One of the hardest cultural differences to get used to here so far has been how present workers are out in public. I have never been so watched, attended to, greeted, and accommodated in all my life. For those of us who aren't used to it, it can be pretty damn irritating.
This morning in the gym, for instance, the gym attendant thought the weight bench was in my way (which it wasn't) as I was doing the chest press on a ball, so he came and moved it a few feet over. One day in a grocery store an attendant was staring at me, watching me choose crayons for Griffin. I finally asked him to tell me where I could get freezer packs for lunchboxes (because I was going there next), and he actually went and got several options and brought them to me.
In restaurants waiters have stood over us for ten minutes at a time, talking to Griffin and telling him to eat his dinner; at hotels doormen have told me exactly where to sit and that I shouldn't hold my bags too long; gym attendants follow me to the treadmill offering water and towels, baristas have remembered my drink order after having only ordered the drink once before; and bartenders have brought wireless credit card machines to my table so that I can push whether I want to pay in dirhams or dollars.
Those of you who know Woody and me know that we're pretty private, even bordering on the anti-social at times. It's gotten to the point where we've scouted out all of the routes in the hotel that allow us to avoid talking to people. And we outright avoid stores where people follow us around or stand over us.
I do realize that most of the places we've frequented in our first month here have been service-orientated places like hotels and restaurants. However, it happens in stores elsewhere in the city, too. This isn't a tipping culture, so I'm continuously baffled about why people behave like this. Maybe when I'm here longer, I'll understand better. If you live in Dubai and have any insight into this, I would love to hear it, so please feel free to leave a comment below.
1 comment:
Ha!Ha!Ha! There was actually a letter to the editor in 7 Days last week I think about this very thing. I have been known to be downright rude to shop keepers. "I AM JUST LOOKING. I WILL CALL YOU IF I HAVE A QUESTION!!!" Which is such a shame because I am sure they are trying really, really hard to give good service to mama-sir, fearful their manager will fire them on the spot for even a whiff of goofing off. Aside from getting surly with the shopkeepers, my other favorite trick is to pretend like I don't see them shadowing me and then turn around and get really, overthetop scared and scream and gasp; the whole 9 yards. That usually keeps them at bay for a few minutes.
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