So it's been kinda crazy here in the ole' UA of E. It all started out gloriously. Opening the Borders franchise here in Dubai. I have met some wonderful people and I'm not going to pull some fake modesty stunt and pretend I didn't make a difference here. The staff here are unfortunately indentured laborers from India, signed onto a 3 year contract with the Al Maya Group, who promised them Eldorado. What they get is far from golden. They earn 300 USD a month, live in company accommodation with 8 grown men to a room and 1 bathroom. They are issued 2 Borders shirts each which they have to wash in the sink since the company is too cheap to give them a washing machine.
Their room and board is deducted from their salary.
I made 10000 AED a month, which compared to their 1300 is mind blowing. And they STILL send money back to India each month to take care of their families.
A couple of the staff asked me once what I send to my mother. I said... errrr...... postcards. Which isn't even true because I am too damn lazy to even do that much.
What they make in a month, I easily blow at the bar in one night. It makes me ashamed to think of it, so now I am back to drinking in my house. It is cheaper... and more kosher.
The culture here is so different. The store operates in a way so foreign to me, being used to stores in the US and in Europe. The bureaucracy is insane, the censorship even worse.
We are not allowed to sell the bible, or anything pertaining to jews and the State of Israel. Thus, The travel guide Lonely Planet Middle east is banned here, because Israel is in it.
Richard North Patterson's latest novel Exile is banned because it takes place, in part, in Jerusalem.
Forget about Anne Frank's diary and history of WWII. It's like it never happened. Biographies on Hitler are in abundance though.
But in spite of these obstacles, I have had fun... so much fun. So much fun. And I have worked with some of the most amazing people I have ever met. They taught me so much in so little time. About India and their customs. Not to mention that they fed me every day. For good luck, like a pet sort of. I don't know.
All I know is that these guys and girls work so hard for nothing and they are so eager to learn new things without so much of a thank you. And this is where I started making some changes.
I made sure they all felt appreciated. It was so simple, it broke my heart when I understood how starved they were for attention. I think it was when they all stared at me in disbelief the first time I thanked them at the end of a hard days' work. They just couldn't believe that someone just thanked them for doing their job, and I stared back, wondering how the hell anyone could NOT have thanked them before. After that is was smooth sailing. I had my dedicated crew and we were off to adventure.
The launch of Harry Potter 7 went well and was a ton of fun, the CEO of Borders, George Jones, visited the store and thanked me for turning the store around. For making it look and feel like a Borders.
Awesome right?