Thanks purrpurr for this interesting thread. When I attended kh sporadically for five years prior to finally waking up a year ago, I would often sit in one of the "school" rooms when I arrived late, sometimes 10 minutes before meeting was over so I could go out to lunch with my (now conditional) friends. I noticed the last few months before my last entering kh, for memorial, April 3, 2015, the rooms were often empty and darkened. I don't know if attendants were directing people away from those rooms, but there were a lot of empty seats in auditorium.
As for the phone call-in lines, I currently have phone numbers and codes for several kh stored in my phone. Some in different time zones. In the past few years, there have been memorial services (watchtower infomercials) for friends in other congregations, so numbers were given to me by relatives and (now conditional) friends. In the past three years, I have been told they are no longer allowed to give these numbers and codes to anyone. This has to be approved by the elders. So, occasionally when I call in to mentally dissect the cult brainwashing to which my relatives are still subjecting themselves, I press *67 so as not to display my name and phone number on caller ID and lose my 'privilege'. Interestingly, in 2010, while the cobe was conducting wt study he called on his elderette wife and she took the opportunity to counsel the entire congregation, as one does, 😊 when she commented, "The faithful slave has made a loving provision by providing the meeting phone call-in arrangement. SOME brothers and sisters abuse this loving provision because they may be a little tired or just not feel like going to the meeting even though they aren't really sick. So, instead of going to meeting they sometimes call in and listen on phone. That provision is NOT for them! It's a provision for those who cannot attend meetings such as homebound elderly or those with severe illnesses. Some use it anyway, but they are not supposed to do that!" I guess she got the congregation told!!
