It is interesting reading these experiences. I grew up in the Bronx (NYC) in the 70s and 80s, and the congregation I spent most of my time in was led by a strict old-school type who had been in since the 20s or 30s and had traveled with Knorr on some of his trips around the world. Let's put it this way: COs and other traveling bigwigs treated him like the big shot, and never the other way around.
That also meant that dress codes (and behavioral codes) were also strict. Beards? You could get a lecture just for having a five-o'clock shadow. A sister who flashed a knee was likely to hear about it. And so on. I guess I should have realized that we were in our own pocket dimension, because conventions were full of people who would have gotten an earful if they were in our congregation, based on hairstyles and the way they dressed and acted. But I just saw them as outliers, as exceptions to the strict rules that every JW loyally adhered to.
I was in a bubble inside of another bubble!