Matt: Most people who haven't been to Dubai or lived here for any length of time think that it's a wonderful place and life is easy and mostly they'd be right, I love living here and have a great life, but I have a gripe..
Why is it so had to get things done here?
A few examples.
I need to procure some business software.So I call one of the largest software companies in the world, I call their office here in Dubai. I ask for sales, I get asked by the receptionist what it is I am after, so I explain my requirements to her. I get transferred to another member of staff, I explain my requirement to him, he then proceeds to tell me that they are a software company and the don't want to buy my software. Huh??. What?? So I re-explain that I want to discuss with someone my software REQUIREMENTS and see if they have a solution to sell to me. (now please bare in mind this could be worth tens of thousands of dollars to them). So he finally understand and says he will transfer me to his colleague. I hear fumbling on the line, then silence, then a little more fumbling, then 'Please hold sir' more fumbling and a little mumbling, waiting, 'bare with me sir'..wait, fumble, mumble. The guy clearly has no idea how to transfer a call and eventually after 5 minutes of fumbling noises he calls his sales guy over to his phone and hands it to him. Technical!. Ok so sales guy is on the line. Good. This should go a little smoother.
I have a brief discussion and then request a meeting
'I'd like to meet with you as soon as possible to discuss my requirements. Please could you come to meet me?'
Sales guy 'I can do tomorrow'
'Great, can you meet me at 10am at xxxxx' I'm feeling confident we're getting somewhere
'Oh, can you come to my office (miles from me) to meet here'
'I'm afraid I don't have time to come all that way' hence i suggest a half-way point.
'Can you come to me another day then?'
'I'm very busy and it would be great if you came to meet me, I'm not at your end of town very often'
'Well, I'm out of town for the rest of the week after tomorrow'
'Ok, is there someone else who I could meet with?'
'No, this is my area'
so no meeting then...good sales, well done.
Next: Last Wednesday, I see a kayak in a shop that I really like and make an inquiry (I've been meaning to buy one for a while). Turns out the Kayak I would need is the slightly bigger version that they have on the promotional sheet pinned to this Kayak. So I ask if they have any in stock, how much it is and how long it will take to deliver. The friendly sales guy takes my name and number and says he'll let me know. So the next day I'm in the vicinity of the store and I haven't heard from him yet. So I wonder in and ask another member of staff, he tries to help but doesn't know and calls the guy I spoke to the day before on the phone, I realise it's the same guy so I ask to speak to him. He tells me that the supplier doesn't know but he'll chase it and let me know. Next day, I'm there with Lenny as Lenny is interested in a kayak too - so this is now 2 potential sales of kayaks that are worth over £1,000. I original guy is there and I speak to him.. do you have a price yet? No! but the delivery could be 6 weeks. Gulp! What? I am seeing the supplier on Monday Sir so I will speak to him then. Ok.. so it's now Tuesday - almost a week after my initial inquiry? I get a call telling me - Sir we still don't know the price - we might know in 2 days.
OMG - how hard is it to give someone money in this town?
So, if you multiply these experiences by a handful per day, you start to get an idea of how efficient Dubai can be. Frustrating, so you see - it's the rough with the smooth - Dubai - Nice weather, shame about the competency!
Words that need to be learned in Dubai: Ownership, efficiency, professionalism, responsibility, reliability.
Rant over..Peace out!
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
It's getting too hot
Matt: May is upon us and here in Dubai, that means things start to really heat up. We've already had a number of days up over 40 degrees. Scorchio!
This obviously hinders the outdoor activities somewhat, but we have managed 2 hikes in the last few weeks. Karen, Scott, Lenny and I went on a 5 hour hike up to a village called Shi'ri. It's a nice hike but it was really exhausting, the heat was a killer, it was definitely one of the 40+ days.
We met some locals at the top who shared their shelter and food with us. I had bumped into one of the guys, Souad, before at another village in the mountains, I use the term villages as this is what they used to be, people would live there hundreds of years ago. Now they are used as getaways, a scattering of crudely built rock shacks with a few modern twists, like generators in some cases :), only a few families build and use these shacks, they head up to chill and relax for the weekend in the cooler months.
When you meet the mountain locals, they are generally extremely friendly and very hospitable. It's really refreshing and a side of life in the UAE very few expats experience.
After struggling with the Shi'ri village hike, Jon and I decided to do the last hike of the season to some pools that we discovered when we did Jebel Hatta back in Feb. We estimated the pools were 2 hours into the hike, making for a 4-5 hour round trip. Perfect as it was another really hot one. I had been under the weather during the week and didn't feel anywhere close to 100%, this made hiking in the heat even more unbearable so when we did find the pools and find them full of water it was a joy. Although we did see snakes in the wadi and smaller pools - so were a little aprehensive, but not enough to stop us!
Matt takes the plunge..
Lenny enjoys the refreshing water, after a bomb!
Last week I also had the chance to go scuba diving - with a difference. Kelly was asked to write a story and took me along as photographer. So what was the difference? We were diving in the worlds largest aquarium, with 33 sharks and numerous other thousands of sea-life, rays, groupers and more than 80 other species. It was an amazing experience, there was no cage, just a wetsuit for protection and we had this in the back of our minds Click Here. It was very surreal, having dived so many times in open water and seen a few sharks and large fish at a distance, to have hundreds of them brushing past you was a scary and thrilling experience. I'm trying to get the photos and as soon as I do - I'll post them.
Other news, made it to the top of Dubai's newest climbing wall - result. Still lots of harder routes to conquer! That's all for now..
Peace out.
This obviously hinders the outdoor activities somewhat, but we have managed 2 hikes in the last few weeks. Karen, Scott, Lenny and I went on a 5 hour hike up to a village called Shi'ri. It's a nice hike but it was really exhausting, the heat was a killer, it was definitely one of the 40+ days.
We met some locals at the top who shared their shelter and food with us. I had bumped into one of the guys, Souad, before at another village in the mountains, I use the term villages as this is what they used to be, people would live there hundreds of years ago. Now they are used as getaways, a scattering of crudely built rock shacks with a few modern twists, like generators in some cases :), only a few families build and use these shacks, they head up to chill and relax for the weekend in the cooler months.
When you meet the mountain locals, they are generally extremely friendly and very hospitable. It's really refreshing and a side of life in the UAE very few expats experience.
After struggling with the Shi'ri village hike, Jon and I decided to do the last hike of the season to some pools that we discovered when we did Jebel Hatta back in Feb. We estimated the pools were 2 hours into the hike, making for a 4-5 hour round trip. Perfect as it was another really hot one. I had been under the weather during the week and didn't feel anywhere close to 100%, this made hiking in the heat even more unbearable so when we did find the pools and find them full of water it was a joy. Although we did see snakes in the wadi and smaller pools - so were a little aprehensive, but not enough to stop us!
Matt takes the plunge..
Lenny enjoys the refreshing water, after a bomb!
Last week I also had the chance to go scuba diving - with a difference. Kelly was asked to write a story and took me along as photographer. So what was the difference? We were diving in the worlds largest aquarium, with 33 sharks and numerous other thousands of sea-life, rays, groupers and more than 80 other species. It was an amazing experience, there was no cage, just a wetsuit for protection and we had this in the back of our minds Click Here. It was very surreal, having dived so many times in open water and seen a few sharks and large fish at a distance, to have hundreds of them brushing past you was a scary and thrilling experience. I'm trying to get the photos and as soon as I do - I'll post them.
Other news, made it to the top of Dubai's newest climbing wall - result. Still lots of harder routes to conquer! That's all for now..
Peace out.
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