scot47

Many posts openly display rather negative views of our hosts - Qataris, Emiraties, Saudis, Kuwaitis, Bahrainis.

Do you REALLY hate your paymasters so much ? Do you not find it difficult working for people you dislike ?

The Dean

I find them very different from each other........... I have worked for Saudis and Bahrainis and found them to be highly professional, and just and fair employers. Others, however, are a different sort altogether......... there is no sense of gratitude or appreciation for the fact that I have skills and experience that most locals don't - many simply see us as a means to an end: making them even more wealthy than they already are...........

I suppose it's an uneasy truce - we are well paid so we don't moan too much.....

mentalist

I don't recall having encountered one "highly professional" or any "just and fair employers" in my 8+ years in Saudi Arabia.

weasel decentral

Are you canvassing for a return to KSA?

Not doubting your personal experience but I would say you are one in a million with that opinion.

flares

I'm with you on that. Some of the educated Saudis I've dealt with on the larger quasi-govt developments or in the hospitality trade are very very good.

DOHDUBMAN

Every qatari ive met has been great to me. Great views on expats and very open to share there country with us. I drink with a Qatari policeman and allthough is humour is a lot different to mine he allways enjoys himself and is a good member of our group

northbadawi

All educated Saudis I've met are from pre-oil era (in their 60-70ies), and they still remember the time when public cinemas existed in Jeddah.
As my wife noticed - they even open the doors for ladies, or stop at pedestian crossings.

al dente

I know and very much like a small group of emirati women. My husband works with some very smart and intuitive men. Outside that though, it's sometimes hard to form a positive experience as most other interactions just are easy to misconstrue as rude or reek of entitlement.

Just today:
I was at the rather lift scarce Musrif Mall waiting for an age for the lift. An arab lady (dressed in an abaya and sheila) and her friends looked up from the (finally) stopping lift, saw I had a pram and just pressed the door shut to carry on going up without us. I slammed the button so that the door reopened and just asked her to please move in more as there was plenty of room.

We've got problems with parking at the gate into our compound, as there is a La Brioche there. Someone put some bollards up to encourage people to park 10m further away so as to not block the t junction. Come home from shops: 2 huge black 4x4s are parked outside of the bollards so traffic has to squeeze through and there's a bit snarl up. I ask the guard what's happened. "Local, madam."

It's difficult to have positive everyday experiences but so easy to have negative ones. This is the kind of thing that skews western perception, i think anyway. It is a shame as the individual women I know are really exceptionally lovely and warm..

scrubbedexpat141

Older local's I've met through work have been utter gents with fascinating stories, lives and attitudes.

Younger ones generally act a lot less like this. Take the car renewal I did at the weekend. Tried to pay by card for 1st re-test (35dhs), told me I couldn't pay by card, so I went to get cash and the card machine swallowed my card because it didn't come out far enough for any human to take...grr...

Went back in a bit flustered, asked very nicely whilst explaining the situation briefly...*shrugs*, maybe you phone friend.

Mrs took 45 mins to get to me, went to next counter as original guy had gone, only to be told that I could pay by card there.

If this was in England I'd have gone ****ing spastic. I was told there was no way of paying by card, it had to be cash.

The bloke in front of me paid by card to add some more insult.

Fortunately for them I had been there for nearly 2 hours already, was hungover, tired, miserable and scared of being arrested....so they avoided a dressing down Scamp style.

You know what, **** what I said, they're all ****ing imbeciles.

Miss Anne Thrope

Some of us have been fortunate enough to have had more opportunities to penetrate the local community and have found many members to be receptive when we do.

scrubbedexpat141

Single-handedly (or double-handed-pepper-grinder) lowering the tone since Jan 2012.

Miss Anne Thrope

Tone is in the ear and filthy mind of the beholder...

DOHDUBMAN

Some of us have been fortunate enough to have had more opportunities to penetrate the local community and have found many members to be receptive when we do.

scrubbedexpat141

Oh you know exactly what you were up to, butch

You like the D-H-P-G?

Miss Anne Thrope

Impressive when you first see one, perhaps, but honestly, there are just so many of them in Dubai now....