Comparing time spent door to door preaching versus time spent door to door window cleaning

by ThomasCovenant 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  ThomasCovenant

  I got to thinking this yesterday.

  In the past I have done a fair bit of window cleaning like many a JW. One motto that we (fellow JW window cleaners) used to say was ''time is money''.

  Occasionally, to help with pricing and efficiency we used to count and record how long each house would take. As each house was completed we used to think we have just earned x amount an hour. But at the end of the day we would total up and then work out our hourly rate and it was always less than we thought the hourly rate was working out at. Of course this was because on average about 10 per cent of the day was spent travelling between houses rather than actually cleaning them. This was dead time.

  Then I got to thinking that in the case of door to door preaching as enjoyed by JW's it is the other way around. At least 90 per cent of the time that is counted on their time reports is spent travelling between houses rather than actually talking to the householder.

  What if they only counted time spent actually 'witnessing' rather than dawdling from door to door.
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  PrincessCynic

  SO true! And if you then deducted all the time they spent gossiping to their magazine routes, asking after their other half, kids, grandmother, second cousin, dog etc you'd be left with very little.
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  varian

  i remember 3 witnesses studying with my friends kid for an hour. so all 3 count their time, adding up to 3 hours. in actual fact, it should be counted as a one hour bible study, right?
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  WTWizard

  I liked all the dead time while out in field circus. Things like warming up or cooling down, wasting time waiting for people to show up, getting finished and having to waste time before the other group finished, and those errands like getting gas, stopping for refreshments, and driving across town for a call that was not home. Even though the time was still wasted, a minute wasted on dead time was a minute I wouldn't have to worry about what ugly slime I was going to get stuck placing littera-trash with.

  In a business, it is the other way around. The less time spent traveling around, the more time is spent making money. This works equally well whether you are cleaning windows or fixing computers. Besides, you usually feel you have done something worthwhile (even though windows get dirty again and computers get new worms and get dusty or smoky inside again) while on business. Which is more than can be said about field circus.