Was I In A Cult? - WISE(aka Scientology) — “Stop interbulating me!”

Episode Date: May 15, 2023

Fresh to the workforce, Amber answered a job posting for a dental assitant: “No experience needed!” Looking for something reliable to support her new life as a single mother, she was thrilled when she got hired. Little did she know, her new job would be more than just dental work! We'll be back in a few weeks with SEASON 3. Thank you for all your love and support! We appreciate you more than you know. To help us continue to create this show, please consider supporting us on Patreon. https://www.patreon.com/wasiinacult Follow us on Instagram: @wasiinacult Have your own story and want to be on the show? Email us: [e-mail]

Most people that I tell the story to either think I'm wildly exaggerating or they're just so thrown by the whole thing that they're kind of speechless. There are some groups that you can say, oh I was in this group and people are like, oh you were in a cult. Not a lot of people are going to react that way when you tell them you worked at a dental office. But as far as the actual Scientology side of things went, you didn't, you didn't know what they didn't want you to Was I an Accult. I'm your host Liz Ayakuzi. You sure are, but I'm also your host, Tyler Missom.

And you guys, before we get to today's story, we have to share. We don't have to, Liz. We are going to... We try to. We don't have to, Liz. We are going to... We, no, we have to share. We don't have to, Liz. We are going to... No, we have to share an incredible shit story, literally, that we got after last week's episode. Yeah, if you didn't listen to last week's episode, there was a moment where we discussed defecating into your garden. My garden or? Just a garden. Any garden. Because the cult leader of that group

used to fertilize his crops that way. Yeah, so we joked to send us your human feces fertilization stories. And well, you flushed them right to us. And this, ladies and gentlemen. This is from Bridget Blake. Hi guys, after listening to this week's story, I had to write to to to to to to to to to to the group to to the group to the group to the the group the the group the the group the the the group the group the group the group the group the group th. th. that that that that that that that that that that the group. that group. that group. that group. that group. that group. that that group. that that group. that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that the group. the group. the group. the group. the group. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the group. the group. the group. the group. the group. the group. the group. group. the. the group. that the group. the the the the gentlemen, this is from Bridget Blake. Hi guys, after listening to this week's story, I had to write in about my experience with fertilizing with poop. I used to work at a wastewater treatment plant. In the plant, we had screens that would catch any solids that you didn't want going into the plant process. So basically anything your body didn't break down as well as all kinds of stuff people like to flush, underwear, t-shirts, even money.

Did you know people flush t-shirts on the toilet, Tyler? I've never done it. The things that got caught by the screens were eventually moved into a dumpster. That was super gross. I'm glad you have to say that it was super gross. I'm glad you have to say that it was super gross. Yeah, I was picturing something pleasant until she told us. One summer, tomato plants started growing in the cracks of the concrete in front of the dumpster room. The old man I worked with would eat the damn tomatoes. These plants came from seeds that were processed in someone else's body.

Yuck. Direct quote, that's her yuck. It's also our yuck. Anyway, hope you enjoyed my story. And don't eat fruits and veggies grown from someone's shit. Love, Bridget. Oh, boy. Thank you you Bridget. That really made our day. This is why podcasts were invented. That story alone, Liz is the reason

people have ears. There is also another incredible one or two, but we'll save it after the credits. Because really, we really must get to today's story. Yeah, and I apologize. I still have a sort of cold thing going on, so I'm still gonna sound like a good old Midwest mom today. On the show, if you haven't noticed, we feature cults that run the gamut. And the way this guest came to us was fantastic. We opened up our email one day and we got this in the subject line.

Oh my God, guys, was I an occult? Question mark, exclamation point. And when I read her email, I was speechless. It takes a lot to make Liz speechless. That is true. Yeah, we won't go into too much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much much of to to to to to to to to to to to to to to tooomomom. tooom. tooom. toe. to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thea. the the. the thea. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. takes a lot to make Liz speechless. That is true. Yeah, we won't go into too much of what the email said as to not give anything away, but eventually we got to the line, I was in a cult and it was my job. And when I talked to her and she told me her story, I was like, wow, yes, 100% we were having her on our show.

Plus she's wonderful, funny and very personable. Her name is Amber and she was a pleasure to talk to. So, because her cult was her job, let's start Amber's story when she first entered the workforce. So I did mostly retail work. However, those jobs only pay minimum wage. So I did mostly retail work. However, those jobs only ever pay minimum wage. And then when I was 20, I had my first kid, my daughter. So I started looking for something that I could do to make more money.

I found this ad on Craigslist. It said no experience needed. Hiring dental assistant, starting at $10 an hour. And they were having open interviews. I didn't need to submit a resume, earn application. I didn't even know what a dental assistant did, but I figured they'd tell me. It was a pretty standard dental office.

The building was between an orthodontist and a dance studio or something like that. The first thing that they did was they handed you a packet of paper on a clipboard. The very top piece of paper was an agreement that said, this office uses technology from Wise, which is the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises. It's not affiliated with the Church of Scientology and only borrows different technologies from books by Elrond Hubbard. So essentially it was just saying like, we use this training material in this office. And if you are okay with this, sign your name.

Okay, I personally had never heard of Wise and I was quite intrigued. So clearly the first thing I did was check out the website, which I found to be wildly misleading. It's wise.org. And the photo on the front page is of a mama lion and her two cubs. And at first glance, you may think that you stumbled upon some sort of charitable wildlife situation. Yeah, and in the top left is the wise logo. Also a lion and two cubs. And under that, it that, it that, it that, it th the the the the the top left is the Wise logo, also a lion and two Cubs, and under that it

says publisher of prosperity magazine. Whatever the fuck that means. And then the main text on the page says, Join Wise, the membership for everyone using the Hubbard Administrative Technology in Business Today. They couldn't be more covert if they were Jason Bourne. You love Jason Bourne, don't you? I mean, he's hot. He's a spy. He kicks things and jumps, and yeah, of course.

Every guy likes Jason Bourne. I don't care who you are. Every guy would like to be Jason Bourne just for a couple days. Would you rather be Jason Bourne? Very important question. Email poll coming up. Jason Bourne, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, Jason, to to to to to to to to to to to th, th, th, th, th, th, th. He, hea, hea, hea, he's, he's, he's, he. He, hea, he's, he's, he's, he's, he's, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, hea, he. He. He. He. He. He. He, he. He, he. He, he. He, he. He, he. He, he. He, he. He, he. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He. He, he. He. He, hea, hea, he's a th. He's a th. He's a th. He's a th. He's a th. He's a th. He's a th. He's a th. He's a thi. He's a thi. He's a thi. He poll coming up. Jason Bourne, James Bond. I think I'd take James Bond. I'd rather be Oprah. Opring. Oprah's never shot two guns while it's jumping in the air.

As far as we know, I had really no idea what Scientology was. I think everybody knew Tom Cruz was a Scientologist, but it was just a silly, quirky thing. It wasn't something nefarious at all. This was 2009. I probably would have agreed to just about anything for $10 an hour by things. So I just signed it and moved on. A girl came out and addressed the entire group and did this whole like spiel about how they were founded, who the owner of the office is, who their mascot is th th th th th th th th th th th th thi thi thi thi thir thir thir thir thir thir thir thir thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. were founded, who the owner of the offices, who their mascot is, they have a mascot, it was a giant costume of a tooth and his name was Herbie and he was named after the little elf in Rudolph that wanted to be a dentist. A dimly doesn't like to make to it. Do you mind telling me what you do want to do?

