possibly the most tramatic call i've ever taken

[wagegoth]

PS--My current roommate is a Mormon, and we've talked about his religion. The sect that believes in polygamy also believes that the family should be able to care fully for themselves, and all wives and the potential new wife must agree freely to the arrangment, before multiple wives can be taken.

I don't want this to head to fratching, but that may be the song they sing, but the reality is quite different. The sects, and they are multiple, regularly use welfare benefits as income, just as many other polygamous groups do. (A big story here in California is the recent welfare scam run by Yusuf Bey, the owner of the Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland. He had up to 100 women as wives at various and concurrent times, and they regularly collected welfare benefits, possibly with the help of relatives working in the welfare department.)

Also, the girls are pushed at puberty into marriages, as cited at Warren Jeffs' trial; there is no choice. If you want some more information, a good book, with stories from women who were in various polygamous sects, is God's Brothel, by Andrea Moore-Emmett.

Shengirl's recommendation of Under the Banner of Heaven is about one of these sects.

BTW, I work with a direct descendant of Joseph Smith. Since Smith had either 47 or 49 wives -- it's not clear -- there are a few of them. I've also had LDS friends, lived in a small town that was about 50% LDS, and my sons' best friends are LDS. I just want to make clear that I'm not stomping on a religion in general.

[ArenaBoy]

I don't drink anymore for various reasons, one of them being that my family has a history of alcoholism.

As for the Morman thing, I'm friends with a few but there was one I ran with who was a complete jerk. He was a huge SC and he used his religion as an excuse for anything, example eating PASTA!!!

[NightAngel]

Just a friendly Mod reminder to discuss the SC not the religion.

Thanks.

[smileyeagle1021]

He was a huge SC and he used his religion as an excuse for anything, example eating PASTA!!!

ok, now i'm intrigued, do tell, I know I'm a bit rusty on my scripture study, but i'm intrigued on what this SC said...

[wagegoth]

I'm really curious, too.

[zzapp the witch]

<--- Alcohol virgin.

<--- Dated a living decendant of Joseph Smith.

<---Learned to skip religious questions where customers are concerned a looooooooooong time ago.

With a mother that's Mormon and a father that's Muslim......you learn to just gloss over a lot of things.

There's a stereotypical assumption that only Mormons live in Utah, next time a customer expresses an interest in your religious practices based soley on your geographical location.....just remind them: "Not everyone in Utah is Mormon." And skip it.

[ArenaBoy]

ok, now i'm intrigued, do tell, I know I'm a bit rusty on my scripture study, but i'm intrigued on what this SC said...

wagegoth:
I'm really curious, too.

(Not meant to bash any religion but to bash an idiot that I am glad that I don't deal with anymore.)

He was just one of those types who gave his religion a bad name. Big hypocrite basically. If he didn't want to do something he'd bring up his religion (I don't know the stance on movies such as Pirates of the Caribbean for LDS.) but when we out to see it he simply brought it up citing it. Basically using his religion as an excuse for anything.

The pasta thing is amusing though looking back on it. We had finished a race and decided to meet up later for dinner. We all agreed on meeting up at a local Italian place. He piped up saying "Uh guys, I'm afraid I can't. My religion doesn't condone it."

Me being snarky, I said "Dude, you've eaten loads of pasta without complaint. You don't want to eat pasta just say so. We don't mind."

We did eat pasta by the way.

Last I heard he was in Brazil on a mission. I'm glad I don't deal with him anymore, he was a prick at times.

[SpyOne]

What incenses me here is not so much the attitude but the ignorance of the customer in question.
I mean, if hating the Mormons works for you, who am I to criticize. And I'm sure if he did a little research, he could find a dozen or so things the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints believes, promotes, or endorses that he can hate them for. Heck, I figure that would work for any religion.

If this board proves nothing else, it proves that if you take the time to really get to know people, you'll develop a strong dislike for most of them.

But to base his hatred on ignorance, that bothers me.

To not know, just as an example, that the LDS church places obeying the law (like laws against bigamy) as more important than scriptural endorsement of polygamy, yet claiming to know what the Mormons believe.



I will suggest, however, that a different honest answer can help avoid this sort of thing in the future. Since religion is an often contentious issue, it's probably a good idea to leave it out of the discussion. When a customer asks why you don't know where any bars are, tell him, "I'm not really familiar with the area around that hotel, sir. I don't live near there, so when I am looking to go out to shops or clubs, it would not be to ones in that area. If you give me a moment, I'll see if someone else here is more familiar with the bars in the area."

Or come right out and say that you aren't in the hotel, and aren't even near it.

[greensinestro]

I don't know how this call could be considered traumatic. I'd say this guy was on crack or something. Even if he wasn't, it still is uncalled for to attack one's religion over the phone. We have countless types of religions out there that we don't have to like, but at least we can respect it.

[Boxofficehellhole]

Wow... What an f-ing asshole! Kudos for stopping service... you should have charged an "Asshole" tax to his card anyway.

[Lady Heather]

Shockingly I've never had a problem with SC's and religion. My nickname is star and I was studying Wicca for awhile, so I have alot of Pentacle jewelry. Had some stupid kids ask if I was "into Satan". And one very nice, very old lady who said "Goddess Bless" as she left. That's it even though I live in the Bible Belt.

[Saydrah]

I wore my Crowley inverted pentagram with skulls at the tips to work and school for a while as a sort of protest after my college allowed little old ladies with religious pamphlets to hand them out to students between classes. Got a few comments, but not as many as I had sort of hoped.

[Sylvia727]

I wore my Crowley inverted pentagram with skulls at the tips to work and school for a while as a sort of protest after my college allowed little old ladies with religious pamphlets to hand them out to students between classes. Got a few comments, but not as many as I had sort of hoped.

Eesh. Were they being aggressive/pushy/holier-than-thou? It's bad one way and double bad the other. I would have seen your "Satanic" jewelry and raised you a psuedopunk outfit: black-and-neon bondage pants, combat boots, f-bomb tee-shirt, unnatural color hair dye, all those "evil" clothes...maybe even type up some religious pamphlets of my own to pass out.

I'm heartened that you rebelled responsibly, however.

[Tria]

Not knowing much about LDS I must say the multiple wives thing sounds cool though!

After a time together, women's cycles start to merge, do you REALLY want to be in a house with MULTIPLE PMSing women?

[earl colby pottinger]

I am a bad boy

<--- Alcohol virgin.
<--- Dated a living decendant of Joseph Smith.
<---Learned to skip religious questions where customers are concerned a looooooooooong time ago.

With a mother that's Mormon and a father that's Muslim......you learn to just gloss over a lot of things.

There's a stereotypical assumption that only Mormons live in Utah, next time a customer expresses an interest in your religious practices based soley on your geographical location.....just remind them: "Not everyone in Utah is Mormon." And skip it.

(Say slowly) MUST .... CONVERT ... TO .... MY .... RELIGION (Jehovah's Witness) ... WILL ... LIVEN ... UP ... HOME .... LIFE.

Ok, sometimes I have evil thoughts. PS, ever thought of dating a nice Jewish girl?