According to
Michigan Liberal, a just-released EPIC/MRA poll has Jennifer Granholm re-taking the lead over Mr. Amway, aka Dick DeVos.
I know simple links aren't supposed to qualify for full diaries, but as a lifetime Michigan resident, as well as having a personal grudge against Amway, I couldn't help myself. So, lemme tell you a little story from my past...
Ten years ago, living in Ypsilanti (just outside of Ann Arbor, home of the recent Google job news) I received a phone call out of the blue from an old high school friend who I hadn't talked to in a good 6 years. He
claimed to be "in town" and that he wanted to "catch up on old times", yadda yadda yadda.
I was happy to hear from him, of course, and naively believed him. I invited him to swing by my apartment, but he insisted on meeting at a bar instead. This seemed a bit odd, but I didn't think anything of it.
When he showed up, I wore jeans & a t-shirt, since it was just two buddies grabbing a beer or two. He was supposedly on vacation, but showed up wearing his best business suit (red flag #1!). He also had a surprise with him--he had brought his wife (who I had never met) along, which hadn't been mentioned in our phone conversation (red flag #2!). She, too, was dressed to the nines, in a formal gown (red flag #3). I knew something was up, but conceded to letting them drive (red flag #4).
The other thing which bothered me was that both of them seemed to have this strange, slightly glassy-eyed look. I've seen this look before, but only in news footage about followers of Sun Yung Moon and other cults, but I digress...
We got to the bar, exchanged some brief small talk about our lives--but he was doing all the asking, sucking info out of me while giving coy, evasive answers about his own careers. His wife was attractive and seemed bright enough but oddly quiet--she let him do most of the talking, but would occasionally chime in at seemingly scripted points. Bit by bit he nudged me about whether I was happy doing what I did for a living, what were my hopes/dreams/etc. Bit by bit I began to realize that I was being hustled. Finally I interrupted him and asked him flat out:
"If I'm wrong, I'm sorry, but you're not about to tell me that you're involved in Amway or something like that, are you?"
Bingo. Of course he was--they both were. The whole thing had been a set-up from the start, and a pretty obvious one at that.
"I just happened to be in town" and "I thought I'd look you up" translated as "I've put the squeeze on every other family member & friend I have available, either ruining their lives by sucking them into Amway or alienating them by attempting to do so, so it's time to widen my net to past friends I haven't talked to in awhile."
The power suit was to impress me into believing what an amazing success story he was.
He brought his wife along--dressed to impress--as both eye candy to distract me as well as to be able to double-team me; it's more difficult to argue with two people than one.
They had insisted on driving me to the bar (instead of staying at my apartment or letting me drive) so that I was a captive audience--I needed them to get back home.
That was the last time that I ever spoke to him (or his wife). I have no idea what ever happened to them, but I was pissed off at being played that way. I had remembered the guy as a good guy, not a dick out to screw over old friends.
I've dispised Amway--and all of it's ilk--since that time. Screw DeVos, and God help Michigan if he manages to buy the election.