Bad Elder Stories (page 5)

we had a PO from hell 12 years ago at a central congo in Bs As. He was Bethel elder at the branch over there. he was this extremely neurotic sexually repressed individual who was not in love with his wife (who adored him, the poor thing) and went on sniffing by the young sister's skirts all the time. he would hound us if the skirts were 1/2 inch shorter than what met his approval. he would hug us. he would pinch our cheeks. sit too close when he was giving counsel and touch your knee, etc.

He was a total hardliner legalistic SOB on a power trip, on steroids. he bullied the rest of the elders and for years he ran the congo like a tight ship. this created a lot of resentment and was his downfall in the end.

There was a family in that congo, all brilliant, polyglotes, artistic. many of them where in the editing business. the father, non JW, was a tenor at the Opera House. they all had easy going, flamboyant personalities. Culturally rich and generous by nature. THe mother and each one of the children became a target of his harassment. If it was the clothing, or if they missed 15 seconds in one of the TM talks, or when they were dating, etc. He made the eldest sister of sister give an editor job at travel magazine because that was not an appropriate job for a dub according to him. she gave it up so she could keep up pioneering. The sons were tenors and he had a bone with the fact that they were studying at the conservatory (and it was deliciously funny to hear him try to oversing them with a falsetto during the songs. hehe, he was so jealous of their voices).

The worst instance that I remember, which is nothing but an example of how this guy operated, is when a single sister in her late 40s, with no family inside or outside the congo had to undergo surgery and was struggling to make ends meet. He made the determination that the congo was NOT to help her in any way financial. A sweet elderly sister, who was 84 yo at the time, started a collection among some of the friends. totally informal and only among those of us who really cared for this nice sister (who always placed her home at the disposal of the congo for the book study, for field service, BTW). He got wind of this and hounded the old sister to the back room together with 2 more elders to tell her to stop it and that she was going against the elders' arrangements by doing the collection. The poor thing got out of that meeting crying.

My family was viewed as materialistic, I was not a good example because I was going to uni and my hours were too short, but he had no problem taking advantage of my father's expertise and getting free medical care from him. Then I got disfellowshipped and we came to learn what was to be on the wrong side of the WT. He would intend to micromanage how us as a family interacted at home, he saw us eating at a restaurant one time and made a stink of it, he made a stink because my mother would leave the hall early to take me home (the hall was in a horrible violent neighbourhood of the city BTW). I applied for reinstatement at 10 monhts after I was DF. He would not hear of it because I missed a couple meetings (I had pneumonia), I did not study for the service meeting (I was DF and they would not give the Kingdom Ministry paper in the first place, when I mentioned that to him I got a blank stare). He was incensed that I was migrating to the USA and hence would be out of his jurisdiction. He told my father that it was obvious that I had advanced my trip "to get my way". In fact, I had posponed my trip in order to come over here already reinstated. My father, the meekest man I know, told my mom that he felt like punching him in the face after that. The guy had the nerve of continuing to seek FREE medical care with my father after that (yes, talk about entitlement). After he was politely told that there no appointments avalible a couple times he finally got the message that he was not welcome.

He kept terrorizing people for 1 or 2 years after that. The rest of the BOE could not take it anymore and they maneuvered things to have him removed as PO. He resented it and changed to another congo. 1 year later he was cought at Bethel sniffing around documents that were not for him to see. He was kicked out from Bethel, stripped from being and elder and sent home in disgrace after 20 years in the branch. I did not feel sorry for him.

abbasgreta

Came back from Germany in 1991 having served as a regular pioneer there (speak fluent German). Visited by an elder who said he could not take me at my word that I was actually on the list of regulars. Had to phone my former PO in Germany to vouch for me. He was speechless. So much for trusting your brothers. The aforementioned elder lost all his privileges a few years ago. He was in charge of the Hellaby Assembl accounts and apparently "discrepancies" were found. Don't know the ins and outs of this matter so will comment no further. His name was Paul Hamer.

Bad Elder Stories

Bangalore

rowan

abbasgreta

Share this