Although i am supposdly a graduate, I’m doing my final course along with my internship this summer, & i must admit, it’s the laziest state i’ve ever reached in my academic life! there’s this thing about me that’s pretty annoying actually. When I hate something/someone/somewhere, then it’s over, don’t even try to change my mind.

I’m currently doing my internship in a BANK, some might think it’s AWESOME, & the more sane people would agree with me that it’s the last place they’d want to spend 7 weeks of their lives at. I tried to be optimistic about it, i really did, but i just know this place is in no way fit for me.
Being 1 of the very few Arabs, Emiratis or even females at that department, means that i spend almosy 7.5 of the 8 hours on MUTE. And being on that mode means i spend my time observing people around me.

I remember the first day i walked in, the secretary pointed at the staff and whispered to me: “You see all these people? they’re all busy acting busy!”. This must’ve been the most truthful statement i heard since day one at the bank, because from the first minute, i noticed how every employee is glued to his/her seat, staring carefully at their monitors that have been on the “Screen Saver” mode since God knows when! I’m talking about 80+ monitors playing the same screen savers here :P!

Out of the 80 or so employees, only  7 are Emiratis, 2 Eygptians, 1 Jordanian & 2 Philipinos. So that amounts to 12? Well the rest of them are all either Indians or Pakistanis, so all day long, all I hear is Urdu and Hindi spoken, which means i have no idea whats going on around me.

Don’t get me wrong, i have no problem with Indians & Pakistanis, on the contrary, i have good friends from these nationalities, but the ones at that bank have some things in common:

1) if you’re a UAE nationl, they won’t speak to you, because you MUST be after their jobs
2) if you’re not after their job in particular, then you’ll surely become their boss
3) if they will eventually speak to you, they will be VERY careful to not teach you anything worthwhile, because you see they can’t live to see you become their boss!
4) they will not stare away from their monitors even if you point a gun at them, they must appear as workaholics, they just must
5) if the job requires a day, they’ll spread it across a week or so, because you see, they can’t stare at the screen all their lives, now can they?

i have worked with different nationalities before but never really felt this type of behavior much towards me as an Emirati, but theres something wrong with this place!

and the funny thing is when they go on asking my supervisor : Who is she? Why is she here? is she here to stay? I can’t believe an intern in Abaya can make them suffocate like that. I told my advisor to tell them that I am the new boss, & that they’re just in the process of arranging me new office! i couldn’t help not saying that, because you see I’ve been treated like a queen ever since then! haha

Ok it’s not really funny, i don’t like being a threat to anybody, but i guess some people should get over the idea of us Emiratis being after anything they have, because at the end of the day, if you think of it, you’re entitled for a job in your own country aren’t you?

There are things i noticed about people of my nationality at workplaces, you may not agree, but it’s only my personal observation.
1) they don’t have the “I won’t teach you” mentality.
2) they’re not wicked by nature
3) they’re talkative
4) they can be pretty naive and end up resigning without even claiming their rights

at the mid of all this,  i must say, 2 things really chear me up :

1) escaping early
2) hearing my Philipino cubicle neighbor answer phone calls so soo politely! God it makes my day!  after hearing Urdu spoken all day long, you have no idea how the English Philipino accent becomes so dear! and no i am not kidding! it brings happy tears to my eyes!

God give me patience to wake up at 6:00 am for the remaining weeks, because i am failing misrably >_<’

My blog has been down for almost a week now, thanks to some bots or losers who have nothing better to do than give people something to worry about! thank God i managed to finally understand where the error was.

& so I’m back!

I’m done with my final Capstone presentation!

it was awful

actually,

the worse presentation I’ve ever given

but i dont care

because i have it off my shoulders

and now, i can finally get some decent sleep (not)

will be back updating soon, I’ve missed this place, & missed you all..

Why is it so hard to believe that Emiratis are just like anyone else from any other country in the world? I mean, I keep on hearing so many lame stereotyped comments and misconception about us that makes me either pity other people’s ignorance or simply, i find myself raged. Here is a list of common beliefs about us Emaratis that I always come across, even until last night!

1) All Emirati females are obsessed with makeup & high-brand-expensive handbags.

