"You can't sit there" (bad language)

by Simon 37 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Simon

  The "please be seated" post rememded me of our experiences at the last district assemblies we attended.

  It was in the Nynex / Manchester Evening News Arena and it was hot ... damn hot. They were obviously being 'cheap' and not paying for the air conditioning to be turned on.

  Liam was a baby and was becoming unwell because of the heat. He was overheating badly which is pretty dangerous at that age so we stripped him off and took him out up the steps to the concourse. Now, where was the mother and baby room? Ah ... right down at the bottom on the ground floor - good job there was a lift eh?!

  Wrong! Queue 'Mr Attendant' who informs us that we are not allowed to use the lift (?!). He wants me and my wife to struggle down the long run of steps instead of just taking the lift! Asshole. We went in the lift

  Now, fast forward a couple of years.

  We have a small toddler (Liam) and Angharad is 8 1/2 months pregnant with Dylan (she popped the week after) and again it's too damn hot. Angharad has swollen feet, Liam is bored and restless and I have been reading too many 'apostate' internet sites and every word from the platform grates 'cause I know it's 'bull'.

  Ah, the familiar concourse again ... slightly cooler than on the auditorium and look! - an empty seat for my heavily pregnant wife to rest ...

  "You can't sit there ... it's for attendants only" said the attendant who had decided to take a break from chatting with his pals to throw his 'official' weight around ("ooh look, they gave me a badge").

  The look of shock and horror on his face when I told him firmly but loudly (so it echoed) to "Fuck Off" was *priceless* (yes, I can loose my rag!). If you are that attendant and reading this now I would like to apologies but only if you understand what it's like to have a young family all day at a place where no effort has been made to cater for them.

  We don't miss the assemblies at all and I'm glad we don't inflict them on the kids.

  A day at the park or the seaside does them more good and brings us together as a family much more than the 'spiritual paradise' (barf) at the assembly ever did.

  They really do make themselves 'different form the world: eberywhere else, they offer pregnant ladies a seat.
• 

  Nathan Natas

  Simon, that was YOU? If I wasn't a Christian Witness Of Jehovah back then, I would have thlapped you thilly, you bad man.
• 

  Quotes

  I'm chuckling at the thought of "witnessing" this little incident

  Although I'm sure the recently arrived JW apologists here will "load" this "ammo" as "proof" that people that "turn away from Jehovah, and his BOrganization" become bad. Of course, this misses the point entirely.... stilly chuckling!

  ===========================
  For interesting Watchtower Society literature quotes, complete with references but without any editorial, check out:
  http://Quotes.JehovahsWitnesses.com
• 

  Simon

  I hadn't turned away then ... so really it's proof that JWs are horrible foul mouthed people and since becoming an apostate I have seen the error of my ways and decided to take this opportinity to confess my past sins
• 

  Englishman

  I think that Simon has a point here. Maybe we should all go to the assemblies this year and wander about during the sessions. Then, when we are asked to sit down, we could hiss: "F*** Off, you brainwashed mannipulative little f****r!"

  It could well cause a little consternation!

  Englishman.
• 

  ballistic

  We had parking problems at our hall and the residents had been fairly nasty over the years about people parking in front of their houses. So at my last meeting after I was disfellowshipped, I parked outside one of the forbidden houses on purpose, and behold! As I came out, the house holder was out in his garden and looked up to approach me, took one look at the snarl on my face all geared up for the proverbial two fingered greeting you quoted and he backed off. Ha!
• 

  BoozeRunner

  Ahhh Simon, I wish I'd had your guts the year before my wife passed away. We were attending the DC @ Veterans Stadiumin Philadelphia(notoriously hot in the summer). My wife was in pretty bad shape, but but being as young as she was, she didnt like the thought of using a walker, or wheelchair. So, she struggled, holding my arm and walking quite gingerly.

  There was no way she could have sat in the sun, so we chose seats which were in a shaded area, and reserved for elderly and infirmed. At our first attempt, a badged boob(attendant) came to us and told us that we couldnt sit there. I told him, "Shes ill." His response, "she doesnt look sick." So we went to another section of the stadium.

  Again, we were told we ouldnt use that section. Again, I explained our situation. His response' "Well, whats wrong with her?" I told him, " Like I said, shes ill."

  Apparently, one cant be young, and terminally ill in the BORG.

  My wife looked @ me with tears in her eyes, and said, Lets go home." I readily agreed. We ended going to another convention a few weeks later @ Naussau Coliseum in L.I., NY. It was an indoor arena, so the only concern as not having too many steps to climb.

  Such love that they didnt even trust what I was telling them.

  Boozy
• 

  ballistic

  "she doesnt look sick."
  I understand why people take up arms in your country now.
• 

  Derrick

  Oh no, another flashback from the trenches... I'm still suffering "shell shock" and every now and then get a flackback that's clear as mud. Your post reminded me of the heat wave at my DA at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles years ago. I got heat stroke and, between almost fainting as I was trying to find something to drink for dehydration, I was throwing up my lunch all over the parking lot and in a crowded corridor. It was really gross, and the smell in 105 degree heat was far from being in paradise.

  The whole assembly was an exercise of proving to everyone that I was faithful enough to attend no matter what, which is a principle that we're basically taught.

  As a sideline, every summer I keep the air conditioning in my home to about 70 degrees, and sometimes it's upwards of 110 degrees outside. I cannot really stand the heat, as I'm naturally warm blooded, and so I suffer greatly when the temperature is over 90 degrees for any length of time (and very uncomfortable at 80 degrees). For years, I felt basically forced as an act of "faith in Jehovah" in order to somehow prove my love for God, to endure the wretched heat at summer assemblies (and yes, they're too cheap in my Circuit to keep the air cooled in the main hall, although the corridors are like an ice chest -- you can imagine that I'm roaming the corridors often!!). Getting back to the air-conditioning in my home, many are jealous because the climinate is too temperate for many to justify installing air-conditioning in their homes.

  Due to the years of suffering at conventions and in under-cooled Kingdom Halls, here's what I do to make it up sometimes. It's positive wicked, Simon, and feels better than even sex on the hottest summer day: I pick a weekend to simply chill, and sleep-in on both Saturday and Sunday until noon when everyone else is sweltering in the territory or on Sunday at the KH in the burning heat. Tossing and turning in 70 degree bliss seems to make-up for the years of abusing myself every summer, drenched with perspiration and miserable. :-)

  Wow, what a flashback your post triggered.

  Derrick

  To see a World in a Grain of Sand
  And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
  Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
  And Eternity in an hour.

  -- William Blake (Auguries of Innocence)
• 

  joelbear

  Assemblies were pure torture.

  I sat through them only to get to go out with friends afterward.

  Joel