New Stories 2003
B
I traveled with the company involved in the crash in Wisconsin. The driver in that crash was my good friend for the whole time I traveled. We had some found memories together. Luckily for me I quit the business in Florida about a month prior to the accident. Two of the people in the crash I knew very well. Fortuantly for them they were among the survivors. I also worked for another company about a year later as i was stranded in CO.
I can for surely say I would NOT recommend joining a magazine crew or any traveling crew for that matter. The promise of tons of money are very far-fetched, unless you have a knack for it, and move up into the management very quickly. You most likely will spend your days going door to door stressing over sales, and constantly hiding from apartment managers and the police. (Due to soliciting rules in practically every place you go). All in all, I can say it was an experience, I met alot of people, still keep in touch with some, but do not advise it, no matter how bad you think you have it where you are.
There is little help to get back on your feet, because once you join and then decide to quit, you are going to be put on a bus back home with little or no money. They will tell you they have to wait for "bad business" before they give you ALL your money. Again, not recommended.
As for the fatal crash in Janesville, hmm.. tears come when I think about it. My good friend is now responsible for the death of 7 people. 7+++++ families changed forever, because of one irrational decision. I feel very lucky that my girlfriend and I quit in Daytona Beach when we did, otherwise both of us most likely would have been involved in that accident. In closing, IT IS NOT WORTH IT and all the talk of traveling and getting to see the country. Thats just riduculous, you see different doors of apartment complexes all over the U.S. Thats not traveling. And honestly after awhile everywhere seems the same because you are running constanly 6 days a week from at least 8 in morning until 8 at night.
V
I started working for a crew in the beginning of Sept., 2001. When I first got there, I thought it was the best job in the world. I work for 6 hours a day, make about 5-600 dollars a week, (I was one of the top agents), travel across the U.S., and party with new people.
There were some rules about the job that did make sense and that kept things pretty civilized for the most part. The guys weren't allowed in the girl's rooms after 1:00am, there was no driving of the company vehicles unless you had a valid driver's license and you had not been drinking, and there were no drugs allowed, other than alcohol or marijuana, and if so, you were fired.
The first couple months seemed to be the most fun I'd had for a while. I was one of the top agents, met a lot of cool people, and really enjoyed what I was doing. Then, I started going through, what they call, a slump. Meaning, I wasn't writing the same amount of business as I was before. Soon, the management and supervisors started acting differently towards me and even rude. I soon realized that the way they treat you all depends on the amount of business you write. If you have good business that day, they were your best friends. Then, the next day, if totally biffed it, they treated you as if you were they're enemy from highschool.
We also had these envelopes for each one of the agents which were for saving up for Christmas vacation. I counted mine every other week just to keep updated on the money I had. Then, the envelopes got stolen, due to highly irresponsible secretary we had, and our boss was supposed to reinburse all of us when we started new envelopes. I had a total of about $600 and didn't see a penny of it. In our new envelopes, towards Christmas when we were to receieve them, I had about $900 in that one. I was only given $400 of that. The one semi-decent thing about our boss is that he did send all of us on pretty nice vacations for Christmas.
My first year he sent 4 of us to Mazatlan, Mexico. That was nice. He told us that we were getting the penthouse suite on top of the hotel to stay for nine days. Cool, right? Wrong, when we got there, before we had even seen our room, the front desk told us that we were $300 short on our room. They didn't even give us enough money to pay for our room. One of the guys had to use the only $300 that he brought with him to finish paying our room. Then, the room. It was one of the smallest rooms in the hotel and had to hold us 4 for 3 days, and another girl came down after that. So it was 5 of us in one room that was smaller than a regular sized hotel room. That was fun.
If I went into details about all of the things that our boss did while I was working for him, I could probably write a book. To summarize things, we were all puppets that were stringed along by him. We had to work rain, shine, wind storm, thunder and lightning, he didn't care. All he wanted was his money. I was left on territory in a monsoon for 5 hours. The trees in the neighborhood were snapping off from the ground and smacking down in the road. And because I only had 7 sales, I was left out there for 2 more hours. Sometimes, if we had a bad 1st drop, we weren't taken to lunch. What our boss felt like fining you for he could. My friend and I worked together once and because he didn't like it, he took $100 out of my envelope. I was late to a morning meeting one day and he fined me and a few other people $100, but since I was one of them he decided to raise it to $300. He didn't like me very much because I stood up for myself and told him the things I thought. I didn't kiss his ass and bow down to him like everyone else did, so he had a problem with that.
