Fistfights for seats at DC?

by Blind_Of_Lies 63 Replies latest jw experiences

• 

  respectful_observer

  As an attendant at the DC who had to be in the auditorium before the doors open for the “running of the bulls”, I’ve had the pleasure to experience:

  - Attendants trying to reserve entire rows before the doors open. It’s pretty funny actually, because as soon as one brother was bold enough to do it, all the other attendants would immediately start throwing their books down. It would get so bad, the Convention Overseer would have to get on stage and tell everyone to un-save all the seats. One year it was so bad, after several scoldings, the overseer made all auditorium attendants bring all their stuff out into the corridor and stand there until the doors opened. (I thought someone might push him off the stage for that decision.) What made it even funnier is that one attendant actually tried to hide behind the seats when everyone else was told to leave.

  - A “brother” pretend to be an attendant. Every time the overseer would tell him to un-save his seats, he’d just re-save them as soon as he walked away. After he was discovered doing this several times, the overseer brought the “captains” over. It turned out he wasn’t even an attendant; he’d just snuck in and pretended to be.

  - Getting reamed out by the adult child of an elderly couple. Another family had taken the seats her parents had wanted. After I told her that the seats were first-come first-served, she stormed off, only to return several times that day to inform me that Jehovah was going to hold ME responsible for ruining the DC for her parents. What made it even more ridiculous is the next day someone else took the same seats. The same daughter sat right in front of them and just turned at GLARED at them non-stop for the morning session. By the first break they moved…they told me later they had no idea what her problem was but she made them so uncomfortable, they decided it’d just be better to move.

  - Watching people run up, only to discover the seats they wanted were already saved. Solution? Just remove the people’s books and hide them or move them. Watching the looks on the faces when they returned was priceless. “Books? No, we didn’t see anything here.”

  Ahhh….truly these are God’s people.
• 

  Dagney

  lol! The ol clipboard trick!

  I shoulda got me a clipboard.

  Actually, the last DC I went to in LB, I brought things to do. I wrote letters and cards, discreetly did some reading, anything to not hear it. I think some of the friends left and had drinks at some of the close by watering holes. Stupid religion.
• 

  usualusername

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueh_1PeJhaQ&feature=related
• 

  Dagney

  AH! My nephew is a actor in that scene with the kids.
• 

  wha happened?

  I feined an illness the last year and drove over to Roscoe's and had breakfast. I didn't return until lunch.
• 

  Marvin Shilmer

  -

  This discussion sure brought back some amusing memories!

  I was assigned to one of the nightmare in Hot-lanta conventions back when they had that huge open air bowl. Damn it was hot in there! None stop sunshine beamed right from Jehovah’s wonderfully made heater of the solar system! Sitting in that arena made a person pray for rain, which posed its own problem.

  Well that solar beamed convention site had a tiny row of seating at the back of the lower deck. It was shaded by the overhanging upper deck. This strip of bliss went all the way around that damn melting pot of a convention bowl. This ring of pleasure outside the fire zone had, as I recall, exactly 3 rows of seating. After that you were in that blazing hell from Jehovah’s wonderfully made heater of the solar system.

  That year I observed several fist fights among sisters vying over those seats. It was always the sisters. They were some nasty fighters, too.

  When it rained we saw plastic sheeting coming out. But that’s a whole “nuther” story.

  Marvin Shilmer

  http://marvinshilmer.blogspot.com
• 

  ziddina

  " Watching people run up, only to discover the seats they wanted were already saved. Solution? Just remove the people’s books and hide them or move them. Watching the looks on the faces when they returned was priceless. “Books? No, we didn’t see anything here.” Respectful Observer, page #2

  Hah!

  I wanted to do that - at the pre-1975 assemblies my parents dragged me to. They wouldn't let me...

  So I sat there during one assembly and watched the "saved" seats - throughout the whole assembly...

  Some weren't used until the SUNDAY afternoon talk! And some of them were NEVER used!!

  I guess some JWs thought that "saving seats" meant that someone was "symbolically" at the assembly...
• 

  straightshooter

  I remember standing in line early in the morning and rushing to get a good seat. I was never fast enough to get a prime seat and also I was always scared of being trampled on.

  I just love the remark of the study saying, “You JW’s will die for each other in a concentration camp but you will kill each other over a lousy seat?”.

  How true that is.
• 

  nugget

  Seating in Das and CAs seems to bring out the worst in everyone. People who live locally get in early and take all the good seats on the end of rows and families getting in later are squashed in the middle of rows. The people who booked the premium seats then proceed to complain whenever small children need a toilet break.

  When my son was very small I had alot of trouble getting him to sit still on my lap. Now I know that due to Aspergers it was extremely difficult for him to cope with the heat, the feedback on the sound system, the cramp and the pressure of the crowd. One sister said to me that if I couldn't get him to sit still she would be forced to move and it was entirely my fault that she was unable to enjoy the programme. I told her not to worry I was leaving and promptly went back to the car with my family and went home early. I'd like to thank the smug, uncaring, selfish cow for giving us a good excuse to get out of the hell hole and I sincerely hope her bum was numb by the end of the day.

  The society makes it harder and harder for families. They are the ones who make seating the big issue by insisting everyone sits in the stadium suitable only for watching a sporting event. Although they can broadcast the programme on the radio they will not allow people to sit outside the stadium and listen in.
• 

  wha happened?

  because the donations flow in like it's the end of the world. I had the same complaints. Someone here used to do the audits at the DA's and I beleive he threw out numbers like $250k collected. With that kind of dough, the assemblies become just yet another means of milking money out of the people who can afford it the least