Seewalds 23: Visiting Waco Again

[Four is Enough]

LOVE the "burn him at the stake" story!

 

I remember I was four when my mother brought my sister home from the hospital.. I was outside playing in the cold November day with the girl next door, and we were having fun. My mother brought the baby to the window, and asked if I wanted to come in and meet her. 
No thanks! I said... and turned, runny nose and all, back to the mud in the yard.

My mother was disappointed, I think. 
 

[BabyBottlePop]

Couldn't help but be a little snarky when in the video Jessa said, "Ben's back at work now"... what, cleaning your dads toilets? 

[BeccaGrim]

I thought the Who Does Henry look like question was hysterical. I've asked that looking at him too.  I think the best answer I saw was on here and that he looks like Ben's mom. 

[Karma]

@Four is Enough, my daughter was nearly 3.5 when my son was born.  My mum was looking after her, and said let's go to the hospital to meet the new baby.  DD said that she was just going to have a swim first.  Admittedly it was 37c, but we had only a little clamshell toddler pool.  Mum was desperate to come and see me, but had to wait until Miss Stubborn had finished her swim.  She then refused to get out of her swimmers, so she is wearing them in the photos of her meeting her brother.

[KelseyAnn]

As much as Ben seems out of it, I hate to hear all the snark about 'toilet-cleaning' and menial jobs. A jobs a jobs and it seems kind of elitest to me. Just because he's a fundie doesn't mean a job like that is snarkable. 

[SapphireSlytherin]

2 minutes ago, KelseyAnn said:

As much as Ben seems out of it, I hate to hear all the snark about 'toilet-cleaning' and menial jobs. A jobs a jobs and it seems kind of elitest to me. Just because he's a fundie doesn't mean a job like that is snarkable. 

This.

A job is a job. And if it provides money that you use to feed your family, pay for shelter over your head, and pay your bills, it doesn't matter if you're cleaning toilets or working as the CEO of Microsoft. 

[Bad Wolf]

I worked for a craft store, and cleaned toilets, with a master's degree. You do what you have to do.

[Carm_88]

The snark comes from him leaving his job at the insurance company (possibly?) to clean toilets for JB. I don't think we know what Ben is doing now. So those are only assumptions

[kacarlton]

LOVE the "burn him at the stake" story!
 
I remember I was four when my mother brought my sister home from the hospital.. I was outside playing in the cold November day with the girl next door, and we were having fun. My mother brought the baby to the window, and asked if I wanted to come in and meet her. 
No thanks! I said... and turned, runny nose and all, back to the mud in the yard.
My mother was disappointed, I think. 
 

I am the middle of five kids, the only girl. I was five when the youngest brother was born. I remember waking up the morning after his birth, hearing the other three boys and my dad. I walked into my parents room and my brothers were dancing around him in a circle, delighted at the thought of another boy. I turned around and went back to bed. I was so sure this one would be my baby sister that for nine months I would not allow anyone to discuss boy names. And after he was born I begged my dad to leave him at the hospital. That memory is burned into my brain.

[SapphireSlytherin]

32 minutes ago, Bad Wolf said:

I worked for a craft store, and cleaned toilets, with a master's degree. You do what you have to do.

I worked on an assembly line in a factory that made fluorescent light ballasts (2nd shift so I could stay in college). I worked fast food (more than once!) where I made milkshakes or tacos, mopped floors, and cleaned bathrooms. I worked retail in a sketchy store in a sketchy part of town. I have no qualms about sharing any of those "not spectacular" jobs with anyone. It was honest work for honest money.

[Georgiana]

A job is a job, but when you are so incompetent that daddy (in-law) has to give you a job, I will snark...whether that's cleaning toilets or VP of a major company.

Honestly though, Ben has the most respectable job out of any of the marrieds. 

[JemimaPuddle-Duck]

4 hours ago, Georgiana said:

A job is a job, but when you are so incompetent that daddy (in-law) has to give you a job, I will snark...whether that's cleaning toilets or VP of a major company.

Honestly though, Ben has the most respectable job out of any of the marrieds. 

I don't think Ben seems incompetent though. He was doing window repair and insurance before Jessa. He got an AA while expanding his family, and still being a devoted dad, according to Jessa. And we have no idea what he does for work now, and I can respect if he wants to keep that more private. 

[subsaharanafrica]

My boys are 2.5 years apart. When the little one was born his brother came to visit us at the hospital. He wouldn't acknowledge the baby's existence or even look in the general direction of the bassinet. He sat on the hospital bed and played with me for a bit and when it was time for him to go with his dad and grandparents he cast a dirty look in the baby's direction and gleefully shouted, "bye bye baby!"  