Our boss also had a huge complex with women and had a very hard time listening to anything they had to say. He also has a huge self-esteem problem. He's a big pill popper and alcoholic. That's how he solves all of his problems. He's on a huge power trip and that's why he treats people the way he does. He feels like he needs to be in control of everyone. People respect out of fear, not because they want to or that he's even deserved their respect. Guarunteed, all of the people that associate with him, is because they are afraid of what would happen if they didn't talk to him, or didn't smile in front of him, or didn't do or say what pleased him. He is also a very sexually abusive man. Not only to myself, but to many of other young women that have worked for him. One of the girls, he had sexual intercourse with while she was in the black-out stage of drunkiness. She did not remember anything, but was aware of the incident. When she went home for a family emergency, he paid her $10,000 to not return.
He has also been known to be very physically abusive. One guy that used to work for him, was beaten many times because he didn't do things when or how our boss wanted them. As I recall, he actually broke his ribs at one point.
Our paysheets were always off. They never added up to what you should've been making. I actually did make very good money in the time that I worked there, but if I had gotten all the money that I actually earned, it would've doubled.
Our boss also had a way of testing us. Mainly testing our loyalty towards him. For example, the way I ended up leaving. One Monday, I had 6 sales, which was a very terrible day for me, so our boss wanted to send me home for a couple weeks to regain my positivity. If I came back, I'd still have to deal with all of the bullshit, but in return he'd give me my $2000 in awards that I had won. I had won them weeks before this day, he just held them back from me specifically for this reason. If I stayed home, I'd be free from all of it, but not see a penny of my money. Either way, he'd be winning. He knew how much I hated him and the job that it would please him to have me stay and be miserable, but as long as I wrote him a ton of business. And if I left, he would get to keep the $2000 of mine, and take in pride the fact that he got the best of me.
Well, when people quit, they get about $20. I decided, screw him. I'm not coming back. But before they had figured that part out, They gave me $200, thinking that I was returning in two weeks. Then the shocker. My boyfriend of one year, that I had met on crew, was one of the best carhandlers, and overall employee that our boss had ever had; very loyal, never lazy, was always quick to do anything for our boss because that's what a good, loyal employee did. Well, I told them that I didn't need a ride, I had my own. They kept asking how? Finally, my boyfriend handed over his company cell phone to the secretary and said, "She's coming with me." Everyone that was around was in shock. This guy had been there for 2 years, and from what everyone thought, he was going to be the next big manager. He just finally started to see the bigger picture and the kind of things that were really going on.
Overall I think our boss is one of the most evil and unmoralized human beings in the world. I also feel sorry for all of the people that work for him and think otherwise. The one thing that makes me feel better about the whole thing is that everyone gets what's coming to them, whether it's good or bad. Kharma builds up overtime, and, in my opinion, the more you've done, the harder it hits. Therefore, our boss awaits one big kick in the ass. I do have to say that I have learned a lot and grown up a lot from this experience. Not to mention finding my wonderful boyfriend who I am very much in love with, but I strongly advise all you teens, and parents to never send your child on a magazine crew. It's not worth the time, effort, or abuse (physically and mentally). There are so many things that I would have rather done in the past year and half, but I didn't and I've learned. Like I've mentioned before, it was a great learning experience, but I will never in a million years go back to a magazine crew.
JM
My story is its a scam you dont get paid or a guaranteed a ride home. ive been screwed out of 1300.00 and stranded in buffulo ny for 2 weeks and my personal property missing. ive been arrested 21 times in new jersery for having no permit.
E
when i was selling magazines i experienced alot of uncomfortable
situations. for example i would be traveling city to city knocking
on strangers doors till 10 oclock at night. walking down dark
streets alone making only half of my commissions living in and
out of hotels no medical insurance getting into trouble with law
for soliciting with no sales permit. no identification.
been attacked by dogs with no medical assisstance.friend was abducted
by customer didnt find her for 2 days i had to go to where she
was the night before and look for her. the crew managers didnt
even put effort to find her.
