Ahhh, Sweet, Sweet UAE
Is it just me or is there entertainment just about everywhere here? I used to work in customer service, for a satellite television company. As each day passes and I encounter more and more almost comedic events, I can’t help but wonder why the HELL so many people get uptight when the tellie is out. Your life can be a soap opera here, and you don’t even have to know how to act!
As you all know, I’m in the process of moving back in with mom. That means that there’s a lot to do and lot to get rid of. In fact, today I’ll be there, cleaning out my rooms. Some of the things I won’t need anymore include a fridge, stove and microwave. Last night, I had a guest to take a look at these things. Well, he’s my lawyer actually, the one I was talking about in an earlier entry. He’s just taken a new flat in Ajman. I offered to give them to him, because well lets be honest, it’s getting expensive so why should he have to buy new, when he can have mine and not pay a thing?
The first and most entertaining part of last night was the money discussion. I wasn’t really thinking about selling the equipment in the first place, so I hadn’t put a price on anything. If he hadn’t wanted them, I’d have just left them in the flat for whoever comes next. Sort of like what I’m intending to do with my bedroom set. I didn’t really care, but he ended up insisting on paying something. So the discussion starts. Have you ever haggled or tried NOT to haggle with an Arab, who’s also friend? It goes something like this…
Him: How much do you want for them?
Me: I don’t really care, you can just take them. Consider it a gift.
Him: No, no. I can’t take them like this.
Me: Seriously, I wasn’t thinking about selling them and you might as well just have them.
Him: Tell me how much you want. If I can afford it, I’ll take it. If not, I’ll go to Carrefour and buy new.
Me: Listen, I hate talking about money. And you’re talking silly. I’ll tell you what, you take the things and put whatever you think is reasonable for them in an envelope and give it to me. We won’t discuss a minute more about something so stupid.
Him: No. I don’t want you to think I’m a bad person. If you were a stranger it’d be easy, but you’re not. How much did you pay for them?
Me: Oh God, I don’t even remember now.
Him: I want them! I mean I really want them. Can I take them today?
Me: I’d prefer it if you didn’t, because I’d like to drink coffee tomorrow morning and I haven’t had the chance to clean out the fridge yet.
Him: But when can I take them? There are some movers down from your building now. It’ll take them an hour or more I think to finish whatever they’re doing. Let me go talk to them.
Me: Don’t worry about that. We can find movers anywhere. We can transfer them on Friday, once my things are out and I’m settled with my mom.
Him: I’ll be in Abu Dhabi on Friday. How much do you want for them?
And the conversation goes in circles till he finally realized that I don’t give a damn and he offers an amount, which I accept. He also agreed to take them on Friday or Saturday.
The next entertaining bit happened about three minutes after he left. He came back with the movers from down stairs.
“These guys want to see all the furniture before they agree on a price for moving them,” He beamed, “And I’ll show them the bedroom set, see if they want to buy it. If they do, I get half, deal?”
For the next hour or so I had two Pathans and an Arab fighting over the cost of moving things and buying my bedroom set throughout my house. This conversation went something like this:
Pathan: Ok, 300Dhs to deliver the kitchen stuff to your house in Ajman and 500Dhs to deliver the rest to Dubai. We’ll take the bedroom set for 300 dirhams.
Him: What?! You’ve got to be kidding. I paid just 100Dhs last week to have furniture transferred to Ajman from Sharjah! You want 300Dhs for Ajman, to Ajman? No no, forget 100Dhs.
Pathan: Baba, it’s a big truck and it’s expensive for petrol. And there’s moving work that has to go into it.
Him: And the bedroom set was expensive baba. You can tell just by looking at it. Madam here paid a lot for it. She still has the receipts.
Pathan: But it’s broken and will cost a lot to repair.
(It’s a four-post bed and I broke one of the pillars off)
Him: It’ll take 5Dhs and a screwdriver to fix it. Then you can sell it like new! 1000Dhs.
Pathan: No, no, it’s too much. We don’t want it.
Me (to the lawyer): Umm, why don’t you just tell them they can have it if they transfer both our things for free? I’m going to just leave it here anyway.
Him: Are you crazy? No. No need.
The three fought on for a better part of an hour before the amounts were decided and the transfer was arranged for Saturday; all of it, except the bedroom set.
After they finally got out of my house I called the friend of mine who will be helping me on move; as in, he’ll get into the truck with the movers to show them where my mom’s house is. It turned out he was working morning shift Saturday, so someone had to call the Pathans and ask them to come around on Friday for my things. I called the lawyer and got their phone number and transferred it to my friend.
