for investors and investments.

At one point the pitch became so infuriating, that even though I kept snapping my head up and frowning (and one of the "clients" saw me), I had to stand up and leave. Hell, I don't know if I did right, if I should have intervened, but I definitively couldn't stay there and keep listening to these women spooling their words and lies to these guys. However, I decided to come to you and tell you about it and give you a few advises on this regard.

1. If someone proposes you a business, always make sure they tell you right away what's about. Don't agree to any meeting if they tell you they will explain it then. No. If someone wants to propose a deal, they can tell you right up front, so you can do research ahead. If they do tell you, then jump on the Internet and research everything you can about the topic. That way, when you go to the meeting, you will know if they are lying to you, leaving stuff behind, and could also pose better questions.

2. Beware of the business deals where there is a pitch prepared. A pitch structured in a lenghty form like empathize with the client - success cases - you can do it - if you work hard you can succeed/little effort can get you anywhere are trademarks of shady deals. If it really were so, a lot of people would be millionaires or would not risk their necks with drug trafficking.

3. Do not trust in deals that want you to either put upfront a big amount of money, or want to rope you into a plan of payments or want you to make a decision on the spot. If they don't seem willing to give you time to think, they are not trustworthy. Run if they try to convince you after you've said no, even if it is a simple comment like "What a pity, you missing this great opportunity". They are after your money, they want to scam you and they are hurt that you (and your wallet) got away. If they give you the time, use it to research about everything you've heard and the company doing the offer. Also, take some time to cool down and see things clearly.

4. Don't trust any deal where the salesperson claims that they or someone they know made a risky move to enter. Anything like claiming to have taken a mortgage to get the money to enter, max their credit cards, invest all their savings, put in all their insurance money, put in all the severance money they've got from their last job. This is an attempt to normalize in your eyes a shady move, make you think that you are being stupid by not risking. This sort of stories fake, true or half true, are meant also to reduce in your eyes the perceived risk of the deal.

5. When a pitch includes any sort of line that puts down other honest jobs, or being an employee, run. Truth is that not all businesses are a success. Not all brokers make it into a millionaire lifestyle. Not even the majority of them. And the risk of falling and losing it all is there. If you are in a hard situation, look for employment. Jobs tend to be a less risky way to getting an income and doesn't require of any up front investments.

Any true deal and any true business is transparent and gives you time to think about it and research. Scams don't, because they need to get you confused and roped in before you get to see what you've done. Please be careful.

A Plan to Get Back on Track

Picture by Stormberry. Still on the Bullet Journal Project.

The last period of the year at the University starts and I've managed to enroll in two classes, one of which is the last subject I need to pass to complete my studies for the Finance diploma. I'm so close!! I'm excited and full of energy and hope, but at the same time I remember the hard lessons learned during the past period, where here and there I sometimes lost sight of my schedule and then got lots of work to do. My schedule was quite packed, I must admit, and there were days where I worked myself close to an aneurism (so to say), with so much I studied and how hard I did my summaries and readings. This meant also that some things had to give and me left behind, neglected, and the ones that got the worse of my lack of time were my penpals.

Picture by Stormberry. My post bag :-)

This time around, I decided to make time and give some priority to my lovely penpals, and all the people that had been writing to me, for over the last year and start replying to them. I wasn't going to feel guilty again when opening my P.O.Box and finding a letter in it. So, since my studies had not really started yet, I decided to use the time and get back on track with my penpals and start replying to them. My pile has been going thinner and thinner as I reply to my friends, managing already to send out four letters, and then this very weekend finding the time and the energy to reply to seven friends! Wow, that's quite a feat for someone like me, who usually takes a couple of days to reply to one letter. :-) I normally write the very way I speak: I just don't shut up. Really. But this time I tried to practice some restriction and gathered my thoughts better for the benefit of my friends. :-)

However, I have many penpals and it's not fair to either of them for me to reply to them only once a year or so, just because I'm studying. Of course, my penpals are the best penpals in the planet: all of them beautiful, sweet and understanding girls, but still, they are important to me, and I should show how much they matter to me by carving out time to be with them. This is how an idea occured to me: I'll have a "Letter Writing" day every week. And since now I don't have German on Mondays, what better than make myself a "Letter Writing Monday"?

Picture by Stormberry. Starbucks' coffee and letter

Last week I decided to go after work to a Starbucks' coffeeshop that's close to my office, basically to decide it the place could work for me for some studying. I've been thinking about spicing up my study time by once a week taking myself to a different place, close to work, so I could get to study without having been drained first by the traffic jams one always finds at that time of the day. This Starbucks is quite loud, so it would hardly be ideal for studying, not to mention that it tends to be quite packed, but as I sat there writing my letters with a cup of Latin American blend of Espresso Roast, I realized that the place was perfect for this. And that became a seed of an idea that slowly took roots in my head until the decision of a "Letter Writing Monday" was born.

On Tumblr I follow a lot of blogs that have to do with studying, and lot of them show pictures of notes, summaries, mind maps, neat desks and notes covering tables with a laptop here and there, and a trademark Starbucks cup. Not many of these talk to you about programmed down time, and down time is needed. So, I need to reply to my friends, and I need to plan in a break in my schedule, make time for classes, studies, readings, and yes, me-time with letter writing, friend-meeting and movie nights.

I still haven't thought about installing a particular date for meeting with my friends, whom I haven't seen in quite a few weeks now, but to begin with the new period, I'm setting my letter-days and my initial study days. :-) All the rest will come around.

