Posts by TerryWalstrom

2

You're Fired (Words I used to hear a lot)

by TerryWalstrom in

as a jehovah's witness, i was fairly polite, considerate, and well-mannered.after 2 years in federal prison, when i got paroled, something was changing inside of me i did not quite understand.

today, i realize i was an extremely angry person, but i had swallowed my anger.

little by little, working at go-nowhere jobs, my anger and resentment were emerging.i thought i'd share two such stories._______________.

TerryWalstrom

Thanks. I'm not proud of all this, mind you.
I did have "issues" to work through dealing with Authority. The kind of Authority which forces people to waste their time and which gave no consideration to efficiency.

I've often marveled at the sort of person who gets promoted without any talent.
The easiest answer is that they do exactly as they're told without question--and in turn--expect the same of those who work under them.

My idea of an excellent Manager is simple. A Manager gets obstacles out of the way so a job can be performed as close to effortlessly as feasible.
Unfortunately, authoritarian personalities end up ruling over things and flexing self-importance.

Kids, don't try my way. Find a nice middle ground. You'll last longer.

2

You're Fired (Words I used to hear a lot)

by TerryWalstrom in

as a jehovah's witness, i was fairly polite, considerate, and well-mannered.after 2 years in federal prison, when i got paroled, something was changing inside of me i did not quite understand.

today, i realize i was an extremely angry person, but i had swallowed my anger.

little by little, working at go-nowhere jobs, my anger and resentment were emerging.i thought i'd share two such stories._______________.

TerryWalstrom

As a Jehovah's Witness, I was fairly polite, considerate, and well-mannered.
After 2 years in Federal Prison, when I got paroled, something was changing inside of me I did not quite understand. Today, I realize I was an extremely ANGRY person, but I had swallowed my anger. Little by little, working at go-nowhere jobs, my anger and resentment were emerging.
I thought I'd share two such stories.
_______________

YOU'RE FIRED!! A true story.
________________

I was in MacDonalds this morning listening to a young shift worker as he was being questioned by a Supervisor who ended up terminating his employment.
A flood of memories avalanched upon me!
I'll share this one with you now...
_____
I was hired by Montgomery Ward Data Processing back in 1969-70, right after being released from Federal Prison. I was mentally unwilling to take anymore bullshit in my life. I had had two years worth already.

I was earning $2.38 an hour! (I know you're impressed.)
Everybody liked me. Hell, they loved me. I was a lot of fun and made everyone laugh. Lots of Nerd-types worked there and I managed to help them find their sense of humor.

One of my duties was to pack up reports for the shuttle truck which went out at 2 PM once each Wednesday.
I'd wrap the print-out in brown paper and use a Marks-a-lot to print the name of the Admin person on the other end.

Her name was BIRDIE BARKER.
As a wee joke, I drew a cartoon bird with a thought balloon above which said, "Woof Woof!"
____
Pretty innocent, huh?
No. No no no. Not at all! As you'll soon see, this was going to be interpreted by a Vice President in charge of self-importance, as a firing offense!
____

It was about 4 pm when my phone rang in the processing center where I performed my duties.

"Hello, Terry Walstrom, Burster and Decollator. How may I assist you?"
A cold, clinical, deep voice came through.

"Are you some kind of Smart Ass?" The voice could have been anybody.

"Why yes--now that you ask. I would have to reply affirmatively to your query. I've been told repeatedly how intelligent my ass is. Thanks for asking." And I hung up.
____
Count to five (1 Mississippi, 2Mississippi...)
RINGGGGGG.
"Good Afternoon, Mule barn--mule speaking."

"Are you the idiot who just hung up on me?"

"Why, No. Of course not."

"Well, who hung up on me?"

"That was me--but--I must correct your misperception. I'm not an idiot. According to Psychology studies, an "idiot" has an Intelligence Quotient of 0-25. Mine is, thankfully, above that."

"Listen up--listen to me--do you know who you're talking to? Do you have any idea who you hung up on? I'm the Vice-President of-----"

"Excuse me just a minute Mr. Vice President--I have a call coming in on the other line. Hold on--or, better still--I'll return your call when I'm through doing my job." CLICK!
_____

(1 Mississippi, 2Mississippi...)
RINGGGGGG.
"Hello, Embalming Clinic, our customers are dying to come here. How may I help you"

"(Much swearing, vile name-calling, screaming...)"

