“Even the Fly Got a Shop… and Started Closing Early” (Palestinian–Jordanian dialect proverb) There was a young woman named Jana who worked in a clothing store. She was always complaining about the manager, saying, “Honestly, if they made me the manager for just one day, I’d fix everything.” After a while, the owner promoted her to supervisor of the staff. On her first day, everyone was happy for her. But no one expected what happened next. Every five minutes she was calling out to the employees: “Why is this item here?” “Who told you that you could sit down?” “No, that’s not allowed.” “Go organize the shelves again.” Even if one of the girls wanted to grab a glass of water, she had to ask Jana for permission. Her coworkers were surprised. Sarah said to her, “Jana… just last week you were sitting with us complaining about this exact behavior.” Jana lifted her chin and replied, “Now I’m the supervisor… there has to be order.” A few days later, a customer came in looking for a dress. Jana spoke to her in an arrogant, condescending way. The customer got upset and left without buying anything. The store manager saw what happened and called Jana into his office. He told her, “This isn’t the right attitude, and it’s not how we treat customers.” When Jana walked out, Sarah was waiting outside. She smiled and said, “Well… even the fly got a shop… and now it’s closing early.” Jana’s face turned red. She realized everyone had noticed how much she had changed the moment she was given a little authority. From that day on, she treated both the employees and the customers with respect again, realizing that having a position doesn’t give anyone the right to look down on others. Meaning of the proverb “Even the fly got a shop… and now it’s closing early” is a humorous proverb used when someone gains a little authority, status, money, or even something very small, and suddenly becomes arrogant or starts acting as if they’re more important than everyone else. The message is that a person’s true worth comes from their character and humility—not from their position or power.