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We all know that the locals in Dubai receive preferential status above all expats, but I experienced in first hand the full extent of this self-deceiving favouritism last week... as I was waiting in line to enter a free car park of an office tower, an arab queuing behind me got out of his car and knocked on my window, naturally I opened my window to find out what is it that he was after, expecting that he was going to give me some lame excuse that he was in a rush and whether he could go before me, to my surprise he said to me "I was here before you... Allah knows I was here before you!" I simply ignored him and shut my window, he went back to his car somewhat annoyed at my lack of response, and decided to overtake me and block the entrance of the car park. Now this guy was driving a run-down 1989 corolla, and to me if he was wealthy and powerful, he would simply head straight to the paid parking rather than fight in queue for a free parking spot, so this prompted me to do something about it... but instead of confronting him, I took a photo of his number plate with my phone. That really pissed him off and he started shouting at me and threatening me with this and that... eventually the gate keeper of the car park had enough and let him through (even though there was no free spot inside). But that wasn't over... he came around to me once he parked his car and took a picture of my number plate... sure enough later that afternoon I received a call from the police saying a "gentleman" has lodged a complaint against me, I explained my situation and lucky for me, the police officer was very understanding (he must deal with his crap everyday) and eventually we resolved the situation on the phone after I made numerous apologies for taking photos inappropriately (hang on... didn't that guy took a photo of my car as well?) One thing I learned from this is that patience goes a long way in Dubai... guess we just need to take the good with the bad.