(segue to public transportation in Israel)
In fairness, I have to paint the background of public transportation commuting in Israel. Mornings generally resemble America before the Civil Rights Movement with colored foreign workers quietly holding up the back of the bus until they all shuffle off at some popular unknown stop. The religious folks pull out their smart phones and mumble aloud their morning prayers. The bus driver typically has an inflated ego and has often times nominated himself g-d, president, and C.E.O of the large vehicle. Events such as kids puking, aggressive battles over keeping the window open or closed, or having the bus break down while you wait in rain for the next one become customary. Of course, at any moment a security officer can board the bus and demand that each passenger dig around for their receipt to ensure the driver is running business appropriately. An elderly man may loose the wheel of his fully vegetable-loaded cart forcing fellow passengers to pull a quick Macgyver move to repair it. And I can only briefly mention without getting choked up, that this is where my 3 month old Sony Ericson Xperia mysteriously disappeared. Sniff Sniff. There is a basic sense of Survival of the Fittest happening at all times by each passenger. In order to survive, you must understand a few basic psychological principals:
Fight or Flight
Everyone, and I mean everyone, young and old alike has at one point felt like Rocky Balboa training for a fight. The fight to make the bus that is. The decision has been made to run behind or alongside the bus with bags flopping, hands in the air, awaiting the ultimate devastation or success of making the bus. Within milliseconds the driver holds your destiny in his hands and contemplates your fate. Fellow passengers observe and wait to see whether you will be granted entrance.
The Jungle Gym
This phenomenon is when your stuck standing on the bus and must grab onto the dangling straps from above to hang on for dear life as the bus' velocity ranges from speeding to a screeching halt and bodies sway like children hanging from monkey bars.
The Sardine Squeeze
This event occurs when the bus is already soo stuffed and the driver stops to let people off and new ones attempt to board. New passengers desperately fight to board a bus that is already beyond its capacity and their asses are just a hair away from being snipped off by the bus' closing doors. Once on board, begging to relieve the body on body pressure commences with pleas to distribute the pressure of the Sardine Squeeze throughout the bus. Those who just begged for entrance now curse the animal conditions.
Seniority Rules
There is typically an unspoken (though at times it becomes quite spoken) code of ethics governing the bus system in Israel. There are 4 coveted handicapped seats reserved for those with physical needs at the front of the bus. During times of the Sardine Squeeze or Jungle Gym those seats, among all others, are eyed by many but chosen by few for fear of violating Seniority Rules.
Once I witnessed an elderly woman verbally and physically bully and completely ridicule a young woman out of the seat to make room for her caretaker. After the shock settled, the young woman complied with the Seniority Rules and made her way to the interior guts of the bus. Most passengers ignored this somewhat typical behavior until about 30 minutes later when the young woman was preparing to exit the bus. With her voice cracking and tears in her eyes, the young woman dared to violate the code of ethics by returning the ridicule. In front of a completely packed and now totally silent bus full of passengers, the young woman looked the elderly woman straight in her eyes and dared to launch into a tirade “schooling” the elderly woman on empathy towards fellow human beings. After a few strong, relentless rebuttals the young woman managed to shut up the grumpy old beast.
Nahag Complex
Nahag (Hebrew for Driver), as I mentioned, rules with authority over his bus. Beyond all assumed power his title carries, his has complete control over how much you will be charged for your ride and whether your ride comes with a complementary individual moral lesson. For instance, the central area of Tel Aviv and the surrounding cities has developed a universal system between multiple bus carriers so that a magnetized card (Rav Cav) can be scanned and the amount deducted from a prepaid card. However, the city is zoned and depending on your point of origin and destination the fares range. After overpaying for 2 weeks, getting yelled at by drivers, loosing my magnetic powers, and getting different responses from each driver I decided to go to the central office. After a discussion in English at the office revealed the cause of confusion is basically related to the intelligence and care of the driver, I now engage in a private chat with the driver before I allow my card to be scanned. I watch to make sure he takes the few seconds to code it properly and I am on my way. While I think I have cracked the mystery of the Rav Cav, my new challenge is to crack the “Cartesia.” After the explanation I still have no clue why I need this AND the Rav Cav. The only consolation is that the office was full of Israelis bringing in their receipts asking for explanations as well.
Moral teachings of the driver typically has to do with Respect. For instance, a group of teenagers beat an older man onto the steps of the bus. They innocently boarded the bus right before they were screamed at for their poor manners. He scolded them, “How dare you board before your elder” and made them step down and wait for the man to board. Oh, and during a Sardine Squeeze, a uniformed soldier dared to speak up from the interior of the bus. “Driver, I don't think there is any more room for people.” Oh shit. Big mistake. The driver glared into his rear-view mirror and in front of everyone belts back something to the effect of “you're 18 years old and your job is to care about serving this country. I will worry about letting passengers onto my bus, ok? I worry about each passenger and you worry about each citizen of this country. How dare you!”
No comments:
Post a Comment