Did You Feel Obliged To Do Business With The "Brothers"or Did You Not Care?

by minimus 32 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  mizpah

  Over the years, I found that JWs were often no different from other business people "of the world." Some were very honest in all their dealings. Others took advantage of their "brothers" and even cheated and stole from them. I think this was one of the reasons that the Society occasionally recommended getting all contracts in writing with details written out as to what was and was not to be done.

  Jehovah's Witnesses make the claim that they are "different" from people in the world. But, in fact, they are just representative of any other group in the world. Good and bad. Honest and dishonest.
• 

  minimus

  Francois, You are right about what the GB has produced-----people without a good education or profession----hacks.....Regarding my experiences, most JW's that I hired were pretty good at their work. I told a couple that I'd never use them again after an outrageous charge and overall, you get what you pay for. We hired a JW "friend", ex-Bethelite elder to do some renovations for us.He did excellent work but literally charged by the minute including keeping track of all phone calls made that were in the itemized bill. If he came by the house and my asked him a question, he would entertain any and all of them (but she did not know she was being charged for that time). We gave him is $5000 cash and stopped being "friends" with him too. btw, we asked 2 other "worldly" contractors what they would've charged and were told $2500 or $3000!....Hey, you live and learn!
• 

  Swan

  I actually preferred not to do business with them. I am a computer programmer/analyst by profession and training. I actually went to community college to learn computer programming. I got a lot of flack from some of the brothers for going to a two-year local community college.

  Although my training had mainly been with mainframe computer systems (the big old workhorse machines at the time), I did teach myself some PC programming. I was slightly familiar with PC hardware, but my focus was toward software design.

  When I was done with my classes and then got a 40-hour a week job, suddenly I was an expert in the field. I was called by every "brother" or "sister" who purchased a PC, a Commodore 64, TRS-80, or whatever else they happened to buy and had problems with. The only ones I really didn't mind helping were family, but these people calling were far from family.

  I hated their calls, especially when they seldom talked to me at the KH, but then called me during an evening, after a hard day at work, and then just "happened" to ask me a question about their computer system. When I couldn't resolve their issue over the phone, I was coerced into going to their home or business to work on their computer for free. Being the sap that I was at that time, I reluctantly agreed. I seldom got paid more than a soda. I did gain experience working on lots of different kinds of problems with different systems, but I actually could have worked at my job without this experience.

  Eventually I got better at turning them down after a few failed attempts to resolve their issue by phone. Eventually I DAed. I don't get those calls any more. My new friends don't presume on our friendship or my computer skills. They don't try to get my professional services based on membership in a cult. Funny how that worked out.

  Tammy
• 

  maxwell

  I never felt obliged to do business with the "brothers". I would evaluate them as if they were any other business. We had one "brother" who was a car mechanic. He happened to be very good. He had a day job working on a city's police cars and he had even been promoted to some type of managment position within the mechanic area. But he would do work on the side out of his own garage for the "brothers" or other people in the community that he knew. The work was always done very well and his charges reasonable and he even let me pay him over time once when I had some job that was particularly expensive. Even so not all my mechanic work went to him. Some I did myself, like oil changes and simple stuff. Replacing tires always went to Sears. I had brake work done once somewhere else.

  On the other hand one "brother" once approached my father with an offer for "Excel". They sold long distance phone service and had a multi-level marketing structure. He was also offering to have my father come in "under him". I don't know if they still exist, but it just wasn't a good deal. My father politely turned him down. We already had good long distance phone service.
• 

  Frannie Banannie

  Min, as an example, one time I was shopping in the local Sears store for a sewing machine....I saw and spoke to an Elder's daughter who worked in that department, but they didn't have anything for the price I was looking for at the time, so I left.....the next week, Sears had a sale, so I ran over there and purchased the machine I had wanted...the elder's daughter wasn't at work that day.....but the machine WAS.....later at the KH, the Elder came up to me and chastised me for not waiting to purchase the item thru his daughter.....and frankly, m'dear...I didn't give a d*mn.....

  Frannie B
• 

  minimus

  There's nothing worse than a person assuming that they automatically get your business. Especially in sales, many feel that "the brothers" SHOULD buy whatever it is that someone's selling.
• 

  Swan

  There's nothing worse than a person assuming that they automatically get your business. Especially in sales, many feel that "the brothers" SHOULD buy whatever it is that someone's selling.

  Why is it that a white roof coating or some tea from South America is the product that JWs should buy because it is Jehovah's gift to us? Turning it down then becomes almost a cause for alarm and charges of lack of faith. Those who don't buy become persons on the verge of apostasy.

  Their reasoning is that white roof coating is like the blanket of snow that Jehovah provides for nature in the winter. The South American tea is the perfect plant that Jehovah created to cure us of all ills. I imagine that it was much the same back in the days of Miracle Wheat. The seller promises that in the new order of things these products will be widely used.

  I am so glad I am out of these high pressure sales pitches, although I am told by some of my friends that some of the big multi-level marketing groups have spread into fundamental Christianity with the same level of fanaticism. Faith and selling fervor seem to go hand-in-hand with some of these products. So it isn't always just JWs.

  Tammy
• 

  minimus

  white roof coating??????
• 

  Swan

  Yes, white roof coating. There was this brother who tried to get my brother involved in selling a coating to seal your roof. It was supposed to be the latest technology and the way it was talked up, it was almost as if Jah had directed it's invention himself.

  Tammy
• 

  minimus

  ahh, Now I see the miracle wheat connection,