Traditionally in Israel the customer service is terrible. For whatever reason, Israeli custom requires that anyone in the service industry be as totally unhelpful as possible. Personally I think it stems from the confrontational nature of interactions here. For example, people will help you only after they have finished arguing that you don’t need help, aren’t entitled to help, and have tried to send you to get help from somebody else. After that they are absolutely charming. Given the nature of the helpee/helper relationship you can imagine my skepticism upon entering a store in hopes of having my brother’s suitcase replaced. He had purchased the suitcase about a month ago and it was already starting to fall apart. To make matters more complicated my brother was leaving Israel in a few days and there would not have been enough time to have to luggage sent out to be repaired. Much to my surprise, a very nice sales clerk, after speaking with her manager, informed me that the store would replace the suitcase hassle free. It was a miracle – just like winning the lottery, only without all of the money.
For anyone wondering why my brother had purchased a new suitcase a few weeks into his trip here, it was because he failed to remove his old suitcase from an intercity bus, and not knowing to whom the bag belonged, the police blew it open in case it was a booby-trapped explosive device. This story is even better because twelve years ago, when my family was living in Israel for a year, my brother left his bag on a street corner and the bomb squad had to be called in. Some people never learn.
