I was very impressed to hear a Bituach Leumi (Social Security) manager say, “We have to get to the point where our desk has no lines, and we can do it.” It seemed a laudable goal (especially since I had been standing in his line for 15 minutes waiting to get a number.)

Unfortunately, the context in which he was publicly rebuking his colleague (whose line moved a lot faster than his) took the shine off his public service aspirations.

Still, a startling change is in the air at the Jerusalem office. Two years ago, if you required service from the Bituach Leumi, you had to call a voice-mail system to find out which days of the week the service you required was being offered, and during which hours (8.00-11.00am? 4.00-5.30pm?). You showed up, only to find that the employees were on strike.

Today, they’ve opened a new branch to reduce lines and pressure at the first one. A supervisor has the job, apparently, of approaching every person in the waiting room and inquiring after their purpose in coming, and making sure they are in the right place with all the right documents. If not, she walks them over to where they need to be. I’m bowled away. Is a government agency with a captive audience actually thinking about “customer satisfaction”?