Here’s my bethel experience. Its nothing big, not like you guys who were there for 10+ years or in the 70s. however, if you ever wanted to get a look at things from a grunt’s point of view, here it is. I was just a temp, a grunt, but a recent one, so here’s a recent former bethelites experience.
The job
I was a 3 month temp at wallkill recently. Just to let you know, I never met any members of the GB in person, however I did see some come to wallkill to conduct the family watchtower study. From watching morning worship, most of them seemed pretty boring and really strict. Samuel herd, john barr, and Geoffrey Jackson seemed cool though, they would often joke around. Gerrit losch was the most boring. And the rest never cracked a smile. One black guy on the branch committee we nicknamed darth vader, he was very intimidating. I forget his real name though.
I was assigned to the shipping department, the area that oversees the shipping lines of the magazines and literature being printed. This was all before it was moved to Canada. Now Canada does all the mags and wallkill just does literature, which includes books, bibles, etc.
Wallkill has two roughly 39 feet tall manroland presses. Literature was a breeze since its all automated and mainly looked after by a pressman. Most literature was only printed on one press and the other press solely for brochures and mags. And the mag line… was occasionally hell.
Being a pioneer before going to bethel, I had a simple, labour-free part-time job, so going from that to getting up at 5am to start work at 6am, ending at 2pm or working 2pm to 11pm was a huge change. Anyway, back to the magazine line. As the watchtower loves to say, the press prints out over 20 mags a second. Now imagine being the person having to put those mags in boxes.
That’s what I did. A machine would automatically stack the mags based on congregation order, and I would either have to put the stacks in a box and put a sticker on it as they came out onto a air table, put foreign language mag order in a box, put mp3 CDs or large prints in a box, put kms in a box, put study editions in a box, or put packaging a box and let the conveyor bring it up for stacking on pallets. Most of these had their up and downsides.
The line was mainly for the public watchtower and awake. When the study edition and kms were printed, we would simply stack them on a pallet. I think one pallet of kms/study editions would contain over 20,000 copies. 100 in a stack with 22 stacks in a layer with 10 layers on a single pallet, something like that. This was pretty easy actually. Then we would put them in a box depending on the order on the sticker, which showed how many mags, cds, foreign language mags, etc. were required to be put in it.
Now, the magazines shoot out like crazy. And actually, large mag orders are much easier than short mag orders. Since a machine stacks the mags, large orders are in two big stacks that I would just put a box on and another machine would flatten the bottom, leaving the top exposed for kms, large prints, etc.
The small orders were a huge pain. The machine would shoot out stacks like crazy, and the table used to put the box on stacks would literally be filled with orders, and I would often need help with that, which would mean someone else stopping what they were doing to help. Spanish orders were the worse, so many tiny orders. Plus, I had to find the correct box size to place over the stacks, and could run out if the guy maintaining the shelves was fooling around.
You really had to keep yourself on your toes. Sometimes the whole conveyor, I don’t know how long it was but at least 20 feet long, would be completely filled with boxes. And when this happens, the pressmen don’t stop the press. Nope. You work harder or else all hell breaks lose and mags start falling off the air table.
If I wasn’t on the line, then I was upstairs putting the closed boxes filled with mags/literature on pallets for ups to deliver. This was pretty easy, we followed a pattern for mags or literature, depending on what it was. Mags had an easy pattern to follow, literature was all over the place and actually sucked doing. Anyway it was just me and 1 or 2 other guys so it was pretty laidback, no tours up there either. As I do the pallets, the other guy would do the computer stuff and bring the pallets to the shrink wrapper.
So that was basically my job for the 3 months. It was mainly young guys, early to mid 20s on the lines. Some girls were on the line and had it easy, though they were all married to guys who would work the forklifts/shipping office/press. Guess one or two single sisters couldn’t work with 20 single brothers, often wondered what that would be like.
We also had to stand. All the time. Never sit down, doesn’t look goof for tours, makes bethelites look lazy, etc. this was one big problem I had. So what if I sit down for a second? Ill just tell the tour my feet were a bit sore from standing for 8/9 hours straight. Nope, oversight hated the thought of that. Unless you were a girl. Then you can sit all you want, because they are a “weaker vessel” a guess. Though you can only sit when on putting foreign language orders in the boxes.