I must admit that girls over here are crazy about fashion, but seriously, doesn’t every girl in the world care about her looks? I do believe some people over do it, but that’s only natural for any female whether  she’s in the UAE, India , Hawai, Finland or the USA! No not every single girl wears tons of makeup over here,  and No, we don’t all carry Chanels & Hermes

2) Our villas are built over Oil & Gas fields

It pisses me off when you got to any shop where you can bargain, and the seller (mostly Shami, indian or Philipino) would say: “why are you bargaining over 100 dhs? you “locals” can afford everything!”
Like seriously? I really didn’t know that my father has his own Oil refinery station, or maybe we have a bank dug under our land? or wait a minute, maybe because my father is LOCHAL, he MUST BE a business man, of course he is!! or no no, maybe he does work in some governmental authority and earns like 800,000 AED per month? Those who think this way about us must seriously get a life, or maybe some education. Like any other society, there are high class, middle class and low class families in the UAE, there are families who own businesses, those who have normal jobs, and those who barely live on their weak salaries. Just because  a lot of us live a decent life and Alhamdulillah have everything we need, doesn’t mean we’re billionaires.
Emirati’s, actually, Arabs in general are generous people. You rarely find Arabic parents who don’t provide well for their kid, even if they take more than one job each throughout their entire lives. You’ll notice that in restaurants, it’s Arabs most of the time who fight over the bills, and believe it or not, it’s not because our wallets are stacked with CASH, but because it’s something rooted in Arabs, where they spend money  kindheartedly even on strangers.

3) Bentleys , Mercedes benz & Ferrari’s are the only cars you see on our roads

Who doesn’t like a fancy car? (I prefer practical cars :P).
Drive around Jumairah road and Al Dhiyafa road in Dubai, or Al Corniche in Abu Dhabi, and checkout those LOCHALS driving their killer cars.
Just one question, haven’t people ever heard of Banks?  loans? hello?
Lesson of the day: Some people can afford luxurious rides, some buy them through monthly installments & others can’t afford them whatsoever. Is it hard to believe it happens in this part of the world as well?

PS. A big number of Arabs, Asians & Europeans drive luxurious cars over here too, maybe you can stare at them for a change?

4) Emirati females wear tents.

We are hidden under tents you know, those tents are called “Abayas” I’m so sorry you think they look like tents but guess what, in some places around the world, people cover up with feather and animal skin, why aren’t those customs intimidating for those who make fun?
Abayas are a fashionable thing over here, they’re traditional, cultural and they are DECENT. Never mind all the new silly Abayas you see around these days (the Ali Baba Pants Abaya is hillarious btw lol) but even many non-emiratis have commented on how beautiful, fashionable and elegant they are, especially plain black Abayas. Maybe people need to actually talk to Girls in Abayas & ask them how they feel about it, we don’t bite & we do speak English by the way, well most of us at least. And trust me, very few girls are forced to wear it, and if it was something we are forced to wear, you wouldn’t find thousands of Abaya shops and designers, with some that can cost over 20,000 dhs per design, and you wouldnt find girls tailoring a new abaya every few days.

PS. we don’t really wear pajamas under our Abayas. We wear casual clothes, you know like T-shirts? jeans? Jallabayas? you know like normal clothes?

5) Emirati employees don’t work. Receptionists, call center operators ?  A job fit for an Emirati!

At work, i have come across lousy employees, those that you get to see 3 times a week if your lucky. I have also come across those who whine 100 million times per minute, or those who think coming to work means breakfasting, a bit of socializing, and a teeny bit of actual work (when they suddenly feel like they have to earn their salaries at the last 30 minute of their workday). Guess what? A lot of those I came across were Emiratis, and an even bigger lot were expats! Please try to believe me.

I have worked for almost 4 years, and the majority of those around me were expats (5% nationals?) the nature of our work was hectic and most of the time, you’ll end up staying till late at night. I have seen both locals and expats strive to do their best at work. I have also seen expats who NEVER leave their desks unless for a call of nature, but if you monitor their workload, you’ll see that they don’t really have anything to do, but they leave an impression of the mighty workaholics. You see again, this has nothing to do with nationalities. It’s your personality &  experience that determines the type of employee you’ll be.

PS: I am an Emirati, and i can do more than answering phone calls or smile at people in the reception area.

Oh my, I wanna go on and on, but I’m not supposed to be typing here, I have DEADLINES to meet!!

By the way, I am an Emirati and i do go to school

Until i complain again….