Greedy Southwestern
I was a freshman in UCLA (UC Los Angeles) when I first heard about Southwestern. A guy was passing out these tiny forms asking for your information, and if you were interested in a summer internship that can earn you up to $10,000. The presentation of it all was very attracting, and I thought I could get a lot out of it: good on resumes, boost your communication skills, earn some good money. They even made “door-to-door” sound as if it wasn’t just walking around banging on every front door, but you had a list of potential clients that you refer to before selling. (Yea, that list is the map of streets and houses you draw to remember if you went to that house already.)
Basically, before I had time to really think about it, I had sign this form consenting my life was not the company’s responsibility but if I ran away, they had the right to my money. Next thing I knew, I was getting pre-training from my somewhat-seemed-nice Student Manager. It was only within that training period that I found out I had to pay my own way to get to Nashville, Tennessee for the official training and supplies. But it sort of too late to back out; I had sign the form and given up $200 for this sample book I used for training – and no, I couldn’t return it and get my money back. But I wanted to prove that I could do it; that I can succeed.
What I didn’t realize was how my Student Manager had basically brainwashed me from the start. He told me that even if your family and friends are 100% against you doing this, prove them wrong. They don’t know me better than him. (And I only met the guy.) Even when I was over 1000 miles away from home, trapped in an unknown place, my manager told me not to call home, or not answer calls from friends and family, so I would be “focused on working”.
There was no home set up for us as promised. Two other students and I had to run away asking strangers if we can live in their homes either for free or low rent. I worked about 12 hours a day without rest, 6 days a week. There was no time to eat, except for your daily sit-down breakfast. I couldn’t even sleep in on Sunday because of the required Sunday meetings which we had to fund ourselves because Southwestern doesn’t even provide meetings for free. By the end of the summer, I had lost 15 pounds (I was skinny already before I started; I went under 100 pounds with a 5’ 2” figure.), and my periods stopped completely. It took about three months alone afterwards to fully recover from the impact it had on my body.
I had almost completely believed in the program and the company up until I saw their true colors when our Sales Manager (who was employed with the company; yes, he gets salary plus commission off of what we sell) appeared in one of our Sunday meetings. He had made two of our team members cried and told them they wouldn’t be able to sell no matter and should quit and go home. He told them to pay the losses and find their own ways home. Sure, they were having bad sales, but they were trying their hardest, and he would send a verbal slap across the face and kill their confidence? They had told us that we were like family, and that we take care of each other. Obviously, that wasn’t it. That was what hit me finally that Southwestern isn’t what it says it is. I kept up the hard work, knocking on 30 plus doors each day and working so late that I don’t eat dinners and able to only sleep for 5 hours max.
Southwestern only wants your money. That’s their real motive. They do not lose anything if you don’t sell, but gain quite a bit if you do. Your travel, your training, your materials; everything is up to you to pay. Even the shipping of books to where you stay and the books that you sell off to your customers are from your own pocket. In the end, I didn’t make any money; I only covered my cost of going through this horrible ordeal, and had to ask my younger sister to spot me money so I can take a plane home. As for the average students make about $8,000 a summer, it only really applies because the few top Student Managers make up to $100,000 (from his own sales and from commission based on your sales). Just think how many people have losses and very little profit to average that number out to $8,000. Yea, a lot. I only hope students can read the other side of the “you can make $10,000” story before falling for their scam.
Received: January 26, 2009
