Part of my RPF Experience

[Dulloldfart]

Edited slightly from my online October 2004 archived post at:
http://www.fzglobal.org/w040917-041116.htm#384

I was in the PAC RPF for several months in 1996. To start with, it was miserable indeed on a daily basis. There are different aspects to life in the RPF: sleeping and toilet/shower arrangements; work; eating; study.

In the RPF the main men's dorm contained about 45 men in three-high bunks, crammed together. There was just enough space between the bunks to stand. I was in a top bunk, with my head about six inches from a noisy ventilation outlet pipe.

Work was not fun. I was assigned to the "mudding" unit, the unit responsible for throwing up stud-and-track walls and plastering them. I wasn't very good at it at all, and it was very messy. The showers after work were OK, but at night there was one men's bathroom to use for about twenty guys at a time all trying to clean their teeth, use the toilet etc. at the same time. It was very degrading and dehumanizing. (I don't mean there was a long line of irritated people waiting to use the bathroom--we were all in there at the same time!)

The RPF food was the same as the rest of the crew, and was of reasonable quality, and decently prepared and presented. Eating it was a hassle, as the space was cramped and if someone walked by you had to shuffle your chair around to make room. With a hundred RPFers or so, there was a long chow line to actually get the food onto one's plate, so there wasn't much time to eat it. It was barely tolerable, but could have been worse.

A year ago I was reading about conditions in a US prison, and I was thinking how luxurious it sounded by comparison, in terms of freedom to make phone calls, etc. That's not the whole story, as I would fear for my life in a US prison, but didn't in the RPF.

Study was frustrating. The buzzword was working towards "Redemption". It went fine for a couple of weeks, then I went into session with my twin. My twin had a tight needle with a high TA and I was unable to overcome it. It was all my fault, of course, but I couldn't fix it. I'm not a wimpy kind of guy, but I was literally in tears several times over a couple of months, frustrated at making no progress.

All this changed radically the day after LRH's birthday, when I wrote a request to route out. I was assigned to the RPF's RPF, as was normal when an RPFer wanted to leave instead of being with the redemption program.

The RPF's RPF is supposed to be even more miserable than the RPF, but in my case everything was an immediate upgrade. There were only half a dozen or so of us, mostly girls, with myself and another guy being the only men. The other guy was Jamie Didcoate, 20 year-old son of ex-UK long-term SO members Richard and Kathy Didcoate, currently on the PAC RPF per RPF Insider. Since single men and women cannot share the same room, Jamie and I were the only people in the bedroom. Now, only two people in a room is a luxury I had not had in the previous 23 years in the SO! For most of the time I was in PAC I had been in a dorm in Lebanon Hall (room 617), initially with 8-11 other guys and then 5-8 after we tossed out one of the 3-bed bunks one day.

When I started there, the RPF's RPF ate before the regular RPF, but from the same food. We only had 20 minutes to eat instead of 30, but with no waiting this didn't add up to less time actually eating, and being there first we got the pick of the food, as much to eat of the best stuff as we wanted.

The work was hard and messy, but the person in charge of the RPF's RPF was Sylvia Crundall (earlier Grout, Collins), who I had known from the UK twenty years earlier. She was in-valence and a decent person, an auditor, unlike some of the sadists who had senior positions in the regular RPF. She wasn't soft, but she was fair.

We spent a day in the famous Rats' Alley once, which was memorable. It isn't an alley, but a space about 60 feet by 50 under the kitchens, with hot water pipes running through it so it was hot. The ceiling was about five feet high, but there were beams hanging down a foot or so and with the water-pipes that were too hot to touch you couldn't walk around in there, but got around lying face-down on makeshift wheeled boards. I didn't see any rats, but there were plenty of those giant cockroach-like creatures called "Palmetto Bugs". Palmetto Bugs are remarkable insects. One is two or three inches long, armored so it doesn't squish easily, and it can *fly* for God's sake! The day I was there, the walls of Rats Alley were full of them. When I say "full", I mean pretty much every available inch of wall-space was covered with them--there must have been tens of thousands of them. Fortunately they didn't move around much, but they were certainly alive.

