SnakesInTheTower

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Posts by SnakesInTheTower

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  27

  Talk Coordinator: A pretty sucky job

  by Open mind in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  i got this "privilege" thrust upon me for about 6 months many years ago.

  i was a hubby, father of young children, service committee member, working 2 jobs and then this.

  it truly is a thankless task.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  OM...

  yep... I was talk coordinator.... ironically, I wanted the position. Why? Because our previous coordinator knew basically no one and relied on the same rotation of local yokels or an outdated circuit list because the TC/PO was lazy. He would bring in some of the most horrific, non-qualified speakers ever. I even had a sister tell me that if she seen certain people coming in, she would choose that Sunday to go visit her sisters in a nearby KH or friends in Springfield.

  I, on the other hand, traveled in wider circles and had access to a huge pool of DC and CA-qualified speakers. All I had to do was ask. Usually the quality of speakers was better in those congos as well because, well, if you have DC speakers amongst you, you better rise to or you weren't going anywhere. Every once in awhile I had to take a stinker speaker to get the excellent ones. It wasn't that they were horrid, but they were .... boring. But the were long time, respected elders, so as long as they did not go to far off the beaten path, they could go out. I followed certain speakers along the outline, both to make sure they stayed on track, and to step in if they had a heart attack on stage. Hey, I had to bail 30 minutes into a 45 minute out of town talk once because I was sick (another story I may have told before).

  I liked the job. I had my whole scheduling in an Access database. My schedules were printed real pretty in Word and were easy for the elderly to read (a frequent complaint about some of the other things posted on the Information Board©.

  But, at some point, it became a burden. Not having a family made it a bit easier. I started sending myself out more and more because the situation in my congregation was becoming intolerable. I knew my days as an elder were coming to an end when, 4 months before I was removed as an elder, the PO took back the TC scheduling.

  Snakes (Rich )

  ps... about 2 months ago I got a phone call from a talk coordinator working off a really old list. I was removed as an elder Christmas 2006 -- best gift ever. (I will post this on the next post)
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  165

  Your most DISTURBING WATCHTOWER Bethel/Branch experience? (No full names please)

  by Balaamsass in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  ok.. you 70 plus bethelite members.... this is your chance to share stories!

  inquiring minds want to know !no full names please..follow t.o.s.

  to avoid borg libel lawsuits).. i will start the ball rolling with week one.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  NOT disturbing..... maybe funny.... I got busted.

  I was a temp at WT Farms back around 1996 I think (about the time my JW mom remarried ... a non-JW, Harley ridin', ex-Navy SEAL, ex-Hell's Angel, the only way I remember the year...LOL)

  ....I digressed.... I was working on one of the Carpentry crews... including one crew that was doing all kinds of punch list items all around the property. It gave me unprecedented access to the whole property. As soon as anyone asked what crew I was on, I would say "Fine Carpentry".... boom.... no problem....

  One day, before lunch, we were working on the roof of one of the new residence buildings nailing 2x4's down on the edge of the roof to attach some sort of trim. Around lunch time, I stayed behind, not really wanting to go back to the locker room or my cottage (remember Green and Yellow Cottages... those were sweet .... basic satellite tv, full kitchen, etc.), change, eat, change, and go back to work. I had brought my camera with me and was taking panorama shots of the area. (I wonder if I still have these? ... if so, it would be beautiful as it was October, perfect weather, fall colors).

  The next day at Morning Worship™, an Announcement® was made that "for safety reasons, no one was to be on the roof taking pictures." Of course, whomever ratted me out (but never finding out who I was specifically), had no idea I actually was assigned to be there. The crew I was on got a good laugh about it and just said to take the pics when we working not during lunch.

  As an aside, I made that crew really happy because these under-caffeinated people were sharing a lousy 4-cup coffeemaker that barely spit out coffee in the limited time their decent overseer allowed for a quick mid-morning break. One evening, on the way back from a meeting in town, I had stopped and purchased a basic 12-cup maker, and also went to the commissary and got some really good coffee. I snuck away the next morning to set up the coffee maker and make a full pot. When the crew came in and smelled the coffee, you would have thought they had gone to Paradise™ already.

  I just always found it amusing and distubing the little bitty things that Bethel would make Announcements® about.

  Snakes (Rich )
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  61

  Flipper Jr. & Flipper Sr. Leave Child Abuse News Releases at Kingdom Halls

  by flipper in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  of course everyone knows about the news of the candace conti child abuse case which has gone viral , ( one would have to live in a cave, under a rock, or another planet not to know about it ).

  that being said - it may very well be that those jehovah's witnesses who do not use the internet, or read newspapers, or in simple english are neanderthal's, still living in the 19th century or before , out of fear of negative reprisal from wt authorities may have not even heard about this case because they are in the habit of not watching the news or using the internet.. so- with those particular type of people in mind my son flipper jr. & myself decided to print up about 20 copies of the candace conti child abuse lawsuit from the england daily mail issue , here's the link : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2160605/candance-conti-molested-jehovahs-witnesses-member-age-nine-wins-28milion.html?ito=feeds-newsxml .. so what we did is since we are doing some out of town jobs in several counties we figured we'd leave these child abuse news releases under jw car windshields at kingdom halls while they are out in field service.

  we left about 15 so far at 3 different kingdom halls under car windshields .

