From: Tonya
To: 'David Dombrowsky' [email protected]
Subject: My Scentura Story - I opened a location for them!!  
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 12:23:36 -0600  

David - 

I worked for Designers International in Birmingham, AL in September 1998.  I 
had graduated college in May and although I was working full time in my 
college town I decided to look for other employment.  You know - the 
whole "take the world by storm" ideology.  So I picked up a Sunday edition of 
the Birmingham News and started circling ads.  I ran across the following ad 
in the "General Employment" section...

***HELP*** 
New office opening up in area. 
Need 10 - 15 Manger Trainees. 
Will Train.  Must be Sports Minded. 
$30 - $40 K a year. 
Call 941-1968 
Ask for Mr. Hines 

So I called.  They were extremely vague on the phone but scheduled me for an 
interview the next day.  I was excited so I went out and purchased a new 
interview suit for the occasion.  When I arrived at the office - which was 
located in a strip mall - I was a little uneasy.  

But I decided to go ahead and go in for the interview.  There was loud music 
blaring throughout the office - but there was no one at the front desk.  I 
waited for a few seconds and then decided to reopen the door so that the chime 
would again ring.  Alas no one came to the front.  Finally I peaked my head 
around the corner and I saw a lady coming out of what looked to be a closet - 
(I would soon learn that this was the stock room).  She was startled to see 
me.  She came up to the desk apologizing for not hearing the door and handed 
me an application.  She then lead me to a small room with about 15 chairs in 
it where she asked me to fill out the information.  Inside this room there 
were about 9 other people.  I filled out the application and then sat and 
waited for some clue as to what this business was all about.  A few minutes 
later, the music got quite and a guy opened the door.  He introduced himself 
as the Assistant Manager for this location and began to tell the group how 
crazy his day had been and how he hoped he hadn't made us wait too long.  He 
explained that the positions were for Warehouse Management and that we would 
be working with perfume.  He said that this location sold perfume in bulk to 
everyone from major department stores to the small boutiques, the perfume was 
manufactured by Scentura Creations who was one of the largest perfume 
distributors in the world,  and that we would be in charge of making sure the 
orders for the perfume were filled and shipped.  He then told us that we would 
be broken up to do one on one interviews with himself and the Vice President 
of that location and that they were doing a screening interview.  If they 
liked what we had to say and if they thought we were qualified we would be 
invited back for the coveted second interview with the President of the 
location.  So slowly they called us out in pairs - one of us, usually the 
female, would go with the Manager, and the other would go off with the VP (who 
was a woman).  When my turn came I smiled my best interview smile and left the 
group determined to make an incredible impression on this guy.  We walked into 
his office and the first question he asked me was "Are you married or 
happy?" .  I know that this should have thrown up major RED flags but I was 
used to guys flirting a little bit so I just responded by saying "single".  
Then we began to discuss my application.  He asked me what I considered to be 
my 5 strengths and then my 5 weaknesses.  I didn't realize it then but it's 
those weaknesses that they play on to convince you to stay - more on that 
later.  He completely blew off my college degree so I mentioned it to him.  He 
told me that higher education was not important - that it was how hard a 
person was willing to work and their personality that would get them far in 
life.  I just shrugged it off and let him continue.  I guess I talked with him 
for about 20 minutes and he said he felt like I was exactly what they were 
looking for and that he was positive that the President would want to talk to 
me.  I left feeling pretty good and drove home.  By the time I reached my 
apartment (which was in a town 1 hour away) they had already called and left a 
message saying that I was chosen for a second interview and to call to 
schedule the time.  I called them back and instead of trying to schedule a 
time I discovered that I was just told what time to be back on Friday.  I went 
to work the next day and told my boss that I would have to have Friday off.  
On Friday I drove back to the office location.  I was amazed when this time I 
was asked to sign in and then was escorted to a large room with about 50 
chairs in it.  The room was practically full.  Again this should have thrown 
up major RED flags but I still went on.  Shortly after I arrived and got 
situation in my chair - the "Manager" came in and said that we should be proud 
of ourselves for making it this far.  We had been chosen from about 200 
applicants and that while we were all qualified up to this point unfortunately 
after today only 10 - 15 of us would be offered the job.  He then left to go 
get the "President" so that we could begin.  This is where the dog and pony 
show began.  The President walks in - he's short guy and probably 35 years 
old.  He is cussing every other word (thinking it's cool) and bashing everyday 
stiffs who have to go out and get a job.  Then he put a couple of people on 
the spot by asking them questions like "wouldn't you like to travel to Aruba 
whenever you felt like it" or "didn't you see my Mercedes out in the parking 
lot - don't you want to drive one of those".  This went on for about 2 hours - 
then he started the ole'  we're going to pull you out 3 at a time (1 to meet 
with the Manager, 1 to meet with the VP, and 1 to me with him) and let you 
know if you will be starting on Monday.  And he did mean on Monday - no 2 week 
notice, nothing.  I was left in the conference room with about 8 other people 
and he came back in and said "You guys made it! We want all 8 of you!".  That 
was it. 

