Hey everyone, welcome back to My Weird Prompts. I am Corn, and I am sitting here in our living room in Jerusalem with my brother. It is Tuesday, February seventeenth, twenty twenty-six, and the winter sun is finally hitting the stone walls of the Old City just right.
Herman Poppleberry, reporting for duty. It is a beautiful day outside, crisp and clear, but inside this apartment, we have some serious commerce and culture to discuss. I have been looking at the latest consumer confidence indices for the first quarter of twenty twenty-six, and the data is... well, it is telling a story that matches exactly what we are talking about today.
It really does. Our housemate Daniel sent us a voice memo about something that I think every single person living in Israel has experienced, but from a slightly different angle than the usual complaints. He was talking about his recent experience buying monitor mounts for his home office.
Four of them, specifically. He is finally upgrading that ten-year-old setup. It is about time, honestly. I have seen those old mounts and they were definitely living on borrowed time. They were those old silver ones that looked like they belonged in a nineteen-nineties server room. He was looking for something sleek, probably gas-spring arms that could handle those heavy thirty-two-inch curved displays everyone is using now.
Right, but the interesting thing he noted was that across ten or twelve different vendors—from the big electronics chains to the niche specialty shops—the price for the specific model he wanted was almost identical. We are talking about a difference of maybe twenty or thirty shekels on a multi-hundred shekel purchase. In a market where we are used to massive price gouging or wild fluctuations, this kind of price parity is actually quite striking.
It is a symptom of the "Amazon Effect" finally maturing in the Israeli market. By twenty twenty-six, local importers have realized they cannot just slap a fifty percent markup on everything because people will just wait the five days for international shipping. So, the prices have bottomed out to a global standard. And because the price was basically a wash, Daniel’s entire decision-making process shifted. He did not care about saving five dollars. He cared about who was actually going to pick up the phone and be helpful.
Exactly. He realized that if the financial cost is the same, the only remaining variable is the "aggravation cost." He told us that he spent three hours calling different shops. Half of them did not answer. One guy told him to "check the website" and hung up. But then he called a place he has used before for his studio gear, a company called Audio Line.
I know Audio Line. They are based out of Ramat Gan, mostly known for high-end pro audio—think Genelec monitors and Neumann microphones. They are the kind of place where the staff actually knows the difference between a balanced and unbalanced cable. Daniel was impressed that even though he was just buying monitor mounts—not a fifty-thousand shekel mixing console—they treated him with genuine respect. They checked the stock, confirmed the weight capacity of the arms, and even gave him a tip on cable management.
It really highlights the two sides of the customer service coin here. We have all talked about how service here can be, let us say, a bit brusque. There is even a reputation for it internationally. The "Sabra" personality—tough on the outside, sweet on the inside—often feels like it is missing the "sweet" part when you are trying to return a defective toaster. But Daniel wants to move past just venting about the bad stuff. He is interested in how we can actually build frameworks to highlight the good companies. He mentioned a white list or a voluntary seal of excellence.
I love that framing. It is so easy to fall into the trap of just complaining about the poor service culture, but the real question is how you incentivize the good players to rise to the top. Especially when you consider the legal landscape here. Daniel mentioned the defamation laws, which is a huge part of the puzzle that most people outside of Israel might not realize.
Yeah, let us actually start there. Because you cannot talk about accountability without talking about the legal risk of speaking up. In many countries, a bad review is just a bad review. But here, there is a real chilling effect, or as Daniel put it, a muffling effect. Herman, you have been looking into the specifics of the nineteen sixty-five law, right?
Yes, the Prohibition of Defamation Law of nineteen sixty-five is a fascinating, and frankly terrifying, piece of legislation for the modern internet age. The threshold for what constitutes defamation in Israel is remarkably low compared to the United States. In the U.S., you have the First Amendment and the "public figure" doctrine, but here, the law is designed to protect a person’s—or a company’s—reputation above almost all else.
So if I go on a Facebook group and say, "This shop is a bunch of thieves," what actually happens?
Well, under Section one of the law, anything that could humiliate a person or make them a target for hatred or ridicule is considered defamation. Even if what you are saying is true, the burden of proof is on you. And here is the kicker: even if it is true, you also have to prove that there was a "public interest" in the publication. If a judge decides that your rant was just a personal vendetta and did not serve a greater public good, you can still be held liable.
And the penalties are not just a slap on the wrist.
Not at all. We have seen a surge in "SLAPP" suits—Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation. Companies will sue an individual for fifty thousand or a hundred thousand shekels without even needing to prove actual financial damage. The law allows for statutory damages. For most people, getting a letter from a lawyer is enough to make them delete the review immediately. It creates this weird information asymmetry. The bad companies are protected by the law because people are afraid to leave detailed negative feedback.
