Seewalds 35: Silence is Golden

[scoutsadie]

4 hours ago, fundiefollower said:

I could swear that back when he was courting or before he was courting Jessa he worked doing something with windshields...... replacing them or doing crack repair.  Did I hallucinate that fact? 

@fundiefollower, if that was a hallucination, I must have been doin' the 'shrooms with you*, because the other day I saw a Safelite commercial and immediately thought of Ben!

 

 

* but not for reals because I am terrified by hallucinogens...Dr. Seuss and Alice in Wonderland are too trippy for me, forget magic mushrooms...

[SapphireSlytherin]

Count me in with the windshield business memories.

[Markie]

They did say he had a windshield repair service when Jess and Ben were getting to know each other or courting or whatever the hell they were doing.

[KelseyAnn]

Ugh - I can't stand safelight repair. I live in MN and they told me they couldn't come fix my windshield in the middle of winter unless I had a garage (I didn't) or it was warmer than 30 degrees (it wasn't for weeks.)

[scoutsadie]

1 hour ago, KelseyAnn said:

Ugh - I can't stand safelight repair. I live in MN and they told me they couldn't come fix my windshield in the middle of winter unless I had a garage (I didn't) or it was warmer than 30 degrees (it wasn't for weeks.)

I suspect that has to do with the chemical bonding properties of whatever it is they use to fix chips... inconvenient, but it probably  just doesn't work below a certain temp.

[AliceInFundyland]

If lazy=“sitting around” I’m not sure I agree that Duggars are lazy. I feel like JB has quite the work ethic, and has installed that in the kids, mostly. As someone mentioned he has quite the little property empire to manage. The problem is escaping and finding something ELSE to do.

[cascarones]

I think it's also worth mentioning you don't talk politics, religion or business with strangers. The Duggars clearly violate the first two, but certainly try to keep the last out of their image.

Maybe it's because I graduated when the recession was at the height of sucking and it was very touchy to even ask, but I honestly couldn't tell you what some of my friends do for a living. It's vice versa, they couldn't necessarily tell you what I do either. They'd be like, "Cascarones? I've no clue, but she sent me some walrus photos without any explanation. So I'm hoping she's not about to harass me about walrus beauty products or non-vegan candles."

There's also the very real possibility of an NDA with an employer, with the production company, with the network, with a sponsor, with a church. They're very common, I had a job interview last week where halfway through someone said something not for candidate ears and I had to sign one last minute before I left. I did get a slice of somebody's birthday cake forced on me while I waited for it to be drawn up and now I want that carrot cake recipe.

[SamiKatz]

6 hours ago, cascarones said:

There's also the very real possibility of an NDA with an employer, with the production company, with the network, with a sponsor, with a church. They're very common, I had a job interview last week where halfway through someone said something not for candidate ears and I had to sign one last minute before I left. I did get a slice of somebody's birthday cake forced on me while I waited for it to be drawn up and now I want that carrot cake recipe.

In the last few jobs I've had as well, we were strongly advised to not even have our places of employment on our social media, or to talk about it.  Also to not even talk about it in public (i.e. "don't talk to co-workers on the elevator about something that's going on at work").

[Mama Mia]

7 hours ago, cascarones said:

I think it's also worth mentioning you don't talk politics, religion or business with strangers. The Duggars clearly violate the first two, but certainly try to keep the last out of their image.

Maybe it's because I graduated when the recession was at the height of sucking and it was very touchy to even ask, but I honestly couldn't tell you what some of my friends do for a living. It's vice versa, they couldn't necessarily tell you what I do either. They'd be like, "Cascarones? I've no clue, but she sent me some walrus photos without any explanation. So I'm hoping she's not about to harass me about walrus beauty products or non-vegan candles."

 

I had always heard to not discuss money, but never extending that to business, although it makes sense. That’s interesting about not knowing what people do to make money. I wonder if that’s part social media impact? And the economic crash impact makes sense also ( recession my ass ) . And they happened roughly the same time....these kind of societal trends are fascinating.  Once you mentioned it I realized that I have no idea what many of my on-line friends, most of whom I also know/knew in real life, do to make a living.  I do know a far higher proportion than I would expect - including me- are disabled ( mid-50’s) 

[cascarones]

7 minutes ago, Mama Mia said:

I had always heard to not discuss money, but never extending that to business, although it makes sense.

I think it comes from keeping things social. I'm sure almost every doctor or lawyer, has cringe stories of being asked to look at a mole or be hit up for legal advice in random settings. 

[SassyPants]

Wasn’t Ben working for his dad who was the owner (?) of the windshield repair business? Ben also had worked in the insurance business, IIRC-

[marmalade]

Ben was a go-fer in an insurance office in Hot Springs. He wasn't anything approaching an agent. 

[Carm_88]

Spurgeon and Israel playing. 

[JillyO]

LOL! Henry trying to keep up with his big brother and cousin is too cute!