Well, sir, someday I'd like to be a dentist. A dentist? A man came out and introduced himself, and he was just like, hi, I'm Joe. I own this dental office with my wife. I'm not a dentist. She's a dentist. Dentist?

A dentist? So I got called back by Joe, and he did my interview. And he was so cool. It was just like we were chit-chatting, and he was like super laid back. He's like, I really like you. I think that you're going to be really good for this office. the the the the the thaa. the the tha. tha. the thoe. to. to. thoe. to. I. I' to. I' thoe. I' to be thoe. I'm thoe. I'm, thoes. I'm, thoes. I'm, thi. I'm, thoom. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. I'm, th. th. th. t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t t teean. t t tean. tean. teaneaneaneaneanean's like I really like you. I think that you're going to be really good for this office. We'd like to offer you the position. I was like yes. Remember to take note of the process and how she experienced Joe right from the start.

He was warm, laid back, like two old friends, just having a nice chat. Mr. Cool Man Joe. Also note, it seems she was probably hired mostly due to her outgoing personality. I really wanted this job to work, but I had no idea if I was going to be able to do it. When I came in, I was basically just seated next to this front office receptionist Amanda. She told me that her task is to train me to operate just like she does, so that she can take a higher position. So Amanda gave me a tour of the office, you know, pretty standard stuff. There was 35 employees.

She introduced me to some of the staff and managers, Christine and Doug. Those are fake. All of them so far have been fake. The names, that is. But not the mascot, the mascot, the mascot, the mascot, the the the mascot, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th managers, Christine and Doug. Those are fake. All of them so far have been fake. The names that is. But not the mascot name. That was real. So Doug did a lot of the back stuff. So his job was ostensibly to keep everything on schedule. Christine was like the front office manager. So far pretty normal I'd say. One thing I noticed is anytime they referred to the owner of the front office manager. So far, pretty normal, I'd say. One thing I noticed is anytime they referred to the owner of the practice,

they only called her doctor. You didn't say the rest of her name. There was also a giant portrait of doctor hanging on the wall. It was off-putting. It was huge. And if the oversized portrait wasn't enough, there was a little shrine with other framed photos of doctor enjoying life with the people she loves. Super creepy. And if the shrine wasn't enough, Amanda then shows her the weirdest thing of all. She was like, this is a picture of doctor and that is a box where

you can send her a message and there was like this wooden box with a lock on it with cards and you could write whether you're an employee or a patient anything to doctor that you want to. It's really important to her that everybody has a direct line-up communication to her that can't be intercepted by anybody else. She will always open the box and she will always the the message the message th th th th th th th the message th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th se th se the the the the the thea the thi thi thea thea the the the the the the the the the message and the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message the message th th the the the the the the the thea thea thea thea thea' thea' thea' thea' thea thea thea thea thea the the has a direct line of communication to her that can't be intercepted by anybody else. She will always open the box and she will always read the messages. You could you could ask her anything. It's weird, yeah. That's like most dental office, right? And then the next stop on the tour? She showed me the wall in the break room, which was the org chart. And it had every job title, and it was separated into divisions.

I have a cheat sheet, hold on. And while she gets that cheat sheet, let's learn a little about Scientology, shall we? No, of course, I'm sure most of you listening know a bit about this behemoth of a cult, but here is a 30-second description, courtesy of CHAPGPT. Scientology is a controversial religious movement founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard in the 1950s.

It's based on the belief that humans are immortal spiritual beings called Thetans. Traumatic experiences in past lives affect our present existence. Scientology offers counseling called auditing and courses to help individuals rid themselves of these negative influences. Critics argue that it is a cult-like organization that manipulates and exploits its followers, while the Church of Scientology claims to be a legitimate religion promoting self-improvement. The movement has faced legal challenges and controversies over the years. Oh to say the least, Mr. Robot. Now back to this org chart. All right so there's Division 1, that was my division, that's communication. Division 2, which is the Dissemination Division, Division 3, Treser, Division 4, Technical Division,

Division, Division 6, Public Division. Their main job was deleting bad reviews online. I don't know how else to say that, and then Division 7 was the Executive Division. So that was basically my very first interaction with the org chart, and I was like, well, I guess that's a thing that they do in offices. I wish the org chart was the weirdest thing, but it wasn't. Next, Amanda continues the tour of the office, and... She brought me into the room off of the break room. And there was like a couple of long tables

and this big shelf just loaded with these blue books. And she said, this is the course, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the theauorchaue, thaugheaugheaq thirteaq thirteaq thirteaqqqqqqq. thirteaq. theaq c. thirt. thirt. thirt. thirt. thirt. thirt. thirt. the. theaq. the. the. the wirte work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work work the the the the the is the is the is the is the is the is the is the is theared, the is thirte the the the the the the the the the the the the te teaught. teaughts. teaughts tea tea tea tea thea thea the the books. And she said, this is the courseroom. And she said, well, Joe runs the courseroom. And he will bring you back into the courseroom for about an hour to learn business courses. Business classes at a dental office? But the way it was presented was free business school, essentially. Wow, these people really care about their employees' vertical career growth. And I thought if I can take these business courses while I'm working and maybe later put them

on my resume, like, that's amazing. So, aside from a few small oddities, the life-size portrait of doctor who goes by no other name, the divisions of labor and the free business classes, the first day of work training is going fairly normal for Amber. Although this is her first office job, so she has nothing really to compare it to. But it wouldn't stay normal for long. That's your total, like, things are about to get worse read. Stop, beat, finish the line. Well, give me a better line then. Give me a better line.

I'm just gonna have chat GPT do this for you. Give me a better line. No, it's a great line. It's a great line and a great read. I'm just saying it's very, we could cut and paste it from every episode. We should get chat toet to learn it and then just do it in my voice. Clone your voice. It wouldn't stay normal for long. During my tour of the office, doctor came into the building and everybody's complete

demeanor changed. We're like holding this woman in reference. And it was very weird because she's just some regular lady, but she wasn't. She was doctor. Dentist. Uh, dentist? When she came in, Christine and Doug, they were right there by her side.

It reminded me kind of, you remember the West Wing, how they were always like, a huge group of people? That's what it was like, it was like, because, because, because, because, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th th thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, because, because, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th th th th thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, thiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thithe West Wing, how they were always walking? It was always like a huge group of people. That's what it was like, it was like, doctor walked in and these three people would just be together and everywhere she went they were with her. They introduced her to me like I was being blessed to meet her. They said, Doctor, this is Amber, she's doing her working interview today for front desk and she went, oh good and that was that it was just like a pretty pleasant interaction it was fine it wasn't a big deal but she had the craziest smile and not in a good way she smiled with every tooth in her mouth and I don't know that any of them were natural teeth

it was creepy and her eyes were kind of fixed. And that was the picture in the shrine. That's what I had to walk past every day was this photo of this creepy smile, these creepy eyes. So next, Amanda gives Amber a package to take to the post office. Does that fall under communication? Is that under her line of... It's part of her division, yes. It is part of her division, apparently. Well then Amanda, you get a pass.

