Your worst convention experience.

by zeb 91 Replies latest jw experiences

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  stan livedeath

  they were all worst.
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  Nathan Natas

  I LOVED working at the assemblies back in the 1960s! (Yes, we could do that back then - volunteering for the various food services (from meat-cutting to cooking to serving to cleaup) In short order I figured out that the PRIMO - ABSOLUTE BEST - volunteer position was NIGHT WATCHMAN. Why? Because you had to be awake ALL NIGHT, which meant you slept during the assembly sessions.

  I lived in New York City, and one year - might have been 1977 - our district or regional assembly was in Washington D. C. in a sports arena that was about six city blocks from the White House. It was summer. It was hot. It was humid. We (night crew) were not given access to the showers in the arena until 3 hot humid days had gone by and all of us profusely sweating young men smelled like excellent cave-aged French cheeses! We were RIPE! Our loving daytime Brothers & Sisters would stare at us when we passed because our aromas were intense! When the assembly elders finally got permission from the arena managers for us to use a shower facilities, I took my "inner garments" and threw them in the garbage!

  I avoided most of that assembly, AND I was admired as "spiritual" for being willing to volunteer to advance Kingdom interests! What a laugh!
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  Mandrake

  @nathan+natas that was the best way to EVADE all the program... I always volunteered in everything!
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  Mr.Finkelstein

  I was at a summer assembly in mid summer, it was super hot that day and we were sitting in the direct sun, I was about 10 and got sun stroke and fainted.
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  LongHairGal

  I am a long-time ‘Fader’ out of the JW religion almost twenty years.

  In reading all of these experiences and looking back on what we endured with these conventions decades ago (travel, inconvenience and discomfort) because we were told we ‘should’ and the usual tripe about ‘spiritual food’ and ‘association’. We (or at least I) had not been totally disillusioned yet. The Millennium hadn’t come yet and there was still that fervor that some people had.

  But, I realize I would never put myself through any of this now..and its not just because of age!

  Those days are a bygone era.
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  dropoffyourkeylee

  Worst for me were the terrible seats in the unbearable heat. No shade and hours at a time getting baked with no relief. On the flip side, at one convention it was terribly cold, this was in San Francisco, and the sessions at that time (early '70's) would go until about 9:00 p.m. The fog coming in off the bay was chilling cold.
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  hoser

  The venues that jws rent are not designed for prolonged use. The average NFL or baseball game is 3 hours with a few beers to loosen up the body.

  Being forced to sit in those chairs for 8 hours should be a crime.
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  Justaguynamedmorph

  Remember hoser, nobody “forced” you. It was all a choice.
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  pale.emperor

  My then father in law was the elder in charge of the cleaning. So I was always put on the list of "volenteers" despite the fact that he never asked me. So there I was, boiling hot day, spending my lunch hour cleaning up other people's vomit, piss and shit only to return to my seat during the afternoon session sweating due to all the work.

  Try and cool down in those indoor areas. It's impossible. AND THEN you'd have to clean up afterwards. Not going home until about 9pm each day.

  Hardly saw my 1yo child at all during the conventions. And associating with others? No chance. There's vomit to clean up - 5 attendants standing around it in their yellow jackets looking all important guarding it until I got there.
  
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  hoser

  Remember hoser, nobody “forced” you. It was all a choice.
  

  Not when I was 5 years old. My parents forced me