Thursday, May 09, 2013

A Very Justifiable Complaint

At least the guy answering the Jerusalem Municipality hotline didn't laugh at me when I called in about 7:07am yesterday morning.  I have no doubt that my call is on his list of funniest calls ever.  Imagine how I must have sounded to him.  A lady's voice with a very heavy American accent complaining that the public toilets at Gan Hapa'amon, Liberty Bell Park weren't open, even though the sign very clearly stated that the opening time is 7am:


There is a mistake in the sign, but not in terms of the opening time.  If you know what the mistake is, please say what it is in the comments.



Just in case you're curious, the man who works there opened the door as I was talking to the hotline.  I dashed in, and when I finished, he asked me if I had called.  That hotline is very efficient.  As soon as I got off the phone, he got a call from the operator asking where he was and why the 00, WC, wasn't open on time.  I told him that I had just traveled a long distance, which was very true.  At my age, I take my public toilets very seriously.

10 comments:

Judy said...

It's only open for three hours (unless they meant to say 10pm, which is 22:00).
Glad you advocated!

Batya said...

Thanks Judy; I did it for us all...

YG said...

Reading right to left, the hours are 10AM - 7PM, in American time-telling form (though American time reads left-to-right)). But Israelis use military time-telling form as in 1000 - 1900 (right-to-left). The sign is bolluxed: It's hard to know what the numbers indicate, so perhaps the folks who are supposed to unlock the doors never know when to show up. Or they know the sign is messed up and have fun skipping work.

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
Even though Hebrew reads from right-to-left times are sometimes, but not always, read from left-to-right because they are completely numerical. If a time is on its own line, as it is on the sign in the photo, there's a greater chance that the time is read from left-to-right. I would say that the toilets are supposed to be opened from 7AM-10AM. The question is, why are open toilets are particularly necessary during those three hours?

Batya said...

YG, Hadassa, I'm pretty sure they are open until 10pm aka 22:00. One thing for sure. Israeli sign maker departments are terribly unprofessional.

Rose said...

And the phone number should have had seven digits after the 057.

perlsand said...

the hebrew should say שירותים ציבוריים.

Batya said...

Rose, I just dialed 106 or whatever the sign said. it worked.

perlsand said...

I meant the english should say "public toilets"!!!!

Batya said...

perlsand, I didn't catch that one, gevalt, thanks