Timeshares, Lies, and Desperation

Today’s must-read is about a woman who works for a timeshare company—and never gets paid.

Today’s must-read comes from Rosie Campos at Narratively:

Confessions of a Failed Timeshare Saleswoman

I shared the kiosk with Raul, and shadowed him while he pitched to a family by offering them discounts on deep-sea fishing. The father initially rejected Raul’s pitch after he realized it would require going to a timeshare presentation, but Raul deftly countered his rejection with a series of lies about the distance they would have to travel to visit the resort, as well as the time commitment required for the presentation.

I stood in awe at how easily Raul was able to lie. One of the first things I learned on my first day was that the hotel was not twenty minutes away. It was nearly an hour away. The presentation was not 45 minutes. It was at least ninety. I didn’t get any couples that day, or the next week, or month. I hated lying, and as a consequence, over the next six months I learned that I sucked as an OPC.

OPC stands for “Off Premises Contact,” because Campos starts her timeshare pitch at a mall kiosk in Cancún. She only gets paid if a couple listens to her pitch, makes the hour-long journey to the hotel, and sits through the 90- minute presentation. (Then, assumedly, makes the hour-long journey back to wherever they started.)

Campos is never able to do this (which means that during her entire stint at this job, she never gets paid), but that isn’t even the most interesting—or horrifying—part of her story. The timeshare company is blatantly racist, offering a higher commission for white couples than for black ones. The company insists that Campos work 12-hour days without a day off. They take Campos’s tourist visa and refuse to give it back, then tell her that she needs to pay them $1,200 so they can bribe officials and complete her immigration paperwork.

It becomes obvious that the timeshare company is lying to Campos at least as much as they’re asking her to lie to potential customers, and you’ll have to read the entire piece to see how Campos is finally able to escape—because she does have to literally escape—this work.

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