Interestingly, they made the jobs a bit easier recently. Before, guys would be stuck in one spot for their whole shift. So for 8/9 hours, all you’re doing is packaging, or you’re only putting in the kms/study editions, etc. I guess they realized what that does to people and made you change spots every 2 hours. I could not believe some guys could handle packaging for 8/9 hours straight.
We also had 20 minute lunch breaks, and could only go when the guy overseeing us would say so. This was because the press never stops during the day, so some guys always had to be on. We were never timed the breaks, but people notice when a guy is gone 30 minutes, so I was usually gone for 25.
Sometimes, we were on graveyard shifts for two weeks at a time. These were the worst of all shifts. Working 11pm to 7am, you’re a zombie around 6am when the morning shift takes over. However, even though they take over at 6am, we were still forced to stand around for that last hour for a reason I never did get. It was a huge waste of time for us because we were all dead tired and had nothing to do because the other shift had taken over. For “lunch” we would get the leftovers from the “lunch” from the evening shift. The floor overseer (who also often was in his late 20s to mid 30s, single) would remove the food from the freezer, heat it all up, and then we could enjoy our tiny 20 minute break sometime during the night.
Oh, the printery also has no air conditioning. Imagine working in a huge room, with a press going 24/7 5 days a week, with the temperature at over 100 degrees outside. I remember beings soaked in sweat some days and would ask to use the washroom just to throw cold water on my face. There were some little vents above certain stations, like the area where you put the cds in, or where you put foreign language orders in, or the guys who had to put the boxes on the stacks. But it was just air, not even cold air. Still better than nothing.
We also always had to wear safety goggles/glasses. Yep, because you never knew when a mag was going to fly into your face and savagely damage your eyeballs. Same in the air-conditioned room where we made the foreign language orders. I remember taking mine off and a guy told me to put them back on because them’s the rules. ughhhh
The room where we made the foreign language orders had air condition though. This was the good spot. All you had to do was take the foreign language mags off a shelf and make an order, which was put on a cart with shelves which was later wheeled out to the line. Simple stuff. However, no sitting again.
However, the good thing about graveyard shifts was no tours. One floor overseer would bring a soccer ball and kick it around with some guys if we were doing an easy run. However, this stopped when he kicked it and broke a light or something, he got in trouble for that. Also, honestly, I have no idea what a floor overseer does other than make up who works what shift for the week and doesn’t have to work on the line. Was a cushy position.
Also, at work we always had to tuck our shirts into our pants. I hated this. But we had to look like the watchtower poster boy. As soon as work was done I’d pull my shirt outta my pants, I still think it looks stupid and old fashioned. We weren’t around equipment where our shirts could get caught in, either. On the press I could see that happening, but not on the shipping lines.
As I said, since most of us were in our 20s, and many also temp workers, we had some good times during the shifts. But a lot of it was work, work, work, no fun when working. And never let the tours see you standing around or else there will be blood. When the press was down for maintenance/paper jam, we had to clean the area or were assigned to other departments for the day.
Being on shifts rather than the regularly 8 to 5, I very rarely was ever in the dining room for morning worship. The printery had its own dining room serving food from lunch. For morning worship, we would watch a recording of the talk/comments after the morning shift or if we were on the evening shift, before the evening shift. Because of this, most guys in the printery didn’t know many outside the shifts unless you were in wallkill for many years. We were like our own community of unknowns. Nobody really knew us, and since so many were temps, we were always coming and going. If I left, 98% of the people in wallkill would never have even knew I even existed.
We were all assigned to the dreadful E residence. The old building really highlights what bethelites were thought of in the 60s/70s/80s. the rooms were very, very tiny. Room for two beds, a single chair and desk, and a closet. That was it. Bathrooms were shared on the floors. You would be brushing your teeth and hear the shower going beside you. Very strange atmosphere. Supposedly they want to change this and make E res a seniority building for folks that have been there for 20+ years. Meaning combining two tiny rooms into one room with a bathroom.
My roommate was an odd character. Mid 20s, ms, elders son, etc. he was actually hard to get along with, just a weird personality. Some guys were like that, especially the 40 year old virgins. Those guys were beyond weird.
