WERE THERE ANY THIEFS IN YOUR CONGREGATIONS?

SnakesInTheTower

You mean besides all the time the Society stole out of my life? oh.. you mean actual money..... well.....

I wont say outright thief... but we did have one young MS in a congo I was in who was the accounts servant who would purloin money from the cash when he was a little short.

The money always was returned in a short time. It was an interest-free loan. But it was still theft, even if it was short-term. He could have gotten away with it too..... because he took it out of the cash portion, and the other MS/elders/and even R&F brothers did not always pay close attention as he was removing the funds from the various boxes... Lets say there was $120 in cash, $200 in checks..and some loose change.... the cash would partly disappear before it was counted in front of the second brother. Later, the account servant would return the money in the form of cash back into the box and it would be counted properly....no net gain/loss by anyone.... other than the minute amount of interest in the checking account....

He was remorseful when he finally got caught (and I dont know how, I think he just admitted it). He remained as account servant (stupid that was allowed IMO)...after that, I made sure that the rules were applied: only an MS or elder (and it had to be a non-relative...there were many times that when the account servant was gone that the PO and another related brother counted...bad bad bad.....) could be the second person counting..and they had to watch from the time the box was unlocked until the cash was verified. This is only good accounting procedure and a safeguard really to the account servant.

BTW...did anyone else think the Society's accounting records were goofy and non-standard? Just asking... I had to audit on a regular basis...drove me nuts...

Snakes ()

RULES & REGULATIONS

My cousin bought a new $800 suit downtown and went straight to the Ministry School meeting and hung it on the coat rack. He went home that evening and forgot the suit.The Kingdom Hall was locked for the night so he waited until the morning. He called a brother that had keys and went back the next evening.The suit was gone. Someone took the suit. ( so much for honesty in the congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses )

Bobbi

I was in one congregation where the little kids thought nothing of going through purses left unattended. Mostly they were after candy. I complained to a parent once when I caught her little darling munching my candies and was told to not be so petty and greedy. I shouldn't have brought the candy to the kingdom hall if I didnt have enough to share. Being young and new to the hall I dropped it but never left my purse unattended again.

My biggest pet peeve was this, some halls have a mothers room with a change table. Those of us with babies provided supplies and some time left spare diapers for emergencies. I always made sure to replace anything I used right away, usually leaving a few extra to be nice. Then someone new moves in and cleans us out. Wipes, diapers and even the changing pad disappears.
Nothing worse than your infant exploding all over and the diaper bag is empty and your emergency supplies are gone too. It just seems mean to me.

Bobbi, who is really happy all her kids are toilet trained.

oompa

Bobbi: Bobbi, who is really happy all her kids are toilet trained.

and maybe TMI there?...as i clean off my carpet?? ugh.................oompa

calico

Someone stole my sweater from the coatroom!

WTWizard

I have never seen any blatant theft in my former congregation. True, there was one family whose children went through my bag (I knew about it, and let them since the children doing that were little and were more there to explore than pilfer).

However, I did have one witless that would steal from the bulk department. Usually it was a single candy or a small handful of nuts in the name of "quality control". (Which was not his job.) He ended up getting fired for sleeping on the clock. Too bad he didn't get busted for the theft of bulk items--since he would have also been barred from ever shopping there along with getting fired (he didn't get barred, since he was more loafing than stealing).

I would rather trust the worldly people and the apostates to be honest. As a group, I think apostates are more likely to be honest than active witlesses.

Tired of the Hypocrisy

I think that most jw's are terrified of bringing reproach on the Borg-anization and therefore are either not the thieving sort or they cover it well. But, and there is always a BUT....

I knew a few deadbeat dads who refused to work and mooched off the brothers. These guys in my opinion stole from their kids and from the brothers in the hall. Then there are the "Welfare Bears". There are even more of these assbags than dbd's! My wife's brother was on fodstamps and welfare, AFDC and the whole sheeebang while he pioneered. My sisters deceased ex abuser was another one of these. He faked being sick so he could stay home and abuse his family "Fulltime". He went on foodstamps, then SSI. He ballooned into a mass that resembled a hippopotamus more than any other creature. He is another thief.

Elgiard

My very first exposure to the wintesses was when I was six and my mom was studying, and the pioneer lady she was studying with brought a pioneer friend and her son along. The son was a few years older than me, and I'm not sure why he and I both weren't made to sit there during the study, I guess they just didn't want to mess with us. Anyway, it was suggested that we play in my room and I forget the gory details, but the witness boy ended up swiping whatever toys of mine that would fit in his pockets/bookbag/whatever.

still wondering

the following is from a previous post of mine..............................

For an organisation run by compulsive liars and conmen who steal not just others people’s lives but anything else they can get their hands on, like getting simple minded folk to will their kids inheritance to "THE ORGANISATION" ( I always think this sounds like the Mafia) there are bound to be many well hushed up scandals. Here are some of the ones I knew about and some I’d like to know more about.

Back in the 1960’s a DO (Doug Turnbull I think was his name) had been stealing from the assembly funds for many years. When he was finally caught red handed after a trap had been set for him by an ex copper who was himself at the time a CO he had stashed away enough to set himself up with the largest office cleaning company in Scotland. It was also found he had numerous young special pioneer sisters around the country for his sexual satisfaction. (Rather like a sailor with a girl in every port).

In the north of England the accounts servant in a congregation walked of with the entire new Kingdom Hall building fund (forgotten the amount but tens of thousands). Many years later he returned, confessed, got reinstated and after a further 10 years or so became would you believe it the accounts servant again? Yes you guessed right. He did it again and has not been seen since.

A kingdom hall in the London area was broken into and had their sound system stolen twice including the brand new replacement. It was found that one of the elders in the congregation had a large family of sons and apparently they needed some sound equipment. But they were just following their dad as when any work was undertaken at the KH in which he was involved everyone had to watch their tools else somebody else would take them home.

The Bossart hotel with marble pillars and crystal chandeliers has been lived in by the WTS top brass since the 1980’s as far as I know. Luxurious and opulent fail to describe adequately their living conditions. Also Fishing (and hunting?)trips in their private jets to Alaska.

Since the WTS shares are not publically traded then the current shareholders (those that attend the annual shareholder meeting) inherited their shares from family members long since dead. Is it likely that many of those that have inherited their shares are no longer JW’s themselves and so why would they take the trouble and expense to travel every year to the shareholders meeting if there was nothing in it for them? Does anyone know if a dividend is paid? How can one find out?