"I'm sorry, I can't make out what you're saying. Try calling back later; we've obviously got a bad connection." CLICK!

(1 Mississippi, 2Mississippi...)
RINGGGGGG.

"Hi there! I'm not in at the moment. Please leave a message at the sound of the fart...(raspberry sound)..."

Before I could hang up----a loud, pleading voice rattled the phone.

"STOP IT! STOP THIS and TALK TO ME Godammit!"

"Why hello, is this the Vice-President in charge of --? Say, who are you anyway and why do you keep interrupting my work?"

"Aren't you hired to send reports to our catalog store? And did you draw a picture of a bird with the words "Woof Woof" on that report?"

"Guilty as charged, Your Honor."

"Have you got nothing better to do than waste the company's time and money on utter nonsense?"

"I'm glad you asked that question, Sir. Follow along with me as we reason together...First, I make $2.38 an hour. Second, that figures to be .04 cents a minute. Third, it takes me half a minute to draw the bird and write 'Woof Woof!' which breaks down to .02 cents of wasted time. Finally, at 52 weeks per year--you are correct--I have nothing better to do than waste ONE DOLLAR and FOUR PENNIES a YEAR making Birdie Barker smile! I imagine you make a bit more than two-thirty eight an hour--WHAT'S YOUR excuse?"
______

Can you believe this guy actually fired me for all that?

True Story.
______

Here's another "YOU'RE FIRED" saga from my sordid past.
_____

For about a year, I was Custom Framing Manager in a Crafts and Hobbies store similar to Hobby Lobby or Michael's called ZAK'S.
The owner was Don Mechanic. He was a jerk.

I was hired to manage one of the brand new stores in a killer location close to Six Flags Over Texas theme park.

Hobby stores are highly competitive. In fact, a war broke out between ALL these stores and 50% OFF on Custom Framing was catnip, for hordes of customers.

ZAK'S stores developed procedures managers were required to follow. In my opinion, incredibly inefficient.
The system worked as long as there was no stress (i.e. coupon sales) placed on this system. With great demand, everything broke down to a standstill.

When first hired, in order to 'get my feet wet' I was placed in ZAK'S busiest Dallas store in the middle of a 50% coupon sale!

Everything that could go wrong DID.
Customers were kept waiting and promised due dates which could not be met.
I mentally noted the bottlenecks and wrong-headed procedures.

______
A sales contest was proposed by the District Manager, Richard Gomez, a knucklehead. Richard was brimming over with a strong sense of authority but lacked know-how, imagination, and resourcefulness.
Other than that, he was okay. (i.e. insufferable.)

Richard announced, "There's a $50 bonus for the first employee in our stores who can sell our most expensive frame to a customer."
He was referencing a god awful gold monstrosity manufactured in Guadalajara for brain-dead Elvis-on-black-velvet sorts of customers with perhaps more money than brains or taste.

"You may as well reach into your billfold and hand over that $50 right now, Richard because I'll sell one of those butt-ugly bad boys before the day is over."

I only said that to irk the man. I confess.
You see, he was way too over-confident as a person. He thought too much of himself. I wanted to give him a dose of his own laxative.

"Nobody has ever sold one of those frames. What makes you so sure you can do it?"

"I'm persuasive."

"So what?"

"So, if you are confident I can't and won't sell one today--make it $100 bonus. Put your money where your mouth is."

"It's not MY money--it's company money--don't be ridiculous."

"I won't if you won't."

He did a slow burn. Instead of saying anything, he turned on his heel and walked off.

Later that afternoon, a customer walked up to the counter with one of the ugliest oil paintings I had ever seen in my life.

"I'd like to get this framed."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why would you want a custom frame for something so unremarkable?"

The man gave me a truly puzzled reaction and then broke out laughing.

"My wife's mother painted it. I thought I'd get on the good side of that women. A woman without a good side, I might add. So, I complimented her and praised this crime against humanity.

I thought my wife would appreciate it, too. Let me tell you something--no good deed ever goes unpunished in my house! My mother-in-law decided to GIFT us with this pile of shit.

My wife hated the painting as much as I did. So, next time her mother came over, the Old Bag sniffs indignant-like and put her hands on her hips and announced out loud: "I guess you were just lyin' yer ass off about lovin' my painting since you didn't bother yer sorry ass to put a frame on it."

