by minimus 52 Replies latest jw friends
Sometimes we'd do laudromats. Go in, leave a couple of magazines, drive to the next one. So, about one minute's time, no talking to anyone and then another 5-10 minutes to drive to another one. Lots of "placements" and almost no effort.
One guy, we'd just drive down the street and size up the house. If they didn't look home, we'd pencil that house in. Otherwise, we'd chalk it up to not-interested.
Wasting time???? That was unheard of... I remember going out in frigid cold and the car being locked up so we couldn't sit in it for a few minutes to warm up. In the winter we would have territory on the waterfront and in the summer would have to work inner city areas.
We would be stuffed in the one car (sometimes 10 of us) to go to a territory. (This was in the 60s) My partner and I (we were just kids...10-14 years old) would walk as slowly as we could from house to house. I remember being so hot and thirsty that I sat down on a porch step for a few minutes, but the brother in charge of the group caught me and gave me a talking about being lazy. So, we would take a break inside the house...in the entryway of a house where no one was home. All we would do is to sit on the steps for a few moments.
I loved rainy Saturdays...we would go out for maybe an hour instead of the three hours we always put in.
We never took coffee breaks, either, until a pioneer from another part of the country joined the congregation and told us about it. The elders didn't like the idea of taking any kind of breaks, so it depended on who was in charge of the group if we got a coffee break or not.
aarque, which part of the country did you live in??? Coffee breaks & JW's go hand in hand, EVERYWHERE! Those elders should have been deleted right away for abusing the flock!
Coffee breaks & JW's go hand in hand, EVERYWHERE! Those elders should have been deleted right away for abusing the flock!
Not everywhere, at least not in the early 1970's. We used to start right after the meeting for service and work straight through to lunchtime.
At one point, we had a Special Pioneer appointed as our Congregation Servant. At that time, SP's had to get in 150 hours a month. One day when I was working with him, we put in 6 straight hours of door-to-door work without a break.
Neon, we're not talking about pre-historic times. Any elder worth his salt would never abuse the flock like this!!!
I recently saw 4 Witnesses S L O W L Y walking the streets and I realized, some things will never change.
This is what made me realize what a joke the ministry really was.
There was some young couple we regularly worked with and this is how our morning would go:
Leave service group around 10 am.
"Drive by" one of the sisters return visits to see if she was home (never was)
Drop off magazines to the brothers crazy return visit, who you knew was NEVER going to progress anywhere, and the magazines likely disappeared into the giant hoard his house was and were never given a second glance.
Oh look it's 11, time for break!
Then we would usually drop them off at their bible study, who was the 8 year old brother of someone in our hall ... Also never progressed anywhere.
HI,
Stand at the door for a while after you rang the bell. This shows that you are not just out ringing bells & moving away...They love when you ring the bell & wait for a long time....because they say, most likely the are home but just don't want to answer the bell. Some try to look in the peep holes & say, I think I saw someone...then stand some more...if it's a 2 or 3 family house...one friend rings the door bell, the other one goes out to see if someone comes to the window..then they say..I think I saw a curtain move...(most likely it's a windy day & the wind blew the curtain) but this is a tactic to show how zealous one is....Many have many tricks. Some say they have a return visit, knowing the person ain't home but they have already made coffee break arrangements with another friend & say, we are going on a return visit...but all they are doing is driving out to the farest Dunkin Donuts so they are not seen in the territory.
I have a slew of return visits...I'm saving them for just the right moment...shhhh, don't tell anybody....
Legacy
The elders were the worst offenders. They always would have an unbaptized publisher in the car and talk privately to him while the others started the door knocking.
Mary, Shame on you. Don't you know that you can't count time at a garage sale unless you give them a tract after you buy something???
Mary.....didn't you hear from Jehovah's people that buying things at a garage sale could invite the demons?
