by Lost-In-Translation 40 Replies latest jw friends
Wow, I never thought that would happen. A friend of mine at Bethel for over two decades told me that the Governing Body would never allow free Saturdays because the Bethel boys would be out having fun on weekends and be too tired on Mondays.
Guess that changed.
BF
This was rumored the other day on JWN. Interesting confirmation.
(watson).
Where was that rumoured? I cannot locate the place. I think one of the possible motive might be, there is less and less social and spiritual interaction of Bethel staff with nearby congregations. After congregation meetings, Bethelites usually rush back in hurry to their Bethel Homes. Its possible the GB want them to increase and maintain a strong presence, kind of quessing. Also, the cost in term of resources might be another issue. They want to cut down on operating costs in term of ultilities, etc. for just one day a week.
Scott77
Motives? Hmmmmmmmmm...............
From what I read here, they have sub-contracted so much work out and laid off (so to speak) so many long time workers that there isn't much to do these days. At least it gives the "faithful" slaves extra time for themselves. I don't think for a minute that they will spend that much time in the preaching work in the congs. they are assigned to but will use the time for having fun.
HappyDad
I find that a little difficult to comprehend.
Since when did they write letters to the congregations about Bethel hours?
There are quotes from Lost-in-translation and jabberwock who both started in the forum on the same day.
Do you know each other?
How come no one else on the board had that letter read out in their congregation?
Just wondering!
y
The congregations needed to be informed of the change because there will no longer be any tours of Bethel on the weekends. I suppose it could have been included as an announcement in the Kingdom Ministry, but a letter provides more room for explanation. No doubt, the letter was also meant to remind everyone that the end is near and encourage them to spend more time in field service.
I don't know Lost-In-Translation personally (at least I don't think I do). The forum was closed to new members for awhile and so when it reopened at the beginning of March a lot of people who had been waiting joined all at once. That is probably why we happened to have joined on the same day.
I also don't know why no one else mentioned this letter besides the two of us. When I heard the announcement the first thing I thought of was racing home and posting the new here before anyone else. I was actually quite disappointed when I saw that Lost-In-Translation had beat me to it.
jabberwock
How much ya wanna bet the workers won't be fed on Saturdays? Me thinks the cooks get the day off too. Hahahaha! $$$$$
Wow. This is huge. For Bethelites, that is. A new Bethelite only has one Saturday off per month. Women get two right off the bat, and if you're married you also get two (if I recall correctly). Then, you get more off depending on your seniority, but only after like 5, 10 years or something. I can't believe they changed this.
There were a lot of stories about why we all had to work Saturdays: the one I heard referenced most often was that they didn't want all the young guys going on long, out of town trips. There have been quite a few accidents over the years with Bethelites falling asleep at the wheel, and this was cited as the reason. Of course, we all knew the real reason: because Bethelites are worked to the freaking bone with work, meetings, service, and all the rest of it. However, this was just a word-of-mouth rationale... I don't know if that's in fact, why they had us work Saturdays. I tended to think it was because they wanted to get as much work out of us as possible. But Saturday morning work was always a joke anyway. Long breaks, showing up late, straggling in, lazy ass work... that pretty much sums it up.
I can't imagine the applause that must of reverberated throughout the dining halls when they announced this. Yeah, it's pathetic, but when you're institutionalized like this the little things mean a lot.
It's not out of kindness, trust me.
Warlock
Maybe these letters out to the congregations first like this and not on KM or other literature avoids "us" finding out before most JWs do.
I'm with the above cited reasons;
- less literature being produced (thank God)
- pressure re. workers' comp
