Job Discussion Forums

flutterbayou · Joined: 01 Apr 2006 Posts: 244

YES!

When in doubt, contact your Consular - in many cases, he will step in and protect your interests.

My Consular telephoned me no less than twice a day for nearly 10 days to check on my situation, and assumed the responsibility of speaking on my behalf with the problematic recruiter numerous times.

Frank&Sense · Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 10

No, Borealis, the infamous Majali was not with Globenet, but small world in Oman that it is, he is connected to Hawthorne who have taken over the ESL hiring for Occidental at Oxy�s training centers(Mukhaizna and Safah), on which I did the pioneering work. So what can I say, don�t know Hawthorne or Majali personally. I do know that Hawthorne-for Oxy is not offering close to what teachers got at the Haima center.

Back to Globenet, it has always puzzled me in recent years why more Globenet-abused teachers have not come forward on this forum. Some of it could be that they are still in Oman, within reach of Globenet owner�s brother who has the most serious wasta. But I think most of them have just moved on and don�t want to dwell in bad memories. I am sure even Occidental, the fifth largest US oil company, was careful how they got away from Globenet and especially the brother.

On that score I must say that I never had a problem with Oxy�s management, except disagreeing about what Globenet did to the Canadian teacher (above). Oxy�s top bosses always backed me totally, and on much more controversial matters, until then. And I believe US or Canadian consular officers would not have done any better vis-a-vis the brother.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

Neil McBeath · Joined: 01 Dec 2005 Posts: 277 Location: Saudi Arabia

This goes back to Frank&Sense's statement that the owner of Globenet claimed to be (a) royal and (b) the brother of the highest ranking police officer in the country.

The highest ranking police officer in Oman is Lieutenant-General al Ma'amari, Diector-General of Police and Customs.

The Al Ma'amari tribe is very large and also very important, but they are not royal. The owner of Globenet may be claiming more wasta than he really has.

(MOD edit for name)

camelman · Joined: 18 Jul 2006 Posts: 38 Location: Oman

The director is a retired police captain and his family name is Al Harthy. He is not related to royalty. It�s almost funny to hear. I heard once that he claimed to be a Colonel in the police but in fact he was a captain.

He has no wasta; if he did he would have pulled strings and relocated the woman to another teaching institute.

veiledsentiments · Joined: 20 Feb 2003 Posts: 17644 Location: USA

That presumes that he cared enough about the woman to try to help her. I find that the Gulf Arabs prefer to remove someone that they consider an embarrassment... ASAP... lest it reflect back on them. Out of sight... out of mind.

I think you mean Colonel... not colonial.

Haven't you found that those who claim to have lots of wasta rarely do?

And there is only one "royal" family in Oman and that is the Sultan's branch of the Al bu Said.

VS

Frank&Sense · Joined: 10 Mar 2008 Posts: 10

Whoa. Well, I started this subthread, so I will try and elaborate and sort it out.

In every country there are different kinds of policemen. In the US, who is the top policeman? The Attorney General, the Director of the FBI, the Director of US Marshalls? But if it�s to do with a foreign terrorist, the list goes on and on. The President is the AG�s boss, so my guess is he is the ultimate policeman.

Al Ma'amari isn't the brother in question. It�s an Al-Harthy.

I didn�t think we were to name names here, but as it�s been done I will. The owner of Globenet is an Al-Harthy (you may know of the Al-Harthy Complex in Muscat). Unless something has changed in the last six months, he is owner. I think he is a retired policeman, maybe a captain or a colonel. It�s his brother we are all talking about and admittedly I don�t know his name or position. I only stated that in that heated discussion with the owner he stated that his brother was the top policeman, and that my teacher better drop his claims to reasonable compensation from his normal one-year contract. After that threatening meeting, I advised my teacher to take legal action. For whatever reasons, he didn�t and left Oman quickly.

I agree that most people who claim lots of wasta are bullshit. But that teacher and I both knew from previous incidents that there was probably something to the wasta claim. It was to do with a previous incident in Haima when we were both in security jeopardy and the Haima police didn�t support us. When this came to the attention of an Omani OXY training department functionaire, he was furious and came to Haima and told me to give him the details because the Recruiter�s brother was at the top and would call in the Haima provincial chief of police and have him fired. This functionaire in OXY was an Al Bu Saidi. I evaded it all because I lived there.

The Al Bu Saidis are a large tribe and only the small group closely related to the Sultan can claim royalty. When the Globenet boss said he was royalty, I took it to mean only that he was very connected to the most powerful. I knew he wasn�t close to the Sultan by blood. Guess we have to spell everything out here. There is an Al Bu Saidi in Globenet�s office, but he is not the owner and brother that we speak of.

There are so may others who could speak but don�t. I was advised not to, but did.

(MOD edit for names)