I laughed. This guy was funny!

"My wife assured her I was going to frame it very soon. So, I went to the flea market to pick up a cheap-ass Mexican frame but this thing isn't a standard size. So, here I am."

A light bulb went off over my head. This poor man was the answer to my prayers.

"I have just the sort of frame which is certain not only to please your mother-in-law but convince her you respect her work as a brilliant artist. Once she sees the frame I'm about to show you, you'll endear yourself to the Old Bat. She'll never say it is CHEAP!"

By the time the man left, I had become the 1st employee of ZAK'S to sell the most expensive frame!

I wasted no time searching for Richard before he left our store.
I walked up to him and placed my hand out palm up.

"You can lay that $50 bucks right here. I just sold that frame. The customer paid up front and the money is in the register."

What happened next is typical of a man of this sort. He backed out of the deal claiming he was kidding. He was snide and prickly and totally chickenshit about it.

What could I do? I had to let him slide.
_______
Fast forward...
_______
About six months later...
When my new store was being laid out--I took charge of carpenters and finishers and changed up the officially approved plans for the layout.
I was General Patton preparing for the Battle of the Bulge.

Long story short--my custom framing department quickly proved itself to be the #1 department for efficiency, sales, and customer satisfaction!

Richard was sent over to check out why ONLY my store wasn't in trouble. Immediately he saw I had changed everything--the layout and all his procedures!
He was purple with rage.

"Why did you take it upon yourself to make all these changes?:
I shrugged and told him the truth.
"I figured you had come up with the procedures based on your best judgment and I immediately realized what an awful idea it would be not to change it. Simple. My system works and yours doesn't."
"You're fired."

"Hey--where're my $50 bucks?"

18

Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY

by TerryWalstrom in

_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.

the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.

jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.

TerryWalstrom

I need to point out something, too. NOBODY in my Kingdom Hall ever sent me a postcard or letter with a word of encouragement!
Nobody in my congregation ever requested to be added to my visitation list.
Now that I look back on it--I cringe at what is demonstrated by such inaction and unconcern.
Oh, and one more thing--when I received parole and returned to my congregation for the first time, it was like nothing of any consequence had happened to me at all as far as the level of greeting I received. For one thing, nobody asked me how it was in there or how the brothers still inside were doing.
I was deeply hurt by this. I still am.
The closest anyone came to demonstrating any interest was a JW I worked with in a mobile home building factory--he asked me, "Well, how was college?" In other words, he saw it as a golden opportunity for me to study the Society's publications for a couple of years.
That one actually pissed me off.
"I was in prison and you came to visit me ... I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me." Matthew 25:36, 40

18

Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY

by TerryWalstrom in

_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.

the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.

jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.

TerryWalstrom

Yes. There is a double standard to JW advice and duplicity is their calling card.
We are required to swallow our betrayal and show submission when these revelations emerge.
It is the taste of betrayal which never really goes away and the idea that they'll never admit anything is wrong with it makes it doubly difficult to bear.

17

Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

everything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.

we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.

examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.

TerryWalstrom

http://politics.blog.ajc.com/2017/08/15/abrams-calls-for-removal-of-confederate-faces-off-stone-mountain/
https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21645749-jihadists-are-attacking-more-regions-people-destroying-historys

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams called for the removal of the giant carving that depicts three Confederate war leaders on the face of state-owned Stone Mountain, saying it “remains a blight on our state and should be removed.”

“We must never celebrate those who defended slavery and tried to destroy the union,” Abrams said in a series of tweets posted early Tuesday, a response to the deadly violence sparked by white supremacist groups in Charlottesville, Va.

Removing the faces of Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson would take a monster of a sandblaster and require a change in state law. The Georgia code has a clear mandate for the memorial, saying it should be “preserved and protected for all time as a tribute to the bravery and heroism of the citizens of this state who suffered and died in their cause.”

17

Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

everything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.

we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.

examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.

TerryWalstrom

What happens today is real. What happened before today was real. Choices are made and alternatives were chosen. Each of us weighs choices and decisions based on alternatives. So what? So, erasing the history of alternatives destroys the LESSONS to be learned by bad choices made by others.

What we don't know doesn't hurt us.

