Too Weird
Posted By Russ Emerson on August 4, 2004 at 12:10 pm
Are Jehovah’s Witnesses getting too lazy to walk door-to-door?
I just got a telemarketing call from them.
OK, granted, it’s supposed to be hot and humid here today, but not oppresively so. Just enough that most folks wouldn’t really want to walk around outdoors too much, I imagine (I certainly wouldn’t want to).
But come on guys, telemarketing?
You’d think they would try harder. Well, at least it saved me the trouble of having to politely but firmly shut the door in their faces.
(old joke)
Italians don’t like Jehovah’s witnesses.
……but then, Italians don’t like any witnesses. [/godfaddah, off]
Jim
Sloop New Dawn
Galveston, TX
I thought the JW’s usually did their door-to-door work on weekends. If you got a phone call, maybe that means they’re redoubling their efforts.
Jim,
Do you ever take that sloop of yours to sea?
The included info is courtesy of my experiences as a Witness door-to-door “publisher” until about 4 years ago. A very minute fraction (much less than 1%, I’d guess)of the roughly 1.2 billion hour per year Witness “field ministry” is done via telephone, typically by those who are too infirm (housebound, etc.) to take part in the more usual house to house work. This work tends to be concentrated on residents who have been difficult to reach thru other means, including those living in certain gated communities or those who have been “not at home” for 3 consecutive attempts to reach them at their door. Personal calls would typically be made by a local Witness from their home phone using reverse directory information from the local library. No large and remote call centers, centralized call lists, autodialers, generic scripting, or commercial object are involved. This clearly differentiates such callers from telemarketers. However, be aware that there have been reports of unscrupulous non-Witnesses impersonating such callers for fraudulent purposes. This happens door-to-door as well but extremely infrequently.
Sincerely, Ben
Thanks for the info, Ben. Makes sense.
As it happens, I admire the Witnesses’ dedication and willingness to put themselves “out there” – it puts most of the rest of us to shame.
I disagree with their conclusions, but I admire their forthrightness in making their case.