Job Discussion Forums

[scot47]

I will kick off off with one anecdote.

Some semesters ago a relative newcomer was unwise enough to provide a lift on a daily basis to a 500 Club Member. After a few weeks of this, the provider of the lift found himself without cigarettes. He asked his passenger, who had been travelling daily at no cost for several weeks, if he could provide a cigarette. "Sorry," said the miserly Mancunian,"I only have enough for myself."

No more lifts.

[007]

[Cleopatra]

A few years ago we had a thread on those notorious 'ma'asalama sales' where some of our more miserly colleagues try to squeese a few last rials out of their 'friends' by selling their possessions. And we're not talking furniture or TVs here - we're talking about people going to some considerable trouble to sell light bulbs, colanders and - it was famously reported - razor blades. It's unclear if the last items were used or new.

[Cuffs]

This happened in Qatar, not Saudi, but follows a similar theme.

A guy I was working with decided - after 4 weeks in Qatar - that it really wasn't his kind of place but he liked the money, and so bunkered down for the long haul in his flat with a mini-gym, a Playstation, and his own sexual imagination. He went through a period of several months of eating his lunch and dinner every single day at the 1 Riyal falafel shop, and wouldn't be seen for the entire year even though we lived on the same floor (and even if you banged on his door), although he sometimes came out of hiding at Christmas. He acted this way for a minimum of five years, and for all I know, is still acting that way now.

And the saddest thing of all was he was in his late 20s when he first arrived.

[Linda467]

Life is crazy and full of happy people

[Cleopatra]

Much more common than the really comical stories of miserliness is just a generalised meanness. I'm talking about people who always take the college bus to and from work, even if they could leave two hours earlier if only they would shell out a whole 15SR on a taxi. Or people who will spend years in a bare apartment with only the absolutely essential furniture, maybe without TV - let alone satellite TV! Maybe they have a lousy dial up connection, provided the apartment came with a phone already installed - if not, they'll use the internet only at work. The people who will live off cheap pasta and cornflakes (not neccessarily in the same meal) which they of course purchase on the free shopping trips provided by their employers.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not the last of the big spenders myself and like most of us, I'm in KSA to save money. But while I can understand extreme parsimoniousness (?) if one is living in KSA for only a year or so and has a specific monetary goal, it's a bit sad to go on 'living', year after year, in a state of self-inflicted misery.

[007]

[Stephen Jones]

[Cleopatra]

[sharter]

The misers were often the greediest b@astards out there when it came to a car pool though! Before I went direct hire with QP, I was a subcontractor there with QAC. I shared a car with 1 guy. I told him he could have the car every day except Monday when I did my family shop. I thought this was very reasonable. He agreed. One Monday he rang and said he needed the car to pick up his girlfriend, but I got back from shopping late having met a friend and gone fo a drink. He reported me to Malachy for drink driving and car hogging. Another guy I shared with used to go for a drive every day as it cost nothing...these drives could last 3-4 hours daily. Another time my wallet got nicked and I had to re-appply for he driving licence as that went too; my car pool buddy duly reported me for driving without a licence. EFL in the Gulf...loved every minute of it.

Then you had the local expats who'd been there years.....all like Begby off Train Spotting or horrendous northern people you meet in Tenerife.

The ones that truly irritated were the loo roll/tea bag nickers.....which meant that everyone else had to go without.

Then you had the 'tefl herd'....gotta stop now before I'm sick.

[svatopluk]

I knew an Irish guy who lived on pitta bread and tomatoes for 2 years. He used to steal the free tea and coffee from work too. On top of miserliness he was also a grade %^&*hole, a Walter Mitty who liked to give the impression that he was spying on KSA, or 'keeping my eyes peeled' as he put it.

[johnslat]

There was a colleague I always used to give my day-old Arab News to. One day he asked if I would mind not doing the crossword puzzle.
Regards,
John

[Sadebugo]

This is a funny thread! I remember my first posting in Jeddah. The teacher assigned to train me was on his way out, but we had time to form a friendship or so I thought. In his last few days, he came to my house with a box of books. They were old paperbacks on topics I didn't much care for but, since he was offering them to me, I picked out five or six to keep for future reading. Once I selected them, he said, "That will be $30." I couldn't believe it! I actually handed him the money out of embarrassment.

To add insult to injury, he asked me to mail an item to him because he didn't have room for it in his luggage. I took the item and kept waiting for the postage he owed me but it was never offered. I decided not to mail the item to him after all. I don't know how many times he asked about it in e-mails but I kept ignoring him.

Actually, I can understand being frugal in the kingdom because, without the money, how can one justify being there? Still, some people take it a bit too far.

Sadebugo
http://travldawrld.blogspot.com/

[scot47]

It seems that some of the newer posters are not aware of the "Fellowship of Five Hundred" and how ridiculous they appear to "Normies" like me.

[Sheikh N Bake]

It's really extremely stupid to join the 500 Club if you're my or Scot's age...we might keel over any day and...what's the point of never doing anything nice for ourselves? Personally I spend enough to be human here and still save more than enough.

Ever met these Silas Marners in the home country in younger days? I had a roommate at my undergraduate college in the lovely Pennsylvania countryside. I was an u/g but he was supposedly a more mature and older graduate student. He had his own car that he parked in a garage for the duration of his MA program and bummed rides with others exclusively, and he stole my orange juice.