Hitchhiking, Drugs, and Police
I would rather not identify myself unless necessary, but I went through the Southwestern experience in 1990. I am from Kentucky, and I went through the brainwashing week in Nashville with everyone else. I was sent to Oklahoma. I truly enjoyed some of the people I got to meet in Oklahoma, but that summer was likely one of the worst of my life. I had no clue about any of the characteristics of human nature until I went through the summer. I think all in all, I didn't lose my entire life savings or anything, but that was only considering that I had a wreck (one of TWO) at the end of the summer that was not my fault. With the compensation I had from that, I pulled to at worst $500 - $1000 of breaking even probably.
The biggest challenge was being placed in what was generally a pretty economically depressed area. Nobody wanted the books, they were luxuries that few could afford. The people were generally nice. I had MANY calamities, though. Among a few:
1) Car got stuck in the middle of nowhere in a "low water bridge". The water was over 5 feet deep. The low water bridge was very isolated, but we had to go way out everywhere to try to get sales. That bridge was right after an extremely sharp turn, so there was nowhere to turn. It took hours for someone to come and pull me out. There were fish swimming in my car. No lie!!!
2) Car broke down at least once I had to put it in the shop, and I couldn't get a ride from anyone else in my group. The field manager told me to HITCHHIKE. I had to do that over a week, and on one occasion I was escorted out of town by the police. These very nice chicken farmers gave me a ride, but they didn't come by until about 2 am. I was wasted the next day. The ride was about 37 miles.
3) In numerous houses I went into, people were in the process of using drugs, mostly pot, but some of the harder stuff too. They just let me in and began conversations.
4) I had two car wrecks. The first was my fault, the second was the other person's fault. I don't even want to know how many miles I put on that little Chevette that summer.
5) Another point people may not mention alot is the racial relations. I was in an area of OK where there were MANY native americans. There were MANY reservations. I was told to go onto the reservations to try to sell, too. They have a totally different set of rules, and the Nashville brainwash could have never prepared me for the things going on there. Generally, I was treated well. However, understandably, some of the native americans had deep resentment still toward the likes of me.
The most frustrating thing about the summer was that if you were not working the right way and in the right place, you could have worked 24/7 and lost your shirt for the summer. No matter wat Southwestern says, some of what it comes down to is the fortune of where you are sent. I do not believe that they think things through that well on some of the areas they send people. They expect these very young naive people to have the street smarts to know what to do in sometimes very volatile, very alien situations.
Send Zig Ziglar to a place where the people are broke, with no money, no car, and they don't even speak his languge. See if he is such a hot shot then!!!
I wish everyone who went through the program only the best because I think in a way, we are all forever now members of this little secret club of "those who understand".
Received: May 31, 2008