It turned around in a month though. I asked him if he wanted to trade out baby in for another one and he didnt even think before yelling no and telling me that he likes THIS baby. 

[Dutch_girl]

8 hours ago, kacarlton said:

I am the middle of five kids, the only girl. I was five when the youngest brother was born. I remember waking up the morning after his birth, hearing the other three boys and my dad. I walked into my parents room and my brothers were dancing around him in a circle, delighted at the thought of another boy. I turned around and went back to bed. I was so sure this one would be my baby sister that for nine months I would not allow anyone to discuss boy names. And after he was born I begged my dad to leave him at the hospital. That memory is burned into my brain.

I'm the oldest of four and I have three younger brothers. When I was eight my youngest brother was born. I really  really really wanted a sister, because girls where soooo much more fun. I had also told everybody that 'this would be my little sister', and to my parents reply 'that it could also be a boy',  I replied 'yeah, it could, but it isn't', it's a girl'. 

The evening of the birth, when my father came announcing that 'it is a boy!',  my first reaction was 'are you sure?'. I was so disappointed. Thankfully my father didn't hear it and the friend of my mom (the couple we were staying with) gave me a big hug. 

He turned out a awesome big-little-brother

[HereticHick]

11 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

The snark comes from him leaving his job at the insurance company (possibly?) to clean toilets for JB. I don't think we know what Ben is doing now. So those are only assumptions

I very much got the feeling that the insurance agency job was part time while he was getting an AA, and possibly only an internship. He may have been getting college credit for it.

[singsingsing]

We don't actually know what Ben is doing for work these days.

[QuiverFullofBooks]

It happens that JB's multi-million dollar business does require some manual labor as well as management skills. It's entirely possible that both Ben and JB's sons are learning the whole skill set in case they want to do something similar as a career, or take over JB's properties after he retires or dies. Even if he's still cleaning toilets now (which I doubt - it was obviously new-boyfriend hazing), he could have a prosperous future ahead.

[trisprefect]

My dad is the oldest of five and the only boy. His youngest sister was born when he was 12 or 13, and he was convinced it was going to be a boy. Before my grandmother got home from the hospital, my great aunt lied and told him that he finally had a little brother. When they finally got home toting another little girl, he hid in the bathroom and wouldn't come out for hours. Nice job, great aunt.

[Four is Enough]

7 hours ago, subsaharanafrica said:

My boys are 2.5 years apart.  

Mine are, too! My oldest two... and we adopted One in one state, but Two was from another state. When the birth mother went into labor, we piled into the car and drove about six hours, to find Two born when we got there.  

Later, when One was at preschool describing this event, he said, "Oh, it's easy getting a baby. You go in the car, you drive and drive and drive, and there he is!"

[Bad Wolf]

@Four is Enough Oh, if only it was that easy. You started my day off with a smile. 

[BeccaGrim]

2 hours ago, singsingsing said:

We don't actually know what Ben is doing for work these days.

Isn't he selling Commercial Real Estate now? 

[SapphireSlytherin]

1 hour ago, BeccaGrim said:

Isn't he selling Commercial Real Estate now? 

There's no Seewald with an Arkansas real estate license.

[Daisy0322]

3 hours ago, Four is Enough said:

Later, when One was at preschool describing this event, he said, "Oh, it's easy getting a baby. You go in the car, you drive and drive and drive, and there he is!"

Awe that really is an adorable story, I love it! 

[OyToTheVey]

I won't snark on anyone working for family. I don't see whats so bad about JB giving Ben a job. Culturally, a lot of us Eastern Europeaners work for family. If you can't trust family, who can you trust? I work for my dad. I have a masters, but I have no problems taking out the trash, stocking the shelves or working the cash register. I'm the only one I trust to actually do it the right way, JB has a huge list of properties. If he has some of his boys and sons in law working for him, there's automatic labor that probably won't rip him off. All the money stays in the family and everyone has something to do. 

Edit: Correct me if I'm wrong but Italians and Greeks work for family too. Most businesses are employed by family.

[nausicaa]

6 minutes ago, OyToTheVey said:

If you can't trust family, who can you trust? I work for my dad. I have a masters, but I have no problems taking out the trash, stocking the shelves or working the cash register. I'm the only one I trust to actually do it the right way, JB has a huge list of properties. If he has some of his boys and sons in law working for him, there's automatic labor that probably won't rip him off. 

Not sure where you're getting this from. I'd be interested in seeing the statistics on embezzlement in family operated businesses versus others, if you have them?

If anything, I'd think that unqualified people are more likely to be employed in family businesses since their employment is based on nepotism, rather than actually interviewing people and hiring the most qualified person based on their merits.