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I skimmed, but not not read the whole thread "question to MCL", but I think this is somewhat related. I know there are many Dubai lovers on the forum and in the country in general, but the following are my observations. Expats are ANYONE that is a resident here, but not a National. After that, the expats are generally broken down into various categories...labour, domestic, service, business,executives, etc.

Let's remember that not all UAE Nationals are monied-up Sheikhs either. There are loads of poor and working class Emiratis. My rub on the whole thing is that there is a sense of "entitlement" here. Mostly attributed to the middle and upper class Nationals, but this sense of entitlement is infectious and I find the longer (some) people have been here, the stronger their sense of entitlement is. I'll admit it, when I got here I thought, "I'm not cleaning, driving, gardening, not doing ANYTHING...I live in Dubai and that is how it is". That did not last long as I like washing my car, every maid or houseboy I hired sucked, I am a defensive driver who does not want my car trashed in my absence, and I am a DIY kinda guy. After about 3 months, I was all of the above...except gardener....he was good and I killed the grass.

I can't speak for the Nationals, but I have seen Indian expats with a 1br flat that have a maid because "that's what you do here". They live cheque to cheque, yet need a maid. I know a bunch of 30-somethings that live together like college kids, yet have a maid because "it's cheap here". They trash the house and the maid cleans up and does their laundry. The watchman at my compound looks in horror and flies down the driveway should he "catch" me bringing the garbage out myself. Is this sense of entitlement as bad as I see? Sure, hire domestic help if you can afford it and afford them a good lifestyle. I know lots of people that treat their help, their friends and family well. We all came here for a more rewarding life regardless of origin or motivation.

I am pretty certain that if all the maids, drivers, houseboys, laborers, taxi/bus drivers and petrol station attendants took a week off at the same time, this place would implode. Does living here entitle you to treat domestic staff as slaves? Does living here entitle you to speak down to those you feel have lesser qualifications than you? Does living here simply give you your "douchebag" wings? Keep in mind, every single one of us will be leaving at some time.

A few chapters from my week:

1) A client of mine (15 year resident) did not know what a multimeter was when I asked to borrow one. This is an ex-UK military guy that was allegedly a radio operator and ran the communications systems. WTF? This same client has his maid unload groceries from the car, has the maid drag his Hobie-Cat up the beach when he is finished with his sailing adventure, and has no issues calling me at midnight when Al Jazeera buggers up the football broadcast to see if I can come over and fix it. How soon they forget.

2) A British friend of mine who is having relationship issues is crashing at mine for a short time till he finds a new place. He was shocked to find out we have no domestic help. I am the maid and clean the villa as the wife works full time as well as school so I make the effort. (Plus, sadly I am better and faster) He was genuinely concerned about pulling his weight as he has not done laundry or done anything domestic in 10 years. His words to me "I just left things anywhere because they would be gone tomorrow". I have to "show him how to do laundry" tomorrow. After dinner tonight, he was very keen to clear up, but as he stood there in the kitchen, it was obvious he had no clue what to do. He subsequently said he would hire a maid for the villa for the duration of his stay!

3) At my home away from home Sunday (Dubai Courts). I was case #5 so knew I would be fast. The opposition's lawyer could not read English nor the Arabic translation I had. He needed his Sudanese (or other) consultant to explain to him what it meant. SHOCK. After getting his notes translated, the translator asked me if the lawyer was 5 years old, as the statement was replete with errors, but he translated verbatim. He then gave me an "interpretation" of what he thought the lawyer was saying. As you may know, only the Plantiff, Defendant or an EMARATI lawyer may approach the judge. It is the consultants that know the laws and do the prep and interpretation. Becoming a lawyer here is simple, provided you are a National.

4) After the above, I went to have a coffee in the Gloria Jeans. It was very busy as per usual. I got in line and waited and noticed all tables were full except for 3 dirty ones. After repeated attempts from Emarati lawyers to cut the line (I don't put up with it and tune them in) I finally got my snack. One fat old dude had been barking the whole time for the staff to clean the tables. The staff were clearly busy as heck and were preparing orders and could not do it. As my order was done, I walked to a table and cleared it myself, fatso promptly sat down. I told him that the table was for me. He mentioned he was a lawyer, I said that was wonderful, I am a litigant, go clear your own table. And I parked my butt. Fatso whined the whole time about clearing the table. Rather than do it himself, he took his coffee and sat in the attached bank's chairs. He whined so much and so long, I finished my muffin and half a coffee. When he saw I was leaving he sprung from his seat to take my table. I just left my tray there and moved another from an adjacent table for good measure.

Loved it! Very observant!

I also do all the maintenance and repairs, clean the house, wash the car, take out the garbage and do still throw the occasional load in the washing machine. I used to have a maid when I lived in Mirdif and felt so guilty about having someone to clear up after me, I ended up cleaning the whole house before she came in just in case she thought I was an untidy and dirty person!

