I am sitting here watching my pioneering wife get service time ‘writing letters’ to not-at-homes. She has a long list of names and addressees where the JWs in field service never got anyone home. The letter is simply a word for word copy, handwritten on note paper, then sent in the USMail. It seems like a terrible waste of time and effort. I am reminded of the Sherlock Holmes story ‘The Red Headed League’, where the criminals hired a red haired man to copy out the Britannica encyclopedia by hand , merely to get him out of his office during the day so they could dig a tunnel to rob a bank. Funny in a way.
The Red Headed League
by dropoffyourkeylee 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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sparrowdown
Also, how incredibly creepy it must be to receive a handwritten letter from a complete stranger - I always thought.
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sir82
It seems like a terrible waste of time and effort.
Of course it is.
But it's a wonderful thing, if your primary, perhaps only, goal is to pad your "time".
Also, how incredibly creepy it must be to receive a handwritten letter from a complete stranger - I always thought.
"Heh, heh - I licked this envelope just for you, sweetheart...."
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Londo111
Wow. I never made that connection to that story before. Not only letter writing, but door-to-door or cartwork, endless meetings, "study", all the equivalent meaningless busywork.
I can't help but think back to the scene in the Granda version where Holmes and Watson bust out laughing after the man relates his story.
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sparrowdown
Yeah, you imagine this serial killer sitting in their basement with pictures of you all over the wall lol!
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_Morpheus
And to continue the parallel the distinction (red headed league) was made arbitrarily based on a physical characteristic. Jws make an arbitrary distinction amongst themselves based on how much time one spends proselytizing. They even think they are different just because they are jw’s. When you step back and look it is indeed as ludicrous as a red headed league.
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pometerre21
I welcomed letter writing when I was PIMI because it didn't involve disturbing people on a Saturday when they were enjoying much needed rest and relaxation from a work week. I agree that letter writing is a colossal waste of time, but even now that I am PIMO I would prefer it over door to door. I don't think I've ever heard of an experience where someone was converted to JWs because of a letter. I've been reading Conan Doyle lately but I haven't gotten to that story. I'll be thinking of your point now when I read it though .
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sparrowdown
At the end I prefered faking time.
The only bank the GB are robbing is JWs time and energy bank.
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dubstepped
Couldn't she just print it on the computer? Or copy one handwritten note? Oh that's right, like everything else it's about stretching time. Taking the long way to a return visit. Driving to the farthest territory. Running errands out in service. Rounding time up. How much of their reported time is actually just busy work, not to mention all of the doors knocked on with no answer.
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Londo111
It is the exact opposite of the traveling salesman problem. JWs thrive on finding the least optimal, most time wasting route.