J
I MYSELF HAVE A STORY TO TELL.
I HAVE BEEN ON CREW FOR THREE YEARS, I CAME FROM A SMALL TOWN
AND HAD NO IDEA WHAT WAS COMING MY WAY WHEN I TOOK THE JOB MY
FRIEND HAD OFFERED ME.
I STARTED IN THE SNOW AND AT FIRST I THOUGHT I WAS BEING BRAINWASHED,BUT
AFTER A FEW DAYS I COULDN'T EVEN TELL THE DIFERENCE. I DROPPED
OUT OF SCHOOL AND THIS JOB MADE ME FEEL LIKE I HAD A FUTURE. ONE
OF THE MANAGERS TOOK AN INTEREST IN ME EARLY ON AND CONVINCED
ME TO HOOK UP WITH HIM. THAT WAS THE BIGGEST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE.
HE PRETENDED TO BE NICE AND SWEET ,THEN THE REAL HIM CAME OUT.
I HAD A CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING WITH MYLIFE, LIKE MOST GIRLS ON
CREW STILL DO. EXCEPT NOW I HAVE A CHILD TO THINK ABOUT AND A
MAN THAT TREATS ME LIKE SHIT. MY WHOLE LIFE WENT DOWN THE DRAIN
BECAUSE OF ONE BAD DECISON ON MAGCREW. I WON'T SAY ALL OF IT WAS
BAD. THERE WERE SOME GOOD TIMES BUT FEW AND FAR BETWEEN.
I WISH I WOULD'VE KNOWN AHEAD OF TIME.
K
I WAS JUST READING THIS STORIES ON THIS WEB SITE AND TO MY SUPRISE THEIR WAS A STORY FROM A GIRL THAT PUT ME INTO TOTAL SHOCK.......I WORKED FOR THE SAME COMPANY AS HER A FEW YEARS BEFORE....BUT THE MAN SHE WAS RAPED BY AND THE MAN SHE WAS HIRED BY I KNEW REALLY WELL.......
FOR STARTERS IT WAS JULY OF 97 I WAS HOME ALONE AND BORED AND ALL OF A SUDDEN A REALLY NICE GIRL CAME TO MY PARENTS DOOR SELLING MAGS.....SHE AND I BEGAN TO TALK AND THE NEXT THING I KNOW I WAS LEAVING FOR THIS GREAT (SO I THOUGHT) JOB.
I LIVE IN A SMALL TOWN AND WE WERE ONLY STAYING 30 MIN AWAY FROM HOME FOR THE FIRST WEEK SO I THOUGHT THAT I WOULD TRY IT......RIGHT OFF THE BAT I MET A GUY (WHICH STILL WORKS FOR THE COMPANYAND IS THE GUY THE OTHER GIRL THAT I DON'T KNOW WAS TALKING ABOUT)....HE IS A VERY GOOD LOOKING GUY SO IT WAS EASY TO FALL FOR HIM....HE WAS THE BOSS'S FAVORITE SO OF COURSE THE BOSS LIKED ME RIGHT AWAY...THIS GUY AND I WERE DATING FOR ABOUT A MONTH BEFORE WE HEADED OFF TO TEXAS..AND ACTUALLY I WAS HAVING A GOOD TIME UNTIL THAT AWFUL MORNING IN DALLAS.....I HAD STAYED IN THIS GUY'S ROOM THAT NIGHT AND FOR SOME REASON WE DID NOT GET A WAKE UP CALL SO IN RETURN HE WAS LATE WAKING UP....IT WAS SOMEWHERE AROUND 5 AM....SO HE WENT TO THE BOSS'S ROOM TO GET THE KEYS BECAUSE HE WAS RUNNING SO LATE...THE NEXT THING I KNOW I SAW HIM BEING PICKED UP BY THE THROAT AND THROWN AGAINST THE WALL.....THEN THE BOSS SHUT THE DOOR WITH HIM INSIDE ....I WAS SO FREAKED I WAS CRYING AND SHAKING.....THE GUY THOUGHT THAT HE WAS WRONG SO HE NEVER FOUGHT BACK...THEY BRAINWASH YOU.......I WAS EVEN STARTING TO BELIEVE THAT THIS WAS THE WAY LIFE IS......ANYWAY I CONTINUED TO STAY BECAUSE I LOVED THIS GUY (SO I THOUGHT)......I WAS LEFT IN SCARY