Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Sound familiar?

A couple of recent overseas stories caught my eye:

One says: "There is a growing unease...against those sunburnt northern European tourists who offend the local population by walking in the streets, dining in restaurants and even doing their shopping in little more than beachwear."


The second says: "Lured by stories of the good salaries and advanced skills they could gain...they had paid high fees to (home country) brokers...believing they could earn many times more than they earn at home and return as heroes. But far from being a workers’ paradise (it) has been a country of hardship and discrimination for Mr Zhou and many of his compatriots, who are often forced to work long hours in gruelling conditions for less than minimum wages."

Typical stories about Dubai you might think.

The first is about Spain , the second is about Japan.


Spain is here.
Japan is here.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

hahaha spot on seabee

its everywhere and everywhere everyone will complain... there is nothing called happy lands.

in my ex-company my colleagues in UK used to complain about UK and wish to switch with me in Dubai...

my Canadian boss used to tell me so many similar stories about issues in Canada that felt like Dejavu for me in Dubai...

people will complain and complain

shafeena said...

Thats a great One... everyone cribs about dubai being too conservative just because its a muslim country. But it does happen elsewhere...

Mohammed said...

Just because it happens elsewhere doesntm always mean much. If we all had the attitude of "it happens elsewhere, so its ok", the world would be a far poorer place.

Imagine if people didn't bring in the "no outdoor work from noon - 3pm in summer" rule just because "people die through heat even in Saudia/Kuwait" etc.

I do agree that there are very few downsides to Dubai that wouldnt be found somewhere or the other.

The Man said...

Great way to get a good message across - it happens everywhere.

Anonymous said...

Hmm... I´m from Spain and I can say there´s a remarkable difference with Dubai. We´re fed up with drunken people because of the reasons related in the newspaper. It´s filthy, bothering and noisy. The complaints reporting "streets running with vomit" are true (and I would add "and stinky with urine", not to talk about broken glass and public property destroyed) If a group of people drink alcohol in public but they keep a "normal" behaviour, nobody makes a fuss. Because I do it many times with my friends. We take some goods (yes, beer and wine too)and go for a picnic to a park. We eat, drink, chat, laugh and enjoy ourselves. But we don´t throw up or fight or molest other people or destroy public property. After our picnic, we tidy up and clean the spot. Never had any problem.

About the beachwear out of the beachfront... we don´t think it´s "indecent" or "immodest". In fact there are quite a lot of nudist beaches (or free beaches) in Spain and most women (even older women!) go topless. No problem at all. But I would never go to the opera in blue jeans and I don´t go shopping or to a restaurant in my beach garments either. It would be like going shopping in your smelly training clothes right after the gym! So, it´s a matter of hygiene and good manners.

Carmen.