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  SnakesInTheTower

  flipper... I wish I could do this... on my new job (at it a year now), I drive a company car. I do not think my company, with its logo emblazened on both sides of the car, would appreciate me doing that.

  Snakes (Rich )
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  37

  Watchtower Lawsuit on Twitter

  by purplesofa in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i just checked twitter and the story is picking up tremendously there.. many people only get their news from twitter now.. i encourage you to use twitter, you can do this anonymously.. rt (return the stories) get familiar with twitter if you are not already.. it's a wonderful format for spreading the news.. many activist will see this and spread the story that have many followers.... the time to do this is now, before the story gets too old.

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  purps.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  http://snakesinthetower.blogspot.com/

  I haven't posted in years, I have to go to work but had to say something about it.

  snakes
• 
  37

  Watchtower Lawsuit on Twitter

  by purplesofa in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  i just checked twitter and the story is picking up tremendously there.. many people only get their news from twitter now.. i encourage you to use twitter, you can do this anonymously.. rt (return the stories) get familiar with twitter if you are not already.. it's a wonderful format for spreading the news.. many activist will see this and spread the story that have many followers.... the time to do this is now, before the story gets too old.

  .

  purps.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  haven't figured out twitter yet but I am following your twitter feeds online purps.

  couldn't get the last "e" because of space constraints. I am now

  @snakesinthetowr

  Snakes (Rich )
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  24

  I'd hate to be a JW going out in service with all the bad press they're getting right now.

  by I quit! in

  1. jw
  2. friends
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  SnakesInTheTower

  Why hasn't CNN picked up on this? http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/ I emailed them, who knows if anything will happen. I toured CNN headquarters in Atlanta. That is a huge operation. Unless they get a whole lot of feedback from viewers requesting this story be covered, nothing will happen. You should see all of the desks and levels of people that a news tip has to go through and be vetted before it is kicked up to a senior story producer for possible airing.

  As to hearing about anything in field service, I agree with Blondie, As a regular pioneer during some of that time, I rarely heard anything about the Dateline program. MSNBC has the story but was it aired or just online?

  Snakes (Rich )
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  5

  The Richard Dawkins Foundation has tweeted Candace Conti's case against WTBTS

  by Amelia Ashton in

  1. watchtower
  2. child-abuse

  .

  http://richarddawkins.net/articles/646267-jehovah-s-witnesses-told-to-pay-in-abuse-case.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Why has CNN not picked up this story? I sent them an email via this link: http://www.cnn.com/feedback/tips/

  This needs better coverage than MSnbc and Dawkins Foundation.

  Snakes (Rich )
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  12

  To the Governing Body and Legal Department of Jehovah's Witnesses

  by wannabefree in

  1. watchtower
  2. scandals

  members of the governing body.

  members of the legal department.

  no doubt many of you are truly, to borrow the term of r.v.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Wouldn't that be nice if someone would from Legal or the GB would do it? However, look what happened to Ray Franz and Barbara Anderson when they stood up for what was right? The Ex-Witness community noticed but were demonized by the JW as apostates. I cannot tell you how many times growing up, then as a young adult, then as an elder, what a horrible person Ray was. I think that I had left the Borg before hearing anything about Barb from fellow Witnesses.

  So even if that scenario played out, it would be ignored by people like my JW mom.

  Snakes (Rich )
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  7

  Field Service Records

  by God_Delusion in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  hi guys and gals,.

  as it's been a good 3 years since i visited a kingdom hall, i was wondering if the keeping of hours still applies?

  therefore, does anyone have a pdf of the report slip?.

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  SnakesInTheTower

  

  http://lifelinespublishing.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/JWchart.jpg

  Snakes (Rich )
• 
  49

  Bill Bowen Just Posted This on Facebook Moments Ago

  by jamiebowers in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jane doe vs the watch tower in the oakland, ca case was awarded $20 million in punitive damages..

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  SnakesInTheTower

  Good. I hope this is the beginning of the end for Watchtower et al. I wonder if my JW mother will get wind of this and/or will ever change her mind about the Organization.

  As a former JW elder, I am glad that I was never faced with having a pedophile (to my knowledge) in any congregation where I was assigned. That said, there should be a lot of current, and maybe former, elders who will $hit their pants if individual elders are assigned even a dime of the judgment against them personally.

  A good day for the ex-JW community, and even better day for the victims of the pedophiles. Let it rain down on the Watchtower leaders' collective heads. BASTARDS. I HOPE THE GOVERNING BODY ROTS IN HELL.

  Rich (SnakesInTheTower ... of the "hardly ever posts anymore" Sheep Class)