So, the signal-to-noise ratio on review sites becomes totally skewed. You see a lot of five-star reviews that might be incentivized or fake, and then a lot of silence where the one-star reviews should be. It is like looking at a map where all the potholes have been Photoshopped out. You think the road is smooth until you break an axle.
Which brings us back to Daniel's point. If we cannot effectively punish the bad behavior through public feedback without risking a lawsuit, maybe the better strategy is to aggressively reward the good behavior. He mentioned this concept of a white list. What do you think about the feasibility of that in a market as small as Israel?
It is an interesting economic problem. In a small market, reputation should technically be easier to track because everyone is only one or two degrees of separation apart. We have the "ha-mevin yavin"—the "those who know, know"—culture. But the digital version of that is messy. A white list is essentially a curated reputation system. The problem, as always, is who guards the guards? Who decides who gets on the list?
Right, because as soon as a white list becomes influential, it becomes a target for corruption. If Audio Line is on the list, their competitors will want to be there too. If it is a crowd-sourced list, you get the same problem as Yelp or Google Maps where people can fake the positive sentiment. However, I think Daniel is onto something with the niche vendor aspect. He mentioned that he has "his guys" for different things. This is a very Israeli phenomenon. You don't just go to a store; you go to a person you trust.
There is this term in Hebrew, "Firgun." It is one of my favorite words because it does not have a direct English translation. It basically means genuine, unselfish praise or cheering for someone else's success. It is the opposite of "Schadenfreude."
Precisely. And Daniel's idea of a white list is basically a structured form of Firgun. It is saying, "I had a great experience here, and I want them to succeed, so I am telling everyone else." In a small country, that kind of positive word of mouth is incredibly powerful. But to make it a framework, you need more than just a list of names. You need criteria. If we were designing a "Seal of Excellence" for Israeli customer service in twenty twenty-six, what are the benchmarks?
Honestly, in this market, picking up the phone is a huge first step. But let us be more ambitious. I think the first criterion has to be transparency in pricing and availability. One of the most frustrating things here is the "call for price" culture, where you have to engage in a conversation just to find out how much something costs. A company that puts their prices front and center is already signaling respect for the customer's time.
I would add a "No-Ghosting Guarantee." In Israel, it is very common for a business to be incredibly responsive until they have your money. The moment there is a problem with the delivery or the product, they vanish. A Seal of Excellence should require a guaranteed response time for post-purchase support. Say, twenty-four hours for an initial human response.
And the second one would probably be the return and warranty process. We have the Consumer Protection Law, which generally allows for returns within fourteen days for many items, but many companies make that process as painful as possible. They make you come to a physical office in an industrial zone in Petah Tikva between the hours of ten and twelve on a Tuesday. A Seal of Excellence could require a "No-Hassle" return policy that actually exceeds the legal minimum.
I would add expert knowledge to that list too. Like Daniel mentioned with the monitor mounts, he wanted someone who could actually tell him if a specific mount would work for his four-monitor setup. He was looking for a consultant, not just a cashier. A company that invests in training their staff to actually know the products is a rare gem. In the age of Artificial Intelligence, human expertise is the only thing left that provides real value in a retail transaction.
So if we have these criteria, how do we implement the seal? Does it come from the government? Or is it a private certification like the Better Business Bureau in the United States?
I am always wary of government-run certification for something as subjective as service quality. It tends to become bureaucratic and slow. I think a grassroots, industry-led initiative would be more effective. Imagine a consortium of respected niche vendors—the Audio Lines of the world—who all agree to a certain charter of service. They all display the seal, and they hold each other accountable. If one of them starts providing shoddy service, the others can vote to remove the seal to protect the collective reputation.
It is like a digital guild. That is a very old-school solution to a very modern problem. But here is the challenge, Herman. How do you make the average consumer care about the seal? Most people are still very price-sensitive. Daniel was in a unique position where the prices were identical. But what if the good service company is ten percent more expensive?
That is the million-shekel question. I think we are seeing a generational shift in Israel. The old way of doing business was very much about the "bazaar" mentality. You haggle, you fight for every cent, and service is an afterthought. But the younger generation, especially the tech-savvy crowd Daniel belongs to, values their time and their mental health. They are starting to calculate the "Headache Tax."
The Headache Tax. I love that. It is the hidden cost of bad service. It is the hour you spend on hold. It is the frustration of being told one thing and then finding out another. It is the stress of wondering if your warranty will actually be honored. If I can pay fifty shekels more to ensure I never have to argue with a manager in a warehouse, I am going to pay that fifty shekels every single time.
