#restaraunt

Have you ever seen a restroom this beautiful in a restaurant?

Restaurant on Marco Island

When I worked at Mike’s Place Tel Aviv in 2010-2013 (near the US embassy), my manager, Jason Jungreous, refused to let my colleague Ortal use the toilet. He claimed she would smoke there and said, “It isn’t time for a break yet.” She cried and begged him to “let her pee,” but he made her stay on shift for hours. This happened only once but was just one of many details that compounded a harrowing picture I was unlucky to witness.  

The same guy once told me that I didn’t have a “good aura” or “good energy” because I refused to suffer quietly and spoke up when things were wrong, unjust, or didn’t make sense. Meanwhile, he was notorious for yelling so loudly and fiercely at everyone that people would tremble, and some even temporarily lost their hearing from the sheer terror he induced.  

Once, right before he was promoted to head manager of the entire network, a waitress confided in me after a staff meeting, saying:  

“You know what he talked about for 40 minutes straight? The importance of good aura, good energy, positive vibes, and all that. Isn’t it ridiculous? The most toxic guy in the place demanding US to stay positive. WTF.”  

My comment was, “Of course he wants you to be quiet while he’s beating you up.” How is it any different from what radical Muslims in Yemen and Iran do to their women? Especially considering the fact that most of the managers (“roosters”) were men, and they would “manage” the women in the same way I’ve described—and in ways you can likely imagine for yourselves.

And don’t get me wrong—this isn’t an attack on Jason or even Mike’s Place as a whole. I see the patterns, and they’re everywhere—not just in this country. The owners were known for constantly smoking hash outside. A typical response from one of them, if you approached them with a problem, was “…it happens…”  

So, do I think THEY - Mikes Place (or any other business in Israel, really, especially restaurants) mistreat Arabs, Russians, Africans, or fellow American immigrants? Yes and no. I mean, yes, but it’s not just them—it’s the hypocrisy we (and other societies) are filled with. That particular place is just a great example because it claims to be both “a home away from home for Americans” and “a place where everyone (Muslims, Christians, Jews, Everyone) can meet and set aside their differences - away from politics, religions, and the bs that divides ppl.”

Yet, that was the place that not only mistreated people from other societies but treated people from its own society the same way: ‘Olim’ (immigrants from the US, especially women), their workers as a whole, themselves, and their customers too! Probably important to mention the latter one since it’s a place of business, a place of service!

Again, do I blame them? Management, owners, etc.?  

Not really. I blame society, the mentality, the narrative—and most of all, myself and each individual who chooses fear over love when they truly have the freedom to choose.  

For years, I watched people clash there—getting mad at each other, losing their tempers, hating themselves for needing to keep up, and drowning in alcohol or drugs to numb their pain. The pain was embedded in how the place operated—perhaps rooted in the attack they experienced there in 2001. But again, I could see ways to make things better and talked to people about it. Nearly everyone (with maybe one or two exceptions) said the same things:  

“What can we do?”  

“Our part is small.”  

“It’s us versus them.”  

“There’s nothing we can do about it.”  

“It is what it is.”  

“It happens.”  

If I start sharing the facts about what people endured and the reactions they received, you’d be shocked. This includes constant sexual harassment, verbal abuse, and neglect of basic human rights. But that’s not the point. The point is that, as Bill Hicks said, every second is a choice between fear and love.  

Instead of complaining about why “60 countries with over 2 billion people hate us but can’t make their people lives better, while the most developed 15 countries silently watch horror unfold not even able to protect themselves”…maybe, we could at least TRY TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE??  

After all, we claim we’re here (in this world and in Israel) to do just that: to create order, to organize the chaos—for humanity and the universe. I’m not saying we don’t try at all, but not nearly with the urgency and efficiency the ‘matsav’ (situation) demands. 

First of all, we do treat people of other nations, ethnicities, and races worse—and that’s a fact. But we’ve also developed a system where we ourselves can’t function. We create a society where we can only act “normal” when we’re high or medicated. We make TV shows we can’t bear to watch, social media platforms the smartest among us avoid, and an extremely sexualized culture filled with violence and oppression that the best of us simply ignore.  

Why are we doing this? What’s the point?  

A business owner might say:  

“I hire a Sudanese refugee to wash dishes because he’s better at it than an Israeli—and because the government makes it impossible for me to pay decent salaries and still stay afloat.”  

But what do Russians say about why they take part in crimes, support war, and oppression? 

The same dvmn thing:  

“If I don’t steal, I can’t survive. If I speak up, they’ll destroy me.”  

But when you blame “the government,” you’re really blaming a system identical to the one you create at work—with the same flaws. It doesn’t just oppress “at-risk groups”; it turns YOU into one.  

Who was at risk on October 7? The Sudanese—or anyone?  

This happens because of a combination of dehumanizing decisions ‘from the top’ and silence, lack of initiative, or lack of response ‘from the bottom’—or should I say, a lack of Communication? And I don’t just mean people not speaking—I also mean people not LISTENING to each other. It’s a lack of CONNECTION.  

You don’t speak up when things go wrong, and then you complain about why they went wrong.  

If you become Prime Minister, would you do the most important thing? Would you leave after four years? If so, I’m voting for you.  

I’m not political, but I stand for people. That’s why I care who’s in our parliament. Just like that Jason running around, yelling and spraying his spit everywhere, we’re the ones who create the “world we live in”—in both big and small ways, good and bad. 

What kind of leadership do we develop and cherish?

If we think it’s okay for the same guy to be in power for 20 years, firing the defense minister over a scandal surrounding his own cabinet leaking data, sacrificing (allegedly but very likely) hostages’ lives for personal gain… 

If we think it’s okay for an Eritrean guy to eat his burger sitting next to the sewage while we eat our staff meals at the bar with juice and music…Who can really help us? I always say “if a restaurant is a car, the dishwasher station is its wheels. I don’t need to see your fancy looking keys, just show me the wheels first and I’ll decide if I want to sit in the car.”

