Originally Posted by
miamifella 
Are "tests of willingness" common in other areas? I mean when sponsors ask sponsees to quit their job, throw out clothing of a certain color, park on a particular street, clean out the sponsor's garage, etc.
I thought this was b.s. and would not take part, so that cut down on my options for sponsors considerably. What kinds of tests are given to newcomers in other places?
In my area, "tests of willingness" are common but certainly not universal. I have heard of sponsors requiring sponsees to pick up their drycleaning, quit jobs, take jobs, etc. but the most common thing seems to be deciding who their "we" should be (i.e., the "we" of the program can only include those program members approved by the sponsor).
I'm no longer an AA member, but even when I was, I did not participate in this sort of thing, either as a sponsor or as a sponsee. I would have immediately fired any sponsor who asked such things of me and as a sponsor, I also refused to control anyone else's life. Fortunately there were enough people who agreed with me on this point that I was not excluded and my decision to leave AA had little to do with this particular issue.