The atmosphere/other stuff
Honestly, it was a huge shock to be in wallkill. Called god’s house, I was often in shock I was there, let alone living there. However, shortly after arriving, my perspective on bethel and its atmosphere changed.
One thing I’ll always remember is walking back to my residence after the graveyard shift a little after 7am, walking through wallkill’s courtyard passing hundreds of people heading to morning worship. They would all be in dresses and suits, and here I was, a zombie with dirty cargo pants and sweaty shirt walking by. I remember the expressions of many people, ill never forget them. Shock, surprise, I don’t think many realized there was graveyard shifts on the press. I think some even thought I was a “worldly” worker, haha. Now that I think about it, nobody even spoke to me or said “hi” as I passed by hundreds of people. Maybe one guy actually.
Now, it being bethel, I assumed everybody would be happy, that people would greet you in the hallways, want to know where you’re from, your lifestory, etc. unfortunately, this was not the case. Wallkills attitude was very “cold”. Nobody would acknowledge you in hallways, and people were very, very serious. It was like jokes were forbidden.
Even on the lines, some of the guys were often super serious. No jokes, just work. They would treat new guys like crap. Hazing was outlawed, this wasn’t the 70s anymore. However, sometimes they would expect new guys to keep up with the experienced guys which often was simply impossible. Its hard to describe, other than calling it all a cold atmosphere. Some guys were cool, easy to get along with, while some were super serious and strict. Ill always remember a short, balding Italian guy on the lines who was always angry. Guess he was trying to prove something due to his height, he was like 5’2’’.
We knew about the gb wanting to get out of Brooklyn before it was announced recently, though even with the sale of various buildings it wasn’t that hard not to see. Lots of guys/couples were being transferred from Brooklyn to wallkill, some to patterson, mainly wallkill though. Still dunno why they are moving other than to get money from the real estate, like selling bossert for 100 mil. Some nice money right there.
The “cemetary” is at wallkill too. Members of the gb are buried there, other long-time members of bethel, and others who died at bethel. I remember seeing knorr’s and schroeder’s tombstone. They aren’t really tombstones, just small, square marble-like stones that say the person’s name, date of birth, and date of death. Their wives were buried there too. Never got a picture of it, another regret ill always have. Actually you can see it on google earth, 41°38'38.74"N 74°14'40.43"W check it out. Those white dots are the “tombstones”, while the little house is just someplace for you to sit down. Also see this thread for some pics.
Wallkill also functions as its own city. Has its own farm, beef cattle, water treatment plant, gas stations. Gas was cheap there too, couple cents cheaper than most gas stations. Food was the same across the three facilities.
Oh yeah, the food was ok in the morning and at lunch. big meals for those two. Supper though sucked big time. It was usually lasagne and salad, or pasta and salad, or something else like that. That was it. That was your supper. And for supper nobody ate in the dining room, everyone would put their food in Tupperware and eat in their own rooms. Guess they hated associating with each other or something, never did understand that. You had to dress up whenever you went to the dining room, no shorts/jeans/un-tucked shirt. Such a pain.
Reminds me, we couldn’t walk around the tour route when we ended our morning shift. Apparently, we would stumble people by our work clothes, being the few workers not in suits/dresses. This I always thought was a stupid rule. They saw me in work clothes earlier, and I can always say I work in the printery. But noooo.
Everything in the bethels is done by the internet now too, or computers. Book guests through the internet, time off, whatever. When buying food at the commissary, you could use a computer. Just put your i.d. number in and it was taken from your monthly stipend. Yep, we all had numbers. Its what we were. A number.
Weight lifting was a big thing in wallkill, and really came as a shock to me. Often hear from the stage “bodily training is beneficial for but a little” but in wallkill it was everything. Guys were huge there, some had like 20 inch biceps. It was all about the biceps. Some guys even had six packs. There wasn’t much to do after work, so I guess hitting the gym was the cool thing. In fact, even the printery overseer worked out a bit.
The beer flowed through wallkill though. We would sneak them in water bottles and drink them during the evening in the courtyard. Every guy had beer in their rooms. We would also play some video games together sometimes, like super smash bros brawl, though nothing m rated. Even then, I think if a cleaner or bethel heavy found out about smash bros, you would be asked to leave due to its “violence”. Some guys were asked to leave due to playing halo, and I was told there was a morning worship where it was said outright if you are caught with a copy of halo in your room, you will be kicked out of bethel. Lots of guys sadly had to throw out their copies.