And the woman working the counter at the post office, took everything out of the envelope, and she was like, it has to go in this other flat rate envelope. And I came back into the office, and I went to walk over to Amanda and doctor. And she turns to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the to the the the the the the the the the th, th, tho, tho, tho, thoom, the the the the the the the the woman, the woman, the woman, the woman, the woman, the woman, the woman, the woman, the the woman, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the woman, tho, tho, thoo, thooom, thooooooooomoomoom, too-., thoooooooooooooom, and thoooooooom, the the the there. And she turns and speaks directly to doctor. And I was like, they said that if you need to mail that out again. And she looked at me like, I spit on her shoe and said, thanks for the information. And then just walked away.

And I was like, that was weird. I later learned I did not go through the proper lines. I was not supposed to give doctor that information. It it. It it. It it. It, it. that. that. that. that. that, that, that, that, that, that, that, and that, and that, and that, and that's, and that's, and that's, and that's, and that's, and that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's, that's, that's, that's, that's that's, that's that's that's, that's, that's, that's was, that's was, that's was that's was that's was that's, that's, that's, that's, that's that's that's that's that's that's th. the. the. the. the. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. thean. theanan. that's that's theanananne lines. I was not supposed to give doctor that information. It's not in her hat. That's how I learned what a hat is. I mean, that's easy. Who doesn't know what a hat is? I know what a hat is, Liz.

What is a hat? The thing that you put on your head. A hat is a detailed ongoing job description. A binder filled with documents, instructions, policy, anything that applies to the job that you are doing and you study it and you memorize it. And it was like the Bible basically. It was just like the metaphor of, you know, she wears many hats. You may not wear more than one hat, and if you're going to wear a different hat, it cannot be until you have mastered your current hat.

So the training was me sitting next to Amanda and watching her do the job while I had the hat on my lap, and she's answering phone call after phone call, and she tells me that there is a very specific phone greeting. Good morning, thank you for calling gentle dentistry of and Lange. My name is Amanda. How can I help you today? There was a lot of pressure on Amanda to make sure that I was not put on the phone until I had it perfect. And if you don't say it perfectly, this is an issue with doctor. So we have Joe, the friendly, personable, cool Joe husband of doctor. Amanda, who was the current receptionist looking to move up in divisions.

And then, there were the managers, Christine and Doug. And Christine, she took a special interest in Amber. And it was a priority of her is to really get to know me. She would ask me about my life. And she asked me all the the the the the thia thia thia thia thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, to, too, to, to, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, cool, cool, too, too, too, too, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, too, to really get to know me. She would ask me about my life and, you know, she asked me all these questions about my daughter and she was like, oh my gosh, I have two kids. So it was very, very immediate that she wanted me to really like her and open up to her. I just felt immediately welcomed into the fold and I loved that. It felt really good. Two words. What are they? Rimes with Dove the thof, th. And, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and their tho, and tho, and their, and their, their their their, their, their their their, and she was like their their, their, their, their their their their, their their, their their their, their, their, their, their, their their, their, their, their, their, their their, their, their, their, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho. tho. I tho. Oh, tho. Oh, tho. Oh, thooo. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, their, their, their, the fold and I loved that. It felt really good. Two words.

What are they? Rimes with Dove palming. Love bombing. There you go. I'm so smart. But then they dropped another type of bomb. When Christine told me that her and Doug were scintologist, I was just like, that's cool.

And she's like, Doctor is really active in the church as well. You know, she told me, I was genuinely curious. So I would ask Christine questions. And she was like, give me a call when you get home, after you get your daughter settles, and we'll talk. And I did. I called her, and she was like, so what questions do you have? And I was like, well, I just, I kind of had the same questions that I would have about any religion. What is Scientology's answer to where we go when we die? And her response was, that's entirely up to you.

It's less about where you go when you die and more about what you do while you're here. I was like, okay, fair enough, I guess. And I asked her about, what's his name, Zinu? The alien warlord that supposedly all Scientologists believe in. Yeah, I mean, just the same questions about any religion. What's up with Zeno? We had the same question, so here's a thirty-second definition of Zinu, courtesy of chat GPT. Zenu is a central figure in the cosmology of Scientology. According to the religion's teachings,

Zenu was an alien ruler who brought billions of his people to earth, stacked them around volcanoes, and destroyed them with hydrogen bombs. It's a creative way to kill off all your people. They believe this shit. This is really what they believe they believe thi. and bombs. It's a creative way to kill off all your people. They believe this shit. This is really what they believe? That's the most ridiculous sci-fi I've ever heard. That's what a five-year-old would come up with.

I put him all around the volcanoes because of the lava. What's this drawing up, Timmy? These are the thetans. It's a bomb and it blows them up in the volcano, the volcano, the volcano, the volcano, the volcano, the volcano, the volcano, the volcano, the volcano, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thoom, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thetons. It's a bomb and it blows them up in the volcano. And a volcano, it's very nice. And he wants to kill all of his people. Ha ha ha ha ha! It continues. The souls of these beings, known as thetans,

theatons, are said to attach themselves to humans, causing spiritual and psychological issues. I'm sorry. It's just so ridiculous. Okay but that one actually checks out the other part I didn't buy but this one this one they should have led with that. This story is revealed only to those who have reached the advanced levels of Scientology and it is regarded as highly confidential. Oh well I guess everyone here just went clear didn't. Wow we didn't even have to give them any money but now we're in light beings.

We've reached the highest level. It's downhill from here, Tyler. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. The robot continues. Critics view the Zenu's story as evidence of Scientology's alleged cult-like nature, and fantastical beliefs. No idea where they would get a crazy idea like that, darling. I don't know.

I just had to reread that, and maybe Chad GPT is wrong, but volcanoes, alien ruler, souls, thetans. This is lunacy. It's, I'm sorry, it is just madness. It seems like something only a science fiction writer could come up with. Yeah, a terrible science fiction writer. It's just ridiculous that people buy this. I'm sorry.

You should be sorry. You should be really sorry. I'm not, because I'm not in it, thank God. It is. It's absolutely preposterously insane. But aren't so many things in cults? Or religion? Don't get me started on the Bible. So Amber questions Christine about this and Christine, well, she kind of plays dumb.

I mean, I would play dumb. Why does she play dumb? Because she believes the shit. That's not hard to play dumb when you're fucking dumb. And she was just like, I've a Scientologist since I was born, and I promised you, never once have I ever heard of anything like that. And I was just like, yeah, that's why I figured, because that sounds nuts. And that was it. It was just the normal conversation about religion. So by this point, Amber is working as the office receptionist, and she's getting pretty good at it.

And in line with other oddities, there was a specific protocol for every incoming phone call. When we got a phone call or a letter, it had to go directly to the person it was meant for it. If you get a phone call and the person says, I'd like to schedule a new patient appointment, I would say, okay, I'll get you right over to our new patient coordinator. There was a notebook, you had to write down. Every single call that came in, the average number of phone calls I answered in a day was like 90, which is a lot of phone calls.

