I'm kind of impressed...

Update on the hole in the wall: it's gone!

No, it's not because someone from Emaar read my blog and decided to do something about it (I wish!)

I decided to call Emaar yesterday and file a complaint (again...I had already filed a couple of complaints 3 months ago when the whole hole in the wall saga had begun).

So I asked them how long it would take for them to actually do something about this, they said within 48 hours. I really thought that the 48 hours meant that they'd send someone to look at the hole within 48 hours...I didn't really think they would fix it so quickly! But they did!

Finally! That really made my day...doesn't take much to make my day does it? :)

Remember my hole in the wall?

I wrote about it back in March. At the time there was a constant leak. Well, the leak's gone, but guess what? The hole is still there! I've decided to take some pictures...Shame on you Emaar! What will it take for you to finally get someone to fix that hole? Another cockroach? A mouse? Or a rat maybe? I am sick and tired of that hole in the wall!

Why...why?

I sometimes wish I could blog about my work...I'd rather not for confidentiality purposes...and also because I'd rather this blog remains anonymous (except for the few people who know me and who know that I write this blog).

But I really, really wish I was at liberty to discuss some conversations or meetings I have with my clients, and some of the things that come out of their mouthes sometimes. If only you knew the number of times I've stared at my phone in disbelief while my client is babbling away...Or the number of times I've gotten out of meetings so frustrated, that the only thing I can do is laugh about it...

There are stupid people everywhere, but it's really scary when you think that these people are handling multinational brands. I often wonder how these people are even allowed to remain in the positions they are in...If I think that my clients are stupid, then what does that say about the bosses that hired them in the first place? Are they even more stupid?

Deadling with stupid clients is frustrating, mind-numbing, and unfortunately, there's nothing I can do about it. I sometimes wonder why I put up with it and if it's even worth it.

This post is purely for venting purposes by the way. This past week has been rough work-wise, and by Thursday evening, I was feeling drained...both mentally and physically. I desperately need this weekend to just sleep, go the the beach, sleep, get some shopping done, sleep some more and watch some TV. I didn't even want to think about work and yet here I am writing about it...

Help!

I can't stand that ad anymore! Part II

I heard the ad again this morning. And I just wrote the following e-mail on the Al Futtaim Motors customer service website:

I am writing to comment about your current radio campaign which has been running for the past couple of months. I am referring specifically to the 2.22% promotion, where a drill sargeant screams through the whole ad to get his message across.
While the ad may have been attention-grabbing and unique when it first started airing, it has not become a nuisance, to the extent where I just want to throw my radio across the wall.
The fact that the ad airs around 10 times in a single hour (meaning at every single ad break) is not helping.

I am begging you, for the sake of my sanity and that of other listeners to please take the ad off the air, or at least reduce the number of times it airs.

Yours truly,
Dubai Sunshine

I highly doubt that I'll ever get a response, but let's give them the benefit of the doubt. I don't think this e-mail will take the ad off the air, but I hope that they will at least plan better for the next ad.

I can't stand that ad anymore!

I usually listen to Radio 1 in the morning while I'm getting ready. And then I usually tune in on my way to work. And lately, they've been playing this ad, and it's come to the point where the ad makes me feel aggravated...and I just feel like pulling my hair out!

The ad is for some Toyota/Al Futtaim motors car, and not only is the ad annoying as hell, it plays a million times in that one hour it takes me to get ready and drive to work in the morning. It's like they decided to spend all the advertising and media budget on that one single ad!

I'm sure you've heard it too...it's the one where it's a drill sargeant in the army, screaming his lungs out "ATTEEEENTION!....GET YOUR TOYOTA WHATEVER NOW!".

KILL ME NOW! I can't stand that ad, and if I hear it one more time, I'm seriously considering writing to Al Futtaim Motors to strongly suggest they change their ad agency or media agency! Or come up with a new ad already!

Radars

It seems Dubai is taking this whole radar thing very seriously. It used to be that once you hit Saih al Shaib on the way from Abu Dhabi (which is actually the beginning of Dubai), you only had 2 radars until your hit Jebel Ali.

A few months ago, they started placing a mobile radar somewhere along the way. It caught me once, even though I knew it was somewhere there...stupid me...

A few weeks ago, a bunch of radars were added...and by a bunch, I mean a LOT. There are radars every few meters now, so there's really no way to exceed the 120 km/h speed limit.

A lot of people still don't know about these radars though, because on a recent trip back from Abu Dhabi, I saw 3 radars flashing in a span of 5 minutes...and no, it wasn't me!

@ work...

...on a Saturday afternoon...

Blah...:(

This is the last place I want to be right now, really...but it's amazing how much work one can get done when there are no distractions, no phone calls, no fires to put out, and no idiots to deal with...

Why can't it be like that during the week?

Dubai on NBC

It seems that everyone wants a piece of Dubai these days. NBC's Today Show has chosen Dubai as one if its destinations for "Where in the World is Matt Lauer". Matt was in Dubai yesterday reporting from the helipad of Burj al Arab, making Dubai sound like it's paradise on Earth.

In one of the segments, Matt interviews Sheikha Lubna al Qassimi, the UAE's minister of Economy and Planning. He asks her about mistreatment of laborers in the UAE, and she gives him a politically correct PR answer along the lines of "often times, the problem comes from the country of origin, and sometimes it's the companies hiring the laborers that are at fault, the law protects the laborers, and the government has built laborer cities that provides all the necessary amenities".

In the rest of the segments, the NBC crew shows the glitzy, glamorous Dubai life, the shopping, the dune bashing, the golfing and the 7-star treatment at the Burj al Arab.

You can check out all the "Where in the World" Dubai segments here.

PS: Thanks to my cuz in DC for sending me the link to this.