Brooklyn Bethal lunch break.

greenhornet

Hello all you apostates.
Got a quick question on the lunch break at Brooklyn.
When you are working at the factory how long is lunch?
I remember they they would walk a mile or so across a park.
Then take a shower, then get dressed in a suit and tie, then go to the lunch room.
Wait for the prayer, Then eat listen to some speech on the Closed TV system.
Then say a prayer then finish eating. Then go up to your room, get dressed into your work clothes,
Then walk another mile or two across the park then go back to work.
This seems to be a lot of work. How many hours to they get off for this lunch?
Do they still do this? Thanks

WTWizard

That sure sounds like a huge waste of time. Every time they change into meeting clothes and back, it wastes at least ten minutes. And the prayers waste another who-knows-how-many minutes while they ramble on.

It would be better if they just stayed in their work clothes all day long. They would still have the walk, but at least the time wasted changing would be reclaimed. And there is no need for two prayers during the meal. If you are going to say grace, once is more than enough. And to me, Jehovah did not supply the food--whoever it was that planted, grew, harvested, and prepared the food did.

greenhornet

I think it is all about there image.
Is there someone from Brooklyn on these forums?

1914BS

In bethell there is big TV screens everywhere - very OZ like

NewYork44M

The noon meal is considered sacred. It makes no difference the difficulty this requirement has on the bethelites. I have talked to several who considered it a badge of honor how much trouble the noon meal was.

My no verbalized was "this is much ado about nothing."

daniel-p

Attending lunch is not required. A lot of Bethelites will just come in after the ending prayer and "glean" from the tables. If you have a desk job you can easily just stroll down the hallway and sit down for lunch, but for everyone else with a real job, it's a huge pain in the ass to get dressed and get to the closest dining hall. However, at least at Wallkill, they had a special dining hall for the construction workers so they didn't have to get dressed up for lunch. Most of the time I had barely enough time to clean up, change my clothes and walk the quarter of a mile to the dining hall and then go back.

SnakesInTheTower

I remember as a temp doing that.. in Brooklyn we changed in the locker rooms not in our apartment rooms....so as to not drag dirt into the buildings.

When I was a temp at Walkill, we did not change and go to the dining room. Too much distance between locations, too much time to go and change. They had a modified lunch brought out on steam tables in a warehouse building out near Green Cottage (convenient, especially when I was assigned to the warehouse one week sorting cabinets on to pallets.)

I was told by the regular Bethellites that the constant changing of clothes wore their clothes out quickly.... dress clothes for morning worship, then work clothes, then dress clothes for lunch, then work clothes, then dress clothes for dinner and meetings (monday night family worship (aka WT study), tues book study, thur sales meeting)... ... a lot of bethelites skipped lunch because of the hassle factor...

sheesh...and to think I had applied for that hell hole..... thank ~~god~~ whomever I didnt end up their for a regular tour

Snakes ()

choosing life

I never worked there, but I ate lunch there once. I was astonished how incredibly fast they ate lunch! I was just getting started when the food ran out and most were leaving to return to work. Can't be a healthy way to eat and digest.

gymbob

At the factory we were dismissed from our machines around 11:40am, went back to the locker rooms and cleaned up, changed, and was at the bethel tables at 12 noon.

Noon prayer, eat fast, dismissal prayer at 12:30pm, had to be back at our machines at 1pm.

Yes, it was fast.

The only exception to this was the day of the Gilead graduation. On that day we were let out early from work and given a lighter schedule about getting back to our machines... Gymbob

greenhornet

At the factory we were dismissed from our machines around 11:40am, went back to the locker rooms and cleaned up, changed, and was at the bethel tables at 12 noon.

Noon prayer, eat fast, dismissal prayer at 12:30pm, had to be back at our machines at 1pm.

Yes, it was fast.

The only exception to this was the day of the Gilead graduation. On that day we were let out early from work and given a lighter schedule about getting back to our machines... Gymbob

Thanks Gymbob, I was looking for a time line. That's one hour and twenty minites. How long (miles) is the walk from the factory to the lunch room? I remember you had to cross a park.
Man that can get old fast!
Also did you have to travel in group cause of safety issues? I am remembering what I was told back in the 60's.
It it better know or is it still a high crime area? Thanks GH

Brooklyn Bethal lunch break.

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