When The Circuit Overseer Visited, Why Did You Do More Than Usual? (page 2)

TresHappy

I remember everyone scrambling to take the CO and his wife out to the cafeteria, or their favorite restaurant, or even to their respective houses for a meal. I remember everyone being on their best behavior and "lining up" to go out in service with the CO. Every CO I met was very kind to me and didn't berate me. Of course, I wasn't an elder, so there might have been berating behind closed doors.

Jourles

I never changed my appearance or sucked up during any of the CO's visits. Never in my life did I try to exert myself through self-promotion only to gain a certain status in the congregation to look good for the CO. I was fairly strong growing up in "the truth," but I did not ever have the desire to become something greater than an ordinary publisher.

These days, it pisses me off when the CO has to mess up the normal meeting schedules. Why can he not just attend the meetings during the normally scheduled times for the different halls? But hell no. Here is always the routine regardless of how many congregations meet at the hall:

Tuesday - School and service meeting followed by CO talk.
Thursday - Condensed book study followed by CO talk.
Sunday - CO talk followed by condensed WT study followed by CO talk.

And, of course, we cannot forget about the meeting with the pioneers on Wednesday afternoon and the meeting with the MS's and elders on Friday night followed by just a meeting with the elders afterwards. And the special service day on Saturday with meeting times of usually 9 a.m. and 1 or 2 p.m.

I hate it when topics like this get brought up. It just pisses me off even more that I am still trapped in this corporation. It can be compared to saying "I quit(DA)." By doing that, you do not get unemployment benefits. Hell, for that matter, even if you get laid off(read: DF'd) from the org, you still don't get any benefits.

Whoa, sorry for the ranting. I didn't realize I was veering off course that much.

Loris

Doesn't this all smack of creature worship? Who made them King for a day anyways? It always made me feel uneasy. All the fawning and butt kissing. I rarely went in service the week of the CO's visit in 37 years. Just too weird for me.

Loris

goofy

Our coffee breaks were shorter and sometimes we didn't even get to take them because some of the CO's and their wives didn't believe in them. Oh I hated to miss the coffee break!

logansrun

I tried not to suck up to the CO too much. Sometimes people were so blatent about it, though. There were two pioneer couples in one hall I was at and they practically owned the CO's time whenever he came around. They were at all the weeks lunches no matter whose house it was at (how did they always get invited). Of course, this was the most cult-like congregation I was at...other's weren't as bad.

Bradley

gitasatsangha

The coffee break was the only decent part about field servitude.

when the CO came most everyone acted different. My dad would even fuss about making sure I combed my hair right. I never gave much thought about the visits, except to make certain I dodged any meals or field service with them. I remember going to the funeral of a CO, once (Homolka was his name). That was very weird because all these CO's from all over the place, and I think a DO showed up, like it was a State Funeral.

MoeJoJoJo

I never really did more than the usual during the COs visits, but then again, I was 'only a sister'.

I felt sorry for those who felt they had to go out in service with the CO when he was visiting during Christmas or other holidays just to kiss butt. I remember as a kid having to go out in service during holidays and people at the doors were upset because we were disturbing them while they had company. As an adult I never went out in service during Christmas or Thanksgiving, CO or not. I thought it did more harm than good, that we were just irritating people.

berylblue

Even while I was a new study, if the CO was unpopular, the sister begged me to have him and his wife for lunch. I was really, really poor and my house was fallling apart (albeit immaculate, however, the holes in the carpet and the shabbiness of the furniture certainly made it seem less than clean). This went on for a few years. The sister would lay a guilt trip on me, and I would host the lunch. Or have the semi-senile git on my study. Invariably, he'd tell me everything I was doing wrong, even though I wasn't even a publisher.

When we had the "hip" young CO and his wife, persons used to fight over having them to lunch. I did have them once, and we had 30 or so "crashers". It was good I'm so neurotic about having enough food when I entertain (being Italian-American, I think it's shameful not to have enough left over to serve an entire city block for a week), because the "crashers" ate every last morsel I had.

This despite the fact that it was announced that just because one went out in service that day, it did not mean one was invited to the CO's lunch. Hell, I'd have had them if I could have....they were literally jammed in the tiny place and the CO and his wife "hid" on the porch anyway....

I'd always save up money to give to the CO and his wife.

Oh, and I used to get stuck feeding the DO too....

Rosemarie

Pork Chop

I didn't.

anti-absolutist

GUILT!!!!

The same crap that keeps all JW's down in the depths of despair. When the CO visited, the GUILT was just greater.

Brad

When The Circuit Overseer Visited, Why Did You Do More Than Usual?

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