Picket Report - San Francisco Org 83 McAllister Street Nov 30, 96

Hi Everyone,

I wasn't able to picket for two weekends in a row because the weather has been bad here in the S.F. bay area. By the 2nd weekend I was really starting to get antsy to get out there again. I was having some serious withdrawal symptoms. Fortunately this past Saturday I had a window of opportunity and was able to make up for it. It looks like the rainy season has finally arrived here in northern California. I guess this is going to force me to go back to my original plan of being unpredictable in my picketing.

When I first started picketing I had SO much to say to everyone out on the street. I felt that in order to get my message about the dangers of Scientology across effectively that I had to tell a person EVERYTHING that I've experienced or knew about Scientology. After nine months of picketing I've discovered that it's not necessary. All it usually takes for me now is about one or two minutes to be effective. My sign REALLY DOES pull people in and gets their attention focused on what I have to say. This allows me to get right to the point. I know I've said this before but I'm still amazed at how many people still comment to me something like, "Hey man, I just HAD to come over and ask you about your sign." For those of you who don't know already I carry a bright, fluorescent green sign which reads "in my opinion SCIENTOLOGY IS A SCAM." This sign is VERY effective. If you were out here with me you could see for yourself what kind of attention it really pulls in. There are SO many things that I haven't mentioned in any of my posts that you just have to see to believe.

This past Saturday there was one woman who stopped by and told me that she had picked up one of their "free" personality tests. She said that staff members have been calling her practically every day to come in and have it evaluated but she kept putting it off. After listening to my story she left saying, "When I get home I'm going to throw that damn thing out. Now I'm glad I kept procrastinating. I had no idea that's what went on in there."

A short while later I noticed this young woman kind of wander up to the building. She looked at the Orgs front door and then up at the address above it. Then she kind of loitered around the front, eating an apple, reading all the posters that were on display. She had the look of someone who had heard about Scientology and stopped by to find out more about it. At one point she even stood right in front of the door reading a flyer they had taped to the window. Whenever I see something like this I tense up and practically bite my lip saying to myself, "Don't go in, don't go in. What should I do? Should I say SOMETHING?" In this case I decided to NOT say anything (right then) and just kind of watch what she did. Several times as I was walking I observed her kind of glance at me and then back at the posters again. After about ten minutes she turned around and practically walked right up to me. She had the look on her face as if she really wanted to ask me something. Instead she kept her gaze straight ahead and just slowly walked past me. She just kept walking until she was finally out of sight. I'll NEVER know but I sure would like to think that my presence out there had something to do with her decision NOT to go inside.

Later in the afternoon this couple was walking by. The guy glanced at me, did a double-take and then said, "Hey, weren't you on TV a couple of weeks ago? You're the guy that got scammed aren't you?" He gives the ORG a once-over and says, "This the place?" I said, "Yep, that's the place". He says, "I'll have to remember that, thanks for the warning." It was so weird to be suddenly recognized like that. I was beginning to wonder if anyone had the chance to see me since I wasn't on a major channel. Instead I was on S.F. cable channel 53. Now I know at least ONE person saw me there. I'm sure glad I didn't let my sister talk me out of doing that talk show. I wonder how many others had the chance to see me. I was informed that the channel has a veiwership of several thousand in the bay area so I'm hoping many more saw it as well.

At break time (around 3:00 P.M.) this one guy that I've observed sort of watching me for several months now went across the street for something. Then, without any warning he came up behind me and asked me why I was out there picketing. This took me totally by surprise. People on the street I now have a lot of experience dealing with but public members like that I don't. Since I was taken by surprise AND I knew that I only had seconds I did the best I could in the given situation. After about a minute that one staff member (the one that seems like he's sort of in charge during the day) comes out, pats the guy on the shoulder and says to him, "Come on buddy, let's go back inside now." With that he then guides the guy back inside. This time the staff member wasn't as blunt as he was with that other guy awhile back. Unfortunately, it still had the same effect of keeping their members from talking to me. Was this guy trying to convince me to go away OR was he starting to have doubts about Scientology and wanted to hear what I had to say? I don't know. I didn't have time to find out. Scientology staff can be very fast in cutting off communication. At least they're still noticing me.

If the weather's favorable I plan to be at the picket on the 7th. I plan to arrive at my usual time at 12:00 noon and picket until around 3:30PM. A party afterwards would be great.

Oh, by the way, if some of my comments or references in my posts seem out of the blue you can do a Deja News search to get copies of all my previous posts. Those should fill in all the blanks for you.

Wayne Whitney