Here We Go Again: The Annual ``Behave! at Conventions" Harangue

by Room 215 44 Replies latest jw friends

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  Room 215

  Now that the gerontocrats have dispensed with their annual springtime campaign of blustering everyone away from the wine and bread, it's now time to for the yearly Decalogue of Decorum; an Epistle to the Clueless.

  In the April Kingdom Ministry the old farts tackle their annual chore of getting their dubbies to somehow behave like normal, thoughtful human beings when let loose on the public away from their Kingdom Halls.

  What do we find on Page 5? ``Reminders" to the rabble not to save seats; not to leave the premises during the noon lunch break, nor to bring booze or large coolers; to tip at least 15% to 20% when dining at restaurants.

  This, I believe is a first; they now feel they have to coach JWs on just how much is considered apopropriate by ``worldly" (read ``normal") human beings. And at hotels Please, Please!, PLEASE!!, let's avoid: (1) overbooking; (2) piling extra people into the rooms; (3) not honoring reservations; (4) cooking in rooms; (5) forgetting to tip the housekeeper daily; (6) loading up/lining one's pockets on extras from breakfast buffet tables; and (7) ``making nice" with hotel staff when checking in and checking out. (I'm surprised that this year they omitted references to abusing the pool facilities and loud talking in the corridors early in the morning and/or late at night).

  There's also divinely provided ``New Light" in this article: now Jehovah wants us to limit use of colognes and perfumes at these spiritual feasts.

  It all makes one wonder just how much negative feedback they receive at Brooklyn/Patterson in the aftermath of the summer conventions.
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  James Free

  They get LOTS of negative feedback. It always used to surprise me how many ignored the advice they get every year. I was always one of the irritated pedantics who obeyed and then got upset to discover I was the only one following the KM insert.

  Now I am out of it and so much more relaxed. People were just using their own mind, while I was trying hard to sacrifice mine in the vain opinion that it pleased God to listen to the GB and what they told me to put in my sandwiches. (I remember one year they even suggested bringing oranges)

  They so controlled my life. Now they can go f........
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  metatron

  You mean I can't pee in the pool? While standing at the edge?

  metatron
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  feelinsketchy

  Why is it necessary to have to counsel a group of ordained ministers to behave in an orderly, dignified manner? Or do they have a form of godly devotion while proving false to its power?
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  love2Bworldly

  and (7) ``making nice" with hotel staff when checking in and checking out. "

  Can someone please explain to me what the "he double hockey" sticks it means to make nice with hotel staff????
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  XJW4EVR

  
  The one thing that I was always amazed at was this:

  Are there really that many JW's that that act in such crude & boorish manner?

  The same elements of poor behavior brought up annually has led me to believe that JWs are either:

  A: Totally uncivilizied people with no sense of decorum, or

  B: The GB, in its constant quest for more & more control in the lives of the R&F, keep rehashing the same issues from years ago.

  On other thing, as far as scents & colognes go. Even the workplace is requiring that no one come to work with scents & colognes. The other day at work I was chastised for having a little too heavy of an application of aftershave. Ah, the tyranny of the minority.
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  BluesBrother

  I used to hate these annual Service meeting items. Being the Secretary it usually fell on me handle them . It was usually in May around here. One year, before I left I wrote a letter to the Branch, saying how how unhappy I was with it, and the "simplification" that placed burdens on the bros.

  They wrote me a supercilious reply , saying that such changes were either instructed by the Gov.Body or "The result of legislation" They were "confident that the vast majority do appreciate the arrangements for the conventions". , meaning that I was an unappreciative so and so ...

  Mind you I used to know somebody who had been the director of an Assembly Hall that was in a built up area. He said that you would never believe the things that some of the Witnesses do, and upset the locals.

  Perhaps they do need telling not to pee in the pool
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  love2Bworldly

  It's because Jehoober's Witlesses don't further their education that they don't know how to behave.

  Oh BEHAVE!
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  mkr32208

  I tell ya if I was a waiter and got a tract as a tip I really think I would follow someone into the parking lot and kick them dead in the ass! I've seen that done many times growing up (thankfully not by my parents) and I was always APPALED that someone could be that stupid!

  As to the "convention rules" the last assembly I went to before I left home (I was sooo close to being out) me and a friend got our own room at a separate hotel! We drove up to Rochester on our motorcycles (good start) and stayed at the big battery holiday inn (if you've been there you know the one) my parents and his parents were somewhere else. I've got to tell you it was by far the best assembly I've ever been to before or since! We hooked up with some young bethelites who were there as observers and organizers of some sort. The idiot society had overbooked the convention hall and had to set up a Projector in an adjoining facility so that if my parents were in one room we just told them we had seat in the other! As soon as the prayer was done we would begin going to "the bathroom" once all of us were in the hallway we would go back to the hotel! Swim in the pool flirt with the worldly girls (we did talk some really really hot witness girls into going back with us once) Any body have a clue who Shanna J. and Danni B. are? I would love to know what happened to them if anyone knows!

  The great part was that the guys from bethel where way way worse than ANYONE we had ever been around! They actually vandilized their room kicked holes in the walls etc it was INSANE! They were slick about skipping out too + they had so much liquor in there room it was like a bar or something!

  I wonder how much illicit sexual activity goes on in those rooms? I mean those bethel boys were macking HARD on everything in sight! I sure tried my hardest with SJ!
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  rebel8

  A: Totally uncivilizied people with no sense of decorum

  
  

  I'll prepare to be pelted with rotten tomatoes for saying this, but I don't think it's totally out of line for the WT to review this stuff. I agree a religion shouldn't have to take this role in ppl's lives, but in this one case, perhaps it is more of responding to a genuine need rather than an attempt to control ppl.

  (1) overbooking; (2) piling extra people into the rooms; (3) not honoring reservations; (4) cooking in rooms; (5) forgetting to tip the housekeeper daily; (6) loading up/lining one's pockets on extras from breakfast buffet tables; and (7) ``making nice" with hotel staff when checking in and checking out.

  The bad behavior listed above does happen. I saw it routinely. The JWs I knew (know) do tend to lack etiquette skills, but it is more than that. They are brainwashed not to respect "worldly" people. Why bother tipping the "worldly" maid or respect other people's property? The maid will be executed at Armageddon next week and the hotel will be destroyed by fire balls. Go ahead and pee in the pool; we are God's special people so we can do what we want to the pests who will soon be exterminated.

  It's possible the GB genuinely wants to keep people from reflecting poorly on the org and to decrease the inevitable flood of complaints sent to hdqts after the conventions. They may be sick of hearing what rude immature disrespectful the JWs are and how the city doesn't want them to come back next yr. I believe that has happened in some cities with conventions of certain professional orgs whose members misbehave while in town.

  I think the control freak issue comes in when they say stuff like:

  not to save seats; not to leave the premises during the noon lunch break, nor to bring booze or large coolers; to tip at least 15% to 20% when dining at restaurants. ..limit use of colognes and perfumes at these spiritual feasts

  Except for the tipping part. JWs in my area have a reputation among wait staff that they are extremely poor tippers, will order tons & tons of food, members of their party wander in at different intervals & expect to order continuously (meaning lots of extra trips to the table=extra time and work), hog the biggest tables, and stay f-o-r-e-v-e-r (meaning you could have turned over the table quicker and earned tips if they weren't hogging all your seats). No one else but JWs have this reputation. When a group of JWs comes into a restaurant where tipping is customary, wait staff often draw straws to see who has to wait on them. Wait staff here make less than minimum wage, so I don't blame them for hating this type of behavior. They literally live on tips.