Laptops on buses - Managing - Articles about Israel

There's no way to use a laptop on an Israeli bus.

In any other location, your work would be limited only by the life of the battery. Israeli buses create a different situation.

Here's the scenario:

You turn on your computer and start to work. The guy next to you says, "Hey, I also got a computer. Listen, do you know how that database works? I have a problem."

While he's explaining his tzorres, the guy behind you stands up, leans over, pokes the screen, and presses a button: "Oh, look at that cute computer! What does this button do?"

The guy behind him presses a different button: "No, don't do that. It will mess up his computer. Here, this will fix it for you."

The fellow in front of you turns around and yells, "Hey, what are you guys fighting about? Oh, you have a laptop. Listen, my son's laptop developed a virus. These kids today! I told him to update his antivirus program. How can I get him to pay attention to me?"

The woman in the aisle turns the laptop so that it faces her, and starts arguing with the man in the seat next to you, who's "hogging the screen to himself."

You're still upset about that fellow who touched your delicate TFT screen, but there's so much action that you can't identify the culprit. You pick one of them, who gets insulted: "Don't yell at me. What did I do to you?"

The others argue about whether you should mind your own business.

The fellow next to you is still asking questions about how to fix his computer.

And a chutzpadik teenager takes advantage of the situation. He squeezes past some of the crowd in order to khop arein a quick game of Solitaire. It would be a shame to let the computer be on for nothing.

At a certain point you shove the kid away, turn off your computer, close the lid, and get off the bus. It's not your stop, but you have to leave that noisy crowd behind. On the next bus, you hide the laptop in your bag.

Which may be why desktop computers are so popular in Israel. It's impossible to use a laptop on an Israeli bus.

Where do you want to go now?