by cinnamon1642 224 Replies latest jw friends
Anyway, the society wants it both ways:
their perfect drone would be:
Full time pioneer collecting welfare and living in city housing. buy garage sale clothes, eating from food stamps, and driving a jelopy.
As a result they would be able to save $100 a month and put that in the contributio n box....
no long term planning needed! give the $$$$ to them and let them do all the planning
Jringe01~
You brought a knife to a gunfight. Everybody knows you don't **** with Mary...in case you hadn't noticed, she just kicked your ass!!
I really appreciate this thread. My brother is a CO, and I'm keen to know what's going to happen to the arrangement. Thanks, folks.
I really think you are brain dead if you truly believe the WTS does not have double standards - of course they do. I am rarely totally against witnesses - I try to be balanced and give both sides of the argument. IT IS TOTAL FACT THE WTS plans long term - I have heard DOs et al admit it. I don't hold that against them. But If I were to plan long term (and I do trust me) and let the elders know I was planning long term ,I would be told my faith was weak or similar. DOUBLE Standards - plain and simple
Interesting stuff! I can't imagine the level abandonment that will be felt by the current long term CO's and their wives. There are some real jerks that are COs, but there are some sincere ones that have given up everything that entails a "normal life" to do this work. No more free cars, insurance, apartments, green handshakes, etc. The society proves again that they are a cruel master to their slaves.
Who is it that actually pays for the CO's living expenses such as the car, gas, insurance, housing, food, etc.? Is it the WTS itself or is it the individual congregations? I know after each CO visit, they would read out the CO's "expenses" for the week and then 'pass a resolution' to see if everyone agreed to pay for the expenses out of the congregations' pocket. Was this to cover 'incidental expenses' or was it to cover their basic expenses as listed above?
Sir's quote: "There are going to be some seriously pissed COs, and maybe even moreso their wives, when news of this hits. Imagine the feelings of giving up your "normal" life as a "sacrifice to Jehovah", now you're in your 60's or 70's, and you have to start from scratch? No savings, no pension, no house, no car, zippo. Not even Social Security."
~~~
Exactly. Here we go again.
while there are some perks to being CO (not the least of which are the "green handshakes"), it is a difficult lifestyle.
It can be.
But there are many districts where wealthy dubs reside and many times they take care of the CO's in style. One CO I got to know well told me about a circuit in a western state where two congregations competed (not his exact words) to out-do each other in generosity towards the CO. Sisters took his wife shopping at every visit and burned up their credit cards for new clothes. He was taken to a men's store to buy new suits, golfing on Monday (CO's "day off") or skiiing in winter. And the green handshakes (actually the money-filled thank-you cards) sent them on the road with a pocket full of cash.
This was offset,by those rural congo's where the generosity was a little more limited - but even in less affluent congos, the sheep were sometimes surprisingly generous with money. It only took one well-off family to "adopt" the CO to fund their living expenses. There were a few congo's that were the exception, but on balance they lived quite well.
Later, they were transfered to another circuit where the congos were less well off and they had weeks when they were broke.
So it all depends on where "mother" sends you.
So it all depends on where "mother" sends you.
Exactly so! New assignments are made as a form of reward. And of course the COs know this. Thus, there is strong disincentive to ever "rock the boat" or follow your conscience, if it leads you in a direction opposite of the orthodox.
I have to imagine that quite a few COs have some pretty serious "dirt" they are just sitting on, so as to avoid an assignment to Hillbilly Lick, Tennessee. The Society will have to proceed with caution - do they know who all their potentially disgruntled COs are? They will have some plum assignments to dole out (e.g. special pioneer in some affluent region), but they won't be able to "take care of" all their current COs.
It's a calculated risk they are taking. Just a handful of COs with the right information could cause them major headaches, I have to think.
Cars are provided and paid for (leased) by the Society.
In my day, up to the late 90's..Each Circuit had a "Circuit Car Fund", to which all the congs had to contribute to keep the C/o's car on the road. I beleive they are indeed leased these days, but I cannot imagine that the cost is now borne centrally. I would bet that the congo's still carry the cost of it.
It's probably different in the UK. Here in the US, the leasing cost is borne by the Society.
Of course, up until very recently, the company the cars were leased from was owned by the father-in-law of Bert Schroeder's (ex-GB) son. But of course there was no shady business - I'm sure there was a legitimate bid process. Right? Right?