NEIGHBORHOODS.....DUMPED OFF AT MILITARY BASES....AND TO THIS DAY I AM STILL BANNED FROM A BASE OUT IN CALI.....STOPPED BY THE POLICE AND EVEN THROWN IN JAIL FOR SELLING MAGS....MIND YOU I HAD NO PRIOR RECORD.....I WAS EVEN LOCKED INSIDE A MANS HOUSE...BUT OF COURSE THEY DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT AS LONG AS THEY WERE MAKING MONEY.....I SURE WASN'T......I WAS CRAZY.....FINALLY AFTER A YEAR WE WERE IN CALIFORNIA AND THE GUY GOT A NEW ROOMATE....HE WAS HIRED WHEN WE WERE ALL OUT SLAVING OUR BUTTS OFF SO I MET THE GUY WHEN I GOT HOME THAT NIGHT....HE SEEMED TO BE A FRIENDLY GUY UNTIL.... I WOKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT TO THIS STRANGE MANS HANDS IN MY PANTS....I WAS SO FREAKED ...I JUST SAT UP IN BED AND STARTED TO YELL WHILE THE GUYS WAS TRYING TO HIDE UNDER THE BED.....FINALLY MY BOYFRIEND AND I CAME TO...GOT OUT OF BED HE BEAT THE GUY UP WHILE I WAS AT THE BOSS'S ROOM SAYING I WAS CALLING THE POLICE.....THE BOSS JUST LAUGHED AND TOLD ME TO GO BACK TO BED.....I WAS SO MAD,CONFUSED AND HURT....I WAS TO AFRAID TO CALL HOME AND TELL MY PARENTS BECAUSE I KNEW MY MOM WOULD BE ON THE NEXT PLANE OUT.....SO I WENT INTO HIDDING FOR A FEW DAYS NOT EVEN SPEAKING TO MY BOYFRIEND.....I JUST DIDN'T UNDERSTAND WHY THE BOSS WOULDN'T DO THE RIGHT THING AND LET ME CALL THE POLICE....
BUT ONLY A FEW WEEKS LATER I GOT MY REVENGE ON THE BOSS......WE WERE IN ARIZONA...AND YES I WAS HAVING A BAD DAY WITH SALES...HE DROPPED ME OFF IN A NEIGHBORHOOD THAT HAD ONE FAMILY THAT SPOKE ENGLISH...SO THEREFORE I HAD ONE SALE IN THAT 45 MIN TIME.....I SAW HIM COMING DOWN THE ROAD TO PICK ME UP AND I WAS SCARED TO DEATH TO TELL HIM THAT I ONLY GOT ONE.....SO HE PULLED UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HIGHWAY AND EXPECTED ME TO JUST RUN OUT IN THE ROAD TO GET IN SO LIKE A DUMB ASS I DID....AS SOON AS I TOLD HIM I HAD ONLY GOTTEN ONE HE FREAKED......NOT JUST YELLING EITHER......HE PULLED THE VAN UP INTO SOMEONES LAWN..AND STARTED TELLING ME TO GET THE FU*% OUT...OF COURSE I SAID NO BY THIS POINT IN TIME I HAD HAD ENOUGH OF THIS GUY.....HE BETRAYED ME WEEKS PRIOR.......SO HE (REMIND YOU HE PROBABLY WEIGHED 275 POUNDS IF NOT MORE) GOT IN THE BACK SEAT WERE I WAS AND STARTED SITTING ON ME TRYING TO GET ME OUT OF THE CAR.....AS I TRIED TO FIGHT BACK HE SOMEHOW THREW ME OUT OF THE VAN........I HAD CUTS AND SCRAPES AND NOT TO MENTION GRASS STAIN FROM HEAD TO TOE....THANK GOD A FAMILY THAT SPOKE ENGLISH SAW WHAT HAPPENED AND TOOK ME INTO THEIR HOUSE AND FIRST WE CALLED THE COPS THEN THE NICE FAMILY LET ME CALL HOME....NEEDLESS TO SAY THE COPS NEVER SHOWED AND THE OTHER BOSS CAME TO SAVE ME......LIKE AN IDIOT I STAYED BECAUSE OF MY BOYFRIEND.