We had to brush up the stagnant water and some dead bugs on the floor, maybe an inch or two deep in large puddles. We had a hose and washed the floor down with fresh water, and pushed the resulting mixture down a drain. Pushing your way around, you had to travel under many of these beams covered in Palmetto bugs, twitching away a few inches above your head. I was very uncomfortable to begin with, but after about twenty minutes of running "Hellos and OKs" silently on the bugs while I was working it became tolerable (I was very glad I knew that bit of tech!).

We went back in there a month or so later for a couple of hours and there wasn't one bug in sight. The floor was covered with white powder, supposedly safe for humans, but I was glad to be away from it.

Since I was routing out, I had to get a Leaving Sec Check. This I got from Sylvia, who was a decent auditor. I was allowed extra sleep to be sessionable, so this was fine.

Life was grand (by comparison) for about a month. Then I finished my sec check and was in waiting mode, waiting to be allowed to leave. It eventually took about six weeks from sec-check completion to getting out of the door. More on this later.

Suddenly conditions changed. There was some purge or other and over the space of a week the RPF's RPF swelled in size to fifty or so and life became a bit of a nightmare again. But the berthing was OK still as Jamie and I had to be segregated from the others since we were leaving and a possible bad influence. It was more tolerable though as there was light at the end of the tunnel, and in a few weeks or so I knew I would be out of there, free at last. Jamie used to joke about it being like the Hotel California, in that you could check out but could never leave, and at times it seemed like that was really true. There were some who had expressed a wish to leave, but were told that
if they left they would be declared, even though the policy was that if you routed out properly you could do that and wouldn't be declared. At the time it seemed important.

One stop on leaving was what the RPF Insider calls the $500 "severance pay". It's not really severance pay, although that might be the spin put on it. When you leave they demand that you sign a waiver, which basically says you are signing this of your own free will (hah!), you are a real bad-ass and the decent, hard-working, considerate people in the CofS have bent over backwards trying to help you but you have refused their help and it's all your own fault and not theirs, and you will not breathe a word of what you have observed during your time in the SO, including posting to the Internet. Because you are giving up a valuable right, you have to be compensated with a valuable consideration, i.e. the $500, presumably the least they felt they could get away with. Getting $500 on some org's FP for this is almost impossible. The worst crime you can commit in the SO is to leave it, and no-one in the SO cares a hoot about someone leaving as long as they don't create a PR flap. I wrote a letter to RTC saying I didn't care about getting $500 cash--and I didn't--and if they packaged up a pile of dog shit and said it was worth $500 I would have agreed to it. Eventually I got a couple of second-hand KTL books, which they considered were equivalent in value. My dog-shit idea didn't fly. I didn't need the money as I had some credit cards available and I could live off those until I got a job etc.

I eventually got out after working straight through a couple of days and nights with the others and collapsing. Up to this time I had had maybe 7 hours sleep a night, but there was some rush renos cycle needed. They knew I had high blood pressure, and I had joked that the way I could get out of there was to overdo the work and have a heart attack, and I sometimes made a show of working extra-hard as if I was actively pursuing that goal. I wasn't stupid enough to really do that, but they could probably have believed that I was. They probably decided to get rid of me quick in case I really did have a heart attack or something.

[Added in 2007:] A couple have posted their joy in the final departure. Oh yes, oh yes! I had routed out in accordance with the rules, more or less, so was leaving openly. I piled up my dozen cardboard boxes of possessions outside the Horseshoe entrance, then ran around to the self-storage company just opposite Bridge on Fountain and rented a space for a month or so. I borrowed a flatbed hand-truck from them and shifted my boxes in without incident. Then I rented a room in the Travelodge Motel just around the corner on Vermont. At which point I could now relax as my gear was safe, I had somewhere to sleep for now, and I was F-R-E-E!!!

