The evil empire is a greedy corporation. The body of elders are the store managers. The Circuit Overseer is the regional manager. He comes by on a regular basis to check your store's records to ensure that profits are up. As a result, the store managers (elders) are on edge and frantically attempt to make sure the store and it's employees (publishers) are in order/compliance. Compliance with what? Corporate policy.
Corporate policy of the evil empire is to rule through fear and tyranny. You are scolded when you are not meeting quotas. If you are meeting quotas, you are commended and then are quickly left defeated by the #1 question asked by the evil empire and it's agenst: "..but can you do more?" Afterall, you can never do enough, you good for nothing slave.
Also, let us not forget that C.O.'s have the privilege to add unnecessary and useless prohibitions based soley on personal opinion as only the self-righteous can do. Here's a list of some of my favorites:
Any elder/ministerial servant/pioneer who says the word "crap" should be immediately removed.
Brother should not accept jobs that invovle shiftwork. If you are working any schedule other than M-F, 9-5 you are not to hold any special privileges.
Sisters should be pioneers. If you are married and working you aren't sacraficing enough for the ministry.
And so, the local body of elders would enforce these man-made rules as if Jehovah's hand itself wrote them on stone tablets. Of course, the minute the Circuit got a new Circuit Overseer, those rules went right out the window.