I Felt Duped

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It took me overnight and a day awhile to decide on whether to talk about how I felt or not. I shared it with the young lady and she said why shouldn't I.

Thinking about it all over again with consideration on what my daughter answered me, I think it's okay to blog about it and be truthful and honest with how I felt. After all, my blog says "Thinking Out Loud!".

One Saturday, I sent a text message to my brother asking if they went to our sister's place that day. He said they did and they're on their way home already for another appointment with their unica hija. Then, I sent him another message telling him about how excited I am about where we were going—to a dinner party in another state. I added, since he knew we seldom go to dinner parties, that I was excited to bond with the people at the party, and that I wanted so bad to take photos of their boys with me in them.

Well actually, we weren't suppose to push through with it since the mister had another plan for the weekend. I kept telling him, if there was a possibility, to consider canceling it since I really wanted to go. If you only knew how frequent I'd ask him if we can, you'd really think I was harassing the mister. Good thing the kids love going there too since the couple are really nice and their boys are so adorable.

We parked about five blocks from their said address since looking for a parking spot in that area was difficult. We arrived just in time for dinner. Thank goodness because we were already starving from having to smell the battered Porgies (It's a kind of fish good for grilling and frying.) we bought from Cameron's Seafood Market for the whole hour or so drive from Frederick.

Dinner was delicious and at the same time fun when it was shared with friends. There was sisig, steamed Maryland crabs, steamed shrimps, beef with broccoli, spaghetti and meatballs, fried fish, Maja Blanca, torta, chocolate cake, beer, sodas, and  cocktails. But after dinner, it was something I did not expect. It only said dinner on the online private message invitation. So I expected dinner and catching up with friends and some that I met last year. There was even a mention of learning how to play mahjong. Some were eager to learn it and discussed of having cocktails while doing it. With all the messages on that thread, I only thought that indeed this time I'd be able to really socialize with actual people and not online as I usually do.

But, what occurred after dinner was something I did not expect. I tried to get away from that part of the gathering and cuddled in one corner with a friend that I was excited to see that evening. My seat didn't feel warm yet when we were called to huddle at the table for this activity. Oh God! I wanted to go home at that moment, but I didn't want to embarrass the host and the hostess. I did not know if they knew that one of their visitors was bringing another person for one sole reason—business.

There was a sales presentation of a beauty and health product of something that I was not interested in. Not even a bit. The sales representative did an antioxidant skin testing and explained that results will be better if you take their nutrition health pack, and she pointed out that you'd see results in weeks. Whatever she said, if it worked for them, that's good. But sadly, I was not interested, not because I don't care about my health, but because I just don't like that kind of business—you order products only from them and if you're interested to do the business you'll "recruit" a downline and yada yada yada yada blah blah blah.

No matter how much I checked the messages I got on Facebook regarding that gathering, there wasn't any mention of something else to do. Had I known, I wouldn't have come and dragged my family with me. If I wanted to waste or use my time such as hearing a sales presentation and product demonstration or maybe just staring at my computer, then let me decide that. Let me decide first if I am interested in this certain activity, then my family and I shall decide if we will come.

I have better things to do for my shop, for this blog, and at home. I even passed the chance of a not quite often foursome phone call with my brother and sister in California and my little sister in the Philippines so I could be at this get-together.

I felt I was tricked and duped with this dinner. Even if I was not forced to buy their product, they used my time—time that I should decide on what to do with it.

Even if after the dinner, I learned that I was not the only one totally unaware of this sales presentation, and somehow, I still did not feel better. I don't want to be mad. I don't know if I am mad because as much as possible I don't want to take away from the fact that I like the host and hostess of the gathering. But honestly I am very disappointed.

I just hate feeling like this, but it wouldn't do me any good if I won't deal with it. So I had to express my rant in this post.

Sorry, it's a long one but damn, that felt good.

Until here.

Clue: This product was part of the demonstration.

Related Post: I Felt Duped Part 2