I spent two nights in that motel, then rented a room from a local Scn landlord on Fountain just across from the Main Building for a week. I was off to England in a week for a long-overdue visit and didn't bother getting settled in anywhere. But those two nights in that motel, with that huge room and shower and TV all to myself, no money worries, out after 23 years, and I could come and go as I pleased....

Paul

 

[Emma]

Great story...wow!

No matter how bad I thought I had it, I do thank my lucky stars I never had to endure the SO or RPF. You guys have my utmost respect.

 

[Dulloldfart]

Hi Emma,

Compared to some horror stories I've read, I didn't have it so bad at all. I sometimes feel kind of cheated out of reasons to be a victim (not really). That's why I made a point of saying that in the RPF while I was there the food was decent and I had enough sleep almost all of the time.

In those 23 years in the SO, I usually had the opportunity for at least seven hours of sleep a night. There were some exceptions, but I would say less than 5% of the total. I used that wording because sometimes I stayed up late reading a book and ended up short of sleep because of that, but it wasn't because of the org schedule. I only recall being hungry a handful of times, actually. Fortunately I liked beans and rice! The food wasn't great all the time, but it was edible except maybe five times total.

I always had a bed to sleep in, with normal bedding, and although the rooms were sometimes ridiculously crowded--especially in PAC--they were never crawling with vermin or filth, or smelling objectionable. I did come across some dorm rooms that smelled, but never lived in any.

I never observed anyone being physically assaulted. I saw a few people getting yelled at, but not a whole lot. Sometimes the whole crew were yelled at, but that is easier to take than when it is just one individual.

You know, I often used to feel sorry for Class V org staff, who--to me--seemed to have it rougher than the SO. At least we had our room and board covered.

Anyway, more later no doubt!

Paul

 

[Emma]

You know, I often used to feel sorry for Class V org staff, who--to me--seemed to have it rougher than the SO. At least we had our room and board covered.

Interesting that you should say that because I used to think it a LOT of the time.

In my situation, both my husband and I were on staff, both working 50+ hours a week (sometimes he'd work 70 - 80), we were wog jobbing on nights and weekends and had a newborn to care for.

I'd look at the SO staff that would be down on recruit missions or whatever and actually be envious of them. I knew their accommodation, food, utilities etc were all covered and all they had to do was Scn 24/7.

The tradeoff for that I guess was that I got to live in my own place, sleep in my own bed, use my own bathroom, and was never threatened with the RPF.

Although at times it was harder being a Class V staffer, I'm still glad I never qualled for the SO.

 

[Bea Kiddo]

I think it really depended what base you were on, how well things were. At least from what I remember.

Actually, I remember when we got the PAC Base and moved in. I remember my first meal there - it was boxes of corn flakes and milk on all of the tables!! That was the best thing ever when you are a kid and they always gave you eggs and oatmeal (ew!!).

I think in the late 70's the food at PAC was alright. In the 80's it was bad for a while, then it improved in the late 80's and stayed pretty decent after that. CCI food was ok. They served alot of processed meats, which I could not stand so many times I would buy my own food (but CCI seemed to always have money and the staff were paid decently and even sometimes we got random bonuses). However, the cook there had a very bad medical condition (ulcerated leg - it looked like 1/2 his lower leg was eaten away by ulcer and that really grossed me out as far as eating the food there. Poor guy. I hope he got help! At the HGB, the food was always natsy. They bought that building and forgot to put a fricken kitchen in! What the heck were they thinking! So it has to be cooked and carted in. And first it was catered in from local food establishments, but that was not healthy either. I dont know where they were getting the food from when I was last there. But it seemed like we always had white rice or white noodles with every meal. I just thought that was so unhealthy.

And the RPF: Rats alley. Yep, that is the way I remember it too. I think they did find a way to get rid of those roaches eventually. Being down there was nasty.

Being in SO all my life, I never knew anything about squished berthing. That was a normal way of life for me. Actually the first time I had space (besides being married) was in Venezuela, when 2 of us shared a huge 3 Br, 2 Bath, kitchen, living room, etc condo. It was huge and we had no furniture. That was odd.

