Why Did Your Former Director Drop You?
We’ve often seen Pink Truth members upset at the loss of a Mary Kay friendship. What happens when someone is your friend first, and then becomes your sales director…. and then once you leave Mary Kay, you never hear from her again? And what happens when your husband becomes seriously ill and you still don’t hear from her? Here’s what may go through the sales director’s mind.
Written by PinkPeace
Giving your ex-SD the benefit of the doubt and assuming the best about her, I could see the following scenario:
She finds out her close friend is leaving Mary Kay. She is sad, because she has been friends with her for a long time, and she takes it a little personally that she won’t be working with her anymore. In addition, she’s worried about how her loss will affect her unit’s production. The unit’s not doing too well as it is, and now she’s really going to have to scramble to replace one of her top people (let’s call her Anna).
Then the chargeback comes from your product return. OMG, it’s $1000 taken out of her check in one month! How is she going to pay her expenses this month? Can she really afford to put another $1000 on a credit card again? Her husband will KILL her if he finds out. But, she has to go to Seminar, right? I mean, she is a sales director and the speed of the leader is the speed of the gang.
She prays that God will somehow bless her business, send the next superstar into her path and guide her into the success that’s hers, if only she will believe. And as Christian as she is trying to be, it’s really hard to be pleasant to someone who has just taken $1000 from you. She’ll give Anna a call in a couple of weeks when she’s feeling a little more Christ-like.
Meanwhile, Anna seems so happy and at peace. It’s like the weight of the world is off her shoulders. She’s starting to have fun with her family and friends, and has time for new interests that have nothing to do with Mary Kay. Must be nice. Wait, Anna’s gotten a job that she likes? Dang. With benefits, too.
Well, she’ll show HER. Doesn’t Anna know that Mary Kay is the best opportunity for women in the world? She may be happy working for someone else now, but one day she’ll regret leaving the SD, her unit and Mary Kay. Meanwhile, the SD can’t let on that anything’s wrong in the land of the pink. She’s going to focus, focus, focus to turn her unit around. She can’t spend time on people who aren’t going to help her get to her goal. Short-term sacrifice for long-term gain. Put those blinders on. Eyes on the prize.
She hasn’t seen Anna around for awhile. Well, her fault for throwing away a God-given opportunity. She hopes her former friend sees how much activity she’s doing so that, even if she can’t come back to Mary Kay, she’ll see all the success she’s missing. She can’t let on the truth about her mediocre unit, her constant lack of money, her fights with her husband. Nope – that is NOT painting the picture. You know, maybe it’s better that she doesn’t even call Anna. She can’t afford to be around negativity (truth).
Oh no, Anna’s husband is sick. Really sick. She should send a card or make a call or something. But she hasn’t talked to Anna in so long – it would really be awkward. Maybe stop by for a visit at the hospital? Well, they probably don’t want visitors. Besides, tonight’s her success meeting, tomorrow night’s the red jacket conference call, then there’s pizza & possibilities, then the NSD is coming to town for a big recruiting night… maybe next week.
Man, Mary Kay is getting to be such a drag. No one in her unit appreciates her and what a sales director has to go through to be successful. It’s a constant grind, not enough money and she seems to be losing friends. Wasn’t Mary Kay supposed to be executive pay for part-time work? Wasn’t every stranger just a friend you haven’t met yet? Why is she always stressed and depressed?
Time to pull out notes from last Seminar. What did she underline at that NSD-to-be class? Oh, right.
Winners never quit and quitters never win.
God gives you valleys so that you can enjoy the mountaintops.
Never associate with someone you wouldn’t trade places with.
God has put you in Mary Kay for a foreordained reason. It’s not yours to question, it’s yours to obey.
Put on your big-girl panties and deal with it.
She sighs, sends up a prayer for abundance, and picks up the phone…
Visit the
“It is not yours to question, it is yours to obey”. Yikes!
So shut up and do what you are told- where is the “empowering women” part in that statement?
I don’t know why, but I don’t think I had any chargebacks. I did have lots of unanswered calls after consultants hadn’t ordered and were terminated. The shunning I had was from sister directors, it was swift and complete and hurt deeply. What a shitty company and why the hell did so many of us accept this? Until we didn’t. Great post PP.
Suz, you never had chargebacks?? Dayum!
What I hated were those directors who said that we should bank all our recruiting commissions for a full year before spending any of that money. That way, in the event of a chargeback, we would have the money on hand to give back to MK. They implied that we should be able to pay our bills strictly from product sales. As if.
“Meanwhile, Anna seems so happy and at peace. It’s like the weight of the world is off her shoulders. She’s starting to have fun with her family and friends, and has time for new interests that have nothing to do with Mary Kay.”
I’ve heard it said you work hard so you can play harder. PinkPeace captured what a healthy work/life balance looks like, and just reading her words above brings me peace.
But these MLM uplines pressure their downlines toward 24/7 work loyalty. They fuel the rat-race and shame and blame anyone in their downline who chooses to have rich interests outside the MLM. I have yet to hear a story of an xSD asking her downline to join her in volunteering their own time regularly together for a charitable cause that does not involve even a hint of selling or recruiting.
Be like Anna. Get your life back. Pour that evening/weekend energy back into your family, friends amd community, making plenty of room for faith and charity. Then feel the abundant riches of a balanced life, which incidentally makes a mockery of the MLM “lifestyle.”
Something similar happened to me. I didn’t carry inventory, so nothing to return, so I just waited through the process of going from inactive to finally terminated. A few months later, my former director reached out about a promotion where consultants could join for $30 and asked if I would like to “restart my business.” I told her that my husband had just been diagnosed with cancer and I had my hands full supporting him through treatment and taking care of my family. After that, crickets. She never checked in to see how we were doing or reached out at all until about a year ago…when she reached out with another new consultant promotion asking if I was interested in rejoining. Sigh.
PS…husband completed treatment successfully and he’s doing fine now.