Yesterday I had two opportunities to see the stereotypical Israeli.

I first had the opportunity to spend some time in a couple of "Musachim" - car mechanics' garages. Then I had Parent-Teacher conferences at night for my boys' school.

Each opportunity provided a view of a different aspect of the stereotypical Israeli.

At the mechanics place I am getting my car taken care of. The owner is a guy who just kind of wanders around watching what is going on, supervising his employees, passes a few words with the customers, etc.
Suddenly, in comes a customer with a complaint. Perhaps you can call it an accusation. "The piece you sold me last month is defective - This is the second time since then that it has broken down."

So, somebody might respond "let's check the problem and see what is wrong with it". Or perhaps, "I'll replace it for you at cost, or for free", or "you broke it by misusing it", or a dozen other responses.

The owner of the "musach" suddenly turns into a lion, as if he sees his whole business being threatened with closure by this one accusation. He starts screaming louder than anything I have heard in a long time. He says the guy is a liar. He tells his employee to put back the old piece and let him go somewhere else. He screams you bought junk , so you got junk - you wanted a cheap part, so cheap parts do not last. And more. Just screaming and screaming. The part is not defective, it is the way you used it.

I am not taking sides. I do not know who is right and who is wrong.

Suddenly, his screaming kind of scares the customer a bit, and they go through a process of checking the part. The process is really one where the "musachnik" can "prove" that it is the guys fault and not his, because nobody really knows anything about car parts, and these "musachniks"can point at every dent, bump or even a totally innocuous looking smooth part, and say "that is what caused it! We found the problem!"

I did not stay for the end of the story, as I had to go, but when I left, the "musachnik" was proving his case, the customer was walking around muttering "what can I do, fine, he is right", and it looked like peace was coming back to the garage.

At the Parent - Teachers conference, they sent home notes warning parents that these meetings are not for long discussions. Parents should spend no more than 5 minutes by each rebbe, as there are a lot of parents waiting. If a parent has more issues to discuss that require a lot of tie, they should call the rebbe, make appointments to see him at other times, etc.

The problem generally is there is not much time allotted, and there are always a few parents who sit for 15 minutes talking, which backs up the whole line. The rebbe ends up having to stay very late. The parents get upset because they are delayed. And nobody, except the parent who sat for 15 minutes, ends up happy.

So this time, the school sent home a few notes in the preceding days to please make sure not to sit more than 5 minutes with the rebbes.

Sure enough - what happens" The conference is scheduled to start at 7:00. Not a single rebbe came before 7:10, and some came as late as 7:25.

So all the parents who had signed up on the appointment sheets" for the slots from 7:00-7:30, are already, before anybody even sat down, delayed, and the conference will then be backed up, forcing the rebbes to stay late, and the parents to be upset.

Then of course, at least by the classrooms I was waiting for, the first parent sat for almost 15 minutes backing everything up even more.