Service that is more "free labor" than service

[bearhoof]

I'm doing some research for a post that I'm writing and looking for stories where an EQ or RS service project was really free labor. For example, helping finish the neighbor's basement while they go golfing or deep cleaning an apartment for a healthy couple who are moving. Think humorous  

[Duncan]

6 minutes ago, bearhoof said:

I'm doing some research for a post that I'm writing and looking for stories where an EQ or RS service project was really free labor. For example, helping finish the neighbor's basement while they go golfing or deep cleaning an apartment for a healthy couple who are moving. Think humorous  

Yes, pre covid this lady from the other side of the country where I live decided on a hunch to move here, she claimed inspiration-where's to say if it was real or not. Moves into the nicest part of the city, call up the EQ and asks for help unloading the truck. This is during the day mind you. When they got there the brethren discovered she had hired a moving company, which would be 3k plus bucks to move here and she had help through them. So, what where they suppose to do? She wanted them to help the help she already paid for, they didn't get any money for it though. The next day, this lady on a whim goes to Florida with a member in our ward , here to Florida is a very long trip, clearly cash is no obstacle for her so why did she need the Church?

Wait there's more.

She fell at work the company Dr. told her her neck was out of kink so she was to see a physio or chiropractor. She refused and somehow, somehow found a Dr. in the US who was kicked out of the profession who did these neck surgery procedures, all illegal i'm sure, the person didn't have a license. She was to go to these appts. in the States 4 times a year and she had the gall to ask the Bishop to have the Church pay for her flights, hotels, food, transport plus the fee for the surgery and the Bishop to told me that as soon as she finished giving him her list of stuff she wanted the church to pay for, he said, nope!! She basically wanted a free ride to the US 4 times a year, no way. 

[LoudmouthMormon]

I've probably helped with 3-4 dozen service projects by now, and they're almost always good things full of fellowship and service and gratitude.  These are some of the exceptions: 

I once met an LDS guy who had been the Elder's Quorum President in Chicago.  He told me they had the motto "Anything you don't wanna do, the Elder's Quorum will do it FOR you!"  He said he had plenty stories, but didn't share any.

Many wards ago, there was a sister who was known for saying one of two things every Sunday at church.  The first was "My family has been in this ward longer than anyone else", and the second was "Where were you yesterday?  The EQP had a service project at my house, and we needed your tools!"

The elders and I once did a move for someone's son, who was getting kicked out of mom's house.   The son hadn't lifted a finger to pack a single thing, so mom provided us with trash bags.  He sat there on the couch next to the pizza boxes and sulked while we packed, giving glum one word answers to our questions about whether this or that should stay or go.   When it was time to move the couch, he gave a big dramatic sigh as if it was a huge burden to get himself off the couch so we could move it for him.  I was a bit worried about his mental state, and if we were picking on a disabled person or something.  I asked Mom about it, and she very frankly said no, there was nothing wrong with him, he's known this was coming for a long time, and had just chosen not to do anything about it.  After we drove him and his stuff to his new apartment complex, he said he forgot his key.  We asked him how he wanted us to proceed.  He said he didn't know (which had been something we had grown used to hearing from him during the move).   So we unloaded all of his stuff onto the grass and left him there, sitting on the couch, which was on the grass.   I started second guessing mom's statement.  Maybe she was uninformed or in denial about, I dunno, depression or something?  It didn't make sense.  Mom had a good head on her shoulders, and was employed dealing with disabled folks, I think think either as a nurse or a counselor of some kind.  *shrug*

 

Edited September 13 by LoudmouthMormon

[Calm]

4 minutes ago, LoudmouthMormon said:

Mom had a good head on her shoulders, and was employed dealing with disabled folks, I think think either as a nurse or a counselor of some kind.  *shrug*

It may have been a tough love situation. Hopefully it got straightened out. Do you know what happened by chance?

[InCognitus]

This isn't exactly what you are looking for, but it sort of fits....

When I was living in Arizona a monsoon storm came through one summer and knocked down a Palo Verde tree we had in our front yard.  A couple of ward members and three family members came over to help me clean up the mess.  As we were working on sawing up the tree branches, a guy drove by in a pickup truck and rolled down his window and said out his window to those who were helping me:  "You look like a good crew, I'll pay you double what he's paying you if you will come and work for me".   He had no takers on his offer!

