I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Hi there,

I have not posted here in more than a year. I arrived in Dubai May 2009 and I stayed there until June 2011. My wife could not get a job and hated the place. I hated my job. We saved enough to buy a house back home and we moved back... now the problem is that I miss Dubai. I am not a beach person and I hate malls so I guess I am only missing living comfortable and still having half my salary in the bank at the end of the month. Am I missing something else?
I had a new job offer to come back and I know if I bring it to my wife she will kill me. And the worst of all is that I am thinking about it even if it is 20% less than what I use to make there.

Please give me good reasons to not come back.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Missing the Pinoy hookers in Rattlesnake?

Good luck for you boy, they've just knocked down the Metropolitan

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Oh,where have they gone:)

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

No they haven't.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

pretentious twats

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Nobody liked you and your wife was sleeping with the gardener and maid.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Seconded - all that air kissing gets very tedious.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

I work on a basic formula with the carrot cake eating skinny soya latte drinkers of Dubai .

Air kissing xLarge handbag x Oversized sunglasses = Small bank balance

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

I have to say that, after working in UK for 21 years struggling month to month (ie going further and further into debt), I can see where you are coming from with the idea of living well and still having half your salary to play with.

Financial security goes a long way in making you (dare I say) happy

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

We had no maid or gardener, that is why we were able to save. And I really do not give a **** if people liked me or not. Most of you have no idea how hard is to make a decent living in the Old continent these days.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

At least you don't come across as bitter. :rofl:

My take on it, if you are unhappy but coming just for the money then something is deeply wrong. We all make some trade offs being here - happiness shouldn't be one of them.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

:thumbsup::thumbsup: or = xlarge bank loan

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

I think you'll find that most do, which is why "most" people put up with the bad as well as the good about living and working in the Middle East.

What you've just done is the equivalent of walking into a pub, declaring yourself filthy ******* rich (let's face it "most" people out here cannot save enough to buy a house within two years) and wanting to do it again. Not exactly the way to get warm & fuzzy comments, is it? :unsure:

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

I apologize if I came as arrogant. The problem is how to control people expectations. We did not buy a penthouse in London. The house cost us less than GBP 120K. Gosh we saved every single dhs when we were there (Satwa and Deira were our treat on a weekend out). Maybe that is why we hated Dubai... we did not make the most of it. Looking back we should have stayed one or two years more, to save for the house AND the rainy days. Its is bloody hard to make enough to sustain a family these days in Europe. I guess that is why you see people asking in the forum if 9K dhs is a good salary.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

I am not in the middle east because I love it, I can assure you.

There is nothing stopping you returning to work and going back home every 3 or 4 months. Can't have your cake and eat it too is the phrase that comes to mind

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Surely the money is the only reason we are here? Everyones circumstances are different but I know I am sacrificing a lot of happiness to be here, especially as my family is back in the UK.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

No....

I know that I could make a shed load more money working back in West Africa. But having done the rounds there for +10 years it was time for a change of scene and also an opportunity for my wife to develop her own career in a more formal way.

Apart from missing out some good gigs at Nottingham Rock City and me mum's yorkie puddings I can't say I miss the place.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

It's not my sole motivation, no. I hated working in London and always wanted to leave. That said, I wouldn't stay here if I was struggling either. I have my family with me and live a normal life - apart from a reliable source of tangfansics I'm not sacrificing much being here.

We all have options...

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Dear me! I hope your hardship allowance makes up for the things you must forego....:D

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Edited that for you. Hope it helps.

PS Since June 2011 have you bought a house with cash, lived 100% comfortably, has your wife found a job, have you found god, are you happy?

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

It's not easy if what my family says is anything to go by. Decades of socialism, bad management of industry and a culture of reliance of the nanny state instead of a can-do attitude hasn't helped us much.

That said my one of sisters just got promoted and will probably send me a decent christmas present this year ;)

N.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Thanks. Yes we bought the house in cash but we had to borrow a small amount just to pay for the reforms, so we have not lived comfortable. Happy? Are you American?? Happiness is always a straggle, not a state. I guess my problem is that after been an expat for 10 years, I do not know where home is.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Its where the heart is.

Look, do yourself a favour..look up here

www.howtokillyourselffordepressingtwats.com

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

Good to know that some things and people have not changed in BE...
Life is good commander. I have a young family, good health and many good job opportunities (but not at "home"). I just was trying to remember if I like something else about Dubai beyond my salary.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

You have your health and wealth, be happy.

Everyone has different reasons for being in dubai. We actually like it.

I actually have a wife who is quite ill, and would trade everything to have her illness cured, so apolgies if I can't quite sympathise with the self pitying posts..

I wish you well though, and I wouldn't comeback here for only the money unless you go on rotation and leave the family at home.

Best of luck..

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

this is the answer I think

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

I'm curious. Why did your wife hate Dubai? Had she lived someone other than the UK before?