ONE DAY WE BOTH HAD HAD ENOUGH SO WE RAN AWAY AND HAD TO TAKE THE COMPANY CAR TO A BUS STOP.....WE CALLED SAYING WHERE THE CAR WAS AFTER WE WERE OFF ON OUR WAY......ANYWAY THEY KEPT CALLING OUR HOUSES TRYING TO GET US BACK........AFTER MY BOYFRIEND CAUSED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON ME ....HE LEFT AND WENT BACK TO THE COMPANY AND STILL TO THIS DAY HE IS WITH THEM......HE IS WANTED IN MY HOME TOWN.....JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE IN THE COMPANY.
TO END THE STORY ...JUST LAST SPRING I FOUND OUT WHERE THEY WERE...WENT THERE ......AND TOOK 2 GIRLS WITH ME THAT WERE AFRAID TO LEAVE ON THEIR OWN....IN RETURN THE BOSS CALLED ME AT HOME AND THREATENED MY LIFE....I CHANGED THE # AND HAVE NOT HEARD FROM HIM SINCE...THANK GOD.........THEY ARE CRUEL CRUEL PEOPLE......
CE
I've worked for 2 different clearing houses and 3 different sales crews.
Where should i start? you wanna know about lies? it all started with the initial phone call. I had no idea what i was getting myself into, all i knew was i was taking a job in washington for a sales company. the girl that hired me never told me anything but i would make anywhere between 4-6 hundred a week. and if i didn't like it after 2 weeks, they would pay for my ticket back to LA. i was told i would be staying in a hotel room, and it was a sales team.
When i arrived,i was thrown into a room with 3 people i never met before, made to sleep on the floor, and kicked in the chest the next morning at 6:00am in order to wake up. i jumped up, got in the kids face, and told him if he woke me up like that again, it would be the last time he woke me up. not 15 minutes later, i was called into the "office"(room down the hall), and screamed at by my so-called boss. So the first morning didnt get off to a very good start. Then i was brought into a large room around 8am, and i walked into a room full of kids singing "crew songs", spealing contest, and a whole bunch of other crazy things. so i'm thinking to myself "what did i get myself into?" but i figured i'd give it the two weeks and take off after that. Yeah right.
It's almost imposible to leave this place, if you try to leave they talk you into staying, if they fire you, they'll take you back just b/c your a sharp kid. and when you don't have any money, what the @#$% are you gonna do.
Now lets talk about money. they have this thing known to mag kids as your "books". what the hell is this. it's some imaginary way for them to keep your money. if you go out and have 10 sales for $300 in production, you made $150 that day. i understand they take out $10 for the hotel, and you have to have some money there for cancellations, but where is the rest. what happens to all the money.
They pull off these "fines". I remember i was 2 minutes late for a morning meeting one day, and my boss told me he was fining me $100. can you believe that, for some unknown reason they have the ability to just take your money at will. i remember another time i had like $900 on my "books" on a monday, and i asked if it would be ok to take some of it and start a bank account. they said yes, but i would have to leave at least $200 there for cancellations, i said ok, well tuesday came, and no money, wednesday, thrusday, and still no $700 to start a bank account. Friday finally came, and i was told that cancellations came in and i got like $400 in cancellations. so i couldn't start my account. did i ever get to see the cancellations? NO. Did i ever get to see my books? NO.
Now here's the one that really got me with success express. The owner was not around much. A guy ran his crew. this guy had no idea what it was like to sell magazines, he was just a good friend of the owner that had a college degree in marketing or something. so his friend was the guy we dealt with on a regular. This guy was not a small man by any means, and he used that to every advantage. He would get to people with intimidation. i remember once he busted into my room threating to beat me up b/c i was late for morning meeting after i was out all night drinking with him. can you imagine that.
