I’ve just read a really sarcastic blog entry with an ugly undertone. On top of that, I recently received a woe-is-me email about how crap the world is and how shit men are. Not to mention a Facebook status revealing the sad state of the day, and a Tweet complaining about “people who just don’t care anymore”.
So you’re angry huh? You feel as though the world is out to get you because you’re not in love with your wife anymore, the man you thought loved you to death is leaving you for someone else, you can’t shag your best friend no matter how hard you try, your fancy car isn’t working, you’re moving to a new country, you can’t afford a Gucci bag. And because you think you’re no good at real face-to-face conversations (you know, when you sit down with your friends and actually talk) you feel the need to take it out on everyone else by blogging/emailing/Facebooking/Twittering that people are full of shit, that it’s all over for planet earth, that civilization is ruined! RUINED!
Please. Please for the sake of all everyone in your immediate physical or virtual space, get over it.
The truth is life is tough. Even if you’ve got a great job, a leather armchair, a good book, your favourite cupcake and a peck on the cheek, one day soon you’re probably going to feel like crap. Whether it’s for five minutes, an hour or a few weeks, feeling shit happens to everyone. And you know what else? You’ll get over it. And if you don’t, you either need to be on medication, book into therapy or realise that you actually like being angry and find someone who actually cares. Hey, if your relationships and friendships are being run in real life and not solely through your Blackberry or computer, you might even be able to find two people who care!
Twittering/Facebooking/blogging/mailing/texting angry bits and pieces professing your passion for life and humanity but putting people down in the process (hypocrite much?) doesn’t help you or anyone else. Don’t get me wrong; sarcasm can be cool. For about half an hour. Then everyone who is subjected to hearing it just feels like crap.
I’m not suggesting you refrain from bitching, moaning or being sarcastic forever-more. I’m just saying that when anger and sarcasm becomes your trademark it starts getting boring. And tedious. And tiring. And then the next thing you know – oops - people don’t really want to talk to you anymore because you bring them down. The occasional bitchy Facebook status, Tweet, blog, mail or text is fine, but if you have a shitty attitude all the time, you have a problem. People are staying in touch with you because they like you. (Unless you have a blog in which case they are probably reading it whether they know you well or not because they like your writing or content.) They don’t want to hear how useless you think they are, especially when they all know it’s really you that has the problem, not being able to sort your own anger issues out and taking it out on everyone around you by being passive aggressive or just being a plain ass. And no, being creative or smart or winning awards or having good hair or cracking jokes 24 hours a day or earning good money does not exempt you from this. Your shit stinks as much as the rest of us.
I am sure that deep, deep down under that thick layer of sarcasm, anger, beer, bitterness, sadness and drama you might very well be creating for yourself, there’s a little piece of happy just waiting for a chance to push through the crap and be victorious.
So you want to help the little man, the minority, the underdog? You want to save the world, reduce suffering and help the underprivileged? Then help happiness. In this day and age it’s having a real hard time being heard.
Remember that letter I wrote about 'change' in the city I live in? (That's change for a rainy day, not change for revolution...) Well, I sent it off to The National, a local paper, and they wrote a little story on it. I do find it a pity they said I was from the UK and called me a Ms, and I am not entirely sure I would have written it the same way as they did, but at least the idea got out there.
I know that I have been a slacker when it comes to my blog, but for all of my two fans out there, I will write something so soon you won't even know what to do with yourself! ;)
Choes choes.
Angelita
Aman (my husband) and I went to the Shindagha Carrefour a few nights ago to do some shopping.
We spent AED187.75 and paid AED190 cash to the cashier. (For those who don't know, AED is Dirhams which is the currency of the United Arab Emirates.)
A basic calculation reveals that the expected change I was meant to receive amounted to AED2.25.
What I actually received was AED 2, because the cashier “did not have 25 fils”.
Now, you might be wondering how an amount as seemingly small as 25 fils might inspire me to write an entire blog post. You see, it’s not necessarily this specific 25 fils that I’m never going to see that irks me, it’s the cashier’s assumption that I don’t need my 25 fils, and that I won’t ask for it. And, in my experience, this 25 fils situation happens often, in petrol stations (in the form of gum being handed back to customers instead of their change), supermarkets and taxis across Dubai.
Okay, so I have a relatively decent paying job and I can afford to ‘lose’ 25 fils occasionally, but I find that our city is filled with businesses that simply “don’t have change”. When you start adding up the amounts of change you’re not being given - even when it’s rightfully owed to you - it amounts to a small fortune.
A case in point: I catch a cab from home to work and back everyday as it doesn’t cost as much as renting a car and saves me money in the form of parking fees, not to mention the stress of finding parking and facing traffic. The average drive to work and back comes to about AED26 a day (AED13 to work and AED13 back home). Now, on the majority of my work days, the taxi drivers driving me simply “don’t have change”, which means I have to leave them a AED2 “tip” (assuming I pay them with a ten and a fiver) even if the taxi stank and the driver was rude and driving like a bat out of hell.
Add all this involuntary tipping up and you’ll see I’m paying AED30 a day instead of AED26 a day, meaning my monthly taxi expenses to work and back come to AED600 per month instead of the AED520 it would cost if I chose not to tip. “So, it’s only AED80 you say”. Well, I can think of several things I’d like to have that cost AED80, including a rather stylish clutch bag that’s now on sale during DSS.
It’s not that I don’t like tipping. I do tip when I think it’s deserved. I just don’t appreciate the assumption that I don’t need my change. Let’s be honest, if I owed Carrefour AED23 and simply told them “I don’t have the change”, they’d laugh at me.
I did another basic calculation relating to the above, illustrating how – in the case of big organisations especially – this bad “I don’t have change” habit can lead to major profits that essentially land in the organisations’ pockets without them having to do anything.
Let’s assume 10,000 people shop at the Shindagha Carrefour everyday.
Let’s assume every one of those 10,000 people is not given their 25 fils in change.
That comes AED2,500 everyday.
If Carrefour is open seven days a week and makes AED2,500 in this manner everyday, it’s making an additional AED17,500 a week, and AED70,000 a month.
Some people may think this is petty, but I have resorted to insisting that I get my change whenever possible, unless of course I’ve been provided with excellent service.
I’ve learnt my lesson. Added up, 25 fils is clearly worth a chunk of money.
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