A relative works for the Church. He told me that you can be fired for addressing a GA unless the GA speaks to you first. Aren't they special!

newnameneeded Wrote:
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> A relative works for the Church. He told me that
> you can be fired for addressing a GA unless the GA
> speaks to you first.

My [nevermo] opinion...This is creepy!!!

(And culturally un-American, too.)

That's disgusting. You can even say hello to a important 4 star general, even if you're a 1 striper
A 4 star general is way more important than a GA

In "The Handmaid's Tale" they would be called "Commander." I'm surprised their wives aren't called Ofdallin, Ofrussel, Ofhenry...

Can any former or current employees verify this?? Rather draconian and....well I wouldn't put it past them..

Gatorman
Hoping for extra innings

Sounds like a dynamic and fulfilling workplace.

It's for the protection of the employees. You don't want to get any GA on you. You have to scrub like hell to get that stuff off. Really, check the OSHA handbook under toxic waste.

One more reason employees of LDS Corp should unionize.

Just like Jesus! Jesus never lowered himself to listen to any of his followers and pay attention to their personal problems. No, he made it perfectly clear that, as the Top Guy, he didn't have time for that sort of nonsense.

I saw my grandfather's church-office chief of staff address ETB first without having been spoken to first by ETB.

And he wasn't fired for it.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2017 09:07AM by steve benson.

steve benson Wrote:
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> I saw my grandfather's church-office chief of
> staff address ETB first without having been spoken
> to first by ETB.
>
> And he wasn't fired for it.

A) the grand poohbah's own chief of staff is not a cannon fodder employee
B) many moons have passed since then. Plenty of time for rules to change

There was no reference to "cannon fodder employees."

Moreover, when I was with my grandfather as he traversed the underground tunnel to the Church Administration Building, he would pass Church employees who would greet him without him addressing them first. He didn't ask for their names so that he could have them fired for such egregious crossing-of-the-lines.

Good grief.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2017 09:43AM by steve benson.

I know someone who works church security. Once during a conf session in Prop 8 times, he had been in the video monitoring room for over 24 hours. Still there, and loosened his tie. N Anderson dropped by and berated him because he had beard stubble and a loose tie. Guarding bafoons and ego maniacs.

'How dare you shoot the king's deer...'

I can see the after action report now.

"Where were you while the arsonists burned down the conference center and all its sacred mahogany--not to mention that pulpit from the tree in President Hinkley's yard?"

"I was shaving. Elder Anderson told me to shave, and I desired to be exactly obedient to the brethren in all things."

I thought this was common knowledge.

Yes, I can confirm this is true, I also have a friend that's a close employee.

Not only that, but you cannot look a GA directly in the eyes, you are to keep your head down.

But there's more. You can't eat from the same table or share food, or use the same restrooms or other facilities.

It's a true master/slave relationship, and it doesn't matter what color you are... but almost 99.9% of all employees are white/male.

They are told it's a sign of ultimate devotion and respect to behave this way around church leadership.

Again, I thought everyone already knew this.

So not only can you not greet them in passing unless they speak to you first.

You cannot look at them directly, make eye contact, pull a face, or go googly eyed.

Wow. They are so full of themselves. What morons. And people put up with that for what? Job security?

Sick.

When I would go to the Church Office Building, the Church Administration Building or the Beehive House restaurant, I never saw Church employees averting their gaze from a direct line of sight with the GAs.

Moreover, to assert that the GAs demand silence from Church employees until the GAs speak to them first is not "common knowledge" because it isn't common practice. In fact, it's a bizarre and stupid fairytale, and one's credibility is not enhanced by spreading such ridiculous claims.



Edited 6 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2017 01:56PM by steve benson.

I ran into Holland in Provo once, and I can confirm that nobody could make eye contact with him or speak to him...because he wouldn't look up. He was surrounded by adoring fans, but he was in a pissy mood waiting for his wife and grandkids that were in line at Ben and Jerry's. They had split up and he already had his Jamba Juice. He really was acting like a grump...and he must have dusted his feet off in front of that store, because Ben and Jerry's closed. Jamba Juice is still there, so I know Jamba Juice is true. Amen.

Nor does it indicate that they were actual Church employees.

It is far more likely that these faithful folks were simply bedazzled Mormon sheep from the pews who did not dare speak to GAs without being first spoken to by the GAs, or to look into the eyes of the Lord's anointed--all for fear of being struck dead on the spot.

This is simply an example of self-imposed worship rules for treating GAs, practiced en masse by brainwashed believers attending Mormon religious services where they exhibit their saintly subservience to a fault.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2017 11:22PM by steve benson.

I believe this to be an exaggeration. The GA's love to be adored, but this is over the top.

I worked in a large area office of the church in Europe for almost two decades, until a few years ago, and never experienced this, with none of the several GAs I met during the years.

