Hacker's Diary: Duty Free

.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 1

I wasn't sure where I was going with this job. It was like a dead end. But suddenly, everything started to make sense and all of the links came together when the time was right. 

Okay, but let's get back to where it all started from. My name is Adi. Adi Cohen. I'm an ex-soldier in the Israeli army, 22 years of age. I've completed a year course in programming but then left it because I felt that it wasn't my thing. I was looking at becoming a lawyer. But God knew how wrong I was about my choices back then, fortunately, enough all of my knowledge came in handy in every way. 

So here, I'm 22 years old, saving money for the university and looking for not hard but yet rewarding job. I read the newspaper and see that they need people at the duty-free. The firm to be exact. They've had an e-mail address there to send the CV and so I did. A week later, I received a call and was invited to the airport city for an interview. 

I was quite happy. Even though the hour for the interview was somewhat early, I went online and looked up the buses I had to take, in order, to get there. 

The next day, I was excited, I was standing at the bus stop and waiting for the first line of the two I had to take to get there, to show up. 

Twenty minutes later, the bus finally came and I boarded it. I was following the real time with a GPS on my phone, through the route to the next stop where I had to take line number two. In about a half an hour, I was there. After an hour and a half in total, I went to the airport city. I was afraid to miss the right stop, so once I saw from the window the signboard saying Airport City I came off the bus. It took me about 30 minutes and two phone calls to find the place. The thing was that the GPS did not register the place for it as it was too small for it, to know its street names. And there was no map or sign with the names of the streets, so I used only the clue I had received from the receptionist of the firm on the phone. They said, it's a building next to the big Motorola building.  So, I asked those few people that were there where the Motorola building location was. Once I found it, I found the JR offices. 

The building was not in any way a spectacular form of architecture. However, it was clean, had a guard and served its purpose. 

Once there, I had to fill out the form that asked the same details over and over again about a half dozen of times. 

When I was done, I have returned the clipboard with the form to the secretary. She smiled and asked me to wait for the actual interview. 

I was watching the girls who were in the same situation as me, applying for the job and filling out the form. Two minutes later, a woman from an office where the interviews took place called me up. She was in her mid-thirties, I didn't remember her name. I saw her only twice, that day and the next, never again. 

Anyhow, she called me up, introduced herself and asked me to tell a bit about myself. Army, service some computer knowledge, fluent English, and a bit of Spanish.  

Fascinating. - she said. Exactly what we need! How good are you in sales? 

Sales? Well, I have some experiences, I worked half a month in a shoe store... 

You seem to be the right person for this position. I promised you that will be right away, if you're hired. Consider yourself hired.

She never promised me anything, but what the heck, I'm hired! 

We will call you in about a week and you will have to come here to get the uniform and to get a tour of the store

Sound legit.

Nice to meet you Adi and I wish you a good luck!

I did not know yet what I was going to during this week, but I liked how easy it was to get in.

I took a bus to Tel Aviv and then back home to Holon. It's like a suburb of the ever great Israeli city Tel Aviv but yet considered to be a separate part of it. 

We have our own municipality and a mall, couple of postal offices, one central street full of tiny retail shops and that's about it. Rest of it are buildings, where people sleep after they get home and parking lots where they leave their cars, which get them to places. 

Some say you could cover the whole Israel, and by that, I mean getting from the most northern point to the most southern point in just about 5 hours of steady driving. I never tried it. However, I got from Tel Aviv, the central point of Israel, to Ashkelon, south of Israel on a train in about one hour and a half once. 

Anyhow, when  I got home, I went online and read a little about the Firm in the wiki. It all had begun in Australia in 1972 with a single store at Brisbane Airport. Over the next two decades, they have expanded to Sydney Airport, Melbourne, Perth and some other stores in the major city centers. They sold out this whole thing 1995 and switched their effort to running furniture stores and an Israeli Duty-Free. They make about $400 MM in a year from their operations in Israel. A lucrative business, I thought to myself. Also, I found LinkedIn of their CEO and that's about it. Very succinct amount of information about this corporation, their operations and not even one note or photo of their founder. 

Well, that did not discourage me very much. 

I needed money you see, the faster I got it, the better. I had goals in life and they required capital for realization.

The next day was Monday. Yes, it might seem illogical, but many things in Israel are. Sunday is the first working day of the week in Israel and not Monday like the rest of the world. So, I was at the interview yesterday that is Sunday. Today, I went to Tel Aviv to a meet some friends and celebrate my new job. 

Well, actually, I never had too many friends but this guy helped me a lot during the military service. We spoke and hanged out a lot and I am most certain that it's thanks to him that I did not go mad while serving. 

We met at Ibn Gbirol, one of the main streets in Tel Aviv, he and his girlfriend sat at the burger bar and were quite happy to see me. I felt my face changing from a frown one to widely smiling one. And yes, it's a good feeling to see old friends. 

Hi, Adi! How are you, my man?

I'm great, thank you Jacob! Nice to see you, Miya!

Nice to see you too

Congratulations on your new job. Did you meet any girl yet? I've heard there are plenty of sexy girls who are working there...

I blushed, but nobody could see that behind my beard. Not yet man, I even haven't started yet. I will be officially on duty only in a week.

Oh, I see. Well, then good luck!

We ate hamburgers and discussed of the latest events also I've learned that they signed up for the same college. She planned to study psychology and he planned to get a Business Management Degree. Well, all great businessmen need a good psychologist at some point. I joked that he would have one at a huge discount. 