Now I live in a huge place. I dont even know what to do with all this space. You could fit 50 Sea Org members in here!!! Crazy.

Good to hear you made it out smoothly. Good luck on your life journey.

 

[everfree]

>You know, I often used to feel sorry for Class V org staff, who--to me--seemed to have it rougher than the SO. At least we had our room and board covered.

It's really funny to me that you would say that. I spent most of my CofS experience as Class V staff though I spent a great deal of time on SO bases. There were definitely times that I envied the SO members in that they at least got their food and lodging paid for in exchange for their work -- in stark contrast with Class V staff who rarely made close to that -- but all in all since I'd spent so much time among SO members I was just as glad to have as little independence from CofS as I had.

It seemed like SO members were completely dependent on CofS for everything, and CofS didn't do much for them so even though I got jack squat from CofS most of the time I was better off.

 

[OHTEEATE]

rpf experience

Paul, Great story. Outer Org Trainees have it pretty rough at Flag. They work 35 hours to cover their $125 a week room and board, not even US Minimum Wage, but they are "religious workers" so the CofS can get away paying crap. The budget for food for the entire Flag landbase, all OOTs, flag crew, FSO ,RTC, CMO, Freewinds is less than $50,000 a week. Debbie Cook let this slip at a staff meeting, when she was actually talking about the weekly power bill. Sometimes my wife and I will see some normal little detail of our current life, which is totally luxurious by Sea Org standards, and say to each other, "I'm so glad we're not in the Sea Org any more!" and we were only in 4 months! The guys I knew in the Flag RPF were not looking too healthy. Mike

 

[Mick Wenlock]

Paul, Great story. Outer Org Trainees have it pretty rough at Flag. They work 35 hours to cover their $125 a week room and board, not even US Minimum Wage, but they are "religious workers" so the CofS can get away paying crap. The budget for food for the entire Flag landbase, all OOTs, flag crew, FSO ,RTC, CMO, Freewinds is less than $50,000 a week. Debbie Cook let this slip at a staff meeting, when she was actually talking about the weekly power bill. Sometimes my wife and I will see some normal little detail of our current life, which is totally luxurious by Sea Org standards, and say to each other, "I'm so glad we're not in the Sea Org any more!" and we were only in 4 months! The guys I knew in the Flag RPF were not looking too healthy. Mike

I spent a year on the RPF at the Flag Land Base. Surprisingly, it was not the horrific experience others have written about.

There is one thing that happened on the RPF which, in fact, is the total opposite of what gets said about the RPF. It puts me in a very unusual position as a critic but that's just too bad.

This took place in 1986 at the FLB.

I had been on the RPF about 4 months, my twin was Mike Kherli and we were making good progress on the program, doing our coauditing and, dare I say it, feeling like we were actually doing Scientology for the first time in our SO 'careers'. During those four months I had noticed four or five other guys on the RPF (there were only about 25 of us on the RPF at the time) who had been on the RPF for at least two years.

Now that was quite alarming because by this time Mike and I were further along in the program than any of them.

About that time I became Bosun of the RPF (the RPFer in charge of the RPF) and Mike became the MAA. I looked over the records of the four or five guys who were not making it through the program and I talked it over with Mike and with the RPF IC (the staff member outside the RPF who is responsible for it).

I pointed out that these people were not making it through the program (for whatever reason) that allowing them to stay on the RPF could look like they were merely being exploited for cheap labor and that they would be much better off getting a fitness board and becoming public for a while and giving them a return program that would make them able to be SO members again.

Now here's the somewhat punchline. Everyone up the line, agreed with me. We convened the Fitness Boards and each of the guys was interviewed and told that they would be offloaded. I have to emphasize that they were not just going to be kicked out on the street the next minute, nothing like that.

Everyone one of them objected to it. No exception.

Over their loud objections they were offloaded and, AFAIK, they did become publics. Probably still are I guess.

