by nochoice 58 Replies latest forum announcements
I once had a sister come up and try to donate about $5 in pennies while I was halfway through counting.
Ah yes, I remember well the "widow's mite" phenomenon. Old sisters who wouldn't dare to turn up at their bank with shopping bags full of worthless coins but who would happily dump it all in the contribution box, and pat themselves on the back for doing so because THEY don't have to count it. *shudder*
"...You weren't there man, you weren't there..."
Cedars
TMS assistant is probably a pretty good gravy train. Just give out talk slips and then call people to remind them they have a talk, right? I would think that would be the easiest job of all.
fugue ...
I was the TMS assistant for over 3 years with 2 different Elders and I have to tell you, if anyone thinks that the TMS assistant is easy then he has not done the job.
First, before the meeting, you are constantly looking for the ones who have parts, to get their slips, make sure that their householder is there (if applicable). When it gets to 5 minutes before the meeting and someone is not there, you have to start thinking in terms of finding a replacement. You start asking people and most come up with some excuse for why they can't do it. I can't tell you how many times I would whisper to the Elder that Brother/Sister So-and-So is not here. He would just say "You do it then." So for the next 20 minutes while they are giving the Instruction Talk and Bible Highlights, you are trying to put a quick talk together. After awhile, I found it easier to spend an hour the night before to just make an outline for talks 3 and 4 so if I had to give the talk it wouldn't be a problem.
Then, after the meeting, you are chasing people around to give them their slips with their future assignments on it.
Regarding the scheduling, you have to keep track of when each person last gave a talk so that each person gets a talk in a consistent timeframe. With the sisters, I had to rotate them between being the one assigned the talk and the next time the householder. I would make the entire schedule for the next two months and then give it to the Elder for his review/approval. He would give it back to me the next meeting with notes, changes, additions, deletions, etc. (That part of it was interesting because you would find out who was on restrictions, who was having a personal problem with another sister or some other issue. Several times he would circle the two names I had for Talk 3 and would say "Don't put them together." Other times it would be "Don't give him/her any more talks until I tell you. Remind me about him/her in 6 month.")
There is more to that job than meets the eyes.
Rub a Dub
Literature Servant is the ONLY way to go. Accounts= too much time spent with Elders asking questions and giving advice, and is time consuming.
TMS assistant = assistant to the Elder running the show, and being his gofer, and being responsible for getting substitutions and it is EVERY WEEK!!
Territory!!??? !!!! Do you really want to more involved in D2D??
If you do literature nowadays it's gravy. You wirte down a few things, ordering is all done via internet now so thats easy. Technically you are required to be at the meeting 15 min before and after, but the " before " is rarely enforced. Your major worry will be keeping enough stock, but not too much, that is usually the CO's gripe. Also, the arrangment now is to have the current magazines out on the counter and the sheeple come and get them, so you don't really have to worry too much. Your major concern will be upcoming campaigns/invitations, and the occasional special order item. Some have to go pick up literature at a centralized location to save the $ociety some ca$h, but you can pawn that off on your lackey who wants to emulate you!!
In my opinion literature is the ONLY way to go. If you are organized you will have the most freedom of any position, and an occasional " mistake " now and then ensures that you won't be given too much more responsibility. For example, Saturday morning comes around, where is all the new literature?! Oh no!! I forgot to pick it up!! I will have to quit service an hour early to go get it for the friends!! Just write that on the back of your time sheet when your hours are low. Always act a little stressed out when the Elders ask how the assignment is going so it doesn't look too easy. but then make your determination to help the friends known, no matter what!! You will be valued for your dedication and sacrifice despite obstacles!! Play your cards right and it can be the easiest job, and your ONLY job!!
Magazine servant would be the easiest I think. There are no "standing orders" for magazines any more. you just make sure the stack on the counter doesn't run low.
Welcome nochoice!
May you make many good friends and enjoy your journey here on JWN.
Thanks to all for the advice so far! Just to clarify, no, my heart is not in this. This is stricly for family. And no, not for a girl. Accepting the MS title was a neccessity to maintain my cover. I made too many faces and rolled my eyes a few times too many, subconsciously I guess, since I don't recall doing it. But my world was about to unravel when a few of the brothers and sisters noticed it. I had to make a concerted effort to show my intense love for Jehovah's organization. The need for workers was so great, the brothers soon forgot about my uncontrollable facial reactions to things going on in the hall, and they brought me in the back room before the meeting one night to ask: "Is there any reason you would not qualify to be appointed a Ministerial Servant?" Well, if Holy Spirit didn't find anything wrong with my thinking, why should I come clean? So here I am.