[blackstrap]

Ever since the amalgamation of Elders and High Priests, any service project which calls for liftin heavy boxes or furniture , or climbing ladders brings a swift NOPE for me. At best I will supervise from a distance. Duncan, you always have the best/weirdest stories. 😒

[bluebell]

3 hours ago, bearhoof said:

I'm doing some research for a post that I'm writing and looking for stories where an EQ or RS service project was really free labor. For example, helping finish the neighbor's basement while they go golfing or deep cleaning an apartment for a healthy couple who are moving. Think humorous  

We had a neighbor--a genuinely good guy so it's hard to understand his thought process here--who put out a plea for help re-roofing his house really quickly.  It had to be done in like a weekend or something.  So a lot of the men in the ward showed up and worked really hard on it.

And then they put the house up for sale the following week. 

It's probably been 4 or 5 years and there are still some hard feelings in the ward about it.  It's one thing to help a neighbor in need but another to get duped into providing free labor so that neighbor can make an extra few thousand in the sale with hardly any out of pocket expenses. 

It's become a punchline in the ward whenever the topic of moving comes up.

[MustardSeed]

59 minutes ago, bluebell said:

We had a neighbor--a genuinely good guy so it's hard to understand his thought process here--who put out a plea for help re-roofing his house really quickly.  It had to be done in like a weekend or something.  So a lot of the men in the ward showed up and worked really hard on it.

And then they put the house up for sale the following week. 

It's probably been 4 or 5 years and there are still some hard feelings in the ward about it.  It's one thing to help a neighbor in need but another to get duped into providing free labor so that neighbor can make an extra few thousand in the sale with hardly any out of pocket expenses. 

It's become a punchline in the ward whenever the topic of moving comes up.

Ooh we had something similar-young couple moved into the neighborhood into a fixer-upper. They had people help them move in and fix up. Then they flipped it, made a ton of money and  skidaddled all within three months 😤

[bluebell]

2 minutes ago, MustardSeed said:

Ooh we had something similar-young couple moved into the neighborhood into a fixer-upper. They had people help them move in and fix up. Then they flipped it, made a ton of money and  skidaddled all within three months 😤

Oh geez, that's horrible.  I bet there's been some "once bitten, twice shy" baggage from that in the ward.

[LoudmouthMormon]

3 hours ago, Calm said:

It may have been a tough love situation. Hopefully it got straightened out. Do you know what happened by chance?

I never did learn how it played out.  I've thought about it across the years.  Hope it was tough love, and I hope it worked.

[LoudmouthMormon]

Here's the exact opposite story: Our little town had the LDS church, and the nondenominational Christian church across the street.  Over time, the folks across the street became a bit suspicious and vaguely opinionated against our church.  One hot summer day, the EQ service project ended early, and the elders saw a little old lady across the street working on her church.  Like trying to do landscaping and plant flowers and whatnot.  So some of the brethren said hey, what's another hour or two, and they went over and helped the lady and got everything done within an hour.  

That Sunday, the pastor gave a pretty hellfire-and-brimstoneist sermon to his congregation about Christlike service, and how the call for volunteers had gone out but only one little old lady answered, and it took the Mormons from next door to show up and save her in the 90 degree heat, and how he would tolerate no more negative opinions about his LDS neighbors.  We heard about his sermon, because he came over and told us all about it as he was thanking us.  Relations have been much eased ever since.

[Dario_M]

Free labor? My stake president once had giving me a lift to the hospital because i had taken an overdosis Lorazepam. So HE did the free labor, you know... to bring me all the way there in his car and wait there on the hospital with me. 

Edited September 14 by Dario_M

[bluebell]

5 minutes ago, Dario_M said:

Free labor? My stake president once had giving me a lift to the hospital because i had taken an overdosis Lorazepam. So HE did the free labor, you know... to bring me all the way there in his car and wait there on the hospital with me. 

That’s service, and I’m so glad that he was able to be there for you to help with that. I don’t know a single person that gets upset when being asked to help somebody with a legitimate need. 😊

[Dario_M]

9 minutes ago, bluebell said:

That’s service, and I’m so glad that he was able to be there for you to help with that. I don’t know a single person that gets upset when being asked to help somebody with a legitimate need. 😊

He was a really nice man. I really liked him. This happend a year and a half ago. But yeah...he was very nice. I liked him more then the bishop at that time. Later on he helpt me also with my laundry. And other things as well. I was homeless at that time. Yeah such a nice man. But....now i have moved to the Netherlands i will never see him ever again. Oh well... now i have my dear bf. And my bf does everything for me. And he is not even from the LDS church! 😲

So that's even better labor. 