Home is where you feel comfortable and that really ought to be be where you are at any given point and personal happiness is your responsibility. As an adult you can make you life what you want it to be. You don't have to have an allegience to where you grew up to feel happy in life.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

We lived and worked in the UK, the US, France, and Italy before going to Dubai (and since then in Africa and South America but with base in Europe). I think she hated Dubai because she could not get a decent job and it was bored to death (she got those one where the employer would keep your passport for "your own security"). It was bad timing, we landed in Dubai in May 2009, when a lot of people where been laid off.
On the strict personal level, I feel comfortable almost anywhere as long as my family is there and they are happy, and I do not struggle to make ends meet.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

[QUOTE=Meow;9971446]I'm curious. Why did your wife hate Dubai? Had she lived someone other than the UK before?

After 4 half years here my wife has just told me she hates Dubai, how on earth has it took her so long and in my opinion the solution is in her hands, as she said its simply lack of freindships.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

artificially elevated social status?
Even the most chavtastic nobody is treated well in DXB.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

I come into contact with literally hundreds of expats on a weekly basis.

The 'fur coat no knickers' types (ie have an artificially elevated status they would never enjoy in UK) stand out and are probably the worst when it comes to thinking they are above themselves.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

[QUOTE=rowell;9971481]Lack of decent friends is a huge problem here.

I'm fortunately to know a lot of really decent people - proper human beings who don't give a crap about where you are from or what you earn...only if you are a tosser or not (which is how it should be!).

N.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

[QUOTE=Norm_uk;9972496]Spot on. You're losing you're touch man - nobody has called you a Nazi in weeks.

When we lived in Abu Dhabi in 2007-9 the way in which people would suss you out/proffer business cards etc within 1 minute of meeting really grated on me. In Bahrain that doesn't happen and I much prefer it that way. As we will be moving to Dubai in the next couple of months I'm hoping it was just a phase during the boom years and there will be nice people aplenty this time around.

The point about friends is an interesting one. Back in the UK I had loads of good mates but they've been much thinner on the ground since we came to the Middle East. In my opinion it's a lonelier life out here for men as we tend to take a long time to form friendships. Women on the other hand, bond in seconds over a coffee and are telling eachother deeply personal stuff by the end of the first G&T..... :)

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

[QUOTE=Norm_uk;9972496]tosser:D

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

[QUOTE=commander;9972575]I'm putting you on my 'dodgy' list for that rude remark...totally out of line ;)

N.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

[QUOTE=Ronnie Biggs;9972537]If you thought AD was bad for that type of thing wait until you get to Dubai!
Better make sure that you drive the right car and your kids go to the right school!

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

[QUOTE=Ronnie Biggs;9972537]No one is posting anything about religion or politics anymore - it's so boring here.

A lot depends on your hobbies I suppose. Aside from drinking I am a bit of a nerd and so have found pretty good friends in similar circles but as mentioned I have been lucky enough to meet some really decent people through my work and general socialising.

N.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

[QUOTE=soukie;9973320]Spent seven years in Dubai before moving to Abu Dhabi...and only keep in touch with the people who aren't bothered by such things (all six of them!).

N.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

OP, how much did you earn?

Is that all that matters to you? You keep mentioning your family but that wasn't an original concern by the soudns of it.

Re: I miss my Dubai salary badly
 

OP - money really isn't everything. And I'm not saying that from a fur lined lifestyle, whilst sipping my champagne.

I miss my Abu Dhabi Salary (not the Dubai one, that one is tainted by the hell I went through earning it). But I appreciate the other things I now have instead.

This may sound crazy, but do you count your blessings at night? I do this regularly. Not in a "thank you god for x and y" way but I just focus on what is around me that makes me happy. My son almost died two and a half years ago at the age of six and I find that puts EVERYTHING into perspective. So the rest of life is a bonus in my mind.

Life at home isn't easy - I've only got one kid in a school and I'm playing domestic goddess/teacher until the other one is sorted (could be september -
joy) which means money is tight as I'm the the bigger earner. No car, can't get back into our own home (again not untilSeptember)... But, well - it's not THAT bad is it? we spent five weeks in India when we left Dubai and seeing people living in shacks and on rubbish dumps and kids running around in rags... Being rich is just about perspective isn't it? I feel pretty rich most of the time because my family are safe and well. yes it's a cliche to say all this but it's true.

Good things are all around: spring is in the air: the daffs, magnolia and tulips are out and the sun is shining all week which makes everybody so SMILEY - I'd forgotten that. All the walking about means my kids are rosy cheeked and healthy, my husband is back at work and thriving again... AND THERE IS A BLACKBIRD BUILDING A NEST IN MY HEDGE.

Mind you, I'm not so happy about the price of booze - bloody hell they've been hiking the tax on spirits. Gin is so expensive! Gin!