Exactly. It is about the total cost of ownership. If I buy a monitor mount that lasts ten years, I want to know that if a bolt snaps in year three, I can call someone who cares. That peace of mind has a monetary value. A Seal of Excellence would essentially be a shorthand for that value. It tells the customer, "You might pay a tiny premium here, but we are guaranteeing that you won't lose your mind in the process."
I wonder if there is a way to integrate this with the existing platforms. You mentioned the legal risks of bad reviews. But what if a platform only allowed positive endorsements? Like a LinkedIn for businesses where you can only leave a recommendation. That would bypass the defamation issue entirely because you are not saying anything negative about the competitors; you are just highlighting the excellence of one particular vendor.
That is actually a brilliant workaround for the legal issue. If you only provide a white list, you aren't defaming anyone by exclusion. You are just saying, "These are the companies we have vetted and verified." It is the difference between saying "Company X is bad" and saying "Company Y is excellent." One is a legal minefield; the other is a public service. It shifts the focus from "shaming" to "faming."
And it ties back into that concept of Firgun. It creates a culture of highlighting the best rather than just dragging down the worst. But I want to push back on one thing. Does a white list actually create accountability? If a company is not on the list, they might not care. They might just keep doing what they are doing for the customers who don't know any better.
You are right, it is only half the battle. Accountability usually requires a stick, not just a carrot. But in a small market like ours, being excluded from the "cool kids" list can actually hurt. If all the high-value, repeat customers start gravitating toward the white-listed vendors, the other companies will eventually feel the pinch. They will have to ask themselves, "Why are we losing the studio professionals and the tech enthusiasts?"
It is a market signal. But let us talk about the practical side of this. If someone listening wants to start this in twenty twenty-six, how do you actually verify the service? You can't just take the company's word for it. Do you do mystery shopping?
Mystery shopping is the gold standard, but it is expensive to scale. I think a more modern approach would be a verified purchase review system, similar to what Amazon does, but tied to a local identity like the "Mispar Zehut"—the national ID number—or a verified phone number. If we know that the person leaving the praise actually bought the product and is a real person in the community, that carries a lot of weight.
And maybe there is a tiered system. Like, level one is just customer endorsements. Level two is the company agreeing to a specific dispute resolution process. If a customer has a problem with a white-listed company, there is a third-party mediator they can go to. That would be a huge draw for consumers.
That is a massive value add. One of the biggest fears in Israel is being a "Freier." For our international listeners, a Freier is essentially a sucker. Someone who got cheated or taken advantage of. The entire service culture here is often a defensive reaction to the fear of being a Freier. Both the customer and the business owner are constantly on guard, trying to make sure they aren't the one getting the short end of the stick.
Right! The brusqueness is a shield. "If I am tough and loud, you can't cheat me." But a mediated dispute resolution process removes that fear. It says, "You don't have to be a tough guy to get what you paid for. There is a system in place to protect you." That could single-handedly change the vibe of the entire transaction. It turns the purchase from a battle into a partnership.
It really could. It moves the relationship from adversarial to collaborative. When Daniel calls Audio Line, he isn't calling as a potential victim or a potential attacker. He is calling as a partner in a transaction. They want his money, he wants their gear and expertise, and they both want the process to be smooth so they can do it again.
This actually reminds me of something we discussed way back in the early days of the show. I think it was episode eighty-two, where we talked about the reputation economy in decentralized systems. This is essentially the same problem, just in a very centralized, physical market. How do you build trust when the default setting is suspicion?
Exactly. And in a small country like Israel, that trust is our most valuable resource. We are a nation of immigrants and refugees; we are a "Startup Nation." We have all this high-tech expertise—we are leading the world in AI-driven irrigation and cyber-security—and yet our day-to-day interactions at the post office or the electronics store can feel like we are stuck in nineteen seventy-four. There is this massive gap between our technological capabilities and our service culture.
So why hasn't a big player stepped in to fill this gap? Why hasn't a major retailer made "great service" their entire brand identity?
Some have tried, but the margins in Israel are notoriously thin. Between import taxes, high rent, and complex logistics, many businesses feel they can't afford to invest in high-end service. They are in survival mode. But that is short-sighted. As Daniel's experience shows, when prices are equalized by the market, service is the only differentiator left. If you can't compete on price, and you don't compete on service, why do you even exist?
It is the only way to build brand loyalty. If I buy a monitor mount from a random website because it was five shekels cheaper, I will never think about that website again. But if I buy it from a place that helped me out and treated me well, I am going to check their site first for everything else I need. I will become a customer for life.