We parted and I went back home. 

Six days left. 

Tuesday was an ordinary day, I spent the whole day listening to music on YouTube and reading books on Kindle. Trying to wind out the time and feeling, as much, relaxed as I possibly could.

Not many people in Israel use Kindle, I was one of the few, but hey, there aren't that many people in Israel in the first place. 

I've downloaded some cheesy fantasy book of the little-known author and that was about how I spent my day. I only went out once, close to the evening when I had to buy some food at the local grocery store. 

 Wednesday was 8th of March, I knew from my Russian friends and from Google that it's an International women's day. However, it's not very widely celebrated in Israel. I don't really know why. Perhaps, because women already serve the army and do all the things men can do, anyway.

Thursday was boring. I went to Tel Aviv again, alone this time. I had little money, so I did not pay for the bus. How I got in then, you may ask. The thing is that the bus line from Holon to Tel Aviv is a new kind of bus with automatic doors where passengers have to take responsibility to pay for themselves. The driver was separated in a small booth at the front of the bus. Surprisingly, most of the people actually did pay, but I didn't and nobody really cared. If I was caught by the inspector, I would give him my bus card and he would pass it through the machine Cashing and you are all set.

No questions, no suspicion. These machines aren't perfect yet and the inspectors, they don't care much as they are paid a minimum wage and pass through hundreds of buses a day. I don't blame them, honestly. I went on to stroll through the streets and on the seashore. It always makes me feel at ease and come together with my thoughts, when I wondered around this city.

The people, of course, aren't as caring as in any other big city around the globe. There was an Old Russian woman sitting on the sidewalk of the street with a carton box for alms. I saw her sitting there for a couple of years already. Old, poor, and nobody cares. Perhaps, she doesn't even have any relatives in the whole world. Well, I never asked her, I can't really help. However, the municipality could. But they don't. I witnessed people giving few shekels here and there but you hardly can live on that. It remains a mystery to how she actually survives. 

When it was evening, I took a bus back home, ending up again without meeting anyone. Typical me. Anyhow, I got home, took a shower, brushed my teeth, and went to bed. 

Friday, the thing was coming closer. I mean, soon, I was going to be working my hours away at the most crowded place in the whole Israel. 

My step dad has called me to ask how I am and if I have found a job, yet. He and my mom were projecting concern. I said, I'm fine and that I have enough money to end the month and yes, I was accepted to work at the firm, as a cashier. He congratulated me and I was feeling at ease, at least, something was accomplished, that's how I felt. We talked about the recent news a bit and finished the conversation in a fashionable manner. The usual. I had no plans for the rest of the day, so I spent it in bed, browsing the web and reading the news online through my smartphone.

Saturday. One day away. I took a stroll to town, everybody seemed to be very busy. The girls and women I encountered very attractive but I had no business to talk to them and I felt a little bit out-leagued by them. So, the only thing I could do is to enjoy the scene and that's what I did. 

Too much stress. Sexual stress. I decided I had enough and headed home, picked a book and started to read it. I read into the night. I looked at the clock and decided that this is enough for today. I have to be well rested before tomorrow, I have put an online alarm clock on my laptop and went to bed. 

I woke up from the buzzing of the aforementioned alarm and yet felt a bit sleepy. I stood up and proceeded to the usual routine I do every morning, wash my face, brush my teeth, eat Quaker and finally dressing up. I was ready, I went to the bus stop and couldn't wait to get to the airport city for the first day in. 

When I got to the firm headquarters, I was surprised to see how many people were there. I was greeted and instructed to proceed into a room with had enough chairs for everyone. I located myself in the back row. I was handed some documents when I looked at them, it was a contract. We were told to read it thoroughly and prepare for an intake. I noticed that many did not read it. I read it from the first page to the last, while I was doing so, we were instructed by a Security manager about how to act if there is something suspicious going on. He also informed us about the fact that every corner of the airport was equipped with cameras. And it was practically impossible to conduct something suspicious without getting noticed. He also warned us about a faith of one of the previous cashiers who got into serious trouble just by submitting to his weakness for chocolate and opening one chocolate at the cash box and eating it.

The result of this weakness wasn't just that he got fired but also had a case against him open. It may sound absurd the security manager has said but there is a custom fee that the company has to pay just to get these things on the shelves of the store, so it's way more serious than it is at the supermarket. After that instruction, we got our fingers scanned for the system to recognize us as employees and count our working hours. Afterward, we were given uniforms. Which consisted out of three shirts, a black jacket and a black vest. Then, we were given a break of thirty minutes and directed to go outside, afterwards to take a bus to the Ben Gurion Airport, where we actually were supposed to work. It took us about 20 minutes before we got to Ben Gurion. Once we were there, we were greeted by a Russian woman, with her cut short blond hair and she was in her fifties, I guess.

She was some sort of a manager and guided us through the passages and the floors to a security office where we were had to receive our security permit cards, in order, to be able to work at the Duty-Free. The only other way to get there is to have a flight booked, which means, to have a boarding pass and passport ready. We were given the opportunity to see the place without any of those, thanks to the security permit. There, we had to fill out some extra documents. It was there that I actually first spoke with my newly found coworkers. They talked about funny language learning misunderstandings and I had one joke, as well, so I shared it.

It's absolutely in Hebrew, so it would be way too hard for me to bring it up here, and well, it is not the