"She's a good woman"

Women of Israel...

If you know them personally and have even the slightest relationship with them, they are truly awesome, the nation of Jewish mums. They will make sure you're fine all the time, worry for you ten times more than you if you have the slightest problem, they would send you to the doctor and force you to stay in bed if you coughed just once.

But.

If you encounter them at work when they have to provide a service for you, forget it, you instantly become the most annoying creature on the planet.
It starts at the airport ID check when you arrive in Tel Aviv. If you are a woman (yes because I've never experienced any of these things as a man, I can't speak from that point of view, sorry) and you have an option, try to choose a man, they'll be nicer to you. The last time a guy sent me to the "waiting room" he apologised. But the women, they hate you, you're here to have some fun aren't you? Well I hate you, I'm not going to smile to you, be nice to you, I'll just send you to that room.

Then at the supermarket. I always smile and say hi with enthusiasm, no matter who, that's just me. The female cashiers have weird powers that make me feel bad as soon as I say hi and smile to them. You can barely hear their answer, that is if they even bother saying hello. They act as if you're a disgusting thing they must get rid of asap and if possible avoid looking at you any chance they have.

Then at the post office.
My mum sent me an awesome parcel the other day, it took me a few days and a lot of walking/travelling to different services to find it. Every time I had to deal with a woman, same thing, they probably felt I was sent as a test to them, the most annoying girl on earth, trying to find her mummy's parcel. Urgh. The initial answer is always no because if you are, as Cheryl would say, a giver-uperer, you will go away and never bother them again. If you are a determined person, which I can be, you insist. But be prepared to feel very unwanted, like a chewing gum stuck on someone's sole or something.
After running around Jerusalem, spending hours on public transport, walking like mad I finally found it though.

If they have the slightest power over you, if you depend on them, they hate you for it, you'd be better dead for them. Of course there are some exceptions to the rule. Very rarely. But there are some.

Always choose the men. Again, talking as a lone woman here, I don't know what applies for groups or men.

At the airport, they are less likely to send you to the "waiting room" and if they do, they apologise!
At the supermarket, the cashiers are most likely to be women but if you need info in the shop, ask a man.
At the post office, same. The kindest and most helpful people to me during my parcel adventure were the male security guards.
If you smile at them and are nice, they'll help or try to anyway.

When I finally got to my parcel's final destination I was happy to find only men, I was in a parcel warehouse thing, a guy brought me to an office at the back of the building. The guy behind the desk brought me my parcel. "Who sent you this?" "my mum" "Well, she's a good woman."
She is.

I realise this might be a slightly sexist post but all the things I just said are my own experience, I've been in Israel a few times now and have spent quite some time here, this has always been the case for me.

Comments

  1. Interesting point you made at the end!
    It might be due to the fact that we expect more compassion from females than males (it's a stereotype I know). Or that "conservative" societies, like the ones around you now, put working women under such pressure that they start pressuring themselves as well and usually people don't perform well under pressure.
    Also, these societies don't expect a woman to work for anything but to put bread on the table! And it has been same for so long that working women themselves don't think they are working for anything but their paycheck at the end of the day, which kills any ambition or hope. Therefor, they will do the minimum amount of work just to get that paycheck. Men on the other hand are expected to excel, so they will try to do their best to get the job done.
    Sadly, whenever I find myself in one of these societies, I opt for men as well.
    Of course there is the factor of opposite sexes and whatnot which have worked for me more than I'd liked it to, but that's is another day's story.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I get what you are saying, there is probably some truth to it, but I have found that it's especially the case when you depend on them. I currently work with extremely hard working women, all very nice and who do not necessarily get a high paycheck at the end of the month.
      So I think it might also have to do with power somehow? Like if they know they have the slightest amount of power on you they enjoy it. Or maybe not but it's always been when I was seeking help/a service.
      Or maybe all of these women that I described were all having the worst day ever on the day that I met them because I'm unlucky?
      You probably have a point too though.

      Thanks for reading my blog!

      Delete
    2. I meant women in dead-end jobs or jobs with no future promises, should have made this clear in my first comment.
      I would love to think that the power point isn't true. I mean you have women who have "power" over you in your workplace and it doesn't go the same it goes with service point employees, or does it?
      Thanks for writing your blog!

      Delete
    3. I see!

      (They do but I don't depend on them to provide me with a service)

      Also I recently talked with a friend from Egypt, his mom goes to men and he goes to women when it somes to getting official papers from the government so now I'm thinking that if men have the same problem but with other men, maybe the problem is plain old sexism. I don't know,
      I also think that in the current economy anyone should be happy to have a job, any job really because at the end of the day, a shitty job is better than no job. So maybe it's animal instinct, women are mean to women and nicer to men and men are mean to men and nicer to women because the same sex is seen as "competition"...

      I'd have to ask more people and conduct a kind of survey to get a better image I think.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Je suis mouru à Liège mon amour.

Let's work for free.