And you will tell your housemates, and you will send a voice memo to a podcast about it. That is the viral nature of good service. It is so rare that it becomes a story. And stories are what drive long-term business success.
I want to go back to Daniel's idea of a Seal of Excellence. If we were to design a physical sticker for a storefront window, or a digital badge for a website, what should it be called? It needs to capture that sense of trust and quality.
Maybe something that plays on the idea of the Golden Rule. Or something uniquely Israeli like "The Firgun Standard." It shouldn't just be a badge of quality; it should be a badge of mutual respect.
"The Mutual Respect Certification." That might be a bit of a mouthful. But I like the direction. It is about acknowledging that there are two humans involved in the transaction. It is about moving away from the "customer is always right" or "the business is always right" and toward "the relationship is what matters."
You know, there is another angle to this, which is the employee side. You cannot have great customer service without happy, well-trained employees. A company that treats its customers poorly often treats its staff poorly too. So, a Seal of Excellence for service should probably also involve some standards for how the staff are treated.
That is a deep insight, Herman. It is a holistic system. If the person behind the counter is stressed, underpaid, and unsupported by management, they are not going to have the mental bandwidth to be helpful to Daniel about his monitor mounts. They are just trying to get through the day without having a breakdown.
Exactly. So the seal becomes a marker of a healthy company culture. It says, "This is a place where people want to work, which makes it a place where you want to shop." It is all connected. In twenty twenty-six, with the labor shortages we are seeing in the service sector, the companies that treat their people well are the only ones that are going to survive anyway.
So, for our listeners who are in business or who are just frustrated consumers, what are the practical takeaways here? How do we start moving toward this "white list" future?
For the consumers, the first step is to practice Firgun. When you have a great experience, don't just be happy and move on. Tell people. Leave that positive review. Email the manager and tell them that their employee was fantastic. We need to flood the system with positive signals to drown out the silence created by the defamation laws. If you find a "good one," protect them by giving them your business and your praise.
And for the business owners?
Realize that service is an investment, not a cost. In a world where everyone can find the same price on their phone in five seconds, your personality and your helpfulness are your only true competitive advantages. Don't be afraid to be the more expensive option if your service justifies it. People will pay for the lack of a headache. Stop worrying about being a "Freier" and start worrying about being a partner.
I think that is the key. The Headache Tax. We are all paying it right now in the form of bad service. We just need to find a way to redirect that tax into the pockets of the companies that are actually doing the work.
And maybe we should actually start that white list. Not as a definitive guide, but as a living document of the community's best experiences. If you are listening and you have a company like Audio Line that has consistently gone above and beyond for you, let us know. Maybe we can aggregate these stories and create our own "My Weird Prompts" recommended list.
I love that. Let us use the platform to highlight the excellence. It is a way to give back to the vendors who make our lives easier. And it is a way to show that the Israeli market can be about more than just the lowest price. It can be about the highest quality of interaction.
It is about the quality of life. At the end of the day, we all live in this small, intense, beautiful country together. Improving the way we interact with each other in the marketplace is a huge part of making life here better for everyone. It is about building a society where trust is the default, not the exception.
Well said, Herman. This has been a really enlightening look at something that affects us every day. And a big thanks to Daniel for sending in that prompt and giving us a reason to talk about monitor mounts and defamation law in the same breath. It really captures the essence of what we try to do here.
It is what we do best. We take a mundane purchase and find the legal, social, and psychological threads that connect it to the bigger picture. And hey, if you have been enjoying these deep dives into the weird and wonderful prompts we get, we would really appreciate it if you could leave us a review on your podcast app or on Spotify. We are aiming for seven hundred reviews by the end of the month, and we are currently at six hundred and eighty-two.
We really do see every review and we appreciate the support. It helps the algorithm find other people who are interested in these kinds of niche discussions. You can find all our past episodes, all six hundred and forty-four of them, at myweirdprompts.com. There is also a contact form there if you want to reach out to us with your own stories of great—or terrible—service.
We are also on Spotify and wherever you get your podcasts. Just search for My Weird Prompts. We are planning a special live episode next month in Tel Aviv, so stay tuned for details on that.
Alright, I think that is a wrap for today. I am going to go check out those monitor mounts Daniel got. I might need an upgrade myself if I am going to keep looking at these spreadsheets all day.
Just make sure you call the right guys first. Don't be a Freier.
I'll call Audio Line. Thanks for listening, everyone.
Until next time, stay curious and practice some Firgun today.
Goodbye!
