In my congregation, they have already started the high pressure/guilt tactics. As of this past Tuesday, only 23 people had signed up and the remark was made that there was no reason why everybody could not sign up. Then one speaker went on about the zillion ways just about anybody could gobble up thirty hours, even if you worked at night, weekends, or had a job in the day time. Now granted, if someone was really interested in going out in field service fairly regularly, it probably wouldn't be that hard to come up with thirty hours - especially since the Witness way is to spend alot of that time driving or standing around, making sure they say "boo" to someone every fifteen minutes just to keep the clock from stopping. The stupidity of recording idle time warrants another topic itself.
But, yes, our last meeting seemed like a time-share sales meeting but worse because they try to shame people. We had two speakers go on about it. They like to mention things like "Sister Old-as-dirt-who-can-barely-walk-while-dragging-her-oxygen-tank" has signed up.
Hourly numbers are meaningless. Why not set a goal for something else like bible studies that actually has some meaning? For me to tell you that I spend thirty hours is indicative of what? Certainly not how many people I spoke to. I could spend the entire thirty standing around at the train station looking like an idiot. But they look good on paper, and the larger the numbers the better, right? If you can report that your congregation reported 3,000 hours, that sounds much better than saying they reported 30 bible studies.
Anyway, so they had attendants at the ready, ready to hand out applications to people mid-meeting and, just like an experienced car salesman, the speaker said that all you have to do is sign the form! No pressure, right?