In the beginning, she would were giving her this graph paper. She would collect it all, and I found out that was everybody's stats. So everybody had a stat to track. For me, it was phone calls coming in, and you had to count that every day and plot it on a graph. And then you would draw the line on the graph. And based on the direction your line is going in, you would be assigned a condition.

If it was going straight up, you were in affluent condition. And then if the line is just like steadily going up but not as steep, that's normal condition. That's kind of where you want to be, because affluence can't last forever. The line was going slightly down, that's emergency, and that's when you answer questions about how are you going to head this off before it gets any steeper? And then if it's steeply down, you're in danger. Hold on, I was just getting the hang of everything. There's the weird doctor lady with a larger than life photo who thinks she's Madonna and only goes by doctor. Then there's the org chart chart all the various divisions, the proper lines of communication.

Hats, there's don't forget hats. And hats, everybody has their hat. But now she just threw in stats and affluent conditions. I swear to God, I'm gonna need a glossary of terms by the time this episode is over. We have only scratched the surface. So everyone had the surface. So everyone had their stat, put on a graph. And you would take those stats, deliver them to Christine or Doug.

And every morning there was a meeting, and everybody had to hold up their graphs one at a time, and say, this is my stat, this is my condition, in front of everybody, every day. Those questions that were kind of shaming you for not doing your job the right way, for not meeting your stat, you had to answer those in front of all of your coworkers.

They take the graphs and they hang them along a wall. It doesn't matter how hard you work. It doesn't matter how correctly you do everything. What matters is that line on the graph. And if yours isn't going up up up up up up up up up up up up up thiiiiiiiiiiiii thi thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, thi, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thoing thoing tho, thi, tho, tho, their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the right right right right right right right right right right right thoooooooomoomorrow, thoooomorrow, the. thea. thea. their their their the that line on the graph. And if yours isn't going up, then you're just not good at your job. And my stat was incoming phone calls. So when you have a decline in incoming phone calls,

how do you take responsibility for that? I was very confused by it, and I did talk to Doug. I said, if I am quantifying my job by incoming phone calls, I should have some control over something that impacts how many people call in. Shouldn't I have something to say about the advertising? And he said, you're looking at this through the wrong lens. If you're not getting calls into the office, it's because you don't have enough intention on

your lines. Basically what he was saying is, if calls weren't coming in, it's because, it's because you don't have enough intention on your lines. Basically what he was saying is if calls weren't coming in it's because I didn't want them to. You heard that ladies gentlemen? That person goes to it's your fault clearly because you didn't have enough intention on your line. They would use words in weird ways like intention. And that was the first time I heard it. If you don't have enough intention, you might as well have one foot out the door. I took that as more motivation to just devote myself entirely to this job,

to never ever be the person who didn't have enough intention. One day, Amber approached Christine to simply tell her something. And she just looked at me and walked away. And she walked into Kim's office. She was standing there with Kim. Kim was another woman who worked at the office. She was like looking at mail or something. And I walked in behind her, and I tried to continue the conversation,

and she said, stop in turbulating me. And I was a little shocked. I guess I was just kind of standing there like quiet and I was like, am I supposed to know this word? I don't know what that means. That's going to be the title of our episode, by the way, stop and turbulating me. Do you know I looked it up and it is a word invented by Elron Hubbard? What is it mean? It just means like according to him causing turbulence, so like stressing you out or like making you feel negative. Tether's going to have to stop and turbulating me for the rest of the

season. You've just created a monster over here. I'm sure Christine had a perfectly cromulent reason to be annoyed with her. It was probably more of an acid-dumbuckery reason. I ultimately found out that the org board was not the only thing that was modeled after the church. Every aspect of the company was run like the Church of Scienceology. Yeah, remember those free business courses?

Joe, doctor's husband, would tell us we were having course time that day. And we would go into the courseroom, and we would learn the courses. And Joe had to be there. You couldn't just go in the course room by yourself. He had to be there to guide your learning. So the first course,'s basically telling you the right way to learn. One thing was called a misunderstood. According to them, if you're reading and you don't know the definition of a word,

you have to stop, get a dictionary, look it up, and you cannot keep reading until you fully comprehend the meaning of that word. You can't absorb anything else that you. the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right the right, the right, thi, thi, thi, thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. thiiiii. thii. thi. thi. thi. th meaning of that word. You can't absorb anything else that you read. Another was gradients. If you come across something that you can't understand, that means it's too steep a gradient, you got to go back. Okay Tyler, I can't even keep track anymore. I'm definitely going to need that glossary. Yeah, you don't want to disfactorily make a mistake, now would you? No, I could never functionally do that that that that that that thiiiiiii to to thi to thi to to thi to to thi to thi thi to thi to to to to thi to have to have to have to have to have to have to to to have toe any thiole toa toa thoom. toa to thoom-a to to to to to to to to to their anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything anything to to to to to to to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their their thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. tea. tea. teauu. teau. try. try. teau. try. try. try. teau. try. thaea. tea. teary. Yeah you don't want to disfactorily make a mistake now would you? No I could never can functionally do that without feeling blastofic about the whole thing. Yeah it's completely desmorical and my opinion Liz. Desmarical. Oh did I say it incorrectly? There's workbooks and then they have those little flat marbles and you would have to take those little marbles on the table and show Joe with these

marbles that you understood what you just read. And then he would tell you if you can move on to the next chapter. If you did it wrong, he would do it for you and he would show you like, this is the idea. So like it literally made no sense. It was used for everything, but this is that I have to learn the stuff the stuff the stuff the stuff the stuff the stuff thua thua. everything, but this is that I have to learn the stuff so that I can be successful in this job. Eventually he took another course about the tone scale. So the tone scale is basically just a chart and at the bottom is apathy and

then you would go up to grief, fear, hostility, anger, the antoge, conservatism, strong interest and then enthusiasm. We had to memorize the tone scale. There was also this thing called ARC was a triangle and each side of the triangle had a label. Affinity, reality and communication. Affinity is you have to basically be somebody that other people want to be around. Reality is the way you relate to them, and then the other corner is communication. You have to have all three of those things in order to have effective communication with somebody.

And you have to move them up the tone scale. That one was manipulative. The financing girls were taught the tone scale over and over and they beat it into their head. And the reason why this tone scale was drilled into the finance girl's head was because it was to be used on the customers, which we will get to very shortly. But first, it's important to note the types of clientele that this dentist office was targeting. They were very very very the the the the their their their their the. the the. the the. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the. the. the. the, the, the, the. the. the. the. the. I the. thoes the. the. the. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the the them them them them them them them them them them them them them the, the, the, the, the, theeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee, the, the, the,pes of clientele that this dentist office was targeting. They were very focused on attracting people who were afraid of the dentist. And then they see these advertisements that say, come in for a free visit. Go ahead. Remind them, Tyler.

