Every Friday at my job, I hear the usual. "Its Friday!!" "I'll be better in three more hours!!" When the day is wrapping up, people say to me, "Misery have a good one!!" "Have a good weekend Misery." I respond in kind to them. The reality however is, I hate weekends as a JW. Its nothing to look forward to. I actually enjoy my 40-55 hour work week better than a weekend with "the friends." Why is that?
Remember the Army used to have ads stating, "We do more before 9am, than most people do all day?" JWs spend more useless time before noon on Saturdays, than most people waste all day long doing nothing. How so? I meet the group at 9:15am, with the goal of starting our time by 9:30. Rarely does that happen, as after doing the daily text, we B.S. with one another for 20 minutes stalling as we all try to delay going door to door. Eventually though we make it to the field, which where I live consists of Catholics, Protestants, and other Christian denominations. The only people who show interest are foreigners who don't know any better, and the mentally disturbed. Lately I'm noticing that most of the "interested ones" who show up for the Memorial, are the mentally disturbed. Back to Field Circus, sometimes I'm lucky(not that JWs believe in that), and there's an odd number of people out. So rather than one of the sisters work by themselves, I volunteer to work by myself. Which I prefer that, as it allows me time to think. Most times I end up working with one of "the friends" who's having some problems. I genuinely listen to them, and try to help out where I can. During the warmer months, I envy the worldly people at home or out and about on Saturdays. Even those doing work around the house, sweating like Shaka Zulu going through Crack withdrawal, seem to be doing something more worthwhile than us knocking on doors. The Winter time is worse because than you're driving around avoiding pot holes, wasting gas, laughing at retarded jokes, while making return visits on those who supposedly showed interest. Reality check, they didnt show interest, they just took the magazines to get you off their property without being rude. Yeah, we're really fucking accomplishing our ministry. The best part of field service, is when its over. That may be over, but you're not out of the clear yet.
Sundays suck just as bad. I'm driving to Tim Buk Tu to deliver a talk, which nowadays is really a waste of time. You know I've drivin 2 1/2 to 3 hours to the middle of nowhere to stand somewhere for a 1/2 hr and talk about the joy of the ministry. WTF?!?!? Or I'm in the audience at my own hall, listening to some poorly prepared brother speaking through an outline that even he doesnt feel stongly about. Thinking to myself after the meeting, I've got to take this boring mutha fukka and his heathen children out to eat. The WTS study is a lesson in repetition. I study it underline it on Saturday night, listen to the reader read the paragraphs, and then listen to the poorly prepared cliched comments during the lesson on Sunday. After its over, my group has to clean. Which means half of them will do nothing, and the other half of us will run the sweepers, clean the bathrooms, mop the floor, and take the trash to our own personal homes for when the rubbish is picked up. After the meeting I take the Speaker and his family out to eat. I always find myself looking at the other people at the restaraunt who all look like they really are enjoying their friends and families company. I try to focus on whatever football, baseball, or basketball game is on the TV nearest our table. Being single, it hurts me just a tad when I see guys my age with their girlfriends or wives, and here I am listening to the speaker deliver another impromptu talk at the table while I pray the waiter would hurry up and bring our orders so the speaker will STFU. The whole table is trying to outdo one another discussing spiritual things. Is it wrong to pray for instantaneous throat cancer on any of them?
You know the part that hurts the most? I've got an old friend who never got baptized. He told me he was going to a BBQ picnic that an old neighborhood chum was having. You know what? I really wanted to go. These are worldly(I hate that term btw) folks so to speak. People my age, similar likes, dislikes, doing what people do on the weekends after a long week long grind. And then there's me, doing theocratic activity throughout the week, with "the friends." Doing extra theocratic activity on the weekend with "the friends". You know what I look forward to? Monday at 9:30am when I clock in at my job. My job and coworkers are more enjoyable than my religion and so called brothers and sisters. Is that normal? Did you ever not look forward to the weekend as a JW? For those no longer JWs, do you look forward to weekends?
PS, if your a brother, and the Circuit Overseer is visiting your congregation that week, chances are on Friday, you'll have an extra meeting right after work. If your lucky fortunate, you'll have the flu, or a stomach virus and a legitimate excuse as to why you couldnt make it.