Getting to work in the morning sometimes I would meet a member of the Area Presidency on the parking lot, I would just say good morning and he would answer back.

Once there was a member of the Area Presidency whose birthday is on the same day as mine and I would send him b-day wishes by E-Mail and he would answer back.

For a couple years the head of the department where I worked was an area authority and was a very nice, approachable person. He was called to the quorum of the seventy a few years later. Once, as a GA, he came back to visit the area office, but I was on vacation. When I came back I found a note on my
desk from him!

They were usually very friendly, with very few exceptions (usually among the non-American GAs, in my experience).

Of course things might be different at the COB, but I would say probably it depends mostly on the GA, and it is not a general rule.

But there were never any signs warning Church employees to avert their eyes from the GAs' special parking signs.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2017 10:52AM by steve benson.

In the parking lot of our office there were (and there are, it is not so long ago) only three reserved parking spaces and the sign reads "Area Presidency". That's it.

Eons ago when I worked at the COB, everyone seemed friendly enough but like a previous poster said, things can change with time.. The only mean one was my boss's boss; he had all of the warmth and personality of a cobra.

Is it Nelson who thinks that everyone should stand when he enters the room?

Given the number of GA idolizers and suck-ups, I can imagine it could be hard for the brethren to just walk down a hall without adoring employees seeking attention.

I would not only be fired, but probably end up in jail as, in addition to leaving pro union literature everywhere around the workplace, I would not be able to help myself as far as graffiti in the restrooms (and hell yes I would be sneaking into the senior executive management's righteous restrooms with my sharpie)

fake news

It could be the culture of individual departments brought about by over eager managers, and not actual policy.

What about asking GAs something in person at the end of a stake conference? Craig Christiansen gave a very brief response to mine and others one time.

Oh i dont know..bro oaks seems quite full of himself as does the dodo...arrogance can grow overtime...might be about like writing a ga a letter...hell likely never see it let alone answer your silly little request for guidance...theres land to buy and stock options to consider...plus it keeps the plebes thinking your real special if you maintain that social distance

I do know that years ago when the first Nashville stake was formed they held the meeting in the high school gym. They used the sound sytem of a local band who all had long hair. The visiting GA had a fit and ordered all those long hairs off the stage. The doors couldn't be opened until they left.

Funny thing was the band members were LDS. Not a one is anymore.

emmahailyes Wrote:
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> I do know that years ago when the first Nashville
> stake was formed they held the meeting in the high
> school gym. They used the sound sytem of a local
> band who all had long hair. The visiting GA had a
> fit and ordered all those long hairs off the
> stage. The doors couldn't be opened until they
> left.
>
> Funny thing was the band members were LDS. Not a
> one is anymore.

Who was the GA?

one of the Big Three was supposed to visit our Stake for a conference. You had to get tickets to attend, of course, and there was definitely a pecking-order system about who could get tickets. I didn't get one, but it was known that only the Most Important Members got tickets.

I thought the attitude was BIZARRE. members were supposed to scrub every inch of the premises - chapel, rooms, bathrooms, EVERYTHING - until it gleamed and smelled like a Lysol sales convention run amuck. You'd have thought it was The Second Coming.

Everybody talked about The Visit in hushed, awed voices. I remember asking, in genuine confusion, "I get that this gentleman is important, but he puts his pants on, one leg at a time just like everybody else. It's not like he was the president or a King or Queen. . ." I was told, "You're new, dear. You can't be expected to understand."

(Thirty years later, and 12 of them "out," and I still don't understand.)

Slaves were not allowed to speak to their masters unless spoken to.

regular members of the Church recounting their personal experiences with self-consumed GAs, and not from current or former Church employees validating the highly questionable assertion that they were required, as Church employees, to avert their gaze in the presence of GAs or to not speak to GAs until spoken to them by the GAs first.

Eric K is right--such claims smell exaggerated, to say the least.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 06/04/2017 09:24PM by steve benson.

For years and years GA's (apostles, top leaders, etc.) would travel to the local areas for special Conferences. It was customary to get in line to speak to the GA after Conference.
It was also customary for the GA to stay in the home of the local Stake President.
I worked for the LDS Church for a short time. The leaders were always approachable, even attending local Firesides, and coming to local Institutes for small gatherings.

No such instruction was ever given as an employee that the GA must speak to you first.

I can imagine that some fanatical LDS nut case could come up with that kind of idea and try to preach it as the gospel truth. But, no. It was not policy at anytime when I was an active member .. 60's,70's, 80's, late 90's. (Final resignation 2002.)

Is it possible that today's LDS Church headquarters has such a rule? I highly doubt it.

It could be an exaggeration of employees being told not to bother the GAs with idle talk or to star at them.I can see that some star stuck employees might do that.