Nothing is free. We would call, they would say, I haven't been to the dentist since I was seven years old and had a terrible experience. And you can sit them down and you can shame them for how long it's been since they've been to the dentist. And that is why they targeted people who were scared of the dentist. At their first visit, they would come in for an exam in x-rays, that was the free part and then the exam would lead to the treatment plan. And that's where the supreme con artistry would come in. They would present this massive treatment plan with

thousands of dollars of work that needed to be done. When the truth is, usually none of that work actually needed to be done. If you came in for just one toothache, we are going to treat your whole mouth, the entire mouth. The rule was you can't start your treatment until the entire plan is paid for. So these financing girls had people walking into their office with these treatment plans, 10, 15,000 dollars worth of work on it, and they would sit these people down in the office, and they would have to move them up the tone scale. Okay, so this is why the finance girls were so well versed on the tone scale. And pay attention because this manipulative sales tactic could be used on you at some point. They're trained to covertly

pick up on where they are. Are they angry? So they're meeting them right there at anger. Like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like like their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. th. th. th. thi. te. tea. tea. th. their. th. th. th. thii. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. they are. Are they angry? So they're meeting them right there at anger. Like how long has it bent since you've been to the dentist? The tone has to seem angry. You're supposed to be angry with them, but you're also pressuring them. And then immediately the person gets defensive, right? You're also trying to move them up and up and up to the pointment and getting it started. And that is their training. That is what they were trained to do. So like the next one up is boredom. So now the finance girl is like easing her tone and so just like, yeah, whatever, they don't care either way what you do. And that's when you kind of get the person going, wait, wait a minute, I know I need this work to to to to this. I need to know what to do. I need to know what my options are.

That's how we get them to say, yeah, no, I definitely need this work done. But I just don't have that kind of money. And that's when they would start with, what about your 401k? Do you have like a vacation fund? to their today..... thap. thap. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's. I. that's. I. I. that's. I. I. that's, that's, that's, that's, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho. that's tho. that's how, that's how I's how I's how I's how I's how, that's how, that's how I's how I's how, that's how I's how I'm, that's,. There was no taking no for an answer. So that's why people were, you know, calling grandma from the office asking to borrow, you know, 15 grand. So they would go, you know, 10 to thousands of dollars into debt. That is massively fucked up. That was probably the worst part of the job was watching that happen. Hey Liz, did you learn any languages when you were growing up? I learned

French and once upon a time I was fluent but I think that's mostly because I lived abroad for six months and was immersed in the culture. French class itself was always a grind. Do you speak any languages now? Just fluent in sarcasm, Tyler. Yeah, I'm out of practice sadly, so now. Well, guess what? Now thanks to Babel the language learning app that sold more than 10 million subscriptions, there's an addictively fun and easy way to learn a new language or brush up on an old one. Babble teaches bite-sized

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Their teaching method has been scientifically proven to be effective. And with BABL you can choose from over 14 different languages. There are so many ways to learn with Babel in addition to lessons. You can access podcast, games, videos, stories, and even live classes. Plus it comes with a 20-day money back guarantee. And right now, when you purchase a three-month Babel subscription, you'll get an additional three months for free. That's six months for the price of three. Just go to Babel.com and use promo code in a cult.

That's BABBEL.com code in a cult. Chow for now. You know, sometimes, and let's just be honest here, we all get down. Blue, depressed. Yeah, depression sucks. Anxiety sucks. I geared more toward anxiety. How about you?

You seem to fit that mold. Thank you. I mean, there is no quick fix for anxiety and depression. No. I mean, it's not just like find a new therapist or start to exercise. Yeah, not additional therapy, not additional meditation. thiiiiiiiiiiiiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. tha. tha. tha. tha. tha. thia. thia. thia. thia. thia. thia. th exercise. Yeah, not additional therapy, not additional meditation, or a better diet. No, I mean, all of those things help. But sometimes you need something else, you know, something to unlock your brain. Are you speaking specifically to me or the universal you?

I don't know, do you need help unlocking your brain, Tyler? Hmm, maybe a new way of thinking about and seeing the world. And maybe that thing is a guided ketamine therapy for Mind Bloom. There's a new tool to improve your mental health. At home, ketamine therapy. Mindbloom is the leader in at home ketamine therapy, having safely helped thousands of people overcome their anxiety and depression. Unlike traditional talk therapy,

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Mind Bloom.com slash cult and use promo code cult. So Amber, despite the Scientology undertones inherent in the system, she was actually really loving her job. When I would walk into that office, I would breathe a sigh of relief. I would walk in and I would think to myself, I'm around people that understand me. I was thrilled to go to work. I felt really good every time I walked in. And that was by design.

You know, there was a big effort to make me feel that way. I was in the inner circle. Christine especially really, really wanted to sink her claws into me. And she started really pushing. She was like, you know what you should do you to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go the the to go the to go the to go the to go to go the to go the to go the to go to go the to go to go the to go to go to go to go to go the to go to go to go to go to go to to go to to to go to go to to to go to go to to to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to sink her claws into me. And she started really pushing. She was like, you know what you should do? You should go to the church and get some auditing done. I think you would really benefit from it. It's been like a huge help for me and my stress levels.

And I was just like, you know, Christine, it's cool that you are so passionate about it. I'm glad that you found something that helps you, not my thing. But Christine also didn't like hearing no. There was a time I was upset about this guy that I had dated and we broke up and he was like sending me nasty text messages, you know, because we were in our early 20s and that's what you do. And it was annoying me. And she just like said something like yeah if only there was something that you could do to help you with your emotional mind and your

reactive mind I was just like man she's not gonna let this go that one sounds like what Tyler thrive appellation is that another El Ron word what does that one mean definition adjitive to thrive with intention huh which oddly is what adjective, to thrive with intention. Huh. Which oddly is what Amber started to do. Is that an adjective or a verb? I don't know, you said it. You made up the fucking word.

I worked one-on-one with Amanda until management felt like I could be left alone. Amanda went to learn some of her new duties as moving up in the division. And it became my job to collect everybody's graphs and stats, which gave me permission to go up into the private executive office once a day. Joe had a desk up there, this like beautiful mahogany desk. It was gorgeous.

It had to be just thousands of dollars. Whenever once in a while, I would go up and Christine would be there dusting the desk, moving things around on the desk, setting out like a bottle of water. And I asked her one day, I was like, whose desk is that? And she's like, this is for a doctor. We make sure that that that that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every that every's like, this is for doctor. We make sure that every day it's exactly the way she wants it, just in case she comes in. But there were times where she was doing it,

and like knowing full well, doctor was in Africa for two or three weeks, and she would still do this. Every single day, just faithfully organized the desk. Well, that's fucking creepy. It gets creepier at every church of Scientology. There is an office that's roped off, cleaned and organized every single day for when Elron Huppert is reincarnated and comes back. And it's set up exactly the way he preferred his desk to be set up. So she was basically treating doctor like Elrana.

Whether she was there or not, she was there. And it was always what does doctor want? What should we do for doctor? Doctor doesn't want us to do it this way. Was Doctor ever being a doctor? No. I think she saw a patient once while I worked there. She was teaching seminars pitching wise to other offices, dentists, chiropractors, things

like that. But there were a number of people who actually did perform dentistry in this office. One day we were onboarding a new dentist, Dr. Dano. Dentist. Uh, dentist! And they had him fill out his new higher paperwork in the courseroom. And I happened to be doing courseroom time at that time. And after Joe walked out of the room, Dr. Dano said, you know, they're having to read those books because they're trying to recruit you into the church. And I was like, what makes you say that? Then he said, they hired you because you're weak-minded and they know that they can recruit you. I went to Amanda. I told her everything. She walked away and comes back with Joe And they bring me into an office.

