Once Again: It's Okay for JWs to Rip-Off Non-JWs

by Iown Mylife 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  rip van winkle

  Um, why defame my good name?

  I take umbrage...and it works wonders! (said Rip in her best Groucho Marx impression.)

  __

  Seriously, I know a few who have fallen victim because they 'trusted' brothers would be honest. I no longer look at it as a totally bad thing, as it does help some awaken and recognize their bros are like everyone else, with the same inclinations.

  There was a quack-a-doodle in my Cong. who conned people with health nonsense and caused physical damage to some. He even asked for social security numbers and they were given . It happens.

  A congregation of naive and trusting people are easy prey for con men within their group. Con men come in all colors, shapes and sizes. They know how to find YOU!

  That is why contracts are important , license and bonding, pay by credit card, don't pay for any work in FULL, etc., regardless that they pray to the same god.

  Con men will con any and all who have CONfidence in them. They are charming people...at first!

  Speaking of Con...

  Where's my Auntie Con?
• 

  AndDontCallMeShirley

  "...just do what he says, you won't regret it."

  .

  This is Watchtower's philosophy too: "...just do what he the GB says, you won't regret it." Following that advice usually doesn't turn out very well.
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  Iown Mylife

  @dazed - We're here in n. GA - this happened in one of the Spanish congs. Oubliette, i heard this morning, they are in the process of suing and that's another thing - he has lost so much money by having to close the restaurant frequently to deal with the attorney, etc.

  One big item the guy messed up was the re-roofing. He was supposed to put on a whole new roof but didn't take off the old one the right way. With the winter we've had, the entire house is getting damaged by the leaks. He says there are waves in the roofing you can see from the street. He says the elders have told his mother that she should be preventing the suit, and solve the problem by talking. The elders also said the Brother has stated that he didn't do anything wrong so there shouldn't be any problem. But the restaurant owner and his dad are not JW so they can't rope them in directly. They just continue to work on the mother hammer and tongs.

  My husband and I were ripped off or defrauded several times over the years we were in. It's hard to be nice brothers and sisters together and at the same time be on your guard and suspicious. We were so stupid, it wasn't hard to take advantage of us. Like dontcallmeshirley says, we trusted that indoctrination about how we were in a spiritual community, and so concerned about not sullying Jehovah's name. Every time we tried to tell the elders about a situation we were told to suck it up and shut up, so we wouldn't be throwing mud on Jehovah's name.

  Years ago we knew several brothers working their own little corners of home repair/construction biz, who needed that deposit to live on. They preferred to work for JWs, knowing there was little danger of getting sued. This one elder we knew and thought was a terrific person, would start work replacing windows. Leave the job half done and go sell another job and start it up, to get the deposit on that job. Then never finish the first one, and so on.

  Marina
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  gingerbread

  I learned many years ago not to hire a JW or work for a JW.

  It's not worth the risk - most times YOU get the shaft.

  ginger
• 

  Aunt Fancy

  We learned the same thing! We have been ripped off by a couple of elders that were never removed for it. We refuse to do work for JW's because of it.

  When my husband was a elder there was another brother that did construction and he did two remodel jobs for an older widowed sister and a brother with a non believer wife. He screwed both of them on their jobs and when the brother went to the elders about it because his wife was about ready to leave him over it my husband felt terrible for him and told him he would finish his kitchen remodel for the little bit of money left in the job, and yes we lost money because of it but he was very thankful we helped him and did some nice things in return. The brother who conned them had bad check notices up all over the place and he had an afair with another sister and yes you can guess it, he was made an elder a couple of years ago!! He also never paid his income taxes!!!

  The owner of the restaurant needs to go after him and get whatever he can. If I were in his position I would talk to the local body of elders and write the WTS. He needs to make a big stink over it and he might get some action.
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  Iown Mylife

  Hush it up, shush it up, full steam ahead!
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  AlphaMan

  In the JW religion not only will they not do anything if the defrauder is an elder, they will even threat to DF anybody that talks about it in order to keep it quiet. Same tatics as when they try to hide and protect pedophiles who hold positions in the cong.
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  stillin

  We have an elder here who is a retired home builder. It's a small town and his reputation is crap! Even two other elders who hired him to build their homes fired him and found their own subcontractors. But he's remains solid gold in the congregation.

  on the other hand, I have always felt that my religion was not to be a part of my business. I would be fair and honest and give a quality product. If they found out later that I was one of JWs, good witness given! I couldn't stand hiring witnesses because they would take it upon themselves to witness on the job, or want days off for field service (oh! The guilt!)

  working for JW's was often the most delicate thing ever. I could do hundreds of "handshake" deals with the world and NEVER have a problem. Then write it all out for a Witness, because the Society encourages it, and get caught up in a web of crap that they sling up and I have to bend over backwards to protect the "spiritual relationship" between us. They end up getting something for free. I'm not cheap. If things are going well I will go the extra mile for a client. But the witnesses use you, and abuse you and chunk you in the trash if you let them.

  Even my wife caught on to this phenomenon. When witnesses ask whether Brother Stillin would be available ( for free?) she tells them that I am very expensive. Hahaha!
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  Listener

  The warning bells should have rung when he had workers coming in and not paying for their meals.
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  rebel8

  I worked for jws and they ripped me off. Still owe me $ to this day.

  1 MS and 1 elder owned a business. A wholesaler of ours had a promotion that anyone selling one of a particular item during a promotional period would get a free turkey. I worked mainly on commission for the bros. I steered my customers to buying that item instead of other brands so I could win the turkeys. (Had my customers bought the alternatives, I would have earned cash commissions instead.) I did an awesome job and was supposed to get like 10 turkeys or something.

  The day the turkeys were supposed to be delivered, they weren't. I called the wholesaler and they let me know the elder's daughter and wife called and had the turkeys delivered on my day off. I asked the elder and he said they had a big party for the congregation with my winnings. He refused to reimburse me for anything and looked confused that I would even ask.

  They never paid me any of the commission they owed me. They just kept saying they didn't have the money, maybe next week.

  Then they laid me off even though I had more seniority and the totally inept bro coworker of mine had never sold even one thing got to keep his job. They called and said things are a mess, please come in and help us--if you do, maybe we'll do better in our business and we can hire you back. The CPA sister who worked there advised me it was ok to do this and collect Unemployment. So then Unemployment found out about that and I lost a few weeks of that too.

  And that's when the turkeys were stolen from me. So to recap, they stole my commission, they tricked me into losing my Unemployment, and they stole my food.

  These people are still in good standing with the kingkongregation AFAIK. I tattled on them and nothing happened. (I was an ex-jw at the time.)