My friend called them and since he spoke to them in their language and is always pleasant to talk to, they were more than happy to move my things on Friday, and the lawyers stuff on Saturday without changing the agreed amount.
10 minutes later, my doorbell rang. The Pathans were here, talking on the mobile.
”Madam,” The guy hands me his mobile, “You want to move your things now?”
“Friday,” I take the phone and find the lawyer on the other end.
For some reason, the lawyer had called them and told them that I wanted to move that minute. (Keep in mind the guy was just in my house, and knows I still haven’t finished packing.)
“No,” I speak into the phone, “Friday. And I just told you that. Why would you send them back here?”
“I’m sorry. I knew that, but I thought that’s what this guy just told me,” He was lying, “That’s why I called him.”
I closed the phone and apologized to the guys. They smiled and told me, “We knew it was Friday, but he told us to come back now.” I’m sure he wasn’t lying, “Here, take my card and give me a call Friday evening and we’ll move everything.”
I called the lawyer back and confirmed to him that my things would be moved on Friday and his on Saturday because he would be in Abu Dhabi on Friday. He told me that if he was in town when they came to take my things, he’d give me a call. Ahh, so he wasn’t really planning on being in Abu Dhabi, was just eager to get his new things.
Impatient to get his house furnished, wouldn’t you say? Now I’ve got a question or rather guess for you all, do you think things will transfer smoothly on Friday? Who needs television, the real life is far more entertaining.
Now, off to pick up my son and then to my mommy’s house.
As you all know, I’m in the process of moving back in with mom. That means that there’s a lot to do and lot to get rid of. In fact, today I’ll be there, cleaning out my rooms. Some of the things I won’t need anymore include a fridge, stove and microwave. Last night, I had a guest to take a look at these things. Well, he’s my lawyer actually, the one I was talking about in an earlier entry. He’s just taken a new flat in Ajman. I offered to give them to him, because well lets be honest, it’s getting expensive so why should he have to buy new, when he can have mine and not pay a thing?
The first and most entertaining part of last night was the money discussion. I wasn’t really thinking about selling the equipment in the first place, so I hadn’t put a price on anything. If he hadn’t wanted them, I’d have just left them in the flat for whoever comes next. Sort of like what I’m intending to do with my bedroom set. I didn’t really care, but he ended up insisting on paying something. So the discussion starts. Have you ever haggled or tried NOT to haggle with an Arab, who’s also friend? It goes something like this…
Him: How much do you want for them?
Me: I don’t really care, you can just take them. Consider it a gift.
Him: No, no. I can’t take them like this.
Me: Seriously, I wasn’t thinking about selling them and you might as well just have them.
Him: Tell me how much you want. If I can afford it, I’ll take it. If not, I’ll go to Carrefour and buy new.
Me: Listen, I hate talking about money. And you’re talking silly. I’ll tell you what, you take the things and put whatever you think is reasonable for them in an envelope and give it to me. We won’t discuss a minute more about something so stupid.
Him: No. I don’t want you to think I’m a bad person. If you were a stranger it’d be easy, but you’re not. How much did you pay for them?
Me: Oh God, I don’t even remember now.
Him: I want them! I mean I really want them. Can I take them today?
Me: I’d prefer it if you didn’t, because I’d like to drink coffee tomorrow morning and I haven’t had the chance to clean out the fridge yet.
Him: But when can I take them? There are some movers down from your building now. It’ll take them an hour or more I think to finish whatever they’re doing. Let me go talk to them.
Me: Don’t worry about that. We can find movers anywhere. We can transfer them on Friday, once my things are out and I’m settled with my mom.
Him: I’ll be in Abu Dhabi on Friday. How much do you want for them?
And the conversation goes in circles till he finally realized that I don’t give a damn and he offers an amount, which I accept. He also agreed to take them on Friday or Saturday.
The next entertaining bit happened about three minutes after he left. He came back with the movers from down stairs.
“These guys want to see all the furniture before they agree on a price for moving them,” He beamed, “And I’ll show them the bedroom set, see if they want to buy it. If they do, I get half, deal?”
For the next hour or so I had two Pathans and an Arab fighting over the cost of moving things and buying my bedroom set throughout my house. This conversation went something like this:
Pathan: Ok, 300Dhs to deliver the kitchen stuff to your house in Ajman and 500Dhs to deliver the rest to Dubai. We’ll take the bedroom set for 300 dirhams.