I'm telling you I'm shaking. And he sat me down, he was like, tell me everything. And I told him, it was a very short conversation. I said, that's not true, that's not what's happening here. And he looked at me and he said, so what do you think? thi, thiiii. to th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. to to. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. toe. told, told, told, told, told, they, they, told, told, told, told, th. told, told, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they. And, they. And, they. And, they. And, they. And, told, told, told, told, told, too??? And, too. too. too. too. too. too. too. the. the. the. told, told, told, told, Joe, are you asking me if I think that you're recruiting me to the church's Scientology? And he said, do you? And I said, no, I don't think that.

And he said, okay, go back to work. And then Dr. Dana was fired immediately. Yeah. I hate that story. I hate that story. I really do. It's just not one of my proudest moments, I guess. Her reaction was understandable. Little did she know this entire time she was being slowly indoctrinated with the learned language, the nonsensical protocols. I don't know, Liz, I think the protocols are perfectly suckeanuus. And that's why they had to fire Dr. Dano. He was a threat to their operation. After that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that th th th th th th. th. thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. their their their thi. thi. their th. their their their their their their their their their their their their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I their. I I their. I I their. I. I. I. I was. I. I was their. I was. I was their. I was their. I was. I was thi. I was the. the. the. the. toge. toge. toge. te. toge. te. toge. toge. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. I was. Dano. He was a threat to their operation. After that happened, that's when shit got really crazy,

because now they trusted me. And now they felt like I had their back. So they were a little bit more open about talking about the church. As far as the actual Scientology side of things went, you didn't know what they didn't want you to know. And what they did want you you you you to to to to to to know you you you th th th th th th th you th you th you th you tho, you tho, you th you tho, you tho, you tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, that, tho, that, that, that, that, that, that, that's, that's, th- tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thr-you, thro, tho, thro, thooooooooooooooooooooooo, that, tho, tho, tho, side of things went, you didn't know what they didn't want you to know. And what they did want you to know, you knew it when they wanted you to know it. But when you got to the point where they think, okay, she's going to believe this, she's

going to find this plausible, that's when they tell you. And that's where the gradient comes, you struggle to learn something, it's that you weren't brainwashed enough to hear it. You weren't brainwashed enough to believe it. I wasn't scared of joining a cult because I was already in one. I was already there. I was already using the same words. The system was already in place. I was like, you know, I could do it. I could join the church. They were always talking about their outreach, their philanthropy, the wonderful things they do for the community. And it doesn't feel like a religion, it feels like a self-improvement thing. I considered it for a minute.

The office, which for years had been thriving, for some reason, went into a decline. Fewer patients, less people calling in, and the managers, they were worried. They were more than worried, Tyler. They went to completely horvilatic over the entire situation. That's when they started looking at graphs. They started looking at stats. They started looking at everything and saying, where are the suppressives? So, okay, now what is a suppressant? Well, Amber was taught that a suppressive is basically a lower level human. A person who is negative, antisocial, who doesn't have enough intention? Anyone who speaks poorly about the office, etc. These are all suppressives.

And it was demonizing to be labeled one. And for Scientologists, it's really just anyone who leaves the church or speaks out against it, like us, right now. We're surreptives. Christine pulled every dental assistant into the courthroseroom and said, the reason that your schedules are empty, and it's the reason that your doctors aren't making any money because somebody here doesn't want it to happen. Christine demanded to know which one of them was a suppressive and this was turning into a pretty consistent thing searching for the suppressives in the

office. And over time Christine became really intense and scary. She raised her voice pretty frequently. If somebody was doing something, suppressive, somebody didn't have enough intention, she had every right to come at them. You're not doing it the right way. Crying was super common at that office. And then Joe would come, because he was the comfort, the father of the office. And he would always say that crying is a good thing.

It means you're learning. And that's when they throw it at you. Like, you should go to the church. You should get some auditing done. This isn't you. You're not meant to react this way. Knock you down and build you up. Constantly keeping you in a state of confusion. One time I was having a phone conversation.

It was a really intense conversation and I took my phone out to my car because I didn't want anybody to hear what was going on. And the conversation ended, and I just started crying. I was so emotional, and I'm just like staring at my saring wheel, just sobbing and I hear it tap at my window. I look and it's Christine and I rolled the window down and she just very intensely said, this is your reactive mind. Do you want to live like this forever? You need to go to the church. You need to go today. And I was upset and I couldn't

drive away because she was standing like on top of my car basically like leaning into my window and would not move until I said I would go and I was so broken down and I was just like fine I'll go I'm gonna go and that was the day that I went to the to the church and had the most bizarre conversation and experience at the church. Oh man, I recently made the mistake of presenting a pain I was having in my rib to the internet. That is not a good idea to do that. According to the trustee World Wide Web, I either had a tumor, a pulled muscle, or a small family of gnomes living in my pancreas. And what was it, actually? I think it was just a cramp for me eating. Yeah, buffet should have a visitation cap. But all you can eat means all you can eat, Tyler. Look, there are better ways to get the answers you want to to to the to to to the to to the to to to the to the the the the th. And th. th. th. th. th. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. the. the. the. the. the. the the theananeaneaneaneaneaneaneaneaneaneanuuuu. tru.u.ueaneaneaneaneanu. tumeaneaneaneaneane. tume. tun better ways to get the answers you want and the care you deserve from

trusted professionals and not random info on the internet. And that's with ZocDoc. Zoc doc. Zoc doc helps you find expert doctors and medical professionals and deliver the type of experience you want. Soc doc is the only free app that lets you find and book doctors who are patient reviewed, take your insurance, are available when you need them and treat almost every condition under the sun. Mythological beliefs might work for cults, but maybe not for medical care. Wasok Doc, there are no alarms and no surprises. I've found it to be a

very easy app to navigate. Choose from thousands of patient-reviewed doctors and specialists. Browse doctor profiles, to navigate. Choose from thousands of patient-reviewed doctors and specialists, browse doctor profiles, upload, verify your insurance information, and then get the care you need. Go to ZocDoc.com slash Inacult and download the Zoc-Doc app for free and find and book a top-rated doctor today. Many are available within 24 hours. That's ZOC-D-O-C.com slash in a cult. Zoc-docc.com slash in a cult. Now, if you'll excuse me, the gnomes are getting hungry. Okay, I live in California, but I have no fruit trees.

I actually have a lemon tree and an orange tree, and this year we were a wash in lemons. You're mocking me, aren't you? No lemons for you. No lemons for you. I've always dream about my lush garden with my avocado and olive trees, living in Italy somewhere. Don't let that dream die, Liz. athea, the tree.coe, tree, tr-in, tr-in, tr-up, tr-up, tr-up, tr-up, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree, tree part, because fast-growing trees.com can help you plant your dream garden. You know, if you were my neighbor, I would make sure to get a large row of their evergreens between our properties. Good fences make good neighbors. Especially when those fences are beautiful, fast-growing giants. Those are nice looking. Fast-growing trees. the actual website you guys is awesome. It is so accessible. It is so easy to use use to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to to the to the the the the.com, the actual website you guys is awesome. It is so accessible, it is so easy to use.