Visiting general authorities, at least as of 2007 when Bednar visited my old stake, do stay at the home of the stake president. I imagine if there is a higher ranking church member around they may stay there or if they have a personal preference to stay at a hotel, but I think as a matter of custom, but not as a matter of policy, General authorities and apostles still do stay inside the stake presidents home when they visit stakes. however, these kind of visits seem to be less and less common.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/05/2017 11:20AM by midwestanon.

I'm surprised that doesn't make more stake presidents leave the church.

Think of the situation in the morning...

Visiting GA rolls out of bed late, hair all mussed up, needing a shave, walking around in nothing but garmies. Saunters into the kitchen, scratching his butt through his garments, and passing lots of old-fart gas.

Looks in the fridge, then asks the SP, "Where's the Postum?"

SP resigns the next day...

:)

Granted, I was no Church employee but Jack (a personal friend of the Benson family) was very approachable with a great sense of humor.

In fact, he damn well laughed his head off reading through the collections of Calvin Grondahl's Mormon-related cartoons (which eventually led to Cal leaving the Deseret News and going to work as the editorial cartoonist for the Ogden Standard Examiner in search of artistic freedom).

Here's a link to Cal's hysterically funny and amazingly perceptive dastardly doodles on Mormondumb:

https://www.amazon.com/Calvin-Grondahl/e/B001K8OHF0

https://books.google.com/books?id=SJRfOwAACAAJ&dq=cal+grondahl+cartoon+books&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik_Zal3KrUAhUCaT4KHbTiDV8Q6AEIJDAA


(P.S.--Cal served a mission to New Zealand but today isn't exactly, shall we say, the most devout Mormon cartoonist on the block).



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2017 11:18PM by steve benson.

I have a friend who works in the movie industry, and they do have a "speak only when spoken to" rule with star talent when on set. It does not extend to no eye contact as far as I know.

The rationale is that the stars are trying to mentally run through their lines or whatever, and if every cast or crew member who wanted to say "I talked to Emma Stone today!" got to chime in as Emma was on set, she'd never have a moment to herself.

The stars are usually more or less normal people who *will* speak first and be sociable when appropriate. However, violation of that rule can get you seriously ass-chewed, and then fired if it happens again. Not something to mess with.

I would not be terribly surprised if something like that applied to COB/CAB lower staff members, but not to general visitors to the buildings. Mormons are famously poor with boundaries, and maybe that also extends to their treatment of GAs.

I worked in the COB for a while. I was told in orientation that we aren't to speak to a GA unless he speaks to us first. This includes when they get in the elevator. We were also told that eye contact should be avoided. But it's probably because the "eyes are the window to the soul" and they are dead inside.

GAs and Church employees, or in the Church Administration Building next door.

There are rules--and then there are rules.

Moreover, I had a boyhood friend in SLC--Doyle "Duff" Olsen--who grew up to become a member of LDS Church Security. I never saw Duff ordering Church employees not to speak to the GAs unless spoken to first by the GAs; nor did I see him ordering Church employees to avert their gaze from GAs--and I watched him doing his selected-sentinel service guarding GAs in the Tabernacle at General Conference where there were a lot of Church employees around.

Good lord. This tale has taken on "I-spotted-the-Three Nephites" proportions.



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 06/06/2017 11:20PM by steve benson.

Or is this typical of partners or corporate board members in a typical corporation executive suite

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2017 07:47PM by nitrameequc.

I seem to ride the train with a lot of people who work at the church office building. They like to drop GA names in telephone conversations. "I talked to Elder ____ and he wants ______." It could be that employees are so eager to catch a GA's attention, that employees had to be instructed to leave them alone, but to tell them not to make eye contact, or threaten them with being fired, that's a little crazy.

I guess I did not get the memo. I had many run-ins with GAs back in the 90s prior to moving from hell (Utah). The most memorable was stopping into the 7-11 near the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon.... ya all know that spot. I was grabbing my coffee and probably some more banned goods in the AM on my way to work. The tall older suited man in front of me turned around after paying for his chocolate bar and gas... it was none other than 'Elder' Tommy Monson himself. He is lot bigger in person than I knew. Anyway, he was friendly, and very slowly looked at the coffee in my hand and rolled his eyes up to meet mine while he said a very slow... "why hello there" as if he was caught by surprise to find me standing behind him in line. Of course he did not know me, but I answered, 'hey there' or something really casual like that, like I'd say to anyone without deference to their stature or office in life.

Of course I knew who he was. I paid no attention to that and addressed him like any man who faced me with a greeting of any kind. He did not seem bothered, and in fact, I don't recall any of the other folks in the store at the moment acting like they knew him whatsoever. Or they feared him, who knows. I just recall him seeming almost turtle or slothlike slow. Still cracks me up.