Anyway - it is pretty ironic I guess, here am I, a long time critic, and my story flies against the "Gulag" PR line that sometimes gets used about the RPF.

 

[OHTEEATE]

Flag RPF

Mick, You're integrity and responsibility come shining through. I hope you always post it like you see it. I'm sure the guys I saw on the Flag RPF are out by now, and I sure hope they got a lot of auditing, and are happy in their Sea Org careers. I don't want anyone to be miserable.
I hope Mike Kerhli turns up. He almost had me hired to supervise the renos on the Osceola, until I asked him if it would be a problem if I was ex-SO( from the first time I was in) and you should have seen his face fall. Mike Henderson

 

[Veda]

I spent a year on the RPF at the Flag Land Base. Surprisingly, it was not the horrific experience others have written about.

There is one thing that happened on the RPF which, in fact, is the total opposite of what gets said about the RPF. It puts me in a very unusual position as a critic but that's just too bad.

This took place in 1986 at the FLB.

I had been on the RPF about 4 months, my twin was Mike Kherli and we were making good progress on the program, doing our coauditing and, dare I say it, feeling like we were actually doing Scientology for the first time in our SO 'careers'. During those four months I had noticed four or five other guys on the RPF (there were only about 25 of us on the RPF at the time) who had been on the RPF for at least two years.

Now that was quite alarming because by this time Mike and I were further along in the program than any of them.

About that time I became Bosun of the RPF (the RPFer in charge of the RPF) and Mike became the MAA. I looked over the records of the four or five guys who were not making it through the program and I talked it over with Mike and with the RPF IC (the staff member outside the RPF who is responsible for it).

I pointed out that these people were not making it through the program (for whatever reason) that allowing them to stay on the RPF could look like they were merely being exploited for cheap labor and that they would be much better off getting a fitness board and becoming public for a while and giving them a return program that would make them able to be SO members again.

Now here's the somewhat punchline. Everyone up the line, agreed with me. We convened the Fitness Boards and each of the guys was interviewed and told that they would be offloaded. I have to emphasize that they were not just going to be kicked out on the street the next minute, nothing like that.

Everyone one of them objected to it. No exception.

Over their loud objections they were offloaded and, AFAIK, they did become publics. Probably still are I guess.

Anyway - it is pretty ironic I guess, here am I, a long time critic, and my story flies against the "Gulag" PR line that sometimes gets used about the RPF.

Nice anecdote.

It doesn't fit most people's experience with the RPF and the RPF's RPF, however.

And I've seen RPFers, scurrying about, with looks ranging from fear, to a kind of contented apathy. But, I've never seen any RPF RPFers - they're usually kept out of sight.

Besides, at the time, I was on the *outside* of the razor wire fence, looking in. I'm sure that most ended up with acceptable "success stories."

It does state in Flag Order 3434-1 that the RPF "was created by the Commodore so that redemption can occur."

Degraded Beings are to be rehabilitated under the guidance of the Commodore and his representatives.

That's the ideal scene.

After all, a well operated slave - I mean Degraded Being Rehabilitation - system *can* be run smoothy, and should be, with the slaves - I mean the Degraded Beings - being treated in a calm and predictable manner.

One certainly wouldn't want to just kick them out onto the street without warning - which would deny them their daily rations - and one wouldn't want to deny them the hope of once again serving the master - I mean the Commodore - and some day returning to the Sea Org.

No doubt, a well meaning person, such as yourself, can conceive of a "kinder and gentler" version of the RPF.

However, if one consults the experiences of the people who've been subjected to it - but not broken and "rehabilitated" by it (because *they're* the "happy" ones), that "kinder and gentler" version is the exception. But, come to think of it, is it really doing someone a favor to be "kind and gentle" with him, while also seeking to make him a compliant and obedient Sea Org member?

And if one examines the little booklet - called by Hubbard, 'The Brainwashing Manual' - one can see the de facto blueprint for the Scientology operation, including the many parallels with the Sea Org, Sea Org "Ethics," the RPF, and the RPF's RPF.

