One thing about this site that bothers me (page 8)

Giordano

Since the Society doesn't pay even minimum wages to the Bethel/factory/farm/housecleaning sisters and brothers or any of the other people they depend on they would wonder why any regular JW would be complaining.

DJS

Keyser,

Well stated. Any work worth doing has dignity and honor. Having said, that the anecdotal 'evidence' about successful J-dubs notwithstanding, JWs are the least educated of religions in the US and are also at the bottom of household income. Any angst associated with those numbers should be directed at the Dark Lords in the Death Star and not with the rank and file.

LisaRose

I think the jokes about window washing are intended to poke at the WTBTS for insisting that you don't need an education, that you should focus more on preaching, that no one needs to do anything other that these types of job. It's a cliche, but there is a reason it's a cliche. Obviously there is no shame in these jobs, and some have done quite well financially. The problem is that not everyone wants to do this kind of work, and many have turned down educational opportunities and scholarships and later regret it.

It is a tragedy if you have the intelligence and drive to get an education, but don't. The Watchtower is hypocritical because they use lawyers and doctors, but don't allow their own people to aspire to those jobs. There is nothing wrong with wanting to have a nice income and do work you enjoy and the WTBTS is very wrong for making people give up on their dreams .

I would just ignore these types of remarks.

Violia

I also worked in the cleaning business for some time. A lot of jws women do. The money is good.

A friend from long ago graduated from HS and was going to just pioneer or clean houses. Her mother said "NO" and insisted she get a nursing license . She did and was forever grateful her mother had the wisdom to insist she get some education and job skills that would last her all her working life. Her mom was a devout jws but a smart one too.

I recall an elders wife telling me that the WTS was trying to improve its image by trying to get more college educated converts- they were embarassed by the poor less educated jws. I told her we were told not to go to college and she said that was a personal choice and not something the WTS would do. This is how the WTS stays alive--they bring in new recruits and tell them to not listen to anything about what the WTS did in the past. It seems to work.

Anyway, my father was a hard working man. I can't recall him ever calling in sick. I learned a lot from him and will be forever grateful for the work ethic he gave me. thanks dad. Thanks to your father too, Keyser.

I don't have spell check enabled in IE protected mode so please excuse spelling errors. It was never my strong suit.

transhuman68

I don't see anything wrong with jokes about window cleaners. It's a fact of life about JWs- the congregations really are usually made up of working-class people. The real joke is that the elders are no more 'spiritual' than my cat, and they probably spend most of the meeting thinking about the jobs they will be doing in the next few days. It's just the blind leading the blind. At least in a real church, they clergy may have some years of theological training- and although they really don't have any answers, at least they understand the questions.

jam

transhuman, "thinking about the jobs they will be doing in the next few days".

Hell, thinking about the job they will be doing that night after the meeting.

OUTLAW

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Janitors aren`t the problem..

It`s JW Janitors who pretend to be,more than they are..

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

LongHairGal

OUTLAW:

Thanks for getting to the heart of the matter.

I mean no disrespect to the original poster or anybody else who does or did manual labor. If you are able to make ends meet, more power to you. In this day and age, any honest work is not to be derided.

HOWEVER, let us not forget that the reason behind unkind remarks toward this type of work is the JW religion's BIAS against anybody who has or is pursuing education and career - and especially anybody in a professional capacity!! This is out of jealousy and the desire to keep people DOWN. An elder once told me that a person with an education is harder to counsel. So, there you have it.

They DO not want you to get an education unless they can directly benefit from your education. Otherwise, you should starve to death rather than try to better yourself. I had somebody say to me: "better people than you have done housecleaning". As if my refusal to quit my decent job and do backbreaking manual labor had to do with "status". No, it had everything to do with common sense and the desire to make more money and at least not hurt myself! Did I need to be put down by a clueless person who was really looking down her stupid nose at me? She's gone now and I have no desire to meet her again in this "system" or any other.

I don't care what anybody does for a living, but boy am I glad to be out of that sick religion.

OnTheWayOut

Excellent point by Outlaw. Elders read some articles and meet with C.O.'s and take some notes and suddenly, they are counseling severely depressed people about how they can "snap out of it by praying, reading, attending meetings." They talk to some child about Uncle Elder molesting them and they become criminal evidence experts and tell the child to "snap out of it by praying, reading, attending meetings." They meet with some elderly sister who can't get out in the recruiting because of her arthritis and they tell her to "suffer through the pain of it by praying, reading, attending meetings then maybe she'll snap out of it."

I remember thinking I knew something about depression and those who were focused on "the world" instead of "the kingdom." I too, though I could dish out advice. I may have done better than some and worse than others, but really- I was an unstable person who just parroted the Watchtower. WTF did I know?

I think that's why they say "window washers." And let's face it- a bunch of JW's went into and still go into janitorial services. Windows were part of my complete service. Windows allows for some quick money. (I was never really fast at windows so I did floors more.)

I think we are just laughing at how ironic it all was- window washers that own several suits and keep their backseat of their sedan clean for people in suits and dresses to sit all the time.

Add in LongHairGal's thoughts. YES. Plus they say "What do doctors know? They are just after money. Read your magazines and find some article on how to snap out of it by praying, reading, attending meetings."

Island Man

You know, there's a certain irony to the perception that many JWs are window washers, in light of the fact that many Kingdom Halls don't have windows. LOL

"Why don't kingdom halls have windows? Because window washers don't like to be reminded of the job."

OK, the wording needs some work but there's a good joke in there somewhere.

One thing about this site that bothers me

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