I left my previous place of employment that day - on bad terms as you can 
imagine since I didn't give notice.  My first 2 days of training went as 
everyone else's did.  FFAR was the same and we had the pitch class.  On 
Wednesday we were going out we our "trainers".  I went out with the "Manager" 
and another guy from my class.  Which by the way had increased from the 8 left 
in the room on the previous Friday to about 13.  I guess I should have told 
you this to begin with - the owners of this location had been in the business 
about 6 - 7 years at this time.  So there office was nicer than others I've 
seen and they didn't charge for the background search.  They had enough people 
in the office that the Manager did not need to go out and train me but he 
chose to anyway.  My first week was pretty much like everyone else's except on 
my 2nd day they placed me and another newbie (Rachel) with a female trainer 
who had been working with them for about 2 weeks (Angie).  The story on Angie 
was that she was great at pitching the product.  She was a college graduate 
and she and I were close in age - eventually we would be partners and I would 
realize that she was a little off her rocker.  Anyway the 3 of us went out to 
merch and it was fun - kinda like hanging out with a couple of friends goofing 
around.  I guess that's why I did so well on that day.  I sold 10 which meant 
that I got to come in a ring the bell when we returned to the office.  From 
here on out it was pretty much the same thing.  I went through training fairly 
quickly - some weeks moving up 2 spots and others just the one.  We had 
satellites (out of town - overnighters) from Sunday - Tuesday.  (This is how 
you got through the 1st couple of training days with out suspicion because you 
didn't see anyone coming or going with the boxes of perfume).  Fun Cars were 
on Friday and that's where you load up in groups of 3 - 4 and go somewhere 
about 2 - 3 hours away and merch.  Wednesday nights were beer and wings night 
at a local bar close to the office.  Turns out my owners didn't tell them that 
not everyone in our group was 21 so they served alcohol to everyone.  The bar 
must have found out though because about 3 weeks before I left we were no 
longer going up there.  One of the strangest things that I saw happen while I 
was working there was that about 4 weeks into being there we were having our 
normal Saturday morning meeting.  The President walked in with this guy and 
told everyone to sit down and get quite.  He explained that Robert had worked 
for him before and then left because he was weak, but that he had seen the err 
of his ways so he was there to beg for his position back.  This guy actually 
had tears in his eyes and told the group how these people were the only people 
who had ever believed in him and that he was terrible for leaving.  The 
President then made a big deal about how Scentura frowned on letting people 
back in once they left but that he had called his promoting owner, Kerry 
Brunson, and Larry Hahn and begged them to allow Robert to come back.  It was 
absolutely strange.

I had been with Designer International about 5 weeks when I was told that 
Angie, myself, and a guy that I had been seeing within the group would be 
going to open up our location in Albuquerque, New Mexico.  I love New Mexico 
so I was thrilled.  We began making plans and that's when we were told we had 
to sell an additional 150 bottles to cover our expenses.  We did it.  About 3 
weeks before we were scheduled to leave the President and VP (who by the way 
are married) asked us over to their house for dinner.  This wasn't unusual as 
the guy and myself went over to their house quite frequently because I was 
still living an hour away and since we were sometimes out until 11pm or 12 in 
the morning merching I wouldn't want to drive all the way home.  Well we go 
over for dinner and they tell us that there as been a change in plans and that 
we will be going to Columbus, Ohio instead.  Apparently the 2 people that they 
sent up there to open a location had gotten into a major fight - the police 
were called to the office and everything - so Scentura closed them down.  We 
were going up there to take their place.  We were not given a choice to do 
this - we were TOLD that's what we were going to do.  So all of our New Mexico 
plans were changed and we were on our way to Columbus.  The weekend before we 
left Scentura hosted a meeting in Atlanta at the Peachtree Marriott.  We had 
been out in our FUN CARS all day so we left Birmingham at about 10:00 pm to 
drive over to Atlanta (about 2 hours away).  Turns out that the money we made 
that day had to go toward our hotel rooms in Atlanta.  Saturday was the big 
cheerleading meeting about how great this all was and how we were all going to 
be rich.  Then we had lunch and were broken up into our individual offices to 
go tour the main Scentura office.  There was probably 125 - 200 people there.  
There was a big party that night at a local dance club - Chili Peppers.  We 
had to pay for our own dinner, our own cover charge and use our own cars to 
get to the Buckhead area of Atlanta for the party or pay for a taxi.  The 
owners of Designer International had a meeting with all of us and let us know 
right off that if we were pulled over for a DUI that they would not get us out 
of jail.  Everyone left and went to the party.  We got back to the hotel late 
and the next morning we were getting ready to leave when we found out that 
Robert ( the same Robert who begged for his job back) had been pulled over for 
a DUI and was in the Atlanta jail.  No one was going to go get him and since 
he foolishly used his one call to call the owners who had said they wouldn't 
help - Robert's wife (who was 8 months pregnant and still in Birmingham) was 
not aware that he was in jail.  We were told not to call and tell her - it was 
their problem.

