For those of you who went to Bethel, how was the food?

by TresHappy 50 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  unclebruce

  Actually the most "redeeming" aspect, pun intended, was when, after breakfast, I collected the free silverware boxtops (for stainless steel, but high quality) from 300 boxes of cereal (Kellogg's Corn Flakes). I got enough silverware to give away a couple of sets of 8. (I think I got about 2 dozen knives, forks, spoons, and various serving sets) I saved one set for my own then-upcoming wedding in June 1980. We still have most of it.

  LOL at Gamaliel.. so Bethel service does pay?

  APOSTATE TIMES ~ NEWSFLASH!

  Seventhday Adventist Dr. Kellog comes to

  the aid of impoverished Jehovah’s Bethelite!
• 

  unclebruce

  Excuse me if I'm butting in VM,

  It's all about money. Imagine a large book printing business with thousands of mouths to feed which has access to free land and labour. It'd be too tempting not to try growing your own food. Of course now the society is being ruled more and more by lawyers and hard nosed business types - outsourcing will be the way ahead (mores the pity they don't outsource the bible studies and field service).
• 

  Stephanus

  Makes one wonders if all along through the years that they really did save money growing their own food, or was it an exercise is self-sufficiency?

  Or did the economics of food production change over the years simply making it inefficient for them to produce their food?

  I dare say the latter - during the depression it was probably a good idea to exercise some self-sufficiency, and it probably was more economical to do so. But as the production of food has changed in leaps and bounds, the Watchtower facility probably became less useful due to economies of scale and the labour intensive nature of their operation.

  Heck, ordinary people (like my mother) who prided themselves on their vege gardens are finding that sometimes it's just easier to buy the stuff, instead of grow it!
• 

  unclebruce

  True Stephanus,

  The same applies to things like bread, milk and eggs. In real terms these are cheaper than ever before.

  Why keep chooks with all the associated hassles of rodents, snakes and foxes when two dollars in the honesty box gets a dozen fresh organic eggs at the farm gate
• 

  Gamaliel

  unclebruce,
  
  I thought about the Battle Creek connection when I was writing the post, and was wondering if it weren't Cheerios box tops I was thinking of. It may have been, but as I recall, the Cheerios boxes had only offered Betty Crocker silverware which was always(?) only discounted, never free. But we're talking 25 years ago - nearly half a lifetime, so far.
  
  
  For trivia buffs: Who's buried in Battle Creek (Oak Hill Cemetery)?
  
  W.K. Kellogg
  John Harvey Kellogg
  C.W. Post
  Sojourner Truth
  James White and Ellen G White
  
  (I don't believe C W Post was actually an Adventist although he competed in the cereal industry with Post Toasties and Post Grape Nuts, and a competing health sanitarium in the same town.)
• 

  daniel-p

  "We need to hear more Bethel stories like this one! The Bethelites are told to "keep within the Bethel family" what happens there, so I am glad you told this here!"
  Here's some info on Wallkill: He who has the keys, gets the best cuts. First of all, slaughterhouse workers get the best cuts, period. And they should, that work is amazingly dangerous and very demanding. Anything they leave goes directly to the Food Warehouse into the freezer (a huge room at ten below), if it needs to be frozen quicker for shipment the next day, it is put into to smaller blast freezer (40 below). Keys are given to most warehouse workers, and if you can get into the front door, then you can get anywhere else inside besides the offices upstairs. ANYWAY, anyone with these keys can sneak in after hours and help themselves to whatever meats are stored in the freezer. Of course, you have to either brave the 10 below (farrenheit) in your street clothes, or don the insulated suits they have hanging up in the closet. I found ways to sneak in when I knew no one else would be around - I knew exactly where the good meats were and on which days they would be sitting in the freezer room. I would swing by the cheese room, of course, because you always need colby! On my way out, I might nab some fresh orange, apple, grape, grapefruit, etc. juice fom the produce cooler. Really, this is what kept me going back there at Bethel.
  The kitchen is nice too because if you have access to the front door, you can go in at night and help yourself to practically anything. Of course, you are farther down the line from the slaughterhouse, so you chances of getting good cuts are nill unless you know someone out at the warehouse.
  Every once in a while they crack down on all the "gleaning" after hours, but it will always go on, believe me. Someone always needs keys for something, and as long as Bethel remains a bureaucraticly run organization, there will always be plenty of Bethelites with a conscience willing to break the rules a bit.
  After one crack-down, some keys were taken away from some peope and rumors were spread around about some sort of mild discipline to those who were abusing their priveleges of kitchen or warehouse access. A few days later I saw the overseer come into the kitchen after hours (I was still there with ****ing dish-duty) and saw him help himself to the bakery cooler.
  I venture to guess that employee theft is higher at Bethel than ANY secular organization, for many reasons.
• 

