Looking back, there is a creatively "lighter" side to the time keeping that helps keep those end-of-year figures "inflated":
Back in the late 1970s in my old congregation, one of the long-time pioneers was known to spend her time in cafes drinking coffee for hours on end. Alone. She was also a full-time wife and mother. Where did she find the time to do it all, we wondered. Yet, she always managed to get her hours in by month's end. The JW congregation gossip mill was rife with speculation about how she managed to do this. No one ever quite came out and directly said she was probably faking the time spent in the field. Heaven forbid that the most obvious conclusion be put into words. This woman was a pioneer - a fine example, brothers!
I also knew of an elderly brother who routinely ordered a roll of about 50 Awakes every issue, yet seldom door-knocked. A sister who knew him, told me (before I was disfellowshipped, of course!) that when he moved house several years later, a couple of the brothers helping him move found scores of unopened rolls of mint copy Awakes stacked away against the back wall of his garage.
I never did ask whether the poor old guy was reproved, confronted with the weighty evidence or commended for supporting the huge worldwide printing empire!
Perhaps his sneakiness even inspired others to follow suit: It's much less arduous buying as many magazines as you can and promptly stacking them away out of sight than buying just a few and spending hours vainly trying to get rid of them door-to-door. And as for spending time in a cafe versus witnessing door-to-door: I think that pioneer sister was way ahead of her time and should have been commended: She was taking care of herself...although I did worry about all that caffeine consumption! Sometimes, you just have to take creative risks when you're trying to survive within the confines of a repressive organisation.
steve2
