As a JW, Did You Skip Houses You Knew Were Not Interested?

by mentallyfree31 22 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • mentallyfree31
    mentallyfree31

    I have to confess: In my last 3 - 5 years in field circus, I basically only went to neighborhoods that were extrememly poor and thus I knew they would be favorable to the message. I always had my own territory checked out, and even if an elder suggested I join another group in working another territory, I always had plenty of reasons why I needed to work mine. (bible study or RV that I had to make at 11 am, etc...blah blah blah..LOL)

    If I came upon a house where it looked like the people were well off or middle class, I would speak up and say "oh we got this one last week". Sometimes, as we were going into the territory, I would announce to the car group that another group has already worked part of this. Therefore I could skip nice houses and only get the poor ones. Nobody ever seemed to catch on. Sometimes, when there were some nice houses mixed in, I would speak up and say "we aren't working all of this - there are just a few not at homes i need to catch".

    I just always felt really ridiculous walking up to rich people's houses when i knew they were gonna say "no thank you". (Note: I pioneered for years, so I knew almost all of our territory like the palm of my hand. I knew exactly by territory number and street where the nice nice poor folks were and where the mean folks were.)

    Did anybody else pull tricks like this? Or am I the only one?

    -mentallyfree31-

  • StAnn
    StAnn

    You're the only one I've ever heard of. Of course, I'm a little OCD and HAD to work every door before turning the territory card back in.

    Of course, back in the day, we thought we were doing a marking work, separating sheep from goats, so we had to hit those houses with the mean people to get them marked for destruction. So thorough, wouldn't want someone to accidentally survive the Big A.

    We had a woman who would sick her geese on us and, rather than not attempt talking to her, we'd stand outside of her fence and holler to her, offering the magazines. She'd throw boiling water our way.

    Man, were we stupid.

    StAnn

  • MrFreeze
    MrFreeze

    I actually prefer going to territories that are less responsive, this way I rarely ever have to make return visits. I know 99.99% of people aren't actually interested anyway, just feigning interest. At least if they tell me they aren't interested I have an excuse to not stop back.

  • man in black
    man in black

    all the time, and I was not shy about missing these houses

  • OUTLAW
    OUTLAW

    No..We tried to piss everyone off equally..

    ...................... ...OUTLAW

  • StAnn
    StAnn

    I wonder if this is a more recent phenomenon? I honestly can't imagine this happening when I was still a JW. How recently are you guys talking about having done this?

    StAnn

  • mentallyfree31
    mentallyfree31

    Sylvia - I did this up until last year when I left.

    Nobody knew about this - it was just my personal thing that I did. There's no way the elders would have approved of this.

    -mentallyfree31-

  • mentallyfree31
    mentallyfree31

    Sylvia - I never did this when I pioneered back in 1996 - 2000. Only when I burned out around 2005 or so. Then I hated service anyway. So I decided to only go to houses that would be nice.

    As George McFly said on Back to the Future: "What if they say no? I just don't think I could take that kind of rejection."

    LOL

    -MF31-

  • SnakesInTheTower
    SnakesInTheTower

    i was thorough for years, esp as territory servant ....

    .... then I got jaded....and pulled many of the same stunts...also the fake/light knock...fake doorbell ring....hit and run...... making sure that I had an odd number group..me and 4 sisters...then did the "brotherly" thing and "offered" to work alone so the 4 sisters could pair up...then did the curly shuffle...dilly dally, look at the flowers, pet the dogs and cats, talk to people about their gardens and generally let the sisters do the majority of the work...

    .... often I would work a few doors...then if it was cold/hot/rainy/snowy/windy/humid/bad dog/bad people/gang violence {j/k}...I would "offer" to get the car so they wouldnt have to walk so far/be exposed to the elements/warm up/cool down/avoid bad dogs/people/gangs.... often keeping the car running so the heat/air conditioning would be on....

    I was popular in many circles because I did not push the sisters... I was soooo thoughtful of their needs...lol...if they only knew I was looking out for me and they happened to benefit. though I did really care about the elderly and sickly esp... and really was trying to make the field circus easier...

    so stupid in retrospect of course...so pointless.... can you imagine (presuming he existed) Jesus worrying about keeping track of time/return visits/bible studies/magazine/literature placements?

    I hated field service...and admitted it from the platform during public talks..... much to the amazement of the audience and shock of elders in congregations I visited...lol...guess that is why I was perceived, correctly, as not conforming very well. I did not play well with others in the sandbox.

    Snakes (Rich )

  • mentallyfree31
    mentallyfree31

    Snakes - we had almost all rural territory, so I never got to use the "4 people pair up and I will work alone" trick. That's a great one though.

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