What I’m saying is simple:  

Follow The Script, and if it doesn’t work, Change The Script. 

Use both approaches SIMULTANEOUSLY.  

As for Mike’s Place, I’ve never been back since I stopped working there. I knew it all along. And I have no hard feelings toward them. But if I went back and saw how much lower they’ve sunk, it would make me cry.  

2010 was a different era. Back then, the US voted for Obama, and we still tried to live in ways that made sense. Every external disaster comes from an internal crisis. Don’t try to explain it—just admit it.  

Things are connected.  

I could never forgive Jason (or George) for how they treated Ortal. But that doesn’t mean I can’t understand why they did it. I couldn’t deal with her either, even though I wanted to.  I stand against the far right, which is in power almost everywhere—Israel, the US, Russia, China, Iran. But I’m not a leftist. I’m a true liberal. I have no problem calling out Ortal for mixing pills with alcohol or condemning leftists in the US and Israel for being idiots.  

I can’t judge people who can’t think because they’re too scared. But I know why they’re scared. They don’t think, so they make choices that put them in fear-inducing situations.  

And I’ve known this since I was a kid—I had dreams about it.  

The world gets stupid because it’s scared, and it gets scared because it keeps making the wrong choices. The wrong choices lead to more disasters, that scare them even more, so they do more dumb sh*t, to get even more... you get the idea. But we can change the direction at any point given. Because there’s the same snowball effect in the “Circle of Prudence”: right choices lead to more courage and bravery, freedom of imagination and efficient analytical processes, which lead to better decisions, which cause better experiences and further development. Better developed ones make better choices. The 'Circle of Prudence' is kind of an alternative to the 'Vicious Circle.' Look, I haven’t figured it all out on my own. Read Why Nations Fail. It’s a great book.

Do you want to hear about Alan, who got promoted after punching a customer and was later shot d3ad in LA? About Juan, who told me to serve fried fish with bones in beer batter to a customer? About him drinking with a customer who slapped Josephine, a waitress? …My colleague getting drunk at work and slamming a door into the tray I was carrying, spilling champagne everywhere? Aaron, the owner, letting a customer sign a paper accepting responsibility for being served mildly raw chicken? Or Corey bragging to me about how he farts in Ortal's face while she's bent over to grab something from the fridge next to him? And how many of them spoke behind Kevin’s back, even though he was one of the few trying to organize the space in a way that would make it easier for them to work…

I don’t think these are pleasant stories, but I’ll share them at some point, so others know. Otherwise, why do I keep them in my memory?  

You know I was the one who stood up for the place, ensuring the quality of the product and service no matter what happened—airstrikes, freezing weather, incompetent managers, or colleagues on K2 (synthetic pot) messing around with each other’s private parts during a shift. And what did I get in return? Isolation, condemnation, and when I really pushed back—more and more raises. They kept promoting me to take on more responsibility but with fewer tools.  

Once, I created 3D maps of the fridges to make the organization of products easier to understand. Those maps are still sitting somewhere in my archives because no one needed them. My point is that, just like in countries ruled by dictatorships (and I always say this!), in MOST companies (including that one), you’ll find:  

1. Negative selection – To move “up,” you often have to be the worst (in some way).  

2. Absence of obvious “social lifts” – There are no opportunities for everyone to realize their potential.  

3. No way to communicate issues – The “kill the messenger” mentality reigns, where the one who brings bad news is blamed, even though they’re the least responsible for it.  

4. Jealous, insecure leadership – Leaders who don’t see others’ success as their own but view anyone as a threat.  

5. Preservation of the status quo – “This is how it is and how it will stay because it’s how it’s always been.” But in reality (whether in business, personal growth, or mental health), anything that isn’t progressing is regressing—it’s the law of entropy, as far as I know.  

6. Other symptoms – The same traits you see in failing states, declining companies, or underdeveloped personalities.  

Again, this isn’t to condemn anyone but to offer a hand—to help before it’s too late.  

As I keep saying: I warned people living in the North of Israel for two years that they needed shelters because Russia, stationed in Syria, is no friend to us. They ignored that perspective. I keep telling Israelis that if we don’t stand up for Ukraine, we are not really a nation that has learned the lessons of the Holocaust. I keep telling Jews worldwide that if we don’t start spreading the truth and striving to be GREAT (again hahaha), we will fall.  

Not to look or sound great, but to BE great. The idea the pro-pali camp completely overlooks:  

Their whole thing is the “Potemkin Village,” with lots of decorations but no substance,  

a “tacky extravaganza.”

By the way, I also keep telling my fellow Democrats and liberals that, no matter how wrong Biden or the Democratic Party (in the U.S.) may be, Trump does not represent our values. We absolutely CANNOT ally with someone like him. It’s like Stalin allying with Hitler in 1939—had he not done that, at least Hitler wouldn’t have been able to attack the USSR *UNEXPECTEDLY* in 1941.  

There was one guy at Mike’s, though—Joe/Joseph, that once told me, “I get it, dude. You’re not just saying random things; you’re setting points for us to connect.” And that’s exactly right.  

Since my approach comes from creativity and being an art-oriented person, I don’t force my vision on the people I talk to (unlike populists—Putin, Trump, Netanyahu, also all of them—or the scholars of Islam, including their main prophet). Instead, I set the points and let others connect them.  

That’s exactly why the blog is called ‘Connecting Lines’. It’s a kind of 3D version of “connecting dots.” Because here in 2024, we don’t just deal in facts; we deal in narratives, and each narrative is a story in itself. So the goal is to connect them in a way that is both logical and true to reality.