A lot of the people who live in the United Arab Emirates are blessed with a comfortable lifestyle that showers them with many luxuries. Having that kind of privileged life might get into some people’s head and make them think they are more special than others. It might drive them to act in annoying and ridiculous ways. For those people, we say you must put your feet back on the ground and do an emergency reality check!
So, you know you need a reality check in the UAE when ...
1. When you shove a construction worker in the supermarket because he was trying to jump the queue
Just because you are a privileged expat who doesn’t need to get his hands dirty working on construction sites under the scorching heat, that doesn’t give you the right to push a poor worker in a condescending manner even if he was jumping the queue.
2. When you blind us with your high beam lights on Sheikh Zayed Road
Just because you are driving a luxury car with a two digits number plate that doesn’t automatically make you king of the highway, or give you the right to harass other drivers with your blinding lights because you want to be a daredevil on the road.
3. When you think it is OK to grab random girls in the club
Just because you furnished an entire table at Bagatelle with expensive drinks and bottle service that doesn’t give you the right to grope random girls at the club and treat them like your hareem. You are not Kanye and they might not want to be your Kim!
4. When supermarkets charge us 50 dirhams for 1 kg of lemons
Dear Spinneys and Waitrose in the UAE: We don’t care how organic your lemons are nor how shiny and neatly organized they are, we are not paying 50 dirhams for a bag of lemons … They are just lemons … Their juice is not going to make us any younger, taller or richer. Someone needs to ask the managers of these supermarkets to get a heavy dose of reality check!
5. When you refuse to be served by a Bengali employee
I have seen a European woman refuse to eat a sandwich prepared by a Bengali employee in Subway and rudely ask the manager to change it with another one prepared by another employee. Someone must have forgotten to pay that woman’s reality check!
6. When you are an ignorant expat
It is not OK to be an American or European or Australian expat living in the UAE for quite some time and still ask Middle Eastern people if they live in tents or if they have running water and electricity in their countries! Excuse me but you ARE living in a Middle Eastern country and enjoying the benefits of its tax free system … So do not insult people with such ignorant questions … Do your homework and your reality check ASAP please.