I now have an old villa and have no need of a gardener (they are really just plant watering slaves here) as it has a small compound and only takes 15 minutes to tidy up and water the pots and beds. With 2 dogs, there is a lot of mess and I always clear that before the maid comes twice a week to clean the house. Life is busy right now and having the maid really helps as I don't get the time myself. However I still do the laundry and iron my own shirts, leaving her to concentrate on getting on with the cleaning proper.

Off now to jet wash and polish the motor bike, pick up dead leaves and sweep the frontage after DEWA left a right mess laying a new power cable!

As for the attitude in restaurants, I recently had the misfortune to sit near a very loud and arrogant Lebanese (full slick back hair, pointy shoes type) in a crowded fast service restaurant. He started gobbing off at the waiter for not bringing him a menu fast enough, whinged and whined the whole time about the service and the quality of the food ("Yanni, bring me ketchup, yalla!), spread himself and his food all over the counter, dropped the ring pull and straw wrapper from his can of Bepsi on the floor, then just got up and left his tray and the mess when there was a bin right next to him. If it had been my outlet, I would have spat in his onion rings!

I also had a morning meeting in Wafi the other day. The place had only just opened and we met in The Square Cafe for a fairly intense presentation. The only other customers were a group of 4 Emirati locals, who obviously considered sitting in the coffee shop as 'work' and spent the whole time telling each other jokes and calling their mates. This was 11.00am on a weekday and it looked like they were settled in as they kept the waiting staff busy ordering coffee and cakes, then changing their minds and sending them back and ordering something else. My client (a local lady) actually had to apologise to the staff for their behavior!



Knight

dubaidog wrote:4) After the above, I went to have a coffee in the Gloria Jeans. It was very busy as per usual. I got in line and waited and noticed all tables were full except for 3 dirty ones. After repeated attempts from Emarati lawyers to cut the line (I don't put up with it and tune them in) I finally got my snack. One fat old dude had been barking the whole time for the staff to clean the tables. The staff were clearly busy as heck and were preparing orders and could not do it. As my order was done, I walked to a table and cleared it myself, fatso promptly sat down. I told him that the table was for me. He mentioned he was a lawyer, I said that was wonderful, I am a litigant, go clear your own table. And I parked my butt. Fatso whined the whole time about clearing the table. Rather than do it himself, he took his coffee and sat in the attached bank's chairs. He whined so much and so long, I finished my muffin and half a coffee. When he saw I was leaving he sprung from his seat to take my table. I just left my tray there and moved another from an adjacent table for good measure.

Which Gloria Jean's? I want to go next time you have a coffee and watch the entertainment. I can bring my own table and chair too ...

1 problem is people in service industries are either too stupid or too intimidated or both.


A guy at a service station calls the cleaner "animal" for asking him if he could move his car a bit, the cleaner just doesnt react.
In other parts of the world even a cleaner would have some self respect.

You cant imagine the extreme self superiority belief in some communities. People of a slightly richer family will consider themselves streets above the other family whose members arent that rich

DD (well..the original DD!! ):

Reading your spot-on observations, I am reminded of the following joke:

An Emirati, a German and an Italian were once having a chat over a cold one. All the dudes are married.

The subject of matrimonial bedroom duties comes up.

The Italian says to the “stiff” German, “Hey Helmut, when the wife is in the mood but you’re not, do you still oblige her? Helmut quickly replies, “Sure…sure… because I really look at it as work. I always do my work whether I’m in the mood or not.”

The Emirati then asks the Italian, “What about you Luigi, when you have to oblige your wife, do you also consider it work??” Luigi says, “No…no… S*ex is always fun, not work, whether I'm in the mood or not!!!”

And then the German and the Italian both turn to the Emirati and ask him, “And you Hamdan?? Do you consider se*x with the wife in this case as work or fun???”

Hamdan scratches his head and thinks for a minute and says” Weeelll....I don’t think we consider s*ex with the wife as work. If we did, we would be asking the houseboy to do it for us!!!!!!”

BlackburnRovers wrote:1 problem is people in service industries are either too stupid or too intimidated or both.


A guy at a service station calls the cleaner "animal" for asking him if he could move his car a bit, the cleaner just doesnt react.

That's my point: the service industry people are used to taking crap from these douchebags that figure they are entitled to treat them lower than dirt because they "are just car wash people, cleaners, whatever".

And the people behind the counter at the coffee shop weren't taking anyone's lip either. They were telling people to get in line, straight-up ignoring the loud and rude ones (like fatso) and I heard one girl tell someone on the phone that that it was because they were so busy they did not answer fast. (I presume getting it in the ear from someone "phoning it in").


This was the Gloria Jeans at the courthouse.