Yeah so things were great, apart form one small detail. Many companies here in the middle east have this nasty and ILLEGAL practice of retaining employees passports.
It makes sense really. They lure them here under false pretenses and force them to sign 3 year contracts, and then, to top it off, keep their passports, so once the poor kids realize they have been had in a big way, they can't escape.
I had heard of this practice, which was why, at my interview in March, I specifically asked if they would hold my passport.
They assured me that although they did hold Indian and Filipino passports, they would never hold a U.S. passport.
Fine I said and signed up for 2 years.
Anyone see where this is heading?
So... I get here start working and give them my passport in order for them to get my visa processed.
After a while, I asked for it back and got a big fat NO.
They said it was the law, that they HAD to keep my passport, due to the vast amounts of cash I had access to )and seriously, I had access to a lot more money when I worked in a bar in Florida).
I then asked politely if I could please see a transcript of this law. I was refused this too and told to find that out for myself.
Clever girl that I am, I then went and called the Ministry of Labor, The US Embassy in Abu Dhabi and the US State Department. They all said the same thing. That it is illegal for an employer to keep passports and that I should never, and the State Department were especially clear on this, EVER, give my passport to anyone.
Keep in mind that the US is at war in this region, India and the Philippines are not.
So I immediately requisitioned my passport to get my drivers license and subsequently did not return it. Tit for tat.
If they can pull one on me, I can do one back.
Then it got ugly.
They said if I didn't hand it back in, I would lose my job. I answered back by sending them an email in which I quoted the State Department.
I was called in to a meeting at ten am the next day.
At 10.01 I was fired.
Two days later I went over to look at our new villa by the beach and one of the rooms caught on fire.
Oh, and 2 days before I got fired, I was lighting the gas oven when a great big ball of fire shot out and hit me right in the face and one my hand (Don't worry people, I only lost some part of my eyebrows and my dignity).
So that's 3 times fire in one crazy ass week.
Like the Indians always say... What to do?
Wow, from the CEO of Borders congratulating you ...
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to being fired. What a story.
Maybe you could appeal to him?
It's a bit crazy since I know you love working for bookstores and I don't think there'd be much trouble keeping you there for a while.
But you have a villa on the beach! That's my ambition, to have a villa on the beach. What's it like?
D