Before my husband and I left, my husband was getting asked to do "favors" by ward members continually. He is one of those overly talented people, and his talents range quite a bit, so when ward members found out about what he could do they were never shy to ask "Can you do me a favor?"

This would happen weekly and there was never an offer to pay or trade services and there was never a simple thank you, just an attitude of "you owe it to me."

I'm all for helping your neighbor but my husband was being completely taken advantage of. If these people only knew how much he charged/charges an hour for free lance...So its a good thing once these people found out he's a non believer/atheist the "favors" stopped immediately.

I could see this happening with accountants and CPA's, doctors, dentists, lawyers, teachers, etc.

Any other experiences like this one?

YES. I ran a daycare out of my home for a while and church folks assumed that meant could take on their kids -- FOR FREE.

Even when they agreed to the money, a good half of them never paid up when time came and I had to tell them not to bring their kids anymore til their account was settled. Well, that brought on all kinds of weepin' and wailin' and gnashin' of teeth. Didn't I understand that they had to pay tithing or fix the car or put granny in a nursing home? Pissed me off that they tried to lay a guilt trip on me when they were the ones rippin' me off.

We have used people from church for things like plumbing work and HVAC repair. I always make a point to tell them that we're not looking for a discount or anything, just trying to send some business their way since we know them.

The opposite happens as well, with professionals at church expecting you to use their services (for a fee) just because you go to church with them. An example, when we moved to a new town the ward members knew we were in the market for a house. A realtor was in the ward. One sunday I was out in the hall during sacrament meeting with my crying one year old. This guys walks up to me and starts telling me about houses he's got listed that we might be interested in. During sacrament meeting. I immediately crossed him off my list and we ended up going with a non-church realtor we met at an open house.

In my ward there is a preschool teacher who every ward kid has gone too. I decided to go elsewhere for preschool and was happy I did, not because I thought this woman was a bad teacher, it's just good to broaden the scope of who my kids associate with.

I always got strange looks when I told people where my kids were going. Its like they couldn't understand why I would go elsewhere.

The reason I ask is because one of the last things you do is vow to keep the Law of Consecration, in which you promise to give "everything with which the Lord as blessed you, and everything with which He may bless you" to the building up of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I believe this could be a likely reason why church members have evolved to always get money and time from you at no cost to the.