  cabasilas

  Reminds me of the "resistance" shown by some of us at Wallkill when Phil Wilcox told us it was wrong of us to take magazines being printed on the presses into the restrooms to read. These had not been released to the Bethel family yet and we wanted to see what was new in the magazines. (This was in 1975.) Wilcox cited the need for confidentiality but I think the real reason was their concern we might take too long in the restroom while we would read these unleased magazines.

  Soon afterwards, I went into the can and thought I noticed something behind the tank. Sure enough, rolled up and stuffed behind the tank, but barely visible, was the latest Watchtower that was just starting to go through the presses. What did I do? I scanned it real quick and then rolled it back up and put it back in the same hiding place for the next curious reader. Such subterfuge reminded me of some of the stories we heard about JWs in countries where there was persecution! So we never lacked "spiritual refreshment" while we took care of our mundane business.
• 

  Stephanus

  Every once in a while they crack down on all the "gleaning" after hours, but it will always go on, believe me. Someone always needs keys for something, and as long as Bethel remains a bureaucraticly run organization, there will always be plenty of Bethelites with a conscience willing to break the rules a bit.
  
  After one crack-down, some keys were taken away from some peope and rumors were spread around about some sort of mild discipline to those who were abusing their priveleges of kitchen or warehouse access. A few days later I saw the overseer come into the kitchen after hours (I was still there with ****ing dish-duty) and saw him help himself to the bakery cooler.
  
  I venture to guess that employee theft is higher at Bethel than ANY secular organization, for many reasons.

  Metatron often compares the 'Tower to the old Soviet Union, and the situation you describe certainly seems to be of that ilk.

  There seem to be a lot of problems in the scenario you present that the Watchtower could address. Just some simple good management would be a start. First on the motivation front. Make sure that the staff feel that the rewards of doing their job properly and not thieving are higher than if they do steal. Also make sure that punishment is real and makes getting caught not worth it.

  Then on the organisational front. Make sure that only the right keys to the right area are issued to the right people. Make sure that the different areas can only be accessed by people who are duly authorised and that all areas can only be accessed with right key (no large key sets), and all such issuances follow strict procedures and there is accountability built in all through the process. Make sure stock control is done by people who don't have a vested interest in pocketing said stock, eg. make sure they eat well and possibly get a decent monetary or at least material reward for making sure things don't "walk".

  No wonder Bethel has to consider outsourcing for so many of the things they used to depend on their "free" labour force for: that "free" labour seems to have cost a lot more than it appeared on paper.
• 

  What-A-Coincidence

  following up on Daniel-p

  the damn Watchtman duties had some benefits. Since you had the keys to all the offices, you also had the key to the kitchen...during a run, I would grab me some govement cheese and sneak back out like a rat. I would also pee in the ... umm never mind.
• 

  Stephanus

  the damn Watchtman duties had some benefits. Since you had the keys to all the offices, you also had the key to the kitchen...during a run, I would grab me some govement cheese and sneak back out like a rat.

  Another example of what I was saying above. Although the security guy has every business checking out areas of the complex, sub-sections shouldn't be available to those who have no business. I.e. Only kitchen staff should have access to the food storage - it should be locked, or in an area that's locked, and the keys only available to kitchen staff while performing their legitimate duties. For such a legalistic and controlling org, the 'Tower ain't too good at basic management and stock control!