Rough Day...

Rough Day...

The day started out with such promise.  I had three interviews scheduled.  There was a special opening day ceremony at the Formula 1 race track I was supposed to be at, but i had to cancel because of the schedule.  Then Tanya, Khalifa's daughter invited me to lunch with her and her sister, at her sister's house...i had to decline.   One thing about Tanya.  She is a beautiful girl with a low self esteem in regards to her business savvy.  Her husband Raymond is a great guy.  From Denmark, he is also in the banking industry.  She works at KSDI part time as an office manager to fill in the blanks because its a family business.  She is woefully underappreciated (in my opinion) by her family.  She gives her heart and soul to the company, then leaves at 1 or 2 to pick her kids up from school and then she is a mom.  Her kids are beautiful too, very well behaved.  She told me once, she just started working so she could have pocket change to give her kids a treat every once in a while and take them to Johnny Rockets or Fuddruckers.  Now the price of these American chain restaurants are the same as they are in the U.S.  If you spend 10 bucks on a hamburger in the U.S. you expect to spend the equivalent in US here.  The difference is, since the economy is different here 10 bucks for a hamburger is very expensive relatively speaking.  Especially when you consider that most non-westerners average $10,000 a year or thereabouts in salary.  So Just as sign of appreciation for Tanya's hard work (she really helped ease the transition for me)  I went out and bought her $50 bucks worth of gift certificates for Johnny Rockets.  She went beserk.  Its really cool to be a blessing to others especially when they appreciate it so much.  i love the fact that im financially comfortable here, because i love being able to just give it away.  I told God, I wanted to be successful so I could give it all away.  Now...i can't give everything yet, because I piled up a bit of debt...Im so American...but at least i can give a little away at a time.  

So i went into my sales manager's office.  He's a young kid, a Jordanian, going through a rough time. He's a nice and bright guy.   He just got married and he is rather new and intimidated by the job.  Im trying to treat him with kid gloves.  Yet..every time i go into his office, he's on Facebook.  (I know he without sin cast the first stone) but I've walked in on him like 25 times all on Facebook.  His back is to the door, so he doesn't see me coming.  He closes the window quickly thinking i won't notice.  Hey with as much time as i spent goofing off in my career, im the master of subterfuge.  But there has been continuous missed assignments/opportunities...so i had to address it.  He looked down the entire time..not making eye contact.  I could tell he was humiliated.  Now this is the part that was tough.  Here was a Westerner reprimanding an Arab.  Im not sure what that all entails culturally.  But I've been given power and authority by the family to manage the company.  About an hour later, after another sales meeting with a client, which I thought went well.  He snapped.  Im told...he didn't rush out on me...he rushed out on Tanya.  Interesting, blow up in front of a nice timid, girl, and not the nice-alpha male boss.  He said...I've had it...im leaving...im not coming back...and he stormed out for the rest of the day.  So i guess this is why the pay me the big bucks relatively speaking.  I'm not sure if he'll come back or not.  So if any of you wants to be woefully underpaid by American standards, but experience the opportunity of the Middle East...send me your resume...we may have a marketing/sales position open.

I was to meet Kenley, the Filipino photographer I knew from Aramco at the Intercontinental.  i waited two hours for him...and then gave up.  I hadn't activated my cell phone yet, and he tried to call me to tell me he was stuck on the bridge (causeway) coming from Saudi Arabia.  Thursday and Friday is the weekend for Saudi's and they all descend on Bahrain like San Franciscans for a no on prop 8 rally.  They come to drink (alcohol is haram-forbidden- in Saudi) watch movies, eat pork, and other sordid things.  A great deal of the Bahrainian economy depends on this.  That's why the malls here are of the best in the world.  Versace, Gucci, Louis Vouitton, Channel, Dior...the absolute best.  But traffic gets really tied up on the small island.  

I went back to the office to meet with a pretty talented Graphic designer for a position.  He's young and Indian. I always specify the race because life is so segregated her.  You are absolutely categorized by the color of your skin.   The problem I have communicating with Indians, other than their thick "Apu" like accent.  Is that if they don't understand you...rather than saying um...what do you mean?  They just nod their head and say yes sir.  They all seem to do that.  So you really have to watch their body language and anticipate if they don't understand you.  Trying to direct a show like that can be very challenging.  i wanted to hire the guy, but he's under contract to another company til December, then he's getting married in January, and won't be available til Feb. 1.  So if i want to hire him, i have to wait that long.  I think it would be worth waiting for him.  But that's the way it goes trying to hire people...sometimes the wait can be months.  The rates are so low, its worth it.  Remember even though they are low by U.S. standards for their country...its triple, or quadruple what they would be making in their home country.  So for an IT guy with a degree making $1500/month...or a guy working at 7/11 in the states making $7 bucks an hour...you can see why they leap at the minimum wage jobs. Being granted a VISA to come work in the U.S. is akin to winning the lottery.  And many times it is a lottery as they only make a limited number of visas available.   Minimum wage in the U.S. equates to big money in their homeland.  The fact that they separate themselves and sacrifice for their loved ones make it all the more amazing.  I hope you never complain about foreign workers.   We as a society are too proud...or too wealthy to take those types of jobs where they thankfully snatch them up.  It just helps putting everything in perspective.

Kenley finally made it into the office.  It has been three years since i had last seen him.  He told me "What happened...you look younger than you did before?"  Ok so i wanted to hire him on the spot.  He's one of the best videographers, I ever worked with.  He's got some personal issues to work out...but hopefully, he'll be joining the company sometime.  Its nice to see someone from your past like that.  

Wow...this is long...But i keep getting wonderful and encouraging emails from many of you...so i guess someone is reading.  The day wound up great.  I played squash with my Best friend here Barraq.  After the game we ate a wonderful lamb dish at his favorite Iraqi restaurant.  Wound up being a pretty good day....God is faithful...

Rick