We see an ad on TV for abandoned pets, starving children, and hungry homeless folk as we open our electric bill. Whose NEED shall we serve?

We don't change the world by our FEELINGS--only our ACTIONS.
We slumber in a bed of nightmares.

So, back to sleep?

This sad old world is a vast pond on which we float like a random leaf.
One tiny pebble tossed at the far shore makes its wave into our space and as we bob up and down--oh woe!
Oh, Woe!
What shall we do? What shall we "don't"?
Here are two roads:
ACT or go back to bed.
The rest is only the shriek of nightmares.

17

Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

everything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.

we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.

examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.

TerryWalstrom

The statue had a clear dedication: The pillar is engraved, "In memory of the boys who wore gray."

Not to slavery. Not to war itself. To the boys in uniform.

17

Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

everything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.

we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.

examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.

TerryWalstrom

redvip2000
if you live in Italy, and you want to have a statue of Mussolini in your living room, well then....great go ahead. Everybody should respect that.

But what if you want to put it in the local square? Should the rest of your village be fine with it because you think he was a great man? Moreover, should everybody pay taxes to maintain it? I doubt anyone reasonable would agree.
_________

In Texas, we have a "shrine" called the Alamo.
Do Mexicans think of it the same way non-Hispanic Texans do?
Whose ox was gored by whom?

The Confederate statues being destroyed constitute vandalism under the guise of something else political. Either we are lawful people are we are that "other" kind: anarchist.

I don't think many citizens of Iraq complained when Saddam's statue was toppled spontaneously.
Saddam and Mussolini were two of a kind.
Confederate Generals were surely not in the same category, were they?
_____

Protesters pulled the rope and erupted in cheers as the statue toppled onto the ground. Several people ran up to the mangled statue, kicking it and spitting on it.

The statue, dedicated in 1924, depicts a soldier holding a gun on top of a concrete pillar. The pillar is engraved, "In memory of the boys who wore gray."

17

Everything is Up for Grabs! So, who gets to decide?

by TerryWalstrom in

jw
friends

everything really is up for grabs.. our sense of "absolutes" is always under fire.

we are taught to invest all of our belief in the very idea of something being true and absolute and constant.but--is that illusory?.

examine how this works: jesus was tortured and murdered by hanging him on a cross.

TerryWalstrom

I'm pretty old. 70. I should be more excited by bigots than I am.
I see them every place I look, frankly. Maybe I'm just desensitized.
Let me remind myself of what a BIGOT is.
Bigot= a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.

Uh-oh!
That is a Double-Whammy!
If we don't tolerate Confederate flags by people holding a different opinion that makes us bigots.

When I was a JW I surely was a bigot.
As an EX-JW I don't tolerate JW's. I'm still a bigot.

They're everywhere!

I guess I'm being a little bit silly about this.
What I'm trying to emphasize is HOW LITTLE IT MEANS in the real world as to whether we agree or disagree with what somebody THINKS.
What people actually DO is far more serious.

18

Calling Out Jehovah's Witness Leaders for a violation of NEUTRALITY

by TerryWalstrom in

_______________by the time 1967 arrived, my religious leaders in the kingdom hall had taken me aside and given me the straight dope.the vietnam war and the draft created existential problems for young jehovah's witness males.

the governing body was unusually silent (in public) about issues of this nature except to pontificate in print in the most general terms.

jw's didn't fight in wars because we were neutral.

TerryWalstrom

(The only JWs to really "escape" Rutherford's radicalism are Ex-JWs.)

I dunno...maybe...maybe not...

Suddenly becoming a political true-believer can swallow up the Ex-JW with the old hunger for group think, sloganeering and cries for purity and solidarity.

Further, there are those who go back into the breach because thinking and deciding are too great a burden for an individual to succeed without absolute certainty connected to authority.

There are Ex-JWs who forget their only world view is still the WATCHTOWER created worldview. The become freelance Dubs and self-made mavens tilting at windmills, engaging in theological debates and flexing their indoctrination under a false flag of apotheosis.

ESCAPE from a cult requires a mind wash which is extremely difficult to achieve. It is basically do-it-yourself brain surgery.

So many under-educated ex-Dubs remain knuckle-draggers, anti-science, and conspiracy oriented vigilante thinkers (who don't know how to think.)

My own journey has taken me through the 7 circles of hell myself:)