[metheglyn]

On 9/10/2018 at 6:26 PM, Markie said:

They did say he had a windshield repair service when Jess and Ben were getting to know each other or courting or whatever the hell they were doing.

Yeah, I definitely remember them talking about the windshield repair service, but he was working at one, he didn't have one. He was probably still a minor at the time (or just barely not a minor), since he'd only been 19 for around 6 months when he married Jessa, he'd been living with the Duggars for a while at that point, and he'd followed up the windshield repair job with the insurance job (I think). Plus, he was working on his AA or AS at the time, so it couldn't have been *his* shop.

[SapphireSlytherin]

I'm thinking he was a "repair technician" or whatever they call them, for Safelite (or similar). I seem to recall a truck with the windshield racks in the back. You only need a GED or high school diploma to work there.

 

He also may have been an independent contractor with another auto glass repair business.

 

Edit:   OK, further searching reveals an article in the NY Daily News (not a super-reliable source IMO) that said he "owned" a company called Affordable Auto Glass in Hot Springs, and that he worked at a country club.

The Arkansas SOS website shows Michael Seewald as President of a business called Affordable Auto Glass. 

[Kittikatz]

I agree that it's pretty common for workplaces to instruct their employees not to divulge where they work or what kind of work they do to the public or on social media. The risk of someone's hot mess personal life, vengeful ex, or off-hand comment being taken as being representative of the organization they work for is real. I've got a security clearances, and have taken an oath of confidentiality that pretty much means I can never divulge details related to or learned in the course of my employment.  I've also seen a lot of people who aren't normally under oath or clearance get hauled into offices and handed NDAs to sign off - especially if there are sensitive projects in the works.

And it's not like I'm even particularly high up in the organization - I work for a high-profile government body as an information access/privacy specialist. Suffice to say I know where the bodies are buried and pretty much live in the dirty underbelly of government. The thought of the kind of dinner party interrogations, angry rants at my employer's actions and the conspiracy theories I'd have to deflect if this became known in my social circle or to the world at large make me more than slightly nauseous. I use a nickname at work that never sees the light of day outside my office, and if anyone asks about my job I simply say that I work for the government as a policy analyst. If they probe I mention something about Risk Management and move the conversation back to something about them. The questioner then generally assumes my job is something highly specialist and boring - usually regarding insurance - and they go back to prattling about something more universally interesting. This kind of behavior is pretty much the norm in my line of work - and I suspect many others too. My family has no idea of the particulars of anything and none of the people I've dated have ever rated being told even my actual title or office.

I know one currency trader for a major bank who was fired because of the contents of his letters to the Editor in the financial section of a national newspaper. His 'crime' was signing it with his work name, title and the name of the bank he was employed with. The risk is real.

Unless Ben or Jessa decide to come out and say what he's doing for work we just won't know.

[Carm_88]

It seems that Jessa is focusing on the kids for her social media and Ben isn't very active, I don't think that they are going to tell us. 

[Satan'sFortress]

Henry.  Crap that was adorable.

[meowfundiecatz]

11 hours ago, SapphireSlytherin said:

I'm thinking he was a "repair technician" or whatever they call them, for Safelite (or similar). I seem to recall a truck with the windshield racks in the back. You only need a GED or high school diploma to work there.

 

He also may have been an independent contractor with another auto glass repair business.

 

Edit:   OK, further searching reveals an article in the NY Daily News (not a super-reliable source IMO) that said he "owned" a company called Affordable Auto Glass in Hot Springs, and that he worked at a country club.

The Arkansas SOS website shows Michael Seewald as President of a business called Affordable Auto Glass. 

Here we go!

Spoiler

 

 

[VelociRapture]

10 minutes ago, meowfundiecatz said:

Here we go!

  Hide contents

 

 

I forgot just how awkward that was. Jessa and Ben were both so clearly nervous about having that filmed or re-enacting it or whatever.

[Bad Wolf]

I think  it was Jimmy Fallon who had a lot of fun with the 3 second side hug.

[TheMustardCardigan]

On 9/11/2018 at 10:42 AM, cascarones said:

I think it comes from keeping things social. I'm sure almost every doctor or lawyer, has cringe stories of being asked to look at a mole or be hit up for legal advice in random settings. 

I was held totally hostage by a dental hygienist once, sitting in the chair while she cleaned my teeth, she told me all about her custody/child support/alimony battle. 

My dad avoided social settings in general but when forced to attend, he preferred to not have strangers know he was a physician so he wouldn't get bombarded with medical questions at, say, a Little League game. Was happy to help neighbors, friends, and family though.

[TeaELSee]

22 hours ago, Carm_88 said:

Spurgeon and Israel playing. 

Spurgeon acts older than Israel and is clearly the leader, nothing wrong with that, I just found it to be an interesting dynamic.  What is the age difference?

[Carm_88]

6 minutes ago, TeaELSee said:

Spurgeon acts older than Israel and is clearly the leader, nothing wrong with that, I just found it to be an interesting dynamic.  What is the age difference?

7 months ish. Israel was born in April and Spurgeon was born in November.