Those who hawk knock-off merchandise or fraudulent services to unsuspecting customers are seen as total shysters.

Not The Real Deal

"People that create artificial scarcity."

– __Raxy__

False Profits

"Televangelist priests who have hundreds of millions, don't pay taxes, and tell people they don't love God if they don't keep donating. Preach. Have a TV church. But don't scam people out of millions a month! There was one guy, Jesse Duplantist, who told his followers that God wanted him to have a new jet, and they needed to give him $54M to buy it because his current jet was outdated. Kenneth Copeland defended his jet, saying that he couldn't be expected to get on a crappy plane full of dope heads and demons. Excuse me? You mean the people who you're supposed to serve who send you money?"

– SecretHornyReddit

Behind The Facade

"Kenneth Copeland looks like a demon wearing human skin but the skin is getting old and can no longer hide his true form. Idk but I hate looking at him, I get a sense of evil and malice emanating from him."

– eat_the_richies

Solicitors and job recruiters don't have your best interests in mind when they're thinking about collecting their paychecks.

It's All An Act

"Those recruitment people for fake talent agencies. They do these whole presentations (often in person!) to get new actors and models to sign up at the end with an initiation fee sometimes in the thousands. A lot of the people being scammed don’t know the company is a scam until afterwards when they look them up on Yelp or the BBB. The recruiter usually seems legit. I don’t know how they sleep at night knowing that’s how they make the entirety of their income."

– Charmien

For Show

"I almost got scammed into one of those as a 14 year old. My best friend and I begged our parents to take us to a 'modelling agency' recruitment event. Of course we were both "accepted", but then they had to speak with our parents, to get the money. My parents saw right through it. They didn't explain right away why they were saying no, and I was so angry and said terrible things to them on the way home. Later they explained that they thought it was suspicious, and that if they wanted my 'talent' they should be offering me a contract and money, not the other way around. My friend's parents did fall for it, and it turned out to be a pretty much just what they used to call 'finishing school'. It was basically classes on 'society/social etiquette' and other bullsh*t. Stuff like 'don't put your dirty napkin on your plate' and proper table settings and what utensil is for what."

"It was Barbizon."

– CherryCherry5

The Guilt

"Bro I could barely handle working at a Wells Fargo call center back in 2012. They hounded you to try selling anything and everything to every person you talked to."

"Customer has $3.27 in their account and has overdrawn 15 times in the last 2 months? Better try getting them to sign up for another checking account (which usually had monthly fees) and also get them to apply for a credit card for overdraft protection. Supervisors didn’t care. You were expected to pitch something to every customer you talked to. I hated myself every minute I worked there."

– istrx13

Getting Off Pitch

"When I worked at guitar center I had to pitch the following to every customer one after another no exceptions."

"Pitch the credit card, if no pitch the layaway, if no pitch trading the gear they own. No matter what they buy pitch the pro coverage (warrenty$) don't forget to pitch the string club, and don't forget to pitch the lessons. Do not fail to mention that we offer rentals. Do not fail to get their phone number, email, and address before they leave. Assure them that we will not call them."

"Don't forget to call them and pitch the upcoming sale..."

– Guitarfoxx

A Cult Following

"Network Marketers (MLM) are the worst."

– stlhvntfndwhtimlkngf

A Grand Scheme

"I lost my wife to an MLM. She refused to believe it was a pyramid scheme. Like, only 50 people out of the 200k involved made any real money. How is that not a pyramid scheme? I have a sticky post on my profile about my experience."

– _Atoms_Apple

This is not how people usually seek fame.

Star Of Her Instagram

"Some local influencer took a video of me walking my dog yesterday by the beach and posted it on her insta. I looked through the hundreds of comments last night when someone sent me the thing. Many of the comments are vulgar."

"I think it’s a d*ck move to film someone without their consent for clout."

– 2times34point5

If you feel good about how you've earned your money at the end of the day, you've hit the jackpot.

Unfortunately, the same can't be said of others.