In article <5gvid0$cf8$1@news.aimnet.com>, steve@swhitlat.com wrote:

>|> When I first started picketing the S.F. mission I saw about 7 paying
>|> customers going in and out. After two months of picketing I saw NONE.
>|>
>|> I may not be STOPPING $cientology but I KNOW that my presence out
>|> there is certainly having a negative impact on their stats.

> Hi Wayne,
>
> That's great! But how do you know? I mean, you would need to be
> able to differentiate the public from the staff, right?
>
> It's been a while, maybe they have new public.
>
> I hope you are right. Convince me.

Steve, if your expecting numbers from me or want a graph of my ‘stats’ -- I can’t provide either of these to you. Since staff won’t let me inside to examine their stats so that I can determine exactly what effect I’m having I have to infer what is going on inside by what I see happening on the outside.

THE MISSION

At the mission I used to picket every weekend from 12:00 until 6:00P (when they closed for the day). This should have been their prime time when they had the most customers. As I said when I first started picketing I saw about 7 paying customers going in and out. The last couple of times I was there I saw absolutely NO paying public, there were only staff members left. There were so few associated with that place that it was fairly easy to determine who was staff and who was public.

About this same time I also got an inside tip that the mission couldn’t even pay their rent and had just received an eviction notice. Things were looking pretty grim for that place.

It was also about this time that Jeff Quiros (of OSA) first contacted me. He tried to convince me to stop my picketing. I know he wouldn’t have contacted me if I wasn’t really having a negative impact on the mission because up to that point he had totally ignored me. Apparently he was hoping that I would just give up and go away. By this time the mission was getting desperate, they even started putting out two recruiters out front (as soon *I* would show up). Before I started showing up they had no one out there. This fact was verified by one of the employees of the clothing store nearby.

Yes, the mission may have more public now then when I was out there. Fortunately the mission is (and always has been) so pathetic at spreading $cientology that I figure it’s more productive for me to be outside the Org instead. Because of this and a few other reasons the Org is where I feel I need to be picketing right now.

THE ORG

At the Org it’s more difficult to see direct results than I did at the mission. Unfortunately I keep seeing new faces there all the time. Janet Meinsma can be a very effective sales person (reg) sometimes. Since I have a 4 - 6 hour commute (round trip) every time I picket I can’t be out there as much as I would like. Janet’s got the advantage on me there. They must be recruiting new members when I’m not there. Imagine the nerve of them, recruiting when I’m not there!

Anyway, when I AM able to get out there I manage to produce a wide range of effects on the general public. Here’s a few examples:

* The have been several people who arrived, looked at the address above the door and then at the $cientology sign. From that I could tell that they were specifically looking for this place. Amazingly each one (after verifying that they were at the right place) glanced over at me. Instead of immediately going in they just kind of milled around out front reading the posters and stuff in the window. While doing this they would occasionally glance at me. Eventually, instead of going inside they all just turned around and left in the direction in which they came. From this I have to conclude that my presence had at least something to do with their decision NOT to go inside.

* There was that one woman who had filled out the personality test and was just about to bring in back to the Org for evaluation when she ran into me. When I explained to her what $cientology was REALLY all about she changed her mind and told me that she was going to go home and "just throw that damn thing out."

* So far 3 people have recognized me on the street from that interview I did on Channel 53 last year. One guy just happened to be flipping through the channels when he recognized me from one of my pickets so he tuned in to hear what I had to say. Each one of them told me they would never get involved in that cult after hearing my story. And to think that I once thought that no one ever watched public access TV.

* Then there are all the people who know nothing about $cientology but get so intrigued by my flashy green sign that they just HAVE to stop and ask me about it. Some even told me that that was the only reason they stopped. As I’m explaining $cientology to them at some point each one kind of ‘cognites.’ Some get disgusted and some just start laughing at the absurdity of the whole thing. Many even thank me for warning them.

I just can not believe that continuing to produce these kinds of effects on the general public is not having some kind of a negative effect on the Orgs stats. If they are not now they will someday.

One of my goals in life is to be able to fall asleep each night feeling that I accomplished something meaningful with my life that day. When I come back from a picket after having achieved results like those described above I can drift off feeling very satisfied with myself. I drift off just KNOWING in my heart that I’m negatively affecting $cientology’s ‘stats’ and making a positive difference in other people’s lives.

Steve, if you need more ‘convincing’ than this please come out and picket with me and see for yourself sometime, OK?

Wayne