have any of u guys done telemarketing witnessing b4?

by XOCO 20 Replies latest jw experiences

  • LayingLow
    LayingLow

    I remember being terribly embarrassed doing that type. Instead of approaching standard topics (earthly paradise, etc...) I would pick obscure topics about like Cyrus invading Babylon and how that all went down. When I was finished, they may have learned some Bible history, I would then tell them to have a nice day. Most often they got bored and hung up, which also worked.

  • UU Now
    UU Now
    if someone would answer we would put them on speaker phone without their knowledge

    Wow. Like it wasn't already rude enough. That does answer a previous poster's question about whether someone could call time and temperature and pretend to witness. . .

  • OnTheWayOut
    OnTheWayOut

    I delivered phone books for a couple of years, once a year.

    They give you the list of addresses complete with phone numbers, even if they
    are unlisted. Some of the names are wrong, but the list is pretty accurate. I copied
    those lists before turning them back in, then over the next few months incorporated the
    phone numbers into a territory base for the pioneer sisters to call them on snow days.

    Because I knew how the numbers were compiled, I did not participate in calling the
    people. When JW's asked me how I got unlisted numbers, I told them that if they
    did not know, they could not tell the householder. Just say, "We are calling everyone
    in the area at random, and got to you."

    I also got numbers from teens in the cong. who had access to numbers for other
    teens, so their parents could be called. That's too complicated to explain. Also,
    many high-rise apartment buildings used the tenant's phone number with the intercom
    system. It was easy to figure some of the numbers out while standing there and
    writing them down.

    None of what I did was really ethical, but may not have been illegal. My congregation
    probably had the most complete telephone territory list in the city. We had to save those
    folks afterall.

  • cognizant dissident
    cognizant dissident
    if someone would answer we would put them on speaker phone without their knowledge

    Wow. Like it wasn't already rude enough. That does answer a previous poster's question about whether someone could call time and temperature and pretend to witness

    I agree, it was totally rude. I cringe now thinking about it. If anyone put me on speaker phone without asking I would just hang up. I can usually tell when I am on. As JW's we had no clue about confidentiality and ethics. It's illegal here for telemarketers to have someone listen without telling the person. Probably doesn't apply to JW's though, since they are not technically salesmen.

    Cog

  • rache31
    rache31

    No. But I did sit in with a group that was doing it and I excused myself and went to the lady's room. Terrible, I know. But I laugh to think that I was willing to sit in knowing I would never get on the phone.

  • footstepfollower
    footstepfollower

    Oh yeah all the time when I pioneered. I had some older woman crying on the phone one day because she was so sick and when I got off the phone I had to leave. I was in a strange state of shock. I hated the "preaching" work and found it to be so amazingly rude but that one time I actually put effort in to here that person so detitute she would cry to the reading of a scripture was interesting to say the least.

  • primitivegenius
    primitivegenius

    i WATCHED it......... i was one of those who supposedly looked up scriptures to help when others made the actual calls................. i never made a single one. fact is when questioned i was of the opinion that face to face in the territory if someone didnt feel comfortable going to a door...... I WOULD take their turn and pray no one was home....... or if i was with someone and they got a loud talking person i wasnt afraid of them so i would take the door............... so cause i took care of things in PERSON i wasnt gonna bother people on the phone. so i sat there and ate snacks and held a bible in my lap............... only did it once or twice....... thought it was bulls*** from the start.

    the way we did telephone witnessing was ...... well first we would "check out" a letter of the alphabit........... "A" for example.............. you got the A section of the phone book........... which led to massive over runs...... YOU PEOPLE WERE AT MY DOOR YESTERDAY WHY ARE YOU CALLING NOW. well i shouldnt say massive but occasional is a better word.

    then someone tried to get that reverse phone number list............ and couldnt so instead we got a list of property owners in the county.......... and it was in map format. so you could get a territory and according to that map........... find out on the other map who owned the property and look them up in the phone book.

    didnt work good cause many people owned alot of property and rented it out.......... so you called the owner not the renter.............. the big owners got pissed really quickly.

    i never felt comfortable BOTHERING PEOPLE in service to begin with tho i would so jehovah wouldnt feed me to the birds. but calling them on the phone............... that is just wrong on so many levels

  • Abandoned
    Abandoned

    I tried it too, but it bothered me too much that these people's eternal life was going to be based, at least in part, on my phone skills and I hated it. That was kind of how I felt about field service in general. We were constantly told that Armageddon could be any second and that each visit could very well be their last chance to accept the "good news."

  • Sunspot
    Sunspot

    Yeah....(blush) I did this too.

    I had been laid up for quite a while with a bad injury and when I was off the crutches and out of the wheelchair---I was "encouraged" to join the older ones for this thrilling afternoon activity one day a week. We got dressed head to toe in meeting clothes (wouldn't want to insult Jehovah by wearing slacks and a nice sweater on a winters day) and we sat around a JWs dining room table, passing the phone around and going into our WTS-approved speil. I can't recall that ONE JWs got a return visit OR was able to place anything.

    I spent a LOT of time writing letters.....for many years. We have long and very rough winters here and to "keep up my hours" I often resorted to doing this. I was by myself....and did not feel it was mandatory that I dress in the usual meeting clothes.

  • united states of nothing
    united states of nothing

    The ones with the porn voices always got the most RVs.

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