No Pancakes This Morning

In Israel you can find almost anything that exists in the United States - dvd players, hamburgers, strip clubs and even Snickers - but one thing that I can't find are Pancakes. And I certainly feel like some pancakes, with hashbrowns, and a couple of eggs this morning. Eggs I can get, but only if I waddle over to my other grandmas house and have her filipino maid prepare them for me, a I've become so lazy as to be completely unable to even supply myself with basic staples, like water and sugar.

So I'm drinking my coffee and reminiscing about how I am again, unemployed, in a country with a 9% unemployment rate its not that unusual. I was employed for one week, and then I was fired with some lame excuse about how the Bar Manager I was replacing decided to stay on after all. In reality I just sucked, because I contracted some horrible flu/cold the first day I started working and my performance was lower than seabed of the dead sea, which is the lowest point on earth, and which is only a few hours car ride away from where I am now.

They say that in Israel people are unusually direct, they speak their minds, they're not worried that they will be offensive. In America on the other hand, people are constantly preoccupied with formalities, worrying whether something they say will offend the wrong person and invite a lawsuit, and possibly jailtime. In the case of firing someone, however, these traditional roles are switched, as I know very well from experience.

When I was fired in America, I was invited directly by the boss into his office and told "It's not going to work out" or "We just can't have you, you are a liability" or "You fucking suck major asshole". In Israel on the other hand, I was not even informed that I was fired, but basically I had to deduce this from the fact that my name did not appear on next week's schedule. When I called the boss to question him on his oversight, he didn't answer the phone. Then an hour later he text messaged me to call another boss. The next morning I called and again did not receive an answer. Later in the day, I finally managed to get that person on the phone, and they told me I should come see them in their office the following day. Finally in their office they informed me that they would be letting me go but not because of my performance, but because the previous manager had decided to stay on after all. When questioned about whether the big big boss was privy to this decision, they told me that he was not, therefore shielding him from any responsibility, even though he obviously made the decision. What bull crap!