Amongst the many parallels -

From Hubbard's 'Manual':

"The technologies of Psychopolitics are graduated upon the scale which starts somewhat above removal of the individual himself, upward toward the removal only of those tendencies which bring about his lack of cooperation."

And, "The psychopolitical dupe [Sea Org member] is a well trained individual who serves in complete obedience to the [Scientology/Sea Org] psychopolitical operative."

And, ideally, with a smile on his or her face.

P.S. There are many stories of people spending *years* on the RPF, and accounts of being "offloaded" usually involve the person being too much trouble to bother with (gone crazy, too physically big, can be dangerous, etc.), or the person being physically ill or growing old. Or, in some cases, where the number of Sea Org members are being reduced, generally, it's a matter of "thinning the herd."

It was L. Ron Hubbard who said, "You can always use a slave," reflecting the worst parts of Aleister Crowley's 'Book of the Law', and, as Scientology reached its final formulation in the 1970s, Hubbard demonstrated that he meant it.

Not surprisingly, while Hubbard was putting the finishing touches on his RPF and RPFs RPF, he was also finalizing his "Public Relations tech."

 

[Lulu Belle]

I spent a year on the RPF at the Flag Land Base. Surprisingly, it was not the horrific experience others have written about.

There is one thing that happened on the RPF which, in fact, is the total opposite of what gets said about the RPF. It puts me in a very unusual position as a critic but that's just too bad.

This took place in 1986 at the FLB.

I had been on the RPF about 4 months, my twin was Mike Kherli and we were making good progress on the program, doing our coauditing and, dare I say it, feeling like we were actually doing Scientology for the first time in our SO 'careers'. During those four months I had noticed four or five other guys on the RPF (there were only about 25 of us on the RPF at the time) who had been on the RPF for at least two years.

Now that was quite alarming because by this time Mike and I were further along in the program than any of them.

About that time I became Bosun of the RPF (the RPFer in charge of the RPF) and Mike became the MAA. I looked over the records of the four or five guys who were not making it through the program and I talked it over with Mike and with the RPF IC (the staff member outside the RPF who is responsible for it).

I pointed out that these people were not making it through the program (for whatever reason) that allowing them to stay on the RPF could look like they were merely being exploited for cheap labor and that they would be much better off getting a fitness board and becoming public for a while and giving them a return program that would make them able to be SO members again.

Now here's the somewhat punchline. Everyone up the line, agreed with me. We convened the Fitness Boards and each of the guys was interviewed and told that they would be offloaded. I have to emphasize that they were not just going to be kicked out on the street the next minute, nothing like that.

Everyone one of them objected to it. No exception.

Over their loud objections they were offloaded and, AFAIK, they did become publics. Probably still are I guess.

Anyway - it is pretty ironic I guess, here am I, a long time critic, and my story flies against the "Gulag" PR line that sometimes gets used about the RPF.

The RPF has been very different at different times in different places.

1986 at the FLB was actually a pretty good time in a pretty good place. That was during the SO "boom" of the 80s. The FSO was making a lot of money then; stably making over 2 million a week. That tends to filter onto the rest of the base, making the conditions for the staff better.

The fact that there were only 25 people on the RPF means that there 1) probably wasn't a "heavy ethics period" happening (the fact that the GI was stably pretty good probably had a lot to do with that) and 2) there probably wasn't any major renos project happening that required a huge RPF crew.

Things got worse in years after that. I'm sure there weren't a whole lot of staff begging to stay on the RPF by the mid 90s.

 

[ron's hat]

I don't mean there was a long line of irritated people waiting to use the bathroom--we were all in there at the same time!


Paul

Well...that explains a lot!!!!

 

[Zinjifar]

The RPF has been very different at different times in different places.

1986 at the FLB was actually a pretty good time in a pretty good place. That was during the SO "boom" of the 80s. The FSO was making a lot of money then; stably making over 2 million a week. That tends to filter onto the rest of the base, making the conditions for the staff better.

