Was the use of the term "regular try-oneer" common in your area?

by neverendingjourney 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  neverendingjourney

  It just occurred to me that I've never seen the term on the forum before.

  It was pretty common in my area. There was a group, a clique really, of regular pioneers, mostly stay-at-home mom types who placed the "try-oneer" label on newly-appointed regular pioneers. It was their way of cementing their importance. Mostly they didn't want some young newly-appointed MS messing things up for them. They had a routine down. They liked to do service a certain way. They were used to meeting at a certain hour, taking coffee breaks at a certain hour, getting car groups together composed of certain people and working certain territories, and they didn't want their routine interrupted.

  So when a new batch of pioneers got appointed in September, they'd slap the try-oneer label on them as a way of diminishing them and defending their turf. "We've been pioneering for 10, 15, 20 years, and you're still wet behind the ears. You're lower on the pecking order than we are. Don't even think that you're our equal. If you try to shake things up, we will make your life a living hell." That kind of thing. I guess it was their way of saying that the new pioneer hadn't proven himself yet. He was "trying out" pioneering to see if it was for him. This new pioneer wasn't like them. He hadn't shown years of commitment to pioneering.

  If the new pioneers kowtowed to the clique, they'd eventually be accepted as "one of them" and the try-oneer label would be dropped. If not, they'd try their damndest to make the new pioneer's life as miserable as possible. I was always put off by the blatantly unchristian behavior.

  Was this term common in your area or is it a local thing?
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  WTWizard

  I have never heard that one around, but I could imagine that it would be used to create the air of probation for new pio-sneers in the congregation. As if they have anything to prove.

  Rather, they are branded "new pio-sneers" or, instead, they are aux pios. That is more common around where I used to go to.
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  aSphereisnotaCircle

  I've heard it from the stage a few times.

  The key thing I learned from the pioneers in my old congo was how to walk at an incredibly slow pace.
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  neverendingjourney

  I also heard it used from the stage at an assembly. The term was used by one of the clique's ringleaders.

  The pioneers at my hall took liberties beyond the usual pioneer tricks such as walking or talking really slow or zig zagging around town to do return visits. A lot of them would just straight up lie on their reports. The service overseer who was also a pioneer would tell me to round up to 3 hours regardless of how much time we actually did because "we were pioneers." Another pioneer said that time starts counting when you leave your home because as long as people see you with a tie on and carrying your briefcase, you are already giving them testimony.
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  dismayed

  I've heard it, but not in that context.

  The way i heard about it was as an encouraging way to try to get people to pioneer. "Hey, why don't you try-oneer for a while? Maybe it will work for you" A way to guilt housewives, retired people, and recent high school grads to waste copious amounts of time selling magazines and books.