You can choose from hundreds of products, and some are just fun to say, like ice cream banana tree or waxmurtle tree, crocodile fern. So many trees. If you don't know where to start, they have plant experts who are always available to help keep your plants growing healthy through the season and beyond. No more th. th. th th th. th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th. th th. th th th th th th th th th th thi th thi thi the. the. tho the. the. the. thoe. It is thoe. It is th. It is th. It is th. It is the. It is the. It is so the. It is the. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. th. th. th. th. th. th. th th th th th te te te. te te te te te te te te te te te te te te tea teauuuuu teauuuu to to your plants growing healthy through the season and beyond. No more waiting in long lines or getting dirt in your back seat. With Fast Growing Trees.com you order directly online and your plants arrive at your door in just a few days. It is really an awesome service, I have to say. It really is. We actually got a lime tree delivered to complete our citrus trilogy. It's no scurvy here.

And I'm finally getting my avocado trees. Mmm, dreams do come true. With fast growing trees, 30 day alive and thrive guarantee, you know everything will look great, fresh out of the box. Join over 1.5 million happy fast growing trees customers. Go to fast growing trees.com slash cult now to get 15% off your entire order. Get 15% off at fast growing trees.com slash cult. Now, excuse me, life gave me lemons and I'm going to go make some lemonade. So here is Amber. She's post breakdown in a vulnerable, and she arrives at the Church of Scientology.

I went, and she had somebody there waiting for me. She knew who I was as soon as I walked to the door, and the first thing she did was sit me down and do a personality test. I was just like, oh my god. Like, what did I get myself into? And she did the personality test and they give you like this printout of all of your results, which of course were horrible. That's terrible. I needed so much help. You're not going to take a personality test from the Church of Scientology and get good news. They're not going to tell you you're great and you're doing awesome and you're super to to to to to to to to to to to to to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to say, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, thea, thea, thea, thea, thea, the the their, tho, tho, thoomolioli, thoomoli, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, try, te, te, te, te, te, te, te, te, teananuuo, teanuo, teanuo, teanuiioluioluioluiolui, going to tell you you're great and you're doing awesome and you're super confident. No, they're going to tell you that you have too much

stress and you're too sad and things are too messy and you need them. She was like, I want you to read this and she handed me this like staple document. They started reading it and then she hands me a cup of clear flat marbles and tells me to show her that I understand what I just read. Yeah, yeah. I showed her that I understood what I read and she was impressed with how good I was at it because it's something I did at work all the time and she was, I want to show you the first course you would take if you signed up for it. And she handed me the book and I remember looking at it and looking at her and saying, I've taken this course already. I know this course. It was the exact same thing.

Yeah, remember those free business classes she'd been taking at work to better her career?. their. their their. their their their their their their the course. the course. the course. I the course. I the course. I the first. I the first. I the first. I take. I take. I take take take the first course thing. Yeah, remember those free business classes she'd been taking at work to better her career? Yeah, that was just Scientology 101. And I was so beside myself, when I left there, I was just on another planet. I was like, something weird is going on. Like, this isn't, this isn't what I thought it was. That is when I started to notice. The things I had been going on forever were not okay. So what happens?

How does that lead to you getting out? The first way was I started Googling, and I just went down a rabbit hole. And I was on my computer at work, which felt very rebellious at the time, like, oh, I'm going to use your equipment to find out what you're up to. And at this time, there wasn't information about the church like there is now. There wasn't documentaries, there wasn't TV shows, but I did stumble upon a man's blog, who was an ex-Scientologist and specifically was talking about Wise.

World Institute of Scientology Enterprises and it called it a Scientologist factory. The man claimed that Wise will pay Scientologists that own businesses and use the tech any time one of the employees bridges to the church. The owner of the business gets kickback. So Doctor and Joe Cool. Well maybe he's not as cool as he presents. And it wasn't too long after that I opened a piece of mail from Wise and it was a check to Doctor for $3,000 and there was a stub attached to it that was itemized with employees names on it. She was breaking it in from wise but that's when I knew for sure I was like dude this is true.

Everything I read is true. This is crazy and now that feeling that I would get when I walked into the office was complete opposite. Now I was walking in I just felt gross. And I'm like, God, half of these people have no idea what's going on and the other half are just pushing this god-awful agenda. People are just trying to make a living. We're just trying to support our families. They just took advantage of that. And one day, I pulled in to work, and I got in my car and I drived myself halfway to the door. I looked at the building, and I could see the door was just like a glass door, and I could see everybody lining up with their graphs to present their stats from the day

before, and I justthought for what it was. Little Scientologists and training. And I turned around and I walked back to my car, and I never went back. Let's go, Amber. That's my girl. And her research didn't end there. Doctor was the weirdest piece of the puzzle. And I wanted to know absolutely everything.

So I was looking into her, and I found that she had had her license revoked. She had it revoked well before I started working there. Hmm, that's interesting. Mm-hmm. Makes sense why she was always in Africa or wherever the fuck she was. So this shrine, these private letters to doctor, a life-sized portrait, a daily dusted desk that was the replica of Elron Hubbard's office, all for a doctor who wasn't even a licensed doctor anymore?

Oh, and there was a reason why this dentist had her license for a vote. And it's a fucked up one. A patient passed away due to negligence. So, like I said, the office practiced what doctor called comprehensive dentistry. They write up a full treatment plan and you can't get any of it done until it's paid in full. All of this is unethical. And a man came in with an abscessed tooth,

and he wasn't treated because he couldn't pay for the whole thing at one time. He left the office, ended up being rushed to the hospital and died of an infection that went from his tooth to his brain. All she had to do was give him an antibiotic. If he just had had an antibiotic in his body, there's a really good chance he would still be alive.

The family of the man spoke to the local newspaper and doctor started to be looked at, and that's when they found insurance fraud and that's when they found insurance fraud and the weird financial sayings, the pressure to talk people into getting loans and all of this was documented and that's why she ended up losing her license. And what ever happened to that wonderful manager who kept hounding her to go to church? Who Christine? She got fucking fired! Christine, she was fired because I, I, theype, and I, the that wonderful manager who kept hounding her to go to church. Who, Christine? She got fucking fired. Christine, she was fired because I didn't pay for any courses.

And that was her real job. She didn't really serve any other function other than to, you know, encourage us to go to the church. And I think I was the third or fourth person that went to the church and I think I was the third or fourth person that went to the church and didn't buy anything. It's the little Victorios sometimes right Tyler. Absolutely, and so after Amber left the office it fortunately didn't sway her entirely away from the industry as a whole. My first interview at the next office, the manager that was interviewing me was like,

so tell me about that office. I heard their Scientologists tell me everything. And I'm like, they were really pushy with their religion. And that's kind of how I wanted to leave it, and she's like, everybody knows that about them. We all know. Eventually, I left the office and I found a wonderful job where I can work from home. It's a way healthier and better place for me. I'm much happier.

