Evidently, according to my mother, her friend has all sorts of perfume allergies and has been attending meetings in the Ladies room with a door open so as to hear the vital spiritual information. Anyway, the elders told her she could no longer sit in the stall. Now she's depressed and doesn't know what to do. Any help here would be appreciated.
Elders Won't Let Elderly Sister Stay In The Bathroom
by minimus 28 Replies latest jw friends
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Lostreality
Hmmm..thats a toughy.
I would say, stick up for herself, or have someone else stick up for her. Get a brother that understands what is going on, or even another sister. Have her sit back in the stalla s usual, and if the elders bother her again, have that person engage in a dialog with them regarding her health.
Pshh
I dont know, i never respected the 'brothers' wishes anyways.
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minimus
Imagine if the elders decided to remove her from the stall.
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StinkyPantz
Don't they have phone hookups?
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findingme
It is a public place, isn't it??? The elderly sister can go where she wants!!!
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seeitallclearlynow
I used to have a serious chemical sensitivity too, and got sickly, light headed and "cloudy-minded" when exposed to perfumes of all kinds - cologne, fabric softener, soaps, hair products, etc. So I know how that sister feels! For years I would have to move around the Kingdom Hall to avoid the brothers' and sisters' colognes. The elders could not have cared less in their ignorance, including my own husband, who continued to wear offensive cologne.
Then finally there was an article in the Awake explaining the problem and how common it was becoming. And the last few years that I attended various Kingdom Halls, there was very little cologne worn. Even in public places, facilities managers seem to have become aware of the need for neutral, "natural" products in restrooms.
We can see far more "fragrance free" products on the shelves at supermarkets and fragranced/colored toilet paper have all but disappeared from the stores.
Chemical sensitivity is very common and for the elders to give this elderly sister a hard time instead of having the sense to be understanding and helpful is beyond my comprehension, except for the fact that they are Jehovah's Witnesses, which explains a lot sometimes.
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Atilla
This was a big issue in our KH as well, my mom always said she got a headache from others wearing too much perfume. The elders made several public announcements about it during public needs but the ladies kept wearing all their perfume. There was one lady who husband was an elder, so she didn't care and just went on wearing as much perfume as possible. The other ladies only came on Sunday and I guess never heard the public needs talk. It also didn't help that our KH had a bad air ciculation system and we didn't have the money to fix it.
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StinkyPantz
At my KH, we always had chairs in the restrooms.. there was even a special section in there for nursing mothers. I just can't believe the elders are making such a big deal about this.
After a while, they even figured out how to have people tune into a special radio frequency to listen to the talks.
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blondie
Don't they have phone hookups?
In all the congregations in this area, there are phone hookup capabilities for anywhere from 2 to 6 people depending on the intelliegence of the elder body as to how phones work. Many people with chemical sensitivities stay home and call in. If the elders in her congregation won't cooperate, she should take it up a notch and talk to the CO. There is no reason that she should have to sit in the stall. Or she can change her cards to a congregation that is in tune with the times and has phone hookups. Man, what idiots! Blondie
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Soledad
Then finally there was an article in the Awake explaining the problem and how common it was becoming
perhaps the elderly sister can show those elder pricks the article?
I had the same problem and I sat in the coat room of the hall which was behind the sound system, so I could hear perfectly. noone had a problem with it except my mother. knowing full well how bad my allergies could be she didn't care and would drag me up to the main hall in front of everybody. she could be a real biatch when she wanted to be. another one of those little incidents that make me hate her.