The following weekend we went to the office in a rented UHAUL packed with all 
of our stuff and got our merch from the owners.  We were on our way to 
Columbus.  I was taking my car and Angie was taking hers.  Since the previous 
team in Ohio were kicked out we got to assume their lease on the office they 
were using.  Angie and I found an apartment for the 3 of us and everything 
seemed to be in order.  We got to Ohio late that night so we didn't really 
bother unpacking much.  Just enough to have pillows, blankets, and 
toiletries.  We spent the next 2 days getting set up in our apartment and in 
the new office.  We had to start running our ads so we headed downtown to the 
newspaper office to get that set up.  They had to have a credit card # to run 
continuous ads on - just incase you failed to pay the bill.  I - of course - 
was the only one of the 3 with a credit card so it had to be mine.  We had 
people calling on the ads immediately.  Since there was 3 of us we were told 
to assume the roles of President, VP and Manager just as our promoting office 
had.  These roles were assigned to us and I was given the title of President.  
Again - this wasn't something we got to choose this was something that we were 
told.  This was the beginning of the end for us all.  Not only was greed a 
driving force behind our support system (i.e. promoting office) but now 
jealousy had begun to burn through my two so called partners.  Of which the 
guy was now also my official boyfriend.  It was crazy but people kept calling 
so we schedule the first 1st interview for the following week so that we could 
have a larger group.  This was when I realized I had been stupid.  I had 
caught on to things way before this but remember those weaknesses I was 
talking about earlier.  Well 2 of my weaknesses were getting to attached to 
people and the other is self-doubt.  Every time I questioned things or started 
to leave - they played on these.  I was a "weak piece of shit" not because I 
couldn't hang and sell the product - but because I couldn't/wouldn't quit 
because of those false attachments I had formed and because they made me 
believe it was my low self-esteem that was causing the doubts.  Anyway the 
first time I had to perform the second interview I knew I wanted to leave.  
There was no way I could continue to lie to these people and try to convince 
them to do the things I had done.  Angie and Josh caught on to my feelings and 
they turned on my fast.  They called my promoting owners and told them that I 
was weak.  The President screamed at me so bad over the phone that I cried.  
The worst part was that this whole mess from day one and caused a huge riff 
between me and my best friend - my father.  He had begged me not to leave and 
I told him I was grown and could make my own decisions.  He had offered to pay 
for my bills until I found another job - but I wouldn't listen.  I left for 
Ohio without even telling him good-bye.  I just called him on my way and told 
him then.  There I was stuck in Ohio the first week of December and I was so 
ashamed that I couldn't call home.  By the second week I decided that pride 
wasn't the issue - my sanity was.  So I called my father from a girl's house 
who had started working for us.  Her name was Janine and she had a small child 
and a husband.  She and I had somehow managed to connect on some level and I 
broke down and told her the truth about the company and everything.  She 
helped me.  I called my father from her house and he told me to start packing 
that he would be there in 2 days.  I knew that I couldn't just start boxing up 
the apartment because Angie and Josh would make it even rougher on me.  They 
had started seeing each other by this time so I knew I was on my on.  Janine 
and I came up with a plan - that night while I was at home I "started feeling 
a little sick" so the next morning I told Josh and Angie that I would come in 
to do the first part of the 2nd interview but that they would have to finish 
it because I wanted to go to the doctor.  They were not at all happy with this 
idea but they couldn't stop me.  I left the office around 10:00 and called 
Janine from my cell phone.  She meet me at the apartment and we loaded up all 
of my stuff that we could into our cars.  I had pretty much furnished the 
apartment except for 1 bedroom set and a computer.  All of the dishes, 
cookware, the washer and dryer, kitchen table, living room furniture and 
Angie's bedroom furniture was mine.  Not to mention most of the towels and 
other things.  We worked quick and fast trying to get done before they would 
get home.  And we almost succeeded.  We were taking the last load down to the 
cars when we saw them pull up.  I got in my car and drove off.  The only 
things left in the apartment were the couch, chair, kitchen table, bedroom 
suit and washer/dryer.  All of the dishes, tv, vcr, everything was loaded up 
in my and Janine's car.  I had left them a note that my father and brother 
would be there in the morning to collect the other items and that there had 
been no damage so I expected it to stay that way.  The next morning Janine and 
I met my father and brother at the apartment and we began loading up 
everything else.  We were almost done when they pulled up.  They made so foul 
comment - we finished - and my family and I were on our way back to Alabama.  

Tonya