Forced Seating

Tired of the Hypocrisy

Anyone else have to deal with being herded to the front of the hall before a meeting?

I recall one cong in particular...West Sacramento was notorious for this crap. I was a large individual and today I am even larger....LOL 6'2" and around 250 lbs back then. I was the sound guy half the time, I roved a mic but, I was mostly a parking lot/seating attendant. I would arrive early and leave after the elders. My main job was supposed to be to greet the brothers and sisters upon their arrival, as well as encourage nwewcomoers to stick around and feel welcome. It didn't take long for one elder in particular to start pushing folks around. He told me that what needed to be done was "ask" the folks that arrived early to move to the front of the hall. This was fine, but it got to the point where I felt like I had to force these folks to move. I have always been a back of the hall kind of guy myself, and I felt bad about this new duty.

Well, one Sunday, one of the guys being considered for ms came in and his wife and kids sat toward the back. He was bringing in boxes of lit from the lit servant's car and my seating overlord told me to move the lady and the girls up to the front row. Well, the sis just smiled and said that they got their early so they could choose their own seat. I smiled and left it at that. The little twat seating overlord, came up to me and said to me that he had sent me on a mission and I better get to it and move the sis and her kids up to row number one. I told him what she said and that I agreed with her. That little punk had the ballz to tell me that he didn't care how her or I fwelt about it, he told me to move her and I was going to move her. Or Else.......

So, I folded my arms in front of me and asked the turd or else what? He said that I would obey or I would be sat down for the meeting. So I told him that I had already asked her, she refused and I did not have the right to force her to move. If he wanted me to sit out the meeting then it was his call, and the privelege was his to assign as he pleased, but I was not going to keep on harrassing peaceful people about where to sit. He got all mad and turned red, so I told him to have a nice day and I went to sit down with my wife and kids in the back row. We moved from the middle! HA! Fastforward to the school and service meeting.......Guess who was sitting way up in front? Yup, the seating overlord grabbed the ms wannab and told him to get his family in subjection or his recommendation for ms would go into the crapper.

Anyone else had to deal with this sort of penny ante crap?

oompa

What a load of turd...I am so glad you stood up to the weenie overlord. Related crap in our hall....talks to sit up front....requests before the song to "Come on Down!", ribbons placed along the back few rows...add signs as well, and a stupied parody song of "move around, move around at the kingom hall....."

Why the crap does it matter so much if dubs are within spitting distance of the speaker?

Pubs started ripping down the ribbons, so finally we started REMOVING the back few rows and putting them in the rear school room, then would make a ton of noise to drag them out if needed. I have no been in about 8 months or so, but I think we were down to starting with just 5 rows of seats!!...just kidding of course, but that is about what it would take to get people up front............................oompa

wha happened?

I do remember a talk from the CO about sitting in the same seat at every meeting. For the next few weeks we had musical chairs until people tried of it and sat where they wanted

willdabeerman

Like Oompa, that is the way it was at our hall. I never had an issue with it as 99% of the time I sat in the 'sound booth' or was 'mic handler'.

Tired of the Hypocrisy

we started REMOVING the back few rows and putting them in the rear school room

Hi Ooompa, I remember doing that too.....Petty and idiotic isn't it?

cognac

Anyone else have to deal with being herded to the front of the hall before a meeting?

I sit there purposely... Nobody sits up there so now I bring cappaccino and drink it up there... lol, even got my husband to cover for me... If any1 asks, its a medical condition... lol, it's in one of those cups with a lid on it so nobody can tell what's in there... Nobody has asked so far...

WTWizard

Who gives a fxxx where people sit? About the only ones that need to have assigned seating are those helping with the school (they need to be in the front with the conductor), those handling the mics (they need to be in the back during the readings and in the aisles while the mics are going), and the sound person (who needs to be in front of the sound system to operate it). There may also be needs for people that have small children or a condition that makes it likely that they will need to leave suddenly, or for people that arrive late. If just 75% of the people sit in the front half of the hall, those who arrive late can be accomodated (especially if meeting attendance starts heading south).

People usually sit in the same locations for a reason. Those who like to sit near a window or exterior wall usually like being left in peace. Some like sitting in an interior row, and there are those who prefer the front or back. Some sit where their friends are, which is just fine. Families should be able to decide among themselves where they want to sit. Usually, there are more than plenty of seats, the Crapmorial being the exception--there is no need to remove seats from the back or force people to move after they have sat down.

NewYork44M

This is interesting stuff. I can't believe that this is a universal problem. It all has to do with control.

In our hall we roped off the last three rows forcing people to move to the front.

I remember attending an elders meeting discussing ways to force people not to sit in the Library during the meeting. There were a few people that were shy or for what ever reason liked to sit away from the crowd. They as much said that if they were forced to sit in the main hall they just would not come to the meetings. But it didnt matter. What mattered was that the elders wanted control in every little detail possible.

blondie

I remember khs that had 5 empty rows in the front. One speaker said he felt he had bad breath. Nothing the elders could do...except sit there themselves.........what a concept. I can remember elders wandering the back of the hall, talking with each other during the parts. I can remember people who sat in the same seats and dared anyone else to sit there. One CO found that out to his embarrassment when he returned and found his stuff moved. I knew one sister who sat in the "mother's room" because she had a severe physical disability and they would not let her use her chair in the main hall.

CONTROL.

Not Feeling It

Wow, that is exceedingly lame. I remember when I was a young, good, little kool-aid-drinker some muckety-muck, grand-poobah type visited from HQ. He started his talk by observing the dearth of sheep sitting in the front two rows (by that I mean there weren't any). so he decided to take a stand asking sheep to herd on up. I did. :-( so did the PO and about 5 others. I'm now disturbed at how ready I was to do everything that "god" told me to from the platform. sigh. I'm a different person now!

Forced Seating

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