Gretchen’s Story

I have been a Mary Kay Consultant for the greater part of the past thirteen years. I was attracted to the company due to the understanding that the values of the company are Christian values. My view of Mary Kay, Inc. changed. Read on and you will understand why.

Three years ago, I resigned from a great job because I wanted to be home more for my children. So I decided to create a business out of my home working for several Mary Kay Sales Directors, doing secretarial work for them out of my home. Initially I loved the work and since my main account was my own director, I felt good knowing that I was also helping her reach her goals. She generated a great deal of work for me. Her account alone was a full-time job and eventually I had to drop all my accounts, except a handful, in order to accommodate her needs. I developed a great relationship with my unit, getting to know the consultants and spending many hours helping them.

In order to keep up with the work, my day would start around 2AM and I would work until 9PM or so. This caused much upset on the home front since most of my waking hours was spent taking care of my director’s needs but I made sacrifices because I genuinely loved her and wanted to help her and please her. My children had less time with me than when I was working a full-time corporate job. My family suffered.

In May of that year, my mom was diagnosed with cancer and was given 3 to 6 months to live. The next five months that followed were awful. In addition to working for three Directors as well as my director, I was also caring for my mom. As the five months progressed, mom needed more of my time and the business started to suffer since I wasn’t able to turn the work around as quickly as I had before. My husband and children actually became employees since I found it difficult to find enough outside help to get the work done.

Throughout that time, I really thought that my director cared and understood the circumstances I was dealing with and realized that despite all that was happening, I was doing the very best I could and still managing to get the work done.

Mom died on October 17, 2003. After that happened, I began to see Mary Kay in a different perspective and I am now left with a very bad taste in my mouth.

On the morning of October 15, 2003, I received a phone call from the Hospice facility where my mother was staying. I was informed that Mom was dying and that she would most likely be gone by the end of the day. I contacted my director and let her know what was happening and that I was “out of here.” I needed to be allowed to be with Mom and do what I had to do.

You can imagine how I felt when I went to check my cell phone messages and found numerous, on-going, rambling messages from my director inquiring if I could help her with a business problem. From the time I called my director to tell her that I had to go to be with Mom, up until Mom died, I had six phone messages. Each call was a request for work that my director needed to have done that day since she was going out of town. I couldn’t believe it. So, here I am now with my mother, and I am also being pressured by my director to take care of her business problems. I am not being left alone to put things aside so I can focus on Mom. My director actually came to Hospice that day because I wouldn’t return her calls to discuss her problem with reaching production for the month.

She also attended Mom’s memorial service, and I really thought she cared and understood what I was going through but what I actually learned was that reaching that next level in Mary Kay was more important than anything. I found out later that she used the memorial service to pass out business cards. Some of her offspring directors also attended and she used it as an occasion to give them a pep talk. One of the directors that attended the service told me how disrespectful my director acted at the service. I observed how she joked around even sitting on the stage steps as if she was at a party. I never really was able to mourn during that time because I felt such pressure from my director to get back to work. She told me that my mom would want me to be
working. (My mom didn’t like me working for her. Mom said she didn’t like how stressed out I was all the time.)

One of the jobs I completed for my director was to do the last day of the month on-line orders. I would stay up until 1AM keying in orders for my director as well as accepting orders over the phone from unit members. I was also expected to keep track of her production. One time she missed a bonus because I didn’t realize that she expected me to let her know if she was getting close to a new bonus level. (All other Directors I have worked for, kept track of their unit production themselves. They didn’t expect the secretary to do that.) But, I was happy to help her and I even took care of the end of the month when she was out of town. On October 31st, I again, stayed up and handled on-line orders for my director’s unit. According to my director’s “InTouch” site, it was my understanding that she was well over the $24,000 production level. However I later found out that her production was actually only around $23,800, due to the fact that if an order was canceled the production amount didn’t change.

The first week of November arrived and my director called me upset that she missed out on a $500 bonus because she was so close to the $24,000 production level but didn’t pass it. I explained to her that “InTouch” showed that she was over $24,000, but she said that wasn’t true. (It was after this that I realized that the amount I saw on the screen reflected an order placed by a consultant earlier in the month but for some reason the order never processed.)

My director’s solution was for me to contact Barbara Fervor and tell her that since my mother had died, I wasn’t thinking clearly or that I had taken a prescription and neglected to keep proper track of my director’s production. I wouldn’t do that. So, my director called Barbara Fervor herself and an exception was somehow granted and my director was able to get her bonus.

This is not the first time that my director used me as an excuse for a problem and appealed to Barbara Fervor for an exception. None of the other Directors I have worked for ever did that.

