by Julia Orwell 46 Replies latest jw friends
Wow! When I read the comments it really brings home how CONDITIONED we all were.
I lied all the time. It got to be a joke because my SO was(/is/) a wonderful friend of mine.
1-5 hours meant: I aint doing nothing, just trying to staying regular.
5-10 hours: I was running my mouth about Jehovah on social media sites! LOL!
0 hours: I am about to blaze out of this mess. 0 hours FELT GOOD!!!!
It was so good to have children. I would start and stop my time by talking to them about creation. Also I would fudge up my fractional time to whole numbers at the end of the month.
Unfortunately, I was too truthful on my reports when I was a Pioneer. My fellow Pioneers would start their time at 6am by putting magazines in the laundomat, and then continue to count their time until the group met for field service, and then when we broke for lunch they would count their time at the restaurant while eating. I didn't agree, so i only counted actual time when I was out in service. BIG MISTAKE. The way they did it, they were able to take a 2 week vacation away from service, and they got all of their yearly hours almost 3 weeks early. I was still struggling to catch up with no time off, and when the end of the service year came, I was 6 hours short. That 6 hours caused me to be brought before the Elders wondering why I didn't get my time, and it was a big scandal that a Reg Pioneer didn't get their time. Over 6 hours! It would have been easy to lie, but I didn't want to dissappoint Jehovah. I could kick myself for putting myself through such utter nonsense for a publishing company.
Had I cheated like they did, it would have been no problem, and I would have had my hours. But, since I did things "By the book" it caused a lot of problems. On top of that, the other pioneers were being supported by their husbands, but I had to work 3 jobs on top of pioneering and preparing for the meetings, etc. I was ragged and torn by the end of the year, and I left shortly after to another cong, but soon faded.
I lie now. Every month as a matter of fact.
But then again maybe
its not really a lie. Afterall I pioneered for 20 years when the hourly requirements were 100 and 90. I figure I am just "borrowing" from the past.
Along the lines of the discussion about bull shit reporting of hours is the fact that a few JWs have admitted to me that they count time for going online into forums like this one and others, to engage in debate about Watchtower beliefs.
A few others i know, send letters instead of going out in service and count the time they spend writing them. One can just image the time they take writing each letter.
There was this one brother who lived on a floor above where the KH was located. His service group would adjourn to to his flat to make further arrangements. Once I got delayed for up to an hour, and still didn't see any of his group leave the building through the one entrance. I found out later that they drank coffee and chatted with the magazines on the table so as to be able to count their time making plans.
I can't really remember putting down any fake time; I guess what would probably count as such would be the travel time to return visits or something, but I would stop my time if we stopped for food or something. Or if people went to the convenience store first, I wouldn't start my time until we actually got out to the territory. I'm sure I rounded up by an hour or something and then made up the time the next month. I know my mom would report time she hadn't made and then just make it the next month. So it wasn't a lie depending on the quantum observer, if you will, as before the secretary looks at the time slip, the field service time was both made and not made, both 5 and 0, both 20 and 50, any number of possibilities, until he looked at it.
But it usually didn't matter for me anyhow. Except those summer months as a teenager when I tried to pioneer. Doing streetwork at barely dawn and then going to my summer job was awful. I think I only did it one month during the summer and took the other month easy. Nobody wants to blow their whole summer vacation on field service, after all.
Towards the end I was barely going out at all and used some time from KH construction/security work. I had allowed myself to become unfruitful. My zeal had cooled off. I was easy prey for Satan. And from there, here we are!
--sd-7
okay - i only read the question - i am not reading the comments. all i have to say - is there anyone out there in all honesty who can stand by in a court of law and avow their reports are/were completely intricately accurate?????????????
it's varying levels of fudging, and a few realists who bring the numbers down. bs, in other words. i personally wish i had gone with my brain a lot sooner and eschewed that stupid little paper. meaningless...just meaningless...all just a ploy to make people feel good about themselves or better than the next dude and then they don't want kids playing sports because they might get to feeling competitive????? hheeeeellllllooooooooooooo idiots.
sorry - it aggravates me.
Every month for the last 10 years I was active. I hated going out in service, if ever asked I would say since I worked at Cedars Hospital that I would witness to my patients or that I was studding with my daughter. Lies to cover up the lies, that is what I learned in the 25 years I was a JW.
I fudged my time for years, even when I didn't know TTATT. 5-7 hrs was my "I don't give a shit" after being a reg pioneer, then after getting df'd and then reinstated, it was 3-4 hrs for years, even when I was "reaching out" I would barely if ever report over 10 hrs. Towards the end it was 1 hr for the last 6 months and then I moved and stopped reporting altogether.
No idea what my "status" is officially, other than inactive, I could have been df'd again in abstentia, but doubtful...
i think...
