To tell you that Jehovahs Witnesses have a list of people not to call on again?

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The Jehovahs Witnesses come to my house every 6 weeks or so. It's annoying for various reasons but lets just say I work nights and am sometimes asleep in the day. The last time they came I told them not to come back and was told I'd be put on a list, like I've been naughty or something.

They've been deviating from their usual pattern of Saturday morning recently and they've come back today, they bypassed my house!! There really is a List! So if you don't want to be disturbed then ask to go on the list 😁

Ring doorbell here. So I've not answered the door to anyone with a clipboard, name badge or handful of leaflets in years.

Our area is infested with JWs - quite the most surprising people, in some cases. They were very good at not knocking at our door as soon as we asked to be put on the list of the doomed. At some point they took us off, I think on the offchance that the house might have changed hands. I got us put back on and promised to let them know when we moved.

MrG's specialist group is Mormons, who he used to invite in for a debate. This stopped when one of them had to call "head office" for advice on an awkward question and they were told to get out of there fast and never return. He used to chat to them in the street in Italy (they spoke no Italian, so we did wonder how it was going for them there) and then one day we noticed they had started to cross the road to avoid us. Goodness, how sad!

I let them in on a foul, wet, cold winter night in 2019. We had a little chat and a cup of tea and off they went. They weren’t ‘preachy’ at all. It was a young married couple.

Fast forward a few weeks and it was Covid lockdown. I lived alone, which they knew. Without fail every week during lockdown they popped a note through my door saying variations of “hope you’re ok, can we help, d’you need any shopping, here’s our number call if you need anything” along with an encouraging bible verse (again, nothing preachy or over the top) but just a few words.

I thought it was really thoughtful.

I think it's worth pointing out that 'infested' is a not a great word when talking about a religious group. I don't think we'd say it about other religions.

Of course people would

What would they say and about what religions?

My late Dad had a crucifix next to the front door and when they knocked he either pointed at the crucifix and said he was a Catholic (which he was) or he just started talking to them in Latin. That made them scarper pretty quickly.

He also used the talking in Latin thing for coldcallers on the phone too. They'd hang up on him pretty quickly.

Why would you assume it was just JWs?

Is there a special significance about the word for JWs?

Although I think they are extremely misguided, sometimes dangerously so (the blood thing) I do temper my doorstep reactions with the knowledge that they are one of the few groups in Germany who refused point blank to sign up to Nazi ideology and suffered very greatly for it, they were persecuted and thousands died in concentration camps, children were removed from their parents, many other abuses.

Only because that poster said it about JWs.

I see you're avoiding saying what religions you would use that word about. Because you wouldn't use it.

I would use it about anything where there is a huge quantity of things I didn’t like.

Why don’t you just come out and say what it is that you are getting at?

You said 'of course people would' use the word 'infested' about people of other religions. But you won't say about what religions.

I won't say it either because it's awful to say it about any religion.

From what I’ve heard JW have to do the outreach work as part of ‘membership’. Just like all people, some of them are pushier than others. Over 50 years and three different addresses we’ve never had a problem with ANY callers like this. I couldn’t care less which particular lot they belong to either.

With the huge deterioration in public behaviour over the last 20 years or so, I actually find them a breath of fresh air for a bit of a chat. They’re just ordinary people after all.

The problems we have locally are all down to entitled people, young and old, who seem to think they own the world. Trick or treaters, drunken yobs, pushy new neighbours etc, etc. Heavens, I wish there was a ‘list’ for them.

Our latest JW lady turns up infrequently and we chat at the front gate. Sometimes she has one of her kids with her. It’s never been a problem to either of us to be polite to people. Some of the palpable anger being expressed here is ridiculous.

They have to convert as many people as possible to earn their way into the afterlife.

Only 144,000 are allowed in (from a reference in the book of Revelation), so they're all competing.

Seems like a bizarre system, but there you go.

Take your pick - substitute JW for another religion and someone will use it. If you are implying something then say so.

And I didn’t use it in the first place and haven’t used it in that context. However I am aware that people do say things like that. You were the one saying people wouldn’t say it to any other religion. Why wouldn’t they?

The 144,00 Anointed will go directly to Heaven, but there will be a paradise on Earth for the rest of us. No one has 'to compete.'
They don't knock on your door to annoy you

Love for God and Neighbors

• Helping Others: Witnesses believe that sharing Bible truths gives people real hope for the future. They feel that warning others about God's coming kingdom is an act of deep kindness.

Hmm.

Not everyone gets to go to this restored paradise. Some of us will be annihlated. I believe its only believers (i could be wrong).

They might 'think' they're being kind by knocking, but I'm pretty sure most people find it annoying, especially when its repeated (like it was to us, for years, despite repeated pleas to leave us alone). Fair enough if its one and done. It sounds like they may have improved their policies over the years!

I doubt knocking at 8.35am on a school day while i was in the throes of trying to get an unwilling child into the car was 'doing it to be kind' - they could have seen i had my hands full and offered to come back later. They did not, and actually engaged my small child in conversation!

It raises an interesting question - to what extent is it OK to override another adult's preferences, if you believe you're acting in their best interest?

The 'intention' might not be to be annoying, but they could reasonably deduce that they are in fact engaging in a behaviour that most people will find annoying.

Honestly, they came to my door a few times and I'm now glad they persisted. I have been doing a Bible course with a witness for a few weeks. I realised my view of God, Jehova, and Jesus was badly skewed. What I have been learning has bought me peace. It's all good news so far! No one has pressured me, I don't have to give over my time or money. I've had nothing but a warm welcome. (I can't attened the Kingdom Hall in person but they have meetings available on Zoom.).

We used to get them call round regularly - despite being told we weren't interested - the last time they came hubby shouted 'get the dogs'. They haven't called here since! That was a few years ago.

It's years since any came to my door.

I discovered that asking them if they'd like me to pray for them led to a swift departure.

Still haven't worked out why. Maybe they thought I'd be a bad influence on them

Well, funny you should say that. My declined posts upthread were recounting a true story about an elderly relative who in the good old days, did answer the door to some JWs. In doing so, she tripped and fell, badly breaking her arm. They didn't ask how she was but continued talking. She died a few weeks later.
Another well-off elderly relative has been preyed on received unwanted correspondence from the local KH, post-bereavement. He has never spoken to them or met them in his life.

They also regularly congregate outside the local 6th form college. I often wonder why.

If they were being respectful they wouldn’t knock on people’s doors in the first place.

I’d say it about every single religion there is. I despise all religions

I agree with the posters who find it oddly lovely. Im always kind to them especially if theyre with a young person who looks awkward. I dont see why people need to be hostile.