iamCanadian

Hey pple,

Great board you got going here

Well, just wanted to share (vent) about my experience today outside Spinneys. Was with my friend who parked our jeep outside and went in to buy some stuff. I was in the passenger seat front side.

Couple of minutes later, this arab guy and his wife pull up right next to our jeep in an older mercedes (although there is plenty more space to give our cars some room). Probably Egyptian or some other GCC nationality - not local. Anyways, this guy opens his door (and he's on the phone ofcourse!) and hits the jeep lightly once. I just ignore it (although its buggin me cuz I have had all sorts of dents and scratches when I park due to inconsiderate drivers just swinging their doors open). So this guy is busy engrossed in conversation that he hits the jeep twice more. At this point I'm ticked off, so I slide down the window and say, excuse me, do u mind, you've hit our jeep three times. can u be a bit more careful? To which he replies, yalla whatt? (while still on phone). I explain again and he says angrily where did i hit it? i didnt hear anything. I was like cuz you were on the phone! Then we has like maybe u have double vision or cant hear and had a small smirk on his face. At this point, I lost it. I just said why dont you f!off (had a really bad day with traffic and other inconsideratte creeps) and pulled the window back up. Then he bangs on the window and stands there for a few secs. His wife's calling him away and he finally goes. Then he stands behind the jeep for a few minutes - I'm like wtf is with this guy??

Finally he goes in Spinneys. My friend comes back and starts up the Jeep. all of a sudden this guy is on her side asking to put the window down. I tell her lets just go. But she puts it down and then he says, I've taken ur plate number down, u wait till tomorrow ill get u down to the police station - u dont know who i am. Im like ok, you do realize you hit the three times?? But it was falling on deaf ears.. then we just drove off..

then my freind says that oh u shouldve just ignored him and not said anything at all. I was like, the guy was such an arrogant dick without any regard for other peoples property!! And what kind of place is this if you have to be scared of arseholes like this threatening you if you speak back to them when THEY are at fault???

I was soo mad OMG! I came here from Canada for a better lifestyle but this place (while it has good $) just sucks with these kinda things! I just ended it all by saying Id rather go to the cops or spend a day in jail (over a verbal argument???) than give arsholes like this the satisaction.. but maybe while im here i should just chill a bit if the guy actually does know someone who knows someone...

AHHHH sorry for the long post.. just had to vent

Bob

Well it is all about who you know ain't it....had a mate that new the chief of police somewhere in bahrain, got away with right dodgy driving out there...

anyway, welcome to the site btw.

iamCanadian

Thanks -- I guess that's how it is eh.

novita77

Hello there Canadian...

U sound very pissed on ur post. Well... dunno how long u been there, me and hubby been here for nearly 4 yrs now (in Doha, Qatar). And what u experience not much different with the life in Doha. I used to give a hand signal to locals who cut me accross here and there while driving, but now I am actually stop since my danish friend goes to jail because she sign her middle finger to the Qatari (because he cut her off on the road).

Hubby also short temper when it comes to driving (who not?) ... but I think now we have to be careful with what we do... it can be our local boss ... or somebody knows somebody up there...

I tell u what... take a deep breath... and count till 10... if not working u will have to count till 100 or maybe 10.000...

Or probably u will hv to join yoga to calm u down...

Anyway... welcome to the board.

NOVITA

iamCanadian

Hey thanks for the advice counted till 20 and feel better now heh. Yeah, I hear what you're saying. I will definitely have to control my temper while on the road -- and that incident with your Danish friend just sucks! Trust me, driving here in the UAE can test even the most calm driver!! It's just one of those days when everything piles up on you and then you have to experience a guy like this. I've been here about 2 years myself.

Now hopefully I dont have to deal with cops knocking on my door tomorrow

smartd

another way to deal with the situation is to just start getting to know the right people

Cheers,

D

CanadaEng

Hi there fellow Canadian............sorry to hear you had a bad day. While reading your original post I could almost predict what would happen. The fact that he hit your door three times is pretty annoying! You telling him about it hurt his pride and he was kinda stand offish in his response, but telling him to f-off is seen as an escalation. Arabic societies frown heavily on a confrontational attitude......You guys should've kept it at the superficial level where you say something to get his attention and then he says something back....end of story.

I really hope nothing comes out of this for your sake....you left Canada to have a different experience, and this includes putting up with all sort of things that you may not like. It's part of the package, and unfortunately we can't pick and choose what's in that package. So take it easy and enjoy your experience......don't let the ants ruin your picnic!

Jeeper

You'd better post a message to the board in 2 days so we know you're still wandering free.....

iamCanadian

Still wandering... free? I dunno about that

Actually i know a guy in CID, really nice chap. Said not to worry about it... if it was a local dude then he said yeah, we have to be VERY careful... nonetheless he said to just ignore them, its the best thing here..

iamCanadian

Some wise words there yeah, i def wont let these ants ruin it. part of the package like you said, very true... more than likely nothing will come out of this hopefully, but got me thinking as to what if had been some local biggie or some powerful guy :scared:

TA5

here's some advice, get your windows on your car blacked out, guarantee nobody will park within 10 feet of your car, and people get out of your way alot quicker when you are flying down szr

CanadaEng

In case this guy has got connections and you're confronted then the best thing to do is apologize and tell them that you meant no harm. It won't go any further than this..............afterall it's just words. So no worries

iamCanadian

Dude, i thought about that but the 10,000 fine for tiniting more than 30% kinda threw me off -- not to mention your car gets impounded for 1 month!

Although, with my old car I did have it tinted at 45% (before I knew about this rule) and what you say is exactly true. Everyone just keeps their distance

iamCanadian

yeah, thats what i figured too... would have to apologize I suppose ... i do MISS the sanity of driving in Toronto!

novita77

Frozen weather, heavy tax with nice driving ... or... u prefer UAE... stupid drivers everywhere... free tax and sun shine all year around???