Sorry Yitzhak, it's a British thing ...

[Jayhawker Soule]

An American Jew was shopping on Regent Street in London. He entered a posh gourmet food store. A salesman in a morning coat with tie and tails approached and asked, "May I be of help to you, sir?"

"Yes," replied the customer, "I'd like a pound of lox."

"Sorry, sir," answered the cultured salesman, "Do you mean smoked salmon?

"Okay, a pound of smoked salmon."

"Anything else?"

"Yes, a dozen blintzes."

"I believe you mean crepes.

"Okay, a dozen crepes."

"Anything else?"

"Yes. A pound of chopped liver."

"You are probably referring to pate.

"Okay," said the customer, "a pound of pate, and could you deliver this Saturday?"

"Sorry, sir," said the salesperson, "We don't schlep chazzerai on Shabbos!"

 

[jimbob]

umm, i don't get it.

 

[Unedited]

umm, i don't get it.

Me neither, but I get the feeling I'd really like it if I did.

 

[Druidus]

I think the last sentence means that they don't ship foods on the Sabbath. Not sure though.

 

[john313]

schlep : to drag or haul (an object); to make a tedious journey (from Yiddish שלעפּן shlepn)

Chazzerai: (khaz-zer-rye) literally, pig slop. Any kind of garbage, whether it's junk food, shoddy merchandise or stuff of little or no value.

 

[Scuba Pete]

That would be "haul garbage" my friends...

 

[martha]

Well being a goy, I haven't much knowledge on the subject, but....

In my humble opinion, this is my take on the verbal and incidental exchange between the two gentlemen; The fellow who enters the store is a Jew, the fellow in the morning coat who comes to assist him is a Jew. They begin the dialog and each one is trying to represent themselves in a certain way. The buyer is asking for some particular foods and particular delivery time in reference to the Jewish way of life. The fellow who is serving him, is acting in such a manner to convey that he is not of the Jewish persuasion, until his last statement. His last words were most definately of Jewish understanding. Therefore the moral of the story is to my mind; don't try to be what you are not. The gentleman who was serving the customer, was clearly Jewish, but he tried to detract from that fact by correcting the customer at every turn until the last phrase, wherein he revealed his true self. He appeared to be self reightious, condescending and in effect tried to put himself above his Jewish brother, by not speaking to him in a common accepted way of the Jewish vernacular. The bottom line in plain english is that this server is of the perception that he is all that and a bag of chips and shouldn't have to lower himself to deal with the common Jewish man, but if he has to, he will certainly dissuade this type from entering the store again!

And so it goes beloved, once again ego takes center stage!

Martha