Did anyone here ever serve as a temple worker? I'm curious. What was it like? What did you do? What was your schedule? What "qualified" you for that calling? Was it like a regular church calling, or did you just ask to do it? Did your job include laundry and cleaning? Is there a hierarchy of jobs; if so, which were the highest-ranking assignments within the temple?

Were you given work-breaks and a lunch break? Were you instructed to not talk, not smile, not interact with the people going through? Was "shushing" people part of your job description? Were you instructed to keep people moving through as quickly as possible? Were you told to not let people sit on the couches and chairs in the celestial room?

If you had an instruction book, I would love to see that!

You do sound like an authority on the subject. Just saying. ;-)

When I visited a temple early last year for some family history gathering, I was asked to wait in the waiting area reserved for temple goers, not the general public. It was very quiet. People were speaking in near whispers, and there were no loud voices to be heard anywhere. Not that you could hear a pin drop. It was a peculiar silence as people entered through revolving doors with their suitcases and day clothes. Other people would exit through the same doors on their way out. It was a busy place.

The temple president came to me after a long wait to explain that no church history materials could be released, not even for me to read there. (I was told something different by a woman on the phone before going there.) He looked at me paranoid like he didn't trust my motives for wanting some family history on my ancestors without my having a temple recommend or referring to myself as LDS.

The people looked very weird in their all white clothing milling around the rooms and whispering. That looked so much like a cult to me. I found it very oppressive. The curtains were heavy; no daylight came in except through the entrance doors. It was a stuffy atmosphere. I could breathe easier once outside and away from there.

Sorry can't help you what they do. But it makes sense they would do all of the above and then some. Anyone who would work in the temple would have to have a TR. The positions would be mostly voluntary, to my knowledge. Older couples, widows, and widowers volunteer to pass the time away. For them it can be a mission.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/07/2018 07:36PM by Amyjo.

Mind numbing

Here's a peek at one exmo's experience, which he copyrighted in 2000, so it would seem to be after the 1990 changes.

http://packham.n4m.org/temples3.htm

Temple WORKERS sounded to dreary.

They are now called temple PLAYERS.

I found many temple workers to be irritable and cranky. For a place that was supposed to be heaven on earth, it was full of unhappiness and misery. Most workers carried a frown.

.....probably just like the rest of MORmONISM ....BORING AS HELL !!!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsakhmRzow8

now back to discussion about Tommy's demise

Now they are going to be augmented by girls 12 to 18 and boys 16+.

is an old friend's daughter, so I've known her for a long time. She is 31 and not married. There seems to be a lot of unmarried single women around here, my daughter included. And they are all nice looking and are very independent and earn good salaries. Anyway, she was called to work in the temple. She works more than full time, so I can't imagine taking this one, too. She works one evening a week from 3 to 10 p.m. or so.

She told me the reason that they started calling younger people to work in the temple is because the older ones are so irritable. They told them NOT to nitpick at people if things like bows aren't tied perfectly, etc. She said that they have had a lot of complaints about the old temple workers. She seems to think working there is okay, but she isn't overly enthusiastic about it. Just a calling. She'd rather do that than be R.S. president, like she was in several singles wards.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/08/2018 01:27PM by cl2.

During my 'active' days, I drove to the L.A. temple to be a receptionist, four hours a day. I knew I couldn't stand being a traditional temple worker supervisor, watching all the stand-up, and sit down stuff, and helping get a patron's veil on correctly.

There was a man who checked all the temple cards for people coming in, and me (a female), just sitting on the other side of the counter ('for looks'), where people left the temple--but that was it. Sitting and saying good-by. (Can't give a female something important to do.) Then the 'greeting' man, brought over to me the paper tags which he pinned on the people coming in, so that I could match the cards with pins---he didn't like that job.

Temple rules said that females could wear skirts and a top, so long as they were white, and had long-sleeves and a high neck, and the skirt came below the knees. (A lot of disapproval stares at me over that one.)

The only outfit I could find to fill this demand was a very-slightly off-white skirt. This drove my supervisors mad, as my clothing fulfilled the required points, but my skirt was not quite white-enough for them.

Petty stuff.
Once, the men in charge of starting the session where busy talking with each other, instead of doing their job. I went over and reminded them that the sessions opening time was over-due (as their superiors had been fussing over this issue at the time)---and did they give me a dark, dirty, superior look---the nerve of a female telling a male what to do!

All workers had to attend a pre-job prayer meeting with a short religious message. The temple matron was in charge of this for the women. Then, it was decided by the temple's president, that men only should come in to deliver the woman's message. (I remember once, as even the temple presidents wife had no authority over anything, she --tearfully--said to me, "Then what is my purpose in being here?"

It's hard to forget such stuff. When they started assigning me to the job of folding white laundered socks together, it dawned on me that I had a lot more important things to do in my life than drive an hour away from home, and back (in heavy traffic), than sit and fold socks.

Also annoying as all-get-out: No Bibles were allowed in the temple anywhere, except ONE which was kept in the temple president's office. On the other hand, BofM's were placed in every spot a book could be laid in seating areas. (Regulars on this RfM site should know me well enough by now to know I complained about this to the temple president.)

This was the end of my temple service and attendance in general. Good riddance.

Thank you for your replies!

The president of the temple is called "President". His wife is called "Matron." That says it all.

Polythinks, I can't imagine you did that! It is more mind-numbing than I ever could have imagined. It would destroy me, to be locked up in that windowless place, in that deadening atmosphere, wasting valuable time doing grunt-work. You answered all my questions. Yes, there is a hierarchy in there. Even the insiders admit some of them are grouchy. No Bible! That blows me away! How can people believe that this is what God wants them to do?

Surely, God is capable of taking care of His own Dead, and His own Heaven, and keeping His own records, etc., without the help of Mormon minions.

This is supposed to take the place of Scouts and the Mormon youth programs?

Mormons say it's good for people to learn humility. By "humility," they mean "subjugation". Mindless obedience and slavery is something my children never had to cope with. It's un-American. It's evil!