“This must be the place,” says a graying man in a business suit. People are lined up and down the stairs and escalators. There must be about 500 of them, all trying to get into the Great Hall of the Congress Hotel.
A toothless black man says, “I don’t know. They all look alike.”
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Inside we’re all handed a booklet with the word “profit” emblazoned in capital letters on the cover six times. It tells us all the exciting reasons that we should take Tom Vu’s seminar. Now the catch is clear. This is only an introductory session. A weekend seminar explaining all the fine details will be held soon at a local hotel. There’s no mention of how much it costs. A man in a camouflage hat with a marine haircut and a slightly crazed look in his eyes flips through the booklet. He seems quite satisfied. He’s going to be a millionaire. Jorge, a meek-looking young man in a T-shirt advertising a martial-arts tournament, fills out the information slip. He checks off the box that says he has a yearly income between $5,000 and $10,000.
He has us all shake hands with our neighbors and wish them luck in becoming millionaires fast. “What are you here to make?” preacher Tom exclaims from his pulpit.
A murmur runs through the crowd.
Everybody laughs.
“There are two kinds of work in America today. Hard work and smart work. Today we will talk about what?”
