Was George Carlin right, again?
Circuit Overseers are under pressure to produce - My experience
by BonaFide 23 Replies latest jw friends
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OnTheWayOut
Every group of people who represented God, in anyway, has always been bad with money.
If the WTS wasn't so bad with money, they wouldn't sweat over it so much. God doesn't need your money. -
yknot
Questions?
While I have only recently learned of the emotional toll of being WTS lacky has on you boys (much appreciation for that insight), did it ever cross your minds to pad the numbers enough to keep the man above you off your back?
How did they suggest you squeeze more cash from your circuits?
Did yall ever turn over some of your own greenhandshake money to the Org to cover or make things look better?
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daniel-p
This reminds me of something...
Regional sales managers travel around, give "behind the scenes" pep talks to local sales managers, and special talks to groups of rank and file sales representatives. Regional sales manager reviews local information, keeps track of regional sales statistics. Entire job revolves around boosting numbers for the corporate office. Rank and file sales reps are admonished to boost effort in anticipation of visit from regional manager. The regional sales managers are well-respected, and even feared by local managers and sals reps, but they can be just as swiftly replaced by corporate if they fail at boosting the numbers.
What's different between traveling overseers and regional sales managers?
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sammielee24
They told us that a circuit's spirituality can be measured by its contributions to Jehovah
.I would assume that the measure of those contributions could be totalled in finance, reinstatement and recruitment. If this is the case then why is there no specific time frame for reinstatement? The longer a person is kept out of the organization because a body of Elders or an Elder wants to keep him/her out, means that congregation must be weak because of that Elder or group of Elders. If this contribution is also measured in recruitment, why then is there so much less in the way of door to door in many communities and why so few bible studies or difficulty in getting a bible study? If reinstatement or reassociation is a desired outcome, then why aren't family members who are in positions of power such as Elders, POetc, not making serious attempts at helping their brothers and sisters return to the flock instead of practicing hardcore shunning?
All of these things would increase the strength of the congregation so by not acting on them, I would hazard a guess that it boils down to spiritual = dollars only.
Would it not make more sense to allow reinstatement on request after a specific period of time ie 1 year, thereby maintaining a consistent number of publishers more easily instead of forcing many out and keeping them out. Let's face it, the longer one is out, the less likely they are to return. sammieswife.
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Warlock
Furthermore, we were told that a low level of contributions could signal concealed wrong-doing;
Oh, so it's not the economy after all.
Whew!
Warlock
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WTWizard
Good--I hope my concealed "wrongdoing" forces the whole corporation to go belly up. Such as my posting at these boards, having bad songs going (including rap with gunshots in it), having a Ouija board, belonging to a "secret" society that the Washtowel bashes (at that, one that wants to teach people to be their own leaders), having sun-worship decorations up (all summer, at that), and having books that bash both the Bible and the Washtowel Slaveholdery in my possession.
As for the numbers, I wonder how many fake time slips are the result of the hounder-hounder putting pressure on the hounders to have zero inactives and irregulars, and to put fake slips in on their behalf. Some 7.1 million!
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metatron
I think the notion that contributions manifest a circuit's spirituality is an excellent idea.
Tell me, brothers, what does it mean when the whole organization fails to contribute and the Governing Body has to keep cutting and cutting? Where does your "clean organization" theory go when worldwide donations go south?
metatron
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passwordprotected
Furthermore, we were told that a low level of contributions could signal concealed wrong-doing; the 'theory' is that if someone is doing something bad, and it doesn't come to light and the congregation is not 'cleansed', Congregation starts to lose influence of the Holy Spirit and bros and sis are not compelled to contribute.
Yeah, like if a man was secretly abusing children he might feel less compelled to put money in the box.
Oh, wait. I'm confused.
What I meant was, if a man was secretly covering over the abuse of children by other men. He might feel less compelled to put money in the box.
No, that's not it.
Wait.
Ok, got it. A man found out that organisation was secretly covering over the abuse of children by other men within the organisation. He would probably avoid putting money in the box.
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BonaFide
Another thing is regarding the circuit assemblies and special assembly days. We were told to instruct the congregations to make a donation BEFORE the assembly to cover the estimated cost. They said that way there is less pressure to donate during the assembly. If the circuit does not cover the "expenses" of the assembly, then the congregations in that circuit still have to pay, they have to make resolutions in each congregation to cover the sum.
The expenses were always high for the lights and water. Plus we were paying for the building of the assembly hall. And of course, if there was any money left over, we were supposed to send it to the Branch. My circuit kept a little for emergencies, and to help me with my car. Once a sister needed emergency surgery, a long-time pioneer, so we used the money for that. Branch not too happy. But I was clueless and I thought that was so loving. The Branch discouraged me from lettting the bro's do that with the money. They said the friends would get carried away. As far as my car is concerned, I had bought the car with my own money I worked for here in the States, but my circuit helped me maintain it. The Branch got mad at me for that too, they said I could use public transportation like the other C.O.'s. I told them I had done that for two years, and I either had a car, or I would leave my assignment because its very tough to ride those crazy buses all week. (Bus are PACKED FULL OF PEOPLE ALWAYS. I even rode on the top of the bus, and hung on the sides sometimes with my bookbag, those countries are really something)
Anyway, my point is that I was always under pressure at the assemblies TO PAY THE EXPENSES. I worried and sweated that we wouldn't have enough money to pay, and I would get a reputation as having an "unspiritual" circuit. These were poor brothers, too. Sometimes, when I saw the final tally on Sunday, I used to put my own money in to break even. I used to get updates from the Accounting bro's after every session.
My Branch Coordinator told me that the Branch Office gets money every month from NY for Branch operation, food, etc. He was always talking about how he wanted the brothers to finally pay for Branch operation, so we wouldn't need money from NY. The Branch Coordinator also served as a Zone Overseer, so he told me once that very few of the developing countries pay for themselves. The Coordinator was good friends with brother Jaracz, I saw that in person, so I have no reason to doubt him.
Thought you guys might like to know.
BF