Edited September 14 by Dario_M

[CV75]

On 9/13/2024 at 12:40 PM, bearhoof said:

I'm doing some research for a post that I'm writing and looking for stories where an EQ or RS service project was really free labor. For example, helping finish the neighbor's basement while they go golfing or deep cleaning an apartment for a healthy couple who are moving. Think humorous  

I simply do not pay invoices coming from anyone belonging to the Elder's Quorum.

[Calm]

40 minutes ago, CV75 said:

I simply do not pay invoices coming from anyone belonging to the Elder's Quorum.

Clarify please as it sounds like you refuse to reimburse EQ individuals for something. 

[Rain]

I don't know if this counts or not. My parents ward helped build the little church in the middle of our ward boundaries. About 1.5 years later we found they had anti-mormon classes being taught there.

[CV75]

2 hours ago, Calm said:

Clarify please as it sounds like you refuse to reimburse EQ individuals for something. 

It was meant to be a joke. For example, going to the dentist who is a member of my EQ and not paying the bill because I'm calling it a service project.

[supersc]

EQ Moving & Storage examples abound.  Eventually we had to devise a moving checklist so moving members knew what their responsibilities were and where the EQ would help.  Little things like sort your own stuff first and box it up, we'll move all the boxes and furniture.

[bluebell]

1 hour ago, supersc said:

EQ Moving & Storage examples abound.  Eventually we had to devise a moving checklist so moving members knew what their responsibilities were and where the EQ would help.  Little things like sort your own stuff first and box it up, we'll move all the boxes and furniture.

Our elders quorum presidency had to do the same. It’s amazing what people think others should do for them when they are capable of doing it themselves.

[LoudmouthMormon]

19 hours ago, CV75 said:

It was meant to be a joke. For example, going to the dentist who is a member of my EQ and not paying the bill because I'm calling it a service project.

It's a funny enough joke.  "You into service or ain't you?"   

That said, for whatever reason, we've always had at least two dentists in our ward, and often 3 or more.   Last year we had a ward raffle, and each of our dentists donated an entire invisalign treatment (basically, invisible braces, usually for kids and teens of folks wealthy enough to afford the Cadillac of braces).  Folks got a $1200-$5000 deal for their kids, for like $300-$400.  Two incredibly happy families of modest means at that raffle.  

[LoudmouthMormon]

Oh!   I thought of a weird one:  We had a member's house totally burn down in a forest fire.  He was a former Bishop and one of the long-standing stalwarts of the ward who provided more service than the next five of us.  In the aftermath, we wanted to return a bit of the service.  He declined.  He was quite well-off and well-insured, and the insurance was paying for everything from a new house, to 2 years of rent and living expenses while his house was rebuilt.  He wanted for nothing.   But I guess we just wouldn't take no for an answer, and kept demanding he accept some form of service from us.  He finally had us pull up his new paver stones and load them onto pallets, so he could give them to a neighbor.   

Years later, he came clean that he had to cancel the insurance work crew that was coming to do that for him, just because we wouldn't quit bugging him until we had done some service.  He donated the pavers to like habitat for humanity or some such organization.  

[rpn]

On 9/13/2024 at 3:14 PM, LoudmouthMormon said:

Mom had a good head on her shoulders, and was employed dealing with disabled folks, I think think either as a nurse or a counselor of some kind.  *shrug*

Of course he was obstructive and upset.   And maybe he was severely depressed too.    But when kids (even adult kids) are stuck, of course parents have to set them free.   Otherwise you enable their worst behaviors which has no value in getting them beyond where they are.   If I'd been on this service project, I would have returned the next day with a few healthy groceries as a welcome home gift, and just to check in (and maybe some bus schedules and bus passes if I could swing it, and helping him put the sheets on the bed and figure out how to use the microwave.    And I would have kept checking in on him from time to time maybe walking around the neighborhood with him to get acclimated.

Edited September 17 by rpn

[JAHS]

[Nofear]

Not a story, but it is certainly true that there will be abuses of our kindnesses. To such the Savior simply told us to "go with him twain". It is usually better to fault on the side of generosity than try to separate wheat and tare service opportunities.