That Guy's Got a Lot of Verve

I was leaving early in the morning last week to go print out some things before class. My roommate stopped me on the way out the door, "Hey, man, I noticed that you had some of those Rockstar energy drinks in the fridge, thought you might want to try one that I've been using lately," he said, sounding a bit stilted and offering me a "Verve! Energy Shot".
"Oh... thanks!" I said, "I'll give this a shot."
"Yeah, let me know what you think!"

"Uhhh, OK, will do," and I left. This event struck me as odd, but not extremely so. I just figured he really liked this energy drink. Then I tried it, and decided that he had given it to me because he DIDN'T like it and was trying to get rid of it.

Then, two days ago, I got a knock at the door to my room. I answered, "Yes?"
"Oh, hey man, I made you this little finals week care package, it's just something I like to do," he said, offering me a yogurt cup, a cheesestick, and a "Verve! Energy Drink".
"Ummmm... thanks," I said, confused, and went back into my room with the goods. This was a different drink than the first one, but still a "Verve!" brand drink. This roommate didn't do any kind of "care package" last quarter and, if you ask me, a cheesestick, yogurt cup, and energy drink is a pretty crappy care package and more closely resembles "stuff I don't want in my fridge anymore."

So, I was suspicious.

I looked closer at the can of "Verve!". It had the motto, "Insanely Healthy Energy". So I looked at the ingredients and noticed that there was nothing insanely healthy or even different from any other energy drink about them. The only difference between this and other energy drinks was that this one tasted like the energy drinks you get at Big Lots for 60¢ each. In other words, not spectacular. Nor did it energize me. So, I looked up Verve! online. Ah-HA! Looks like the only way one can get Verve! is by buying it from one of their "independent distributors" OR becoming a distributor yourself! Classic pyramid scheme, or as they try to advertise them now, "Multi-level marketing" (or MLM).

So, clearly, my roommate is trying to get me to buy crappy energy drinks from him. The "care package" thing actually sounds like the kind of "great idea" an infomercial would have for "subtly" trying to lasso your friends into buying junk from you.

I wonder how many free drinks he'll give me before breaking down and asking if I like it enough to buy it, at which point my answer would be, "No, you should sell Rockstar."