And looking back on the entire ordeal, Amber reflects. They manipulated me, and they were working me into somebody that they could control. And they made me a perfect follower. So I walked out of that job and into a marriage with a narcissist. And he just took the place of the office, of the people that were trying to do this to me. And it took six years for me to say, fuck this, and get out for good, and really start healing. I got my ass into therapy.

I think that therapy was probably the main reason that I can sit here and talk about this in a way that doesn't hurt anymore. It doesn't make me emotional. You know, I've worked really hard to come back from that and I'm kind of grateful for it in a way because if that didn't happen, I never would have pushed myself to grow. And I've grown to be somebody that I can be proud of being. And for that particular dental office today, we are happy to say it's closed. True, however, that doesn't mean that there aren't other offices just like them out there using the exact same system. How many wise organizations are there?

They'll say, you know, thousands of offices having so much success, but you don't ever get a solid number. So like, you could go to your dentist and it can be wise? Yep, absolutely. They are 100% created by, run by, funded by the Church of Scienceology. Dentist. Ah, dentist! And we asked Chad Chippie T. One final question.

Is Scientology a cult? And here is what the AI bot said. Scientology, divisive. Accused of being a cult due to control, secrecy, and controversial practices. And then just for fun we asked chat GPT if it was a cult in the voice of Cookie Monster. And it said, hmm, Scientology. Now that sounds like Yoda. Hmm, some say cult. It's controversial with control, secrecy, and maybe cookies. He's not wrong there. Every cult has cookies or snacks.

And then we asked it. Is Scientology a cult in the voice of Forrest Gump? And they said, Scientology, some folks say it's a cult, with controlling ways and lots of secrets, just like a box of chocolates. Sometimes cults like a block of chocolates, Jenny. Folks say it's a cult, Jenny. And then we asked it, is Scientology a cult in the voice of Yoda? And it said, hmm, Scientology, cult or not? Controversal it is, with secretive ways and control over followers.

Hmm. Why does Yoda and Cookie Monster sound vaguely? I know, they do actually sound very similar, don't they? They pull from your same register. This new AI technology, if it doesn't all put us out of work, it is fun. Even though it's going to kill our society, it is just really a joy to fuck around with. And then, because we were having way too much fun, we asked Chat GPT to give us a Shakespearean sonnet about the show, Was I an Occult?

In somber tones, this podcast doth unfold. Was I an occult? It's haunting title cries. Where shadows dance and hidden truths take hold, through whispered tales where darkness off lies. The host, a virtuoso of spoken word. You notice how they didn't give you two hosts, Tyler? Just, just me. No words just you. The host, a virtuoso of spoken word, provokes reflections, questions piercing deep.

In souls recount the webs they once were lured, in search of answers, memories they keep. Like tragedies, their stories find their stage, revealing fates entwined, past sins revealed. Yet through their trials, wisdomoth engage a journey fraught but hearts now keenly healed. So listen close. Thy ears two voices true. In this podcast's realm, enlightenment ensues. Wow, that Shakespeare was something, wasn't he? Thank you, Amber.

You are amazing. You were an incredible storyteller and a joy to talk to. And we really enjoyed you coming on the show and enlightening us with a cult we had never really heard of in this way. Yep. Great story, crazy story, and I will be very careful when I go to my dentist next time. With a cult we had never really heard of in this way. Yep, great story, crazy story, and I will be very careful when I go to my dentist next time. And stick around after the credits, guys. We've got some more shit stories for you. Yay, the stories aren't really shit.

They're fantastic. But they do involve pooping outdoors. Was I an occult is created, written and produced by Dr. Ayakusey, and Dentist Miesam. Audio edit, design, and mix by the Division 5 leader Rob Parra. That's our show, and this is the last episode of season 2, you guys. Thank you so much for all returning listeners. We really appreciate you sticking around and being right there with us when we came back and also appreciate all the new listeners. Take this break to go back and listen to more of season one if you

can. And tell your friends and also you know Liz and I love the notes and messages and emails you send. They're really fun. We have a great time. We try to respond to every single one. So please, info at was I and occult.com. We love hearing it. Yeah, and if you have a cult story of your own and you want to be on this show, email us. Info at was I and a tolk. Com. And we'll be back in a few weeks, guys. Stick around after the credits if you want to to to to to to to the the the to the the th. the th. th. the th. the th. th. the the th. the th. thi. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. tho. the tho. the thi. the thiole. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thi. thi. th. th. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I will will will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I will. I'll. I'll just just just. I'll. I'll.ea.ea.ea.ea.ea.ea.ea. I'll.ea.e. I'll.e. I'm guys. Stick around after the credits if you want to hear some more shit stories. Don't spare my life. Crucify. And now for our other craptastic stories.

This is called Poop Story by Marty Pierce. in the 80s, so having toy firearms was normal. I had a pretty common World War I era replica of a bolt-action rifle that was mistakenly left at a neighbor's house. This was before your guns had an orange tip on the barrel or was painted odd colors because it was all about authenticity. Anyway, my friend decided to spray paint my gun with red and silver paint and really that authentic look. When I found it in his yard, it made me really mad. They weren't home, but back in those days, it wasn't uncommon for kids to be outside

and unsupervised for hours and hours. In their backyard, they had a playhouse, a real one, not like the little tyke's plastic. Think like a shed. And there was a small igloo brand ice chest on the floor. I was so mad, I decided to poop in the ice chest. Here's the crazy part. That's not the crazy part? Their mom figured out it was me and took the ice chest

to my house and left it on the porch with a note for my parents, telling them we owed them a new ice chest because I crapped in theirs. My dad was his super thrifty slash cheap and cleaned, disinfected the ice chest and took it back to their house and told them there was no way that he was going to purchase a new one for them. She obviously refused. My dad took it back home and used it for years as his lunchbox. He also never bought a replacement. Thank you, Marty.

Pratastic. You got another one, Liz? I got one more for you guys if you're still sticking around. This one is called D-D-O, and that is spelled D-O-D-O-D-O. I will leave the author Anonymous for his own sake. I have on numerous occasions combined running and shitting in strange places. Having made the mistake of drinking too much coffee before going for a long run, I have found myself in the middle of nowhere with only a bushe as cover and my underpants as toilet roll just needed to share. Well, thank you for sharing that story. We've all kind of been there. As runners,

we've all kind of booped in places we shouldn't. And please continue to share your shit stories with us as we're on this break. No, we don't have to. We're going to come back and we're going to share a shit story at the end of every episode just for fun. Actually maybe we won't. Actually I don't think we will. Maybe we will. I don't think we will. No I don't think we will. No I don't think we will. But we might. But we will be back in a few weeks with more fantastic poop stories. Cult stories. I shit you not. They are good.

Maybe we'll start off with your story, season 3, Tyler. Probably not. Thanks, guys. We love you. This time I'm getting the last shit. Word. word and if the portrait wasn't enough it was like a little shire and if the portrait wasn't enough it was like a little shire shire which a shire is like a little hob at home oh it's a shire it's a little shire just I'll read

anything you put in the teleprompter. I'm dying. It's really not that funny. It really wasn't. It really wasn't. You were so committed.