Real Life Jenga

Life has been a little hectic lately. University starts in just a few short weeks and there's lots to be done before then. I'm still going through the onerous task of packing up my stuff and trying to make sure that I have everything that I need.

Work has been extra crazy lately but not for the reasons that you might think. Something (no one is sure exactly what) went down at the big branch in Tel Aviv about a month ago and my manager has been working there since then.

With my manager gone there have been a couple of extra shifts up for grabs and I'm not one to pass up extra hours. Things got really interesting last Wednesday when my manager called the assistant manager and asked her to send me to Azrieli as backup.

Unfortunately I was already at work and no one was available to switch with me so it was agreed that I would finish my shift and then head to Azrieli early the next morning. The assistant manager didn't really elaborate much but after much poking and prodding she told me that something had happened with the guy that worked in the machsan and that they needed help getting things organised.

Slightly unsatisfied with her answers I reluctantly agreed to stop bothering her and instead spent the rest of my shift speculating about what could have happened to the guy working there and why they would need me to help.

The next morning I hopped onto a train and made my way to Azrieli full of anticipation. I was surprised to find two other machsanaim from different branches were also there to help. What could justify bringing in three extra workers? What horrors waited for us deep in the dank underbelly of the stores?

My manager came to meet us and was happy to see that I had made it. She gave us a key and the three of us made our way down to the machsan. We arrived at the machsan and cautiously attempted to unlock and open the door.

Stacks of haphazardly boxes filled the room. It looked like an especially horrifying episode of hoarders. The two guys with me noted the look of utter shock on my face and told me that it had been even worse the day before, that they had barely managed to open the door.

There was obviously much work to be done so we got started right away. Entering the machsan was like a real life game of jenga. You had to carefully choose which boxes to try and move in order to get into the room and then hope that they missed your head as they inevitably crashed to the floor.

The stacks of boxes teetered and swayed as we attempted to tackle the mountains of clothes. We worked diligently, trying to stay alert so that we could avoid the boxes that seemed determined on hurdling themselves to the floor littering the already covered floor in layers of clothing.

After a couple of hours we were able to get some of the boxes out and were able to take a look around to better assess the situation. Many of the boxes appeared to have windows cut out of them to display the merchandise inside. We were speculating who would have spent hours cutting windows in cardboard boxes with a razor blade for no particular reason when my manager walked in to check on us.

We asked her about the boxes and she told us that upon her arrival at the store she was dismayed at the state of the machsan and asked the guy in charge to straighten up a bit. The guy wasn't a huge fan of his job so in an effort to look busy he spent hours cutting windows in the cardboard boxes. After my manager had asked him several times to stop wasting time and actually do his job he decided that he was done and on Tuesday morning declined to show up for work.

No one particularly missed the guy and seeing as there was now no one officially in charge of the machsan my manager was finally able to go in and see what was going on. She wasn't happy with what she found (boxes of stuff that came over a month ago still waiting to be unpacked) and immediately began making calls to see what could be done. Some fancy people came to inspect the situation and it was unanimously agreed that it needed to be dealt with, fast.

And that is why I have spent the last few days slaving away deep down in the machsan, unearthing treasures untold.

Seriously though, we found a box of stuff from last years fall collection and I got two nice button down shirts (for my brothers, because I'm such a nice sister...) for a whopping 17 shekel each!

Who knows what else we'll find.