So anyway, this is the reason i left success express. We were in Vegas, and we were planning to send some agents to Hawaii to sell. i was picked and we were told we had to pay for our tickets, i was ok with that, even though round trip was something like $1200. so the owner payed for it, and he was charging us daily for it. I was totally ok with that b/c hawaii is a good place to sell, and you could make a lot of money. i think i payed the money off in like 7 days, the whole thing. then a week later, i was told i had to come back to vegas for some bullshit reason, and i had to pay the money to change the ticket. he wanted me back, yet i had to pay for it. that dosen't make sense. so after i got back to vegas, i just quit and went back home.
Now 2 months go by and i was trying to get into the navy, and i couldn't b/c i was issued 2 warrents for my arrest in michigan for soliciting. tickets that i was told were being taken care of. yeah right. i spent 17 hours in jail in dearborn michigan for soliciting, then the day after i got out, we took off to virginia beach. how in the hell was i gonna make it back for my court date. Well the marketing guy said this wasn't the first time he had to deal with something like this, and he would take care of it. never happened. well anyway, i was home and started talking to the owner and we worked out a plan where i would come back to work for a different manager but still for the same company, this was ok with me b/c i liked the manager i was gonna work for.
This worked for about 6 months, and i just got sick of not having any money, and all the traveling. 15 months now, and i still have nothing to show for it. i said that's it, it's the end, i'm done. and i left 2 days before my 22 birthday. i'm done with magazines now?
No, i went back home for 9 months, and just got sick of it, so i called one of the managers back, he ran the second crew i worked for, and i came back out and worked for him for another 4 months, and this time i was set on catching them stealing money from me, if not catching them, then at least not allowing it to happen. yeah right, never in my 10 months of working for this manager did i get to see a printout of how much i made, how much i spent, or anything like that. he was better than the marketing guy though, at least he would let you see what was on your books, but you never really got the whole picture. just a number that you really couldn't question.
so then i quit working for that manager again, and i found another crew based out of texas. and i thought it would be different. and it was at first. you got all your money, as long as you brought in the cash. but after 2 months of this, i realized it's all the same manuplitive people, just different names. how bout this one. when we stayed in Pilot point Tx, the owner of the clearing house owned the hotel we stayed in, and we still got charged the $14 a night. even though everything was free to him, and it didn't cost him a penny for us to stay there, we were still charged.
I guess it finally burnt me out. working 12 hour days will do that to you. you could have your business on the day, and they'll still drop you off until 8-8;30 and be late picking you up, and you'll be working an hour from the hotel, so you don't get back until 9-9:30, by the time your done checking in and everything else, what could you do, nothing. The people who run these businesses are manulipitive, money hungry,and spiteful. no matter what they say, they don't care about you, your problems, or anything else about you. all they care about is they're pocket getting fatter, no matter what the cost. i know i've been in the business for 3 years, i know how everything goes, i know what goes on behind closed doors. and i think the reason i bang heads with the managers so much is b/c i do know so much. and they don't like the idea of someone knowing as much as they do, it scares them. well i've got so much more to say, but it could go on forever, some good, but mostly bad.
E
I just got home today and decided to write and let everyone know my story. I sold for 2 weeks and all the crew was about was sex drugs and alcohol. I was beat with a metal bar after one of the managers got me drunk and I would not sleep with them. I got privalages taken away for not drinking or having sex with crew members. The money sucked. I was told they would return me home and they didnt. I got a hold of my family to send me home. I was told they would take me to the bus station and I missed 3 buses because they refused to take me. Finally my family got a hold of Las Vegas PD to take me to the station to get out of there. Please this business is not all that it is put out to be. Always remember if something sounds to good to be true then it is.
JH
Basically, magazine crews are scams. They say you can make a lot of money, however they neglect to mention the money that you LOSE when people cancel after finding out you lied to them. Never mind the fact that you were TRAINED to lie.
I worked from 9:30 in the morning to at least 9 o'clock at night, six days a week. I saw much of the country--and many people's lives ruined.
You get sucked into the life--and 6 months down the road you never speak to anyone back home, and the only people in your life are the people that you work with--the people that leave after being there a month.