Oh, BTW, on the matter of the Bullet Journal, I'm about to finish my notebook, which will complete my project. I have been thinking about making a video about it, my first, because it might be too much for photographing and then writing a post about it. Who knows. As it is, there are nice parts of it, and parts I didn't like so much. My planning system with have a little variation for next year - and not only the new binder I'm planning on getting. But we shall see about that.

Books, Coffee and ChapStick

"Living without Reading
would be living
without Living."

Today I met with three of my dearest friends at a Starbucks for some book-club chatting. It's not a "Book Club" like the traditional ones. You see, it's a group of girls from different countries - okay, mostly four different Latin American countries - who basically chat about books on a closed group on Facebook. Our group is reference-only, so people can't request entrance unless one of the existing members decides to refer that person into the group. that way we all make sure that at least one of us knows the new member personally and can be responsible for them. In the beginning the group was mostly made up of Mexican girls, but as time went by, the Costa Rican share has been growing and growing until now we are the largest part of the group.

Inspite of it, and the fact that we all make a network of friends, trying to meet all together has been impossible. Some of us have met, and have made new friends - personal, real life friends - and have had the most amazing time together. Though I have never met a new friend through these few meetings we have been able to arrange, to my utter delight, I have had the opportunity of introducing some of my friends to other friends, so that now they are friends too. ^_^

Our conversations usually go around many interesting, delightful things. We share experiences about books, tell each other about what we have read and what er  recommend to each other, but also talk about relationships, friends, work, travels and find the most amazing things in common, or the most curious divergencies.

In today's coffee&books, many of the girls who said would attend, didn't make it, but those of us who did had the chance to talk about travels, our experiences shopping in the U.S, (not like I have much to say about that, as my "shopping" while in Salem and Boston was reduced to books, bumperstickers, a cat-ears hat for myself and a Tardis hat for Kate, and a large cup of black and white LEGO bricks for my brother), and then ending up with Andrea also asking to tag along for our October 2016 Salem Trip. Yay! It's going to be fabulous! Must admit though, that I'm worried Carrie would be displease, as I have the feeling that she doesn't like Andrea very much. That would be so sad, because I love Carrie and I definitively love Andrea. Both of them warm my heart quite a lot.

Anyway, we were supposed to go see the new Starbucks that opened at Sabana, but there was a football match in process, so we decided to go to another Starbucks. We all like Starbucks very much ^_^. And no, we don't mind the overcharged coffee when our country produces the best coffee in the world. Personally, I like it because I always order a special. My favorite of all is the Pumpkin Spice, but that's an October specialty. Today I could choose between Gingerbread, some cupcake something and Dark Cherry. Since I already had the gingerbread one, I went for the dark cherry. Loved it!

Among our conversations we talked about someone from our group who pretty much tricked her entrance and who turned out to be the worse possible person to have in the group. She's basically a needy, irresponsible attention whore, who seeks constantly to impose on others, play the victim or flaunt her financial situation in other people's faces. Can't wait to get rid of her. It seems she has earned the dislike of many of us, so maybe it won't be hard to get her out. Boy, why is it that in every great group, at some point some pain in the ass comes to ruin the fun?

Thanks Hyne, though she had said she would come to our meeting, in the end she didn't. At least we had peace and a great time.

Among the things we discussed there was a particular subject Andrea mentioned. She had gone recently to the States where she bought herself a time-turner keychain. She's a Harry Potter fan, an completely identifies herself with Hermione. Thus the time-turner only made sense. She was so happy and so proud of it, that she shared a picture of it on our group. I saw it today, and the real thing is even more beautiful that the picture. Anyway, this annoying attention whore replied to her picture saying that she had several collectibles she had purchased from very exclusive and expensive places, and that we should make a collectible swap. We discussed this odd thing and Andrea mentioned she replied to her telling her that she didn't buy collectibles, only things she could actually put to good use. The idea made me think, because, yes, I also tend to buy things just because they are pretty, and they all end up stashed somewhere, so I thought of taking her advise for myself and start thinking about the actual use I can give to things and use them.

It's difficult sometimes to get past this, because some things are nearly "automatic" in us, but maybe if we pay attention, not only do we save money, but also can afford to concentrate better on making ourselves happy. Happiness isn't in the purchasing of things, but more in the achieving, in the living, in the realizing. Happiness attached to purchase is the happiness by possession of things, not necessarily by the "enjoying" of things. Shouldn't we favor the enjoyment, the living, the experiencing over the possession? After all, the joy, the experience lives forever in the memory and can't be taken away, while the possession can easily be lost.

However, there's another part of this "care to what we buy" thing other than my earlier diatribe on happiness, and that's being observant of what one really need. For instance, now I'm trying to cut my buying food at work and rather carry it from home. Since I'm on a diet, it's much easier to observe the processing of the food and keeping better watch over what and when I eat, rather than suddenly having to decide what do I want to eat, and hope it comes in the right portions. Now, food isn't my only "problem". Evidently, pens and pencils are also, since I have more pens and pencils that what I could use in a life time, but also - and so I found out today - chapsticks. Perhaps you remember that I've this tendency of buying lipsticks, lots of them, even though I don't really use them. About that, recently I had to throw away my whole collection because they were all expired, and I had hardly used them. Of course, this only prompted me to buy more, but those have not been used. What I do use a lot is chapsticks. I don't like it when my lips are dry, skin tensed and painful, so I try to make sure I always have one on me. When I don't, I go crazy and make sure to buy one at the first chance. As result, as I just realized, I end up with a lot of chapsticks rolling around in my bags, in my drawers, pen cases, baskets, boxes... you name it. I love them I use them, they all get used up before they expire, but do I really need to have around... six of them at all times? At least?

This is something in which I must start to control myself.

Baby steps. ^_^