My Bethel Experience Part 10

by new boy 27 Replies latest jw friends

new boy

There were guys at Bethel, who had GREAT jobs........Like Don Brouex.....he was the receptionist at the 124 Desk....checking in and "checking out" ......all the bethel tours and "hot" sisters......on there way through the "Home tour"............That my friend, is NOT a real bethel JOB.
There were guys at bethel, that had GREAT congergations with maybe only 2-4 bethelities in their halls. One Hall, Midtown had over 80 bethelites there.............. 3 old ladies 4 kids and a dog. Odds of getting a home cook meal on Sunday 0%. Roy Baty said he got cheese and crackers at some old sister house after he was there a year and 4 months. A good hall could make all the difference, on how long you could "gut it out" especially if you had a girl friend there.
There were guys at Bethel that, for them, money was NO problem...........parents sent them tons of cash every month, rain or shine.
There were guys................that had all three, they were called "Golden Boys".........Guys that for some reason, God was smiling down on them. They could fall into a bucket of shit and come up with a rose in their teeth.They has good jobs, great KHs, money, a car, and more often then not a good looking "sister" on their arm..................It was great just being around them......You thought that there could be a God after all............That brings me two my next 2 topics Cars and Women...If your are lucky they will both be FAST. lol
A car at bethel was total freedom!.............Why?.........The first two years there........... it was Bethel and your KH, Bethel and your KH.........unless you knew someone with a car to get out of the city. Your only free time was Saturday afternoon & evening.....So Saturday you would take the train down to times square and walk around looking for a good movie to go to, or walk all the way down to flatbush blvd. in Brooklyn. It wasn't unusal to not find one and walk all the way back ........................ Sunday was Service in the morning, meeting in the afternoon and if your were lucky, dinner with a family in the hall that night.
A car could help change some of that. Some guys there had some nice cars too. Jim Pipkorn first had a 65 ford mustang rag top. then a 67 GTO. Dave Borga (Mr G Job king) had a 69 MACH 1, There was a 68 396 rag top Camaro.........anyway they all spelled...... FREEDOM. They did have their problems......one was parking, there was NONE back then......so you would have to drive around "the heights" looking for a spot......If you got back late....that could take up to an hour driving up and down every street with in a half mile.....Or you could park illegally......which many did......sometimes you got lucky....If not it was 10 bucks, 25 dallors for a fire hydrant. The Kennedy boys (Jim and Gary) had a T-Bird and NEVER parked legal!.......they had Georgia plates.......and said what the hell....Well, one day they looked for there car and some other car was parked in their spot.........The city towed it. They went to the pound to get it....................................................... The guy said $356.00 please............they said "KEEP IT"
The other problem was break-ins.......If you had a rag top you would NEVER lock your car. The reason was if they wanted in, they would just take a knife to your roof, so you WOULD let them get in.......But you would put a chain around the steering wheel and brake pedal. So they could hot wire the car and drive away...........but there would be NO brakes. Some guys would put a kill switch in. You would always chain your hood and truck down.........Another thing you would do is always leave your glove box OPEN, to show them there was nothing of value in your car. If you didn't your side mirror would be broken by the next morning.
We would see new cars parked on the street, in "the Heights"........in 6 months they looked like pieces of shit........The reason is, most....... New Yorkers park by SOUND.......... they back in, until they hear.... a CRASH.......then they move forward until they hear.....another.....CRASH.......and ..then they back up and hear the final...............CRASH.......now your parked..........lol
After two years there, things got a little better, I had a fair job on the east frieght elevertor.........and I bought a car for ONE DALLOR. .....thats right one buck........My room mate's girl friend's car, 1968 fairlane, got totaled in a crash. The insurance payed her off and gave her the car. She gave it to me, for a buck. The car looked liked something out of "Mad Max"......it was a complete wreck! ..........every quarter panel was trashed.......It had been rear ended at about 40 mph. the trunk that WAS 5 ft. long was now 3 ft. long........It looked like shit....... but it ran........Believe it or not the 2 years I had it "They" (the worldly people) try to steal it 3 times.............but she was my baby and she was Freedom.
I took Guys to the airport......for $5........good money. I took the guys in my hall to the meetings, they gave me their subway money......5 times .70 cents per trip good money........and last but not least she could get me..............far............ far away..........."from the House of God".
restrangled

