Choke-worthy meeting

I'm a non-violent person but there are a few categories of people I could strangle with my bare hands and not feel too guilty later - govt. employees, Chennai auto drivers, inconsiderate movie watchers etc. Very close to the top of that list are people who offer to "introduce you to a new business that will make you money", in other words the pyramid schemers!

I thought I was done with this since I wasn't in the US, but turns out that the virus has spread to India too. I got a call from my "tiffin aunty", the lady who provides us lunch. At first she talked about the latest payment and then invited me to her place for a "small meeting" to discuss a "business idea". Anyone who's ever attended one meeting like this can instantly spot another sales pitch. But I went partly out of affection for this lady who's been cooking for us (I know she charges for the food but you just can't say no to someone who feeds you). I told them, truthfully, that I had to leave in an hour but I could spare an hour. At their house there was this guy who was introduced to me. Now, I've met a lot of salesmen and frankly, these Northies can't do half as good a sales pitch as the ones in the South. His attempts to "connect" with me were too obvious and of course, it didn't help him at all that I had my guard up for about 12 hours before I even came to the meeting. Well nothing much to report on the pitch itself, very standard - they talk about how awesome it would be to have money, how you can elevate your standard of living and then throw these spurious numbers at you. It was all very practiced, with a few American idioms thrown in. At various points I wanted to show him exactly why pyramid schemes don't work and or atleast just yell at him for wasting my time but I just smiled and waited my hour out before leaving.

What really bothers me is that I am sure this had ruined my relationship with the "tiffin aunty". I don't how she'll handle the rejection and I don't know if I would be comfortable ordering lunch boxes from her again. Just a stupid situation all around.