PART 4
THE COMPANY MAN
A few weeks later, sitting at the Thursday night meeting, an announcement was made. The c.o. had appointed a new p.o. from another hall. I told you things were bad, and the stuff I saw going on was very disturbing. This elder assignment, was someone I knew, from my old hall, the one I grew up in. Brother “g” we shall call him. He was very nice, and always a straight shooter. But as is the case with these “men” they are strictly for the “organization”. Well…Yours Truly couldn’t contain himself with the announcement and burst out in uncontrolled exclamation. And a big grin and smile. And when half the congregation turned their heads to see who was being so rude and loud, I looked them in the eyes and said “NOW, finally we will get some things straightened out around here.” Yup, I was trouble with a capitol “T”. Even causing a disturbance during a meeting. I think the wife wanted to crawl under her chair. Tough shit. This was just the beginning. More was coming.
During my tenure as a m.s. a few situations graced themselves upon me, and made their mark on my soul. One of these was the p.o., brother “w”. he was older, and I thought, a nice man. His kids were always in trouble yet, he always managed to keep his position, you know, the assigned position by holy spirit. Yeah, ok.
I was assigned a part on the service meeting, a part with a demonstration. Well, due to the fact that the two “brothers” I chose to do the part were not in town when we needed to practice, we kind of flew, “by the seat of our pants”. Let me tell you, it was awful, and I knew it. So I really didn’t need the ass chewing I got after the meeting in front of countless people, telling me how bad it was by the p.o. or the humiliation that went with it. Hell, I could of gotten that at any time from "the wife". Well that set the tone for me. And I was never right after that.
Then there was the biggie, an act of fraud committed by an elder I worked for at the local car dealership. Actually, it was more than an act, it was a way of life. I started working for him in the middle/late 80’s as a service writer. I stuck with it, but what I saw going on, by him, his brother in law and other worldly people, bothered me a lot. I cannot tell you in detail what was being done. But if authorities had ever investigated, his butt would have been in jail. It got so bad, another brother in law of his quit, and a worldly girl that worked with me walked out. That in part being due to his advances to her. She didn’t appreciate it at all. I rearranged things and got a job in the dealership as a parts person.
But, before I did, we, his brother in law and myself sat down with him and tried to talk some sense into him. It didn’t work. It wasn’t till years later, I received a call from elder “b” asking exactly about that situation, and it was obvious to me, someone had talked, and it wasn’t me, as I didn’t care any longer, and our friendship had really gone downhill.
I told him what I knew. I couldn’t prove a thing, because I had moved to another car dealership in RI, and I had no access to the proof any longer. A few hours later the call came back to me, that all had been “handled”. I hate that word. Even till today hearing that work, makes me mad. And knowing that it had been brushed under the carpet, made me even more crazy. Another carriage of injustice. Oh well, Jehovah will take care of it, right?
Well the new p.o. comes to straighten things out. He made some changes. By this time I had already stepped down, and curtailed my activities to almost nothing. They still had me on the attendant list, and the mike handling list, even though I missed my assignment regularly, and showed little to no interest. Finally, the new guy on the block takes me downstairs and says…we have to remove you from these special services to Jehovah. Uh-huh. Ok. Here’s the kicker. I said, “what took you so long?” smiled, got up and walked out of the room. Think I got a black mark in my file for that one? I do .
To be honest, I liked the new p.o. At least he was trying to straighten things out. And when he asked how you were doing, I kind of felt, that maybe he really gave a damn.
Knowing him as I did, growing up in the same congregation, I could see his genuine concern for others had and always remained the same. But…he was a company man, sent in to do company work. He was there, all together about 5 years. Within one year of him moving back to his old hall, his work accomplished, the bad ways of the north returned to its former self, and things got ugly all over again. The difference now, is, I was no longer part of that nightmare, and I didn’t give a rats behind what went on there.
It wasn’t much longer after that, within a year that they re-divided the territories, and wouldn’t you know, I found myself in the “south” territory by a measly city block. Oh well, its an assignment from Jehovah right? We got to do what is decided for us right?
Right. We moved. It was a no brainer for me, I wanted out of the north for a long time, and this was a perfect excuse.
Maybe life in the south would be much better. I welcomed the change. Maybe things would be different? Well, time would tell. In all honesty, the boe there was not to bad.
I received over maybe seven years, a total of three sheepherding calls. With exception to the last call, all my dealings with the boe were for the most part pleasant, and not in anyway tense. Due to my feelings from the north, and the total lack of support from my family, I was content to leave well enough alone, and never “reached out”. I was what you called the “low hour publisher”(bookseller). That didn’t matter to me. I put all my energy into my work, and worked my way up from a counter person, to a parts manager, and have been for over 10 years. I’m well respected by my peers, and by others in the business. But enough of that, this is the story of the borg, right ???
next, part 5
sex, lies and video tape
-Zev
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