The fact that there were only 25 people on the RPF means that there 1) probably wasn't a "heavy ethics period" happening (the fact that the GI was stably pretty good probably had a lot to do with that) and 2) there probably wasn't any major renos project happening that required a huge RPF crew.

Things got worse in years after that. I'm sure there weren't a whole lot of staff begging to stay on the RPF by the mid 90s.

I've heard from any number of people that the RPF was a *huge* relief from the insane demands of 'Org' and 'Sea Org' posts.

Naturally, it would depend on the particular circumstance, but, even brutish slave work is very likely a vacation compared to some versions of 'Make It Go Right'

Zinj

 

[programmer_guy]

Zinj,

It appears to me that severity was according to the time period and what was going on at various time periods. At least this is what I understand.

 

[Zinjifar]

Zinj,

It appears to me that severity was according to the time period and what was going on at various time periods. At least this is what I understand.

35 years ago (or so) I worked for the Post Office for a time. I have some fond memories and it led to meeting any number of friends I still know, but, it also had elements of Bukowski's 'Post Office', which you may or may not be familiar with.

In any case, part of the 'job' involved dealing with what was *then* still a Govt. agency and rigorously specified 'job requirements' for a 'clerk' which involved learning a 'Scheme'; a list of street addresses divided by postal carriers.

In most 'towns' this was probably not an impossible demand, but, in Los Angeles it borders on the insane.

Bukowski does a good job of describing the 'stress' involved.

Not everyone got stuck with the 'City Scheme', and the 'State Scheme' was far more doable, but, I'm amazed that anyone ever managed to 'pass' it, and, If they did, they'd probably be ready for Scientology Tech

In any case, I was offered the opportunity to switch from 'clerk' to 'mail handler', which paid about a dime less an hour and only required loading and unloading trucks full of mail and variously 'handling' it...

It was a *huge* relief. Very Zen.

Compared to throwing envelopes into tiny cubbies while knowing that there would be an insane test to be allowed to do it, carting 30 lb. bags onto a conveyor was heaven.

I think I understand how *some* RPFers felt.

But, then; I wasn't doing the PO to 'save the world' or 'clear the planet'

Zinj

 

[Mick Wenlock]

35 years ago (or so) I worked for the Post Office for a time. I have some fond memories and it led to meeting any number of friends I still know, but, it also had elements of Bukowski's 'Post Office', which you may or may not be familiar with.

In any case, part of the 'job' involved dealing with what was *then* still a Govt. agency and rigorously specified 'job requirements' for a 'clerk' which involved learning a 'Scheme'; a list of street addresses divided by postal carriers.

In most 'towns' this was probably not an impossible demand, but, in Los Angeles it borders on the insane.

Bukowski does a good job of describing the 'stress' involved.

Not everyone got stuck with the 'City Scheme', and the 'State Scheme' was far more doable, but, I'm amazed that anyone ever managed to 'pass' it, and, If they did, they'd probably be ready for Scientology Tech

In any case, I was offered the opportunity to switch from 'clerk' to 'mail handler', which paid about a dime less an hour and only required loading and unloading trucks full of mail and variously 'handling' it...

It was a *huge* relief. Very Zen.

Compared to throwing envelopes into tiny cubbies while knowing that there would be an insane test to be allowed to do it, carting 30 lb. bags onto a conveyor was heaven.

I think I understand how *some* RPFers felt.

But, then; I wasn't doing the PO to 'save the world' or 'clear the planet'

Zinj

There is no doubt that peoples' reactions to the RPF (among those who did it) run the gamut from A to Z. For some people it was a gross "injustice" for others the way the whole thing was run was a total nightmare and, for a few of us, it was not bad - and in fact was an improvement over the insanity we dealt with every day (I suspect that those on management posts may have felt the relief more than service org staff).

I guess my feeling on it is that while any program can veer to the good or the bad the systemic insanity that passes for Scientology organizational "method" virtually assures that ANY program is going to end up being run in the worst possible way most of the time.