Another great chapter.....maybe you should put this into book form!
It seems amazing you could take some one to the airport for $5.00........About 2 gallons of gas now a days as you know. What airport were you going to from Brooklyn? I wonder how the fellows are doing now if they have cars, I'm sure the pay hasn't gone up by that much.
r.
Nellie

Newboy you have a PM
JT

Hey man
I have enjoyed your bethel war stories, i was up at the Big House a few years after you, but even when i was there some things were the same
you mentioned
Dave Borga (Mr G Job king)
well here is an exp of my life at bethel and G-Jobbing
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
What is G-JOBBING___
It is called Government work- it refers to GOV employees being lazy and just getting a check
well it has to do with bethelites being too lazy to go out and get a real job so we do side jobs to make money while at bethel
and you can make alot if you are in the right "Trade" electrician, plumber, tile setter, roofer, etc and it is all tax free
the Congo in NYC would pay you to work on their halls since most jw in NY are white collar and not tradesmen
we even did work for NONJW- using WT tools , supplies and Trucks and since it was always at COST it was cheap --can you imagine what it would cost to rent a FLATBED truck in NYC to hall Dry wall 2 blocks- smile
all you needed to do was to get the guys who worked in that dept to requisition it under their name- they didn't even need to be there , but they would get their cut- lot of Elders headed up these work teams
so we would use the buying power of the Society to get these supplies for halls and bro in there home many times
some guys were clearing $3,000 a month tax free- bethel has cracked down on it by requiring you to sign a VOW OF POVERTY which is a form from the IRS saying you will not do any side jobs-
also the waiters did lots of G-JOBBING if anyone has been to bethel for lunch they are always impressed with how over 6000, folks can be served in less than 20min- well this is were the waiters come in at
folk like to use the bethelites at thier weddings to serve their guest
and if you are talking references just watch the mothers and fathers who have daugthers getting married in a few weeks come up to you afterward and ask you to do thier kids wedding
so the money rolls in beside everyone figures who BETTER TO HELP THAN THE LOWLY BETHELITES
smile
the BREAKER was some guys did a job and the person filed for it on his taxes --of course the IRS wants to know who do we get our money from
well I'd be Damn-- if it ain't some guys who is suppose to be living off $90.00 a month smile
so the society got involved and shut down most of the best money making jobs-
from what I understand you can still do it but you have to go through a lot of hoops
so many guys were missing meetings on the weekend and wiped out on Monday that flags started going up- we had this old nurse Called Sophie ----all my god she would worry you to death if you called in sick on a MONDAY were you out late Sunday night- what time did you get in, etc
old bag man
we had a plumbing job that was bidded out by a Congo in Queens with UNION NYC plumbers that was for $32,000, $36,000 and there was another bid price
so the elders asked the bethelites could we do it- it was a complete job from the street to the inside of the hall to toilets and sinks and tile job
well we could not ask for a set price but only tell the elders WHATEVER YOU BROTHERS WANTED TO GIVE US
well they presented it to the Congo and they came back with $25,000 offer and it would be just 5 of us and they would supply all the manual labor through the local bros.
we are talking $5,000 a piece - no taxes -in a weekend baby with a few follow up days to clean up any leftovers
one of the guys was a MASTER PLUMBER SO HE always got the permits we needed from the city- due to the large amount we got cold feet so we talked with Ralph Walls about it and he told us we needed to consider how would it look with that sum of cash in 2days of work- where in fact it would have been no work at all since we would have merely been overseeing the local guys doing all the digging of the trenches SMILE HEY YOU GOT TO LOVE IT MAN
so we turned it down- DAMN I SHOULD HAVE DONE IT
there is one guy and some of the bethelites on the net know this guy he ran the ROOFING DEPT as the overseer and was (REMOVED FROM THAT JOB FOR THIS REASON) and since all the roofs in NYC on the halls are flat--they are always leaking due to water standing on them