Already, I can relate to all of the comments regarding all of the jobs since I've been helping most of the current position holders for many months now. It's been alluded to in one of the comments, that it really depends on your "boss" too. I see some really micromanage, and others are laid back. Some know the computer and do a lot themselves, others are dinosaurs and if it's a computer type job, you'll be doing it all. And one clarification too. Someone mentioned not hearing the meeting or being able to pay attention to the meeting as a negative. I'd actually welcome that distraction. Likewise, being too busy to mingle before and after would probably be a plus for me too! Just to confirm a few of your experiences with what I've seen:
Account Servant:
Being seen is actually important for my situation, so I agree about the Accounts Servant position being pretty horrible and thankless. Our current one seems frustrated each night looking for witnesses. And most of the friends are gone by that time (can't start counting if you think someone might drop a dollar in on thier way out the door still). Since the friends are gone by the time you do that work in the hall, there's no, "Oh look at Brother Efficient, they're really using him now!" Likewise, with accounting being done at home, the friends don't see that either. And a few times when our current Account Servant has been behind the counter doing a little bookwork before the meeting, the Territory Servant, Literature Servant, and Magazine Servants have all told him that he doesn't need to be back there until after the friends leave and only to count the tills. So he really doesn't even have a "home base" or place to be!
Territory Servant:
I agree that this is probably easy, and maybe even mindless. That mindless part might get to me after some time, since in our hall, the Territory Servant stands behind the counter waiting for the one or two friends that actually check out or return a territory. Also, I heard through some others that we might be undergoing some map changes. That will require changing the big wall map and redoing all of the territories (adding streets that were not there years ago, etc.). If that's the case, and the Service Overseer is a real delagator, the new Territory Servant will be spending hours and hours reworking maps, reprinting maps, probably learning computer applications, all before he has the opportunity to get the cushy easy job.
TMS Assistant:
In our hall, it's the full meal deal. The TMS Overseer introduces the speakers, comments on thier great talks, and that's about it. I think this is why it's an MS position, rather than in some halls where a 12 year old keeps time and rings a bell for overtimes. In addition, we have a lot of friends that don't want to work with others, and some racial tension. I've overheard one African American sister ask the TMS Overseer, "Why do you keep putting me with black people? Is there no white woman in this hall that wants to work with me?" And I've overheard another African American sister ask basically the opposite question, "Why do you keep putting me with white sisters? There are plenty of black sisters I can work with too ya know." That's just too much to keep track of. And I don't think I could be very gracious for long. The one pro I do see is that I would be completely distracted and busy through the meeting and it would go by very quickly without further indoctrination.
Literature Servant
This one is winning out at the moment. I get the place to stand, having an excuse not to mingle. I get seen, with everyone coming up to the coutner to see "what's new." It's seems easy, but not mindless. Definitely more action with tracts, brochures and books than territory. The current guys biggest frustration seems to be too many bosses. The Service Overseer wants to be really tight with inventory so as not to waste money that could be used to build Kingdom Halls, and the other elders want more stock. The brother seems to be between a rock and a hard place, because it never goes over well to tell one elder that he should talk to another elder because you have been given different direction. That's too much work for them to talk to each other. They'd rather tell you to do something differently even if they know you've been told by a prior elder something different. My solution to this would be to display only what the Service Overseer wants in stock, and hide some stock on the side so I never run out!
Magazine Servant
In our hall, at least, it seems very thankless. The boxes never seem to stop coming! And somehow, it's your job to make sure the friends only take one or two of the future placement magazines for thier own family, but without counseling them or offending them. Impossible. I've been there when the Magazine Servant gets reamed because we ran out of the current magazine placement before the month ended, and I've been there when there was too many magazines left over. "Look at all the new Kingdom Halls we could have built with that box of magazines!" Seriously, that was the comment!
Sound Servant
I would really like to play DJ. Sit throughout, still be seen. Distracted enough to have the time pass quickly. But, alas, with our lack of help, this is non-MS job. There is no Servant for this.
Hall Servant
I've never heard of this. Do you mean Attendant? I wouldn't mind that, since there's no homework, no work before or after, and plenty of distractions. Why, it's your job to run after the distractions! Freinds coming in late looking for a seat. New ones looking confused. But mixed in with the regular association that I would have to maintain, it would not be worth it. There are too many lonely, lonely, sad witnesses in our hall that just want to talk, and have no sense of your urgency when you obviously have things in your hand you need to hand out or do. Plus, I doubt anyone would be given just that role.
So far then, Literature is the job for me!
However, please keep the insightful advice coming!
Thank you!
Giggles.....another appointed brother in the concsious class!!!!
Congrats on your appointment!
Glad you decided to start posting!
Looking forward to hearing more from you!
(menfolk talking theo stuff is sooo cute!)
~huggles
Welcome nochoie. Active witness here too.
I've done all those jobs. Accounts, by far, was the WORST.
Sorry you have to do any of them. I was all but Mag. Servant and Territory. Best would be Sound in my opinion...accounts suck the worst!!! TMS didn't take too much time for me. The elder that did it was pretty good, so he took care of most of it.
Just stay away from Accounts!
I kinda like maps. Wouldn't it be fun to, like, change up the territories a few times each year. You could categorize them by size, cross-checked with census-tract-level data on education, family size, income, etc. Then, attach the service reports from each time the thing is worked. You could do a whole marketing project: know where you are most effective, what times of the year to call, all that. Then, when the CO comes, you just bomb him with analysis.
That's a dream job. I'm not even kidding.