As I said earlier, computers and the internet are really big now with the bethels. In fact, theres a program on bethel’s computers where you can look view all the bethelites residing in Brooklyn, patterson, and wallkill. I remember some guys up where we stacked the boxes on crates would look at the sisters on the program. It told you who was who’s roommate, so if a sister had a roommate with a different last name, we knew they were single. They were often assigned to nursing/cleaning though. Still creepy that some guys would do that.
Anyway everybody had a portrait beside their name, and you could see what department they worked in, their room #, their roommate, and telephone. I really wished I took the pictures of all the writing department, teaching department, service department, and branch committee members. To this day this is my biggest regret, that I didn’t save the names and portraits to a usb thumb drive. A lot of the guys in those departments were the “bethel heavies” and were old timers or the gb. I also had a phonebook with everyone’s phone number across the three bethels, including the gb. Writing had like 11 to 14 people in it, one really old guy I often believe is responsible for putting the words “behoove” and “untruth” in the articles, cause those are really stupid words ive never read outside watchtower mags.
The monthly stipend was $150 a month, doubt its changed recently. AFAIK this is a global thing, every bethelite has the same stipend. You could also get a few hundred dollars more per year if you had a car as a gas reimbursement. Had 14 days of vacation, you get more with seniority with a max of 30 I think. They carry over too. Was told to keep this all a secret, though had lots of nosy people wondering how much I was given. I think the co’s, do’s, and missionaries/special pioneers are given the same stipend. Insurance was cheap too, bethel has its own car insurance program. Couple dollars cheaper anyway than what most insurance agencies offer.
Your internet activity was heavily monitored. This site was blocked, labelled “apostate website”. They know all the apostate websites. Pretty sure they blocked keywords, e.g. naughty, so I couldn’t even visit naughtydog.com being the big gamer that I am. Websites you visit are recorded, including filtered sites you visit, and it is looked at by the computer department once in awhile to make sure you are still morally clean. I personally do think they monitor apostate websites, but just to protect copyright, like removing links to download shepherd the flock of god or dwelling together in unity.
Being in bethel also puts you out of touch with reality. Yeah you go in service on the weekends, but that’s pretty much the extent of your interaction with the outside world. I barely ever went outside wallkill other than for meetings/service. After work I was so tired I slept or studied for meetings. Sometimes a group of us shipping guys would go to new york for a weekend, we would get to stay at 90 sands which had a beautiful view of new york.
Regarding haircuts, unless you were losing your hair, you could not be bald nor have facial hair other than a mustache. I have no idea why, there is no scriptural command on this, its just a dumb unspoken rule. However, really short haircuts are popular among the guys, like a buzzcut or a #1 all around. But you can’t go bald!
Canada
Got some stuff on Canada too. They are tied into Wednesdays morning worship, and according to some guys, it is much, much more laidback up there and the food is 100x better than wallkills. They even have lobster for lunch sometimes!
One guy on the Canadian branch committee has two lexus sedans. Yes, you read that write, two! A sister told me this, said he and his wife got one each since you don’t have many expenses in bethel and get old age pension at 65, which I think is around $1,000 a month.
Also, the new manroland press that Canada just got supposedly cost $6 to $8 million to purchase. Some guys from germany, not witnesses, came over to help install it and get it running. dunno if they got special treatment or not.
Also, this I heard second-hand, but a member of the gb/u.s. branch committee said that printing the mags in Canada rather than the states “had absolutely nothing to do with money.” But we still don’t have a concrete answer on why the move happened.
France
Got one tidbit on France, though I can’t confirm this one. We all know how france hates the witnesses and is always pushing to tax them. Well, the main guy who was the most aggressive was none other than Dominique strauss-kahn. He really, really wanted to tax kingdom halls and the bethel in france, and supposedly was soon able to but was stopped due to all the sexual assault charges that have recently come against him. Again, dunno how valid this is, might just be those one of those lame forwarded emails.
And that, as they say, is that. One request: if you’re a lurker about to go to bethel, get those pics and names of the bigwigs at Brooklyn and share them with us! See who’s really in control. Also I got pics of the printery I may show some time.