The Truth is Stranger than Fiction

by Amazing1914 13 Replies latest jw friends

  • Amazing1914
    Amazing1914

    Hello Folks, I saw something I never considered possible before ... perhaps this is a sign of the days ahead for the Watchtower Society. I was on the south side of Chicago today, showing a large property to an investor. The area I was in was fairly nice, somewhat middle class in appearance. As I stood on the street corner with the investor, his associate, and two other real estate agents, I saw a women walking toward us from a distance. She was not dressed well, almost more like a hooker. She swaggered, and appeared like she might be a little looped. She stopped and talk with men, and sometimes women. She proceeded rather slowly, but she made her way toward us. She had on slipper-thong type shoes, jeans-style short pants, a t-shirt, with a plaid long sleeve shirt hanging loosly over that. Her hair was pulled back with a scarf holding a type of pony tail. Even though she talked with men for a long time, and acted giddy, she seem to have a presence, and a determination to go from person to person. Then, she finally approached me. She said, "hi, how are you." I was scared to death she was going to do something gross, like touch my crotch, or something. But, she kept her decorum, despite being a little strange. She then held up a magazine and started to present the Watchtower magazine. I said nothing, as I was in utter shock. I looked away. Normally, I would engage a JW in discussion. But this woman did not look like she would carry on much of a conversation. She sensed my reluctance, and walked away and said, "Have a nice day." I knew she had to be a JW, as this is standard Witness jargon in closing a contact. She moved on down the street, and stopped to talk to a group of ladies, and then presented the Watchtower magazine to them. They refused, so she moved on, out of sight. I have never seen anything like this before. Had she been a hooker, I could see this as a ploy, but she kept moving on, trying to talk to people. Was she trying to make some money for cigarettes or booze? Who knows. But, it was that "Have a nice day" as she walked away that really stuck with me. It was said in full JW marketing style. If this is what it has come to, then I fear the Watchtower Society is only a few years from going out of business. If the woman was not a JW, then she was as crazy as a horse on loco weed. Jim W.

  • nilfun
    nilfun

    Haven't you ever heard of "flirty fishing"?

  • myelaine
    myelaine

    I was on the south side of Chicago today, showing a large property to an investor. The area I was in was fairly nice, somewhat middle class in appearance. so you weren't in the "baddest" part of town then? lol michelle

  • undercover
    undercover
    Was she trying to make some money for cigarettes, or booze?

    Ya know, that wouldn't surprise me. Maybe she knew just enough of the JWs to know what to do with the magazine. You can find em laying around laundromats and waiting rooms all over town. Plus you said she offered the Watchtower with no mention of the Awake. That's a little unusual. One usually goes with the other. But it's been over 5 years since I've been in service so it may have changed.

  • sf
    sf
    I was scared to death she was going to do something gross, like touch my crotch

    LOL!! Damned terrorists!! LOLOLOL!!

    sKally

  • Sunspot
    Sunspot

    Hi Jim,

    What occured to me as I read your post, is that she may have been a JW at one time, and was DFed or just wandered away due to emotional problems and deficits that the JWs wouldn't put up with. Haven't we all known someone that didn't "fit the mold" and just kinda disappeared after a few years?

    BTW, it's so nice to see you posting so much more than before!

    hugs,

    Annie

  • misanthropic
    misanthropic

    Your story sounds to me like maybe this woman either needed money or may have been a little mentally ill. When I was like 17, I had gone to Las Vegas wiith my grandma and we had to do "street witnessing" sometimes "the weird ones" would take the magazines and go to the other side of the street and preach at people. I wonder if some of the people seeing that might have thought they too were witnesses?

  • freedom96
    freedom96

    I would imagine this gal has emotional problems, and maybe had a witness background. Quite possible she picked up the magazines someone public and took them to make some money.

    Too bad you were not in a position to have a conversation with her. That might have been quite entertaining.

  • BrendaCloutier
    BrendaCloutier

    I can see the panhandler bit. She may have been a street person who picked up the WT in a laundromat and decided to peddle it for some spare change. Carrying herself in a dignified manner she might hope to be taken for a righteous person inspite of her appearance.

  • DannyBloem
    DannyBloem

    Maybe she was offered the magazines in street witnessing work. We always offered magazines to those kind of people, as they were the only ones willing to accept.
    Maybe then she just imitated what the JW's told her.

    (always one of my favourites, to preach the red light area, with all those woman behind the windows )

    Danny

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