At the Conventions, do the "brothers" in the Covention Office get the same food served as served to everyone else? Or do they receive a "special" menu?
I don't think they make them stand in line for the food either!
Having spent time in the chairman's office back in the day, I will be happy to answer that question.
There was no "special menu" prepared for the boys upstairs; however, you didn't see much convention food there. The "rationale" was someone was "on a special diet" or couldn't eat certain foods. So a guy would be dispatched to buy food and bring it back to the Administration enclave. At noon on the first day of the convention, somebody would show up with a bag filled with take-out sandwiches, salads, fruit, etc., and that would open the gates. By the second day, everyone in the office was bringing their own food or sending out for it.
The key to how rampant this was depended on the Bethel heavy assigned to the convention. If he or his spouse had special food requirements (often the case), it was party time. If he was a stickler, the party slowed down some, which meant the boys were dispatched to go behind the food lines, talk directly with the food service overseer and have a large order filled to take upstairs. Then the Bethel guy would be pleased to see the Administrative staff eating burritos and ham and cheese sandwiches and could choose to ignore the designer coffee, the baked goods and snacks, and the imported soft drinks (you know, like Coca Cola and other brands as opposed to the infamous warm Shasta). I was always puzzed why only sugar-filled sodas were offered at the food stands; there was never any "diet" soda. Yet, in the 1970's and 80's, when the WTS still had food service, Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi had become huge best-sellers in the U.S. Many people would not touch soda that did not have the word "diet" on the label. Ice cold diet drinks were in abundance in the upstairs rooms.
If anyone looked askance at this, there were several standard excuses:
1. I'm working here and can't take time out for a lunch break.
2. I'm on on diet and can only eat certain foods.
3. I have food allergies and my doctor has prescribed a dietary regimen.
4. We haven't got much time to eat, we have talks to prepare during the lunch "break" or we have to do a "walk-through" on the stage.
In addition to that, the guys upstairs enjoyed many other perks:
1. There was always a coffee pot on, and the coffee wasn't the instant watery stuff served downstairs.
2. There were dishes of candy and other snacks, such as fruit and cookies set out on table inside the office. Eating and drinking during the session was permissible because it did not disturb the others who were downstairs in the sweltering heat and couldn't see what you were doing.
3. There were several restrooms upstairs and none of the masses could get upstairs without special i.d., so these were in effect reserved for the heavies... and owing to relatively little use were always clean; there were no lines for the "sisters."
4. And, yes, there were sisters there. The guys assigned to coveted Administration jobs brought their spouses upstairs. Sometimes the spouses would just come up before and after the sessions and at lunch time to join their menfolk; other times, they'd just move in and spend the day there, obvserving the convention program from behind those smoked glass windows you used to see up on the mezzanine level when you were seated in the auditorium. It often depended on whether the couple had children; kids were generally not welcome upstairs.
5. The air conditioning operated at peak performance in these self-contained rooms.
6. You didn''t have to worry about finding seats.
This experience speaks volumes about the double-standard that exists in the dub world. It's not any different in the corporate world, of course, but I suspect the rank and file expected a higher standard from "Jehovah's people." However, the concept of "rank has its privileges" is no stranger to the Watchtower World.