 

[OHTEEATE]

running the worst possible way

Mick, Boy, does that ring true! How many times I saw something that was obviously insane, being done, backed up with some policy interpretation, and everyone shaking their heads at how nuts it was. Like staying up really late every night listening to tapes, or whatever rather than getting something approaching 8 hours of sleep. Like a smoke free dining room(NOT). Like shoes made in China from plastic that wore out in 3 weeks. You are so close to it that the truth is well disguised. You are in a cult where everything is designed to keep you in the dark, in mystery, and confused. The opposite is stated and claimed, but it is a fact you are in a cult. A UFO cult at that. With salvation from a 75 million year old ruin only attainable by following a hack sci-fi writer who is laughing all the way to the bank. Fuck me. Hey, Mick, how about sliding me a Newcastle Brown Ale down this way while you're up, mate?

 

[Colleen K. Peltomaa]

There is no doubt that peoples' reactions to the RPF (among those who did it) run the gamut from A to Z. For some people it was a gross "injustice" for others the way the whole thing was run was a total nightmare and, for a few of us, it was not bad - and in fact was an improvement over the insanity we dealt with every day (I suspect that those on management posts may have felt the relief more than service org staff).

I guess my feeling on it is that while any program can veer to the good or the bad the systemic insanity that passes for Scientology organizational "method" virtually assures that ANY program is going to end up being run in the worst possible way most of the time.

That figures: I've been at the computer 40 hours a week since January. Researching Tech, LRH, CofS, FZ whilst taking large vitamin doses. Then my computer goes down and I'm forced to confront mest and start numerous physically challenging DIY projects. Refreshing.

I'm almost sorry my computer is working again, but I love the people on this forum.

 

[Lulu Belle]

Suddenly conditions changed. There was some purge or other and over the space of a week the RPF's RPF swelled in size to fifty or so and life became a bit of a nightmare again.

That was a big mission into PAC from RTC. Mission I/C was Jenny DeVocht. Later I heard she became CO CMO Int. (She may still be on that post.)

Mission Ops was Bitty Miscavige. That was before she fell out of favor with DM and was his henchman for all of these evolutions.

There were people being RPFed daily. Most of them were long time tech staff.

 

[Bea Kiddo]

Yeah, Jenny was CO CMO Int when I was last there (2004). I kept having run-ins with her. Not ever negative towards me. Well, hard to explain. It was like she liked me or something, or thought there was something worth saving. Cause I used to be in ethics trouble every time she was around, but she was never the one busting me. She'd be there "why are you always getting yourself in trouble?" kinda thing. I worked for her while she was on mission opening up the Manor Hotel. Interesting person, she is.

I remember one time in Oct 91, her and Amy Mortland were on the same mission and this new cook guy was supposed to make an awesome meal for them to show he could be the chef for the Renesiance restaurant (what a joke that was!). We went to this room to set up the place. A 2 townhouse in the Manor Hotel. I did not know that Amy was living there. I thought they were just borrowing the room for dinner. So I set the table, then I wandered upstairs, looking around. Amy walked in with Jenny and said "What the *&*@(& are youdoing in my bedroom?!?!?!" I was so shocked. I had no idea. Then they saw that I was innocent in my "overt" and they laughed and shrugged it off. I thought they would send me back to the RPF or something for that! Man. Ha ha. Fond memories. I had other encounters with both of them, but never, ever got in trouble directly with either one of them.

One time Amy was WDC CC and she was busting a buncha people at CCI. I was on my OT I, and she was waiting for the other members of the Fitness Board to arrive (cause she was gonna bust us all) and she started talking to me about OT I, and how was I enjoying it, etc. She casually told me that she was gonna yell at us and cream us, but that honestly I was not in trouble at all. Then the other members came in and she was ripping us all a new one and I was doing all I could to not bust out laughing. She was too. Funny. Everyong else couldnt understand my reaction, and why she wasnt getting mad at me for that.

I thought Amy was alright. I never saw her as a robot, though she may have been, under my skillful eye. Oh well.

I'm rambling. Just brought memories.