This time it just hit me very hard. I understood she saw my mom’s death was a convenient excuse for my director to use to get her way. I am now left questioning whether any actions taken on my behalf regarding my mom’s death were genuine.

During the month of October, I had six other relatives and friends die. With the emotional burdens of all the deaths as well as the grieving over my mother, my physician suggested if I had the means to do so that I should take a couple months off to rest. I was having bad chest pains and he felt that the stress was just too much. Even though he suggested an immediate break, I insisted on giving my director two weeks notice, out of respect and as a courtesy to her. I actually felt bad that I had to serve notice.

The last day that I worked for my director was November 21st. Due to the chaos of my mother dying and my role in the family to settle her affairs, I was not able to bill my director for my services for the past two months. I had spoken with my director and she assured me it would be okay to defer the billing. The last time she was billed for my service, I only charged her a minimal amount since she had back taxes to pay and had asked for me to help her out. The rest of the charges for that pay period were to be pushed into the following month.

During the last several months, I also generated a pile of receipts for which I was to be reimbursed. I used my own personal VISA to cover the receipts in good faith. This was done since my director had never given me any trouble before reimbursing me. She had a business MasterCard that I would normally use but on days that I was sitting with my dying mom, my husband would do the business errands for me and he would use my VISA since he wasn’t authorized to use my director’s MasterCard.

Once I served my two week notice, my director came up with reasons why she could not re-pay me. She brought up the problem with the production that she had to fix by calling Barbara Fervor. As well as the fact that she didn’t like having to train a new secretary. I received a series of phone messages from my director in which she lectures me on and on about how unfair and unprofessional this all was to her and that she didn’t feel she needed to pay me back the money owed to me so when I spoke with her, I even offered to let her make payments but she did not want to pay me at all.

In one of her many phone messages she told me that she spoke with three different national sales directors about this matter and that they could not believe what I did to her. Did she believe that I would be intimidated, or threatened by the wrath of a national sales director who probably, just like my director, could care less about my circumstances as long as their path to success is not blocked?

My director lives with another director that I also worked for. The other director called me to tell me that she would not be paying the money she owed me either.

All of the other directors I worked for paid me. When I told them what happened not one of them were surprised that my director did that to me. I asked if they could help me or advise about what to do, they refused. It was as if they were afraid. One director even said that if she got involved, my director would make her life miserable since my director is an executive senior director and makes all the major decisions regarding the use of the center where the unit meetings take place.

However, another director approached my director regarding the situation as well as contacting the Mary Kay corporate office. The corporate people did nothing and the director who spoke up resigned – she was an offspring of my director. When she resigned several other unit members also resigned and sent their products back.

I wrote the company but no one answered that letter and I also called and left a message but received no reply.

My director went on a rampage. She contacted the other directors I had worked for to bad-mouthed me. I actually have a cassette tape of a message she left on one of the director’s voice mail in which she says terrible lies about me. It’s just unbelievable to hear the things she tells this director about me. She went so far as to say that she hired me because I was mentally ill and she felt sorry for me. I was so floored when I heard the untruths she said on this tape. My director had been someone I looked up to and trusted. For her to turn on me was emotionally devastating.

I hired a lawyer to help me get some of the money I was owed. She hired her own attorney and in the letter I received it states that my mother dying had never been verified. I guess she no longer remembered attending the funeral. She said it wasn’t possible to do the amount of work that I claimed to have done and at the same time take care of my mother. Little does she know that some of her own unit members were coming over to my house in the evenings, working for me. I kept the payment stubs for each co-worker.

I eventually received a check from my director and the director that lives with her but it was a small percentage of what I was old. They told me that they paid me what they thought I deserved. After I paid all those ladies that worked for me, there was nothing left for me. I definitely got burned. I got burned badly.

What I learned is that the company does nothing for you. They only support those who are bringing in the bucks. It is disgusting how they claim to promote Christian values. This is just a front for a money grabbing capitalist corporation.

I could probably write a book about the lies and backstabbing that I have witnessed during the time I was a consultant as well as during the time I worked as a secretary for directors. My director had no qualms about stealing prospects or customers from other directors!

My director claimed to be Christian and always included her faith as part of her success meeting lecture. It’s disgusting. One of her offspring directors is Jewish. It sickened me that she was so sweet to her offspring director’s face but insulted her when she’s not around just because she was Jewish. Mary Kay, Inc. teaches its sales force to use the same forms of manipulation and head games that all other tier sales organizations use, the only difference I can see is that they hides it behind a screen of Christianity and goodwill.

How many times have you gone to Seminar and witnessed ugly behavior and bad manners of the Sash Wearers who are better than anyone else? Personally, I lost count. Or were you ever told that you are not to mingle or socialize with those whose rank was below you? How Christian is that