by NCO 15 Replies latest jw friends
One of the worst hospitality stories ive heard is of a speaker who brings another couple with them and expects to go out for lunch /dinner. Not only do they not hold back ordering the most expensive items on t he menu, at the end of the meal, THEY ORDER A SECOND MEAL TO GO for dinner the next day and expect the hospitality givers to pick up the tab!
You can't make this stuff up.
LOL @ Mary
Imagine that, a family with worse table manners than yours!! LOL
As a child, we were the recipients of the visiting speaker arrangement, and made the dearest friends one can imagine with one family (the parents have died, some of the kids left the org). As an adult, we have been the givers of hospitality, as it is now called. We never had an obnoxious family or speaker, nor ever had anyone take unfair advantage of the situation. It has always been one of my favorite aspects of being a JW.
CJ
Kingdom Hall has "Book Study." overseers.
1. Book Study overseers have a percentage of publishers under their supervision, whether the Overseer wan't it or not.
2. The Public Speaker is offered a meal after the meeting, which is assigned by a different book study group each week. Since most of the JWs in their book study, rarely get together, this is a good time to talk to people away from the Kingdom Hall. You are able to praise the speaker (even if his talk was stale, not refreshing or loaded with his own agenda.) and his wife, while enjoying fellowship with those who accept your invitation to lunch, dinner. Often it is a Ministerial Servant who ends up taking the speaker, to take the burden off the elders. The policy of "Hospitality." looks good on theory but often is not implemented or is carried out begrudgingly. There is a elderette who hated this provision, use to drive her nutts having to take five or six people out to dinner. The speaker would bring a chain gang from his Hall, the elderette's husband would invite them all, and pick up the tab! $120 Poof! up in Smoke. Oh how she was mad!
My great father and I did it once for the CO. That was the last time we ever did it. His wife could not come with us as she was feeling ill. So he asked us to ask another faithful sister to eat with us to make it a foursome. We did. After dinner he ordered something to go for his wife. My father was pissed off but did it anyways. Dad wanted to take them somewhere expensive to really let the CO feel he was appreciated. The bastard.
Additional forms of "Hospitality." can be see by the way the COs are treated like little stars, in the circuits by their Sheep. The Sheep will take them out to nice lunches, even if they usually can't afford to dine out. With the preceived time constraints, the COs tight schedules, don't really permit them to eat at the publisher's houses often. The Faithful Slave has made the provision to simplify our lives by telling us to "Bring your own lunch when you Pioneer, attend circuit assemblies, district assemblies." one thing but how is the CO making our life simple? It truly is something to see brothers offering them "Time Shares, Vaction Rentals, Cruises, Paid for International Assembly packages." many benefits for their hard work. Don't forget the special diets "expensive fish, filet mignon, low fat veal." these humble servants of Jesus need.