well he would take SOME OF his crew and knock out a roof over a weekend and man he was clocking over 3K amonth, not bad considering you don't have any expenses
but the most famous G -JOBBER OF ALL TIME WAS a bro from out of Texas if I'm correct- any bethelites here will correct me if I'm wrong on the state he is from
any way his name was James (JIM) Spencer he was the photography overseer and he had access to the society's $Million dollar cameras and film and processing equipment and he used to shoot WEDDINGS ON THE WEEKEND- hey like I said YOU GOT TO LOVE IT
NOW CK THIS OUT I had a buddy who was in on the deal-- he worked at the Stanley theater- that is the most expensive assembly hall in the wt arsenal of assembly hall probably
you all know it --the million dollar chandelier- anyway one of my boys was assigned as a keeper when they used bethelites---- now they have a pioneer couple over there --old Ricketts and he is a LITTLE HUSTLER as well
anyway Jim would arrange to use the assembly hall to take couples pictures
and I tell you-- to have your wife coming down the GRAND STAIRCASE IN HER GOWN hey man we are talking GONE WITH THE WIND TYPE STUFF
well my boy could have folks over to the assembly hall after hours as long as they were his guests
man he didn't even know some of the couples
so Spencer would kick him a little "SOMETHING -SOMETHING" SMILE
anyway old Spencer got caught not reimbursing the Society for the equipment and since he was the Overseer of the dept no one really questioned what he was working on late at night
hey it was not your latest mag cover shot- smile
so the "Shit hit the fan" and my man was BUSTED DOWN FROM PHOTO OVERSEER
to working the Bindery lines in the leather gold bible section
it was so embarrassing cause about a month after he got SHAFTED we had an Open tour of the factory were the office guys and the home guys could come over to the factory and see how the book and mags are made
and you guessed it ---my man James Spencer is right on the tour route and all the office guys are walking through laughing their a$$ off at him sitting there sweating with a tee shirt and blue jeans on.
his roommate was Robbie Vela from Hawaii the big island ---he worked upstairs in the bindery on the hardback line and he told us that Spencer would come home from work when he worked in photo dept and there would be TICKETS FOR him to fly to Japan or Rome or anywhere in the world just to take a couple of rolls of film and fly back
man we are talking about living the good life- he flew almost as much as the guys with UPI or AP wire guys
single man living the life and since he was the PO in his hall up in the Bronx he had the best of both worlds in the local hall and at the big house
from what I understand HE MADE A KILLING
well it is now bed time and no more bethel stories until later
smile
James
PS this is the last one it's too good to let pass
now i earned my money when i was at bethel others don't
as you all know by now the spokesman for the wt is a guy named JR Brown as a black man we use to call the the Society's Louis Farrakan
the most powerful speaker every to Grace a wt mike esp in the black community
well anyway he is ACES with larry Graham and larry is always hooking him up along with 1000's of his fans
anyway when he bought his new car alot of the Heavies and i don't mean to get racial,but some of the White boys were not happy
As they would say in the black Hood ""This Negro went out and bought a $45,000 car"
my man drives a top of the line fully loaded "Q45"
now go figure how you and i can do that off $90.00 a month
YOU TO TO LOVE IT
moshe

1st thing I did when I logged onto JWD was to look for your latest installment. Another great story as usual!
truthsetsonefree

Had me in stitches....as usual.

tsof
new boy

To JT
I'm glad someone made some money there.................all I can say is
We had a different bethel world........maybe with a little money the bullshit tasted better.
darth frosty

Thx as always new boy. JT I always wondered how J.R. got the Q45 thx for the heads up.
lisavegas420

Part of me wants to cry when I read these stories...it sounds like some kind of reformatory school for bad kids.
keep 'em coming. I hope you write a book.
lisa
luna2

New Boy, I look for your next installment every morning. Always makes me smile. Thank you.
JT, love the G-jobbin' stories too!

My Bethel Experience Part 10

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