Him: What?! You’ve got to be kidding. I paid just 100Dhs last week to have furniture transferred to Ajman from Sharjah! You want 300Dhs for Ajman, to Ajman? No no, forget 100Dhs.
Pathan: Baba, it’s a big truck and it’s expensive for petrol. And there’s moving work that has to go into it.
Him: And the bedroom set was expensive baba. You can tell just by looking at it. Madam here paid a lot for it. She still has the receipts.
Pathan: But it’s broken and will cost a lot to repair.
(It’s a four-post bed and I broke one of the pillars off)
Him: It’ll take 5Dhs and a screwdriver to fix it. Then you can sell it like new! 1000Dhs.
Pathan: No, no, it’s too much. We don’t want it.
Me (to the lawyer): Umm, why don’t you just tell them they can have it if they transfer both our things for free? I’m going to just leave it here anyway.
Him: Are you crazy? No. No need.
The three fought on for a better part of an hour before the amounts were decided and the transfer was arranged for Saturday; all of it, except the bedroom set.
After they finally got out of my house I called the friend of mine who will be helping me on move; as in, he’ll get into the truck with the movers to show them where my mom’s house is. It turned out he was working morning shift Saturday, so someone had to call the Pathans and ask them to come around on Friday for my things. I called the lawyer and got their phone number and transferred it to my friend.
My friend called them and since he spoke to them in their language and is always pleasant to talk to, they were more than happy to move my things on Friday, and the lawyers stuff on Saturday without changing the agreed amount.
10 minutes later, my doorbell rang. The Pathans were here, talking on the mobile.
”Madam,” The guy hands me his mobile, “You want to move your things now?”
“Friday,” I take the phone and find the lawyer on the other end.
For some reason, the lawyer had called them and told them that I wanted to move that minute. (Keep in mind the guy was just in my house, and knows I still haven’t finished packing.)
“No,” I speak into the phone, “Friday. And I just told you that. Why would you send them back here?”
“I’m sorry. I knew that, but I thought that’s what this guy just told me,” He was lying, “That’s why I called him.”
I closed the phone and apologized to the guys. They smiled and told me, “We knew it was Friday, but he told us to come back now.” I’m sure he wasn’t lying, “Here, take my card and give me a call Friday evening and we’ll move everything.”
I called the lawyer back and confirmed to him that my things would be moved on Friday and his on Saturday because he would be in Abu Dhabi on Friday. He told me that if he was in town when they came to take my things, he’d give me a call. Ahh, so he wasn’t really planning on being in Abu Dhabi, was just eager to get his new things.
Impatient to get his house furnished, wouldn’t you say? Now I’ve got a question or rather guess for you all, do you think things will transfer smoothly on Friday? Who needs television, the real life is far more entertaining.
Now, off to pick up my son and then to my mommy’s house.
posted by Tainted Female at
11:14 AM
12 Comments:
Nice post.
The way bargaining is done is so funny, its something that is being replaced by the fixed price system. There are a few shops in Al Ain where pathans sell shoes, carpets and stuff like that. You can bargain all the way from 100 to 20. The funniest thing - you can find the same stuff at Carrefour for 15 minus the fun.
As for the impatience, its in the blood. You have put it together so nicely.
:)
LOL..UAE could really make a wonderful TV show.. something like FRIENDS, but way better with all the different characters the writers can produce!
..but as you've said, the life here is far more entertaining. ;D
Ahmed, You Arabs are all funny with the impatience. Combine it with the inability to show up anyplace on time, and you have a nice little contradiction happening. Lol. ;)
Dani, I bet we could get rich making movies (or even a comedic sitcom) outta everyday life here. Any filming education? Shall we give it a go?
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
What else is up for grabs? It's still free, right? LOL :-) Can I come over Friday with a 'U-Haul' :-) LOL. Happy Moving, have fun, be cool :-)
hmm firstly, it would be interesting to know how you broke off one of the pillars of your bed :p
and secondly, this post sounded like I was ready Dubai@Random's blog.
reading*
lol @ harsha... I knew someone was going to ask.
I don't know really. I used to hang abayas on it, till one day it ust broke...
ooh.. one day someone forgot to take out tainted from the abaya..ok..that's corny..
I think your lawyer is pushy!
I can imagine the headache you have packing!!!
oh my lord.. i hate these situations!!
i am impressed by your patience in that situation and also by your patience again to blog about it!
hope the matter is sorted by now!
(It’s a four-post bed and I broke one of the pillars off)
The mind boggles Miss T!
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