The monotony of twi was killing me....
Sitting in class after class, meeting after meeting.....no wonder Chair Stringing 101 is a prerequisite in corps training.
How long does this sufferance need to be tolerated? Who's running this butt-brigade anyways?
Two Categories: [A] HQ and [B] Field:
Category A: HQ
Years ago, when I worked on staff.....it struck me that three groups emerged in this monotony
of whether one is obligated or not to have his butt firmly planted in a seat EVERY MEETING:
1) Top-tier.....mog-dom seniority, emeritus, inner-circle, connected, favored, loyal
2) Performers...green room, teacher, emcees, singers, musicians, bodyguards, receptionists, burger-flippers
3) Audience.....regular staffers at monthly staff mtgs, visitors (and staff) at sunday teachings
Heck, why did those burger-flippers have such a PASSION FOR THEIR JOB each sunday?
Because....it gave them a declared purpose and DUTY to not have their butt in a seat.
Add: a/v, security, bookstore personnel, refreshments, receptionists, green room assistants, etc.
Some of the "connected" staff could sit in their trailers and watch on closed-circuit monitors....
these were certain staffers that were given protected-status by top-tier from any confrontation.
Category B: Field
In the earlier years [1970-78]...twigs on the field were fairly loose. You could go, or not go,
every week and still be welcomed in. Or, you could hop from one twig to the next....on occasion.
If you were not faithful in weekly tithe/abs, it didn't cause major confrontation. Depending on
each state, area, and leadership......things started tightening up with each passing year.
It got to the point were.....1) Attending twig 3X a week was standard procedure, 2) If you missed twig
then you'd better have a good reason or expect confrontation, 3) Monitoring each person, attendance
for an upcoming Advanced Class Special was highly expected, of every adv class grad, 4) Having your
butt in the seat was as expected as what hq did.
Yep.....a total drag.
Sitting in class after class, meeting after meeting.....no wonder Chair Stringing 101 is a prerequisite in corps training.
How long does this sufferance need to be tolerated? Who's running this butt-brigade anyways?
Two Categories: [A] HQ and [B] Field:
Category A: HQ
Years ago, when I worked on staff.....it struck me that three groups emerged in this monotony
of whether one is obligated or not to have his butt firmly planted in a seat EVERY MEETING:
1) Top-tier.....mog-dom seniority, emeritus, inner-circle, connected, favored, loyal
2) Performers...green room, teacher, emcees, singers, musicians, bodyguards, receptionists, burger-flippers
3) Audience.....regular staffers at monthly staff mtgs, visitors (and staff) at sunday teachings
Heck, why did those burger-flippers have such a PASSION FOR THEIR JOB each sunday?
Because....it gave them a declared purpose and DUTY to not have their butt in a seat.
Add: a/v, security, bookstore personnel, refreshments, receptionists, green room assistants, etc.
Some of the "connected" staff could sit in their trailers and watch on closed-circuit monitors....
these were certain staffers that were given protected-status by top-tier from any confrontation.
Category B: Field
In the earlier years [1970-78]...twigs on the field were fairly loose. You could go, or not go,
every week and still be welcomed in. Or, you could hop from one twig to the next....on occasion.
If you were not faithful in weekly tithe/abs, it didn't cause major confrontation. Depending on
each state, area, and leadership......things started tightening up with each passing year.
It got to the point were.....1) Attending twig 3X a week was standard procedure, 2) If you missed twig
then you'd better have a good reason or expect confrontation, 3) Monitoring each person, attendance
for an upcoming Advanced Class Special was highly expected, of every adv class grad, 4) Having your
butt in the seat was as expected as what hq did.
Yep.....a total drag.
outandabout, on 18 March 2016 - 01:42 PM, said:
This thread has triggered some memories associated with what was wrong with TWI. People weren't going to stay if they were being made miserable - which I was.
I was in I-Hop as a waitress in the city I was currently assigned. I watched a customer leave the restaurant and as I watched him go, I felt a wave on envy. Here was a person going on about the next thing he was going to do and he didn't have a meeting he had to go to, he didn't have to feel like he had to witness wherever he went....and here I was with all this TWI baggage but I was COMMITTED for life! Because I was CORPS!! I was stuck and if I didn't like it, that was was my fault because I wasn't renewing my mind. That feeling of envy was a red flag that something wasn't right, but instead of heeding it, I continued on in my misery.
In the same I-Hop, we had signed up another waitress and she took the class. She wouldn't go to Twig, though. She told me it was because we all seemed so wrapped up in meetings and classes and that's all we did and she didn't want to be like that. I couldn't really argue with her since I saw her point. Yet I continued on in my bondage to TWI.
Years later, I was married and living elsewhere and my husband and I were running a small twig. At this point I had managed to get a little less involved and I had learned to avoid despotic leaders. Anyway, I was at work, and realized it was a non-Twig evening and I felt a total sense of RELIEF. Another red flag. How were we supposed to be under all this pressure to get people into something that was a drag?
Three years after that, in 1988 I was finally able to leave. I could have sooner, but I wouldn't listen to myself because I didn't trust my own self because it had been buried under my Waybrain.
I was in I-Hop as a waitress in the city I was currently assigned. I watched a customer leave the restaurant and as I watched him go, I felt a wave on envy. Here was a person going on about the next thing he was going to do and he didn't have a meeting he had to go to, he didn't have to feel like he had to witness wherever he went....and here I was with all this TWI baggage but I was COMMITTED for life! Because I was CORPS!! I was stuck and if I didn't like it, that was was my fault because I wasn't renewing my mind. That feeling of envy was a red flag that something wasn't right, but instead of heeding it, I continued on in my misery.
In the same I-Hop, we had signed up another waitress and she took the class. She wouldn't go to Twig, though. She told me it was because we all seemed so wrapped up in meetings and classes and that's all we did and she didn't want to be like that. I couldn't really argue with her since I saw her point. Yet I continued on in my bondage to TWI.
Years later, I was married and living elsewhere and my husband and I were running a small twig. At this point I had managed to get a little less involved and I had learned to avoid despotic leaders. Anyway, I was at work, and realized it was a non-Twig evening and I felt a total sense of RELIEF. Another red flag. How were we supposed to be under all this pressure to get people into something that was a drag?
Three years after that, in 1988 I was finally able to leave. I could have sooner, but I wouldn't listen to myself because I didn't trust my own self because it had been buried under my Waybrain.