by Funchback 40 Replies latest jw experiences
Handymen
Contractors
Night watchmen
Carpet cleaning
Janitors
Funny, most all these are listed in the Pioneer Book I was Issued way back when....Ideas for making a living while serving full time in Jehovah?s service (read WT slave here)......I still have it, somewhere.
In the congregation where I grew up, there were at least two contractors and several brothers worked for the those two contractors. There were some mechanics. And yes some people who worked as cleaners. There was one brother in the landscaping business and one who was an electrician who had done well enough that his business would pick and choose the jobs he wanted to do for corporate customers only. The two contractors seemed to do very well and one mechanic was known to do very good mechanic work and of course he did well also. He had a regular mechanic job at a shop for a city government agency where he had been promoted to some managerial position, and he also did some work on the side for himself.
In the last congregation I was in there were a couple of brothers in a successful landscaping business. They had some other brothers working for them and they also would pick and choose the jobs they wanted to do. They had houses that were most certainly in the 300K-400K range when they bought them and are probably worth a lot more now considering our local housing market. Besides that a lot of people in this area do work for the federal government, as you might imagine, some skilled (I knew a programmer and a computer hardware technician), and some otherwise. I knew one pioneer who did window cleaning.
Yea, in the UK, window cleaning is the most popular.
It's becoming difficult to stereotype dub employment anymore. In my experience, fewer and fewer sisters are going into house cleaning, the former job of choice for them. A sister with a successful cleaning business says she can't find any helpers at the KH, because none of the sisters wants to do that kind of work anymore; they all want "white collar" jobs or careers.
I listed the jobs of 10 elders in the last congo I attended, and cannot show it to you because it would identify the congregation to any lurkers. But there was only one "janitor" on the list; the rest were all professionals or middle managers for large institutions, or retired from such careers.
Looking back, that's true of other congos I've attended. But that's elders. Among the rank and file, employment is all over the map. It's true, few have a higher education, but most people in America don't have a college education.
The very nature of jw life calls for work that is secondary time wise to the preaching work.
For that reason some jobs are more customary.
I see no shame in cleaning, washing windows, driving buses, etc.
It is honest and hard work used for the same purpose that any white collar types use work for...to raise families and pay the bills.
Hard work is admirable.
Another thing.... If someone were to ask you "who do you work for"?
Hopefully your answer would be "My family".
Didn't think this post would take off in the direction it did so...
Thought I would add a bit more to my earlier comment. Just to clarify, I am not opposed in any way to the jobs in my first comment. In fact in the area where I am living the service type jobs are some of the most high paying ones. I presently have a part time housekeeping job, which pays better than my other self employed ?creative jobs?.
part 2--got lost in the previous post...
One more try...Thought I would add a bit more to my earlier comment. Just to clarify, I am not opposed in any way to the jobs in my first comment. In fact in the area where I am living the service type jobs are some of the most high paying ones. I presently have 1 part time housekeeping job, which pays better than my other self employed ?creative jobs?.
While these jobs are fine and honorable and even profitable, at many times these careers are chosen at many times by the JWs as a result of limited choices, because of lack of education. And while these jobs are not bad choices and are satisfying to some?there are others who would rather have others choices, but aren?t encouraged to seek other skills.
While the attitude towards education is changing in some areas?(maybe more in the cities) there are still places, such as where I presently live where JWs still frown upon education. I know this for a fact because of my daughter?s choice (though she was not a baptized witness, nor heading in that direction). Her college choice was frowned upon and I, as her mother, was lectured up one side and down the other and even told by an elder that ?we? (?we? sounded like he was referring to the whole Org) have found that instead of going to college it is more beneficial to start your own business. (He had a cleaning business) Maybe it is different in some areas, but quite honestly these cleaning and janitorial jobs are the majority of what I have seen witnesses encouraged to do.
I wanted my daughter to have an education whether she chose to be a witness or not?not that I was opposed to her being a window washer or a housekeeper (she actually does this work too) but because of wanted her to have the opportunity of choices in her life. I saw that women have fewer choices in careers, especially in the Org and the only way that many of them could get ahead was to get married and they usually did at a young age.
Another sad state of affairs that I began to see over the years has to do with the senior citizens in the Org. Many of them had worked for years at low paying or self employed jobs and are now struggling because they have not saved anything up for the future, nor do they receive any retirement pay , etc?(following the admonition ? to not be storing up treasures upon the earth?)
To me the Org seems to encourage these service and trade jobs and promotes them as ?humble work.?. I have seen other careers viewed as haughty. This is the message I read in the WT magazines over the years. I feel this is part of the whole mind set of humble service to the Org.?just keep on working?especially if it is of benefit to the Org. The maintenance on the KH and other buildings are done by the JWs?the professional carpet cleaner?the window washers, etc. Construction/Trade work is also promoted and many of these brothers willing offer their services for free to the Org The Org benefits and profits the most from these sorts of skills, thus it is logical they would be promoting them too.
At one point an elder gave my daughter a little bit of career counceling?suggested she if she did chose a career chose one that would be of the most benefit to the Org?so she could then be used by the Org.
OK?getting off my soapbox here
About half of my first cong were window cleaners. I did it for about 5 years too, and made excellent money. I eventually had to retrain for health reasons. We also had an electrical engineer, carpenter, machinist, baker, and office cleaners in the hall too.
um, telemarketers, sales and marketing....Jw's aren't afraid to talk to anyone!
Codeblue
