A man by the name of Norman Douglas once said, "You can tell the ideals of a nation by its advertisements."......your thoughts about what local ads say about the ideals of our nation...
Friday, April 5, 2013
Monday, March 8, 2010
when a governing body uses steroids....
If you are living in Saudi Arabia, you will have noticed that over that past few weeks there has been a lot of buzz about CITC (Comm. & IT Commision) and it's attempts to muscle its way into the media. Thus far the message that they have sent across as far as I am concerned are the following:
Zain of course being the "personalityless" company that is is complied immediately in fear of, well apparently nothing (seriously these guys need to do something about their image). STC the crooks that they are decided to just give the service to the customers they have robbed the most (Tamayuz Customers). Mobily on the other hand has proven itself to be the mobile provider of the people, by the people for the people, and gave CITC a big finger and ignored the decision.
I saw a lot of peoples reactions that were a mixture of anger, and well, more anger. I tried however for the past few days look at things objectively and look for some facts and figures to try and justify this decision.
First I realized that all three companies provided this service to all their customers. Secondly I found out that according to reports so the fact that it is unfair competition was out of the question. I thought maybe the issue was with people visiting but found out that the carriers the contracts were signed provided free incoming roaming both ways.
I figured it must be an income issue and that the telecom companies are reducing their income which in turn reduces CITC's revenue and low and behold I was wrong again. In fact, in 2009 mobily reached new record high revenue from roaming services than before. It seems that while in the past most people were shutting off their phones and getting local numbers, today very few do that and more people are making calls while roaming. So I hit a wall and thought I would sleep on it for a few days.
As the days went by I came to the conclusion that these guys are simply and purely a bunch of _________ (you fill in the blank to your liking). It turns out (I believe) that some senior guy there took a training course in business development or read a case, and thought "oh, that is a good idea" without really needing to justify it to the public for which they are supposed to protect.
More recently they have decided that the Ministry of Interior is not doing its job and has decided to meddle in its affairs. Local media is having a complete field-day with this whole "we must stop Blackberry Messenger" stir that CITC has started off. Do not get me wrong, I respect and I am all for national security, but CITC clearly lacks any sort of media training, authority or a sense of what it's responsibility is. It needs to be shut down, reopened as something else and replaced by people that don't work this hard to make strange decisions.
Ultimately the lesson we should have learned here is that sometimes decisions are made that make no sense by people that have no sense. But it is what it is and just a part of life we need to deal with unfortunately. So stand up tall, swallow your pride, and take it like a man (or woman). And be proud that there are people that are stupider than you no matter how hard (or little) you may try.
- CITC has way too much time on it's hands
- CITC has as much power over mobile operators as it does over smoking regulation (none)
Zain of course being the "personalityless" company that is is complied immediately in fear of, well apparently nothing (seriously these guys need to do something about their image). STC the crooks that they are decided to just give the service to the customers they have robbed the most (Tamayuz Customers). Mobily on the other hand has proven itself to be the mobile provider of the people, by the people for the people, and gave CITC a big finger and ignored the decision.
I saw a lot of peoples reactions that were a mixture of anger, and well, more anger. I tried however for the past few days look at things objectively and look for some facts and figures to try and justify this decision.
First I realized that all three companies provided this service to all their customers. Secondly I found out that according to reports so the fact that it is unfair competition was out of the question. I thought maybe the issue was with people visiting but found out that the carriers the contracts were signed provided free incoming roaming both ways.
I figured it must be an income issue and that the telecom companies are reducing their income which in turn reduces CITC's revenue and low and behold I was wrong again. In fact, in 2009 mobily reached new record high revenue from roaming services than before. It seems that while in the past most people were shutting off their phones and getting local numbers, today very few do that and more people are making calls while roaming. So I hit a wall and thought I would sleep on it for a few days.
As the days went by I came to the conclusion that these guys are simply and purely a bunch of _________ (you fill in the blank to your liking). It turns out (I believe) that some senior guy there took a training course in business development or read a case, and thought "oh, that is a good idea" without really needing to justify it to the public for which they are supposed to protect.
More recently they have decided that the Ministry of Interior is not doing its job and has decided to meddle in its affairs. Local media is having a complete field-day with this whole "we must stop Blackberry Messenger" stir that CITC has started off. Do not get me wrong, I respect and I am all for national security, but CITC clearly lacks any sort of media training, authority or a sense of what it's responsibility is. It needs to be shut down, reopened as something else and replaced by people that don't work this hard to make strange decisions.
Ultimately the lesson we should have learned here is that sometimes decisions are made that make no sense by people that have no sense. But it is what it is and just a part of life we need to deal with unfortunately. So stand up tall, swallow your pride, and take it like a man (or woman). And be proud that there are people that are stupider than you no matter how hard (or little) you may try.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
together for the prevention of office violence
tell me if you have ever experienced this kind of situation. I have experienced it at every single place I worked...
It's the last day of the week, afternoon (3pm) and you are sitting at your desk, still recovering from that heavy lunch. Your brain suddenly gives you a big slap on the face and you remember that you need to submit something by 5pm, something that was requested 3 days ago and you procrastinated and kept postponing. You get yourself some coffee, open up word, excel and powerpoint and get cracking. You are working so fast that sweat starts dripping from your fingertips and you can feel the blisters building up.
Now I generally find that every time I am in this kind of situation, there comes a point in time where I need to focus completely on a continuous train of thought otherwise I need to start all over again or it takes me 5 minutes to get back in the groove of things.
Damn you Murphy, damn you to your grave...
Now for some reason, you were left alone all day long and left undisturbed but were not really that busy. But when you really need to be left alone, people tend to show up. Now after working for a few years we all know how to usually get people to leave us alone. We do one of the following things:
Usually this person is a nice person and you get along with them just fine and have a pure friendly in-office relationship with them. But they have one flaw, a flaw that could end up getting them murdered or beaten really badly one day. These I believe are usually the first people to get shot when some employee goes "postal" and shoots up the office. THAT person does not get points 1, 2, 3 and 4. You can literally ignore them for 15 minutes, your face stuck to your screen, a mobile in one ear and land line in the other and typing with your hands and feet, and they will stand there talking still.
I my dear readers have been dumbfounded to finding a solution to dealing with these people other than the possibility of using or threatinging to use a sawed-off double barrel shotgun to the face.
My question to you and I pray for your assistance, do you have any suggestions on how we can work together for the prevention of office violence?
It's the last day of the week, afternoon (3pm) and you are sitting at your desk, still recovering from that heavy lunch. Your brain suddenly gives you a big slap on the face and you remember that you need to submit something by 5pm, something that was requested 3 days ago and you procrastinated and kept postponing. You get yourself some coffee, open up word, excel and powerpoint and get cracking. You are working so fast that sweat starts dripping from your fingertips and you can feel the blisters building up.
Now I generally find that every time I am in this kind of situation, there comes a point in time where I need to focus completely on a continuous train of thought otherwise I need to start all over again or it takes me 5 minutes to get back in the groove of things.
Damn you Murphy, damn you to your grave...
Now for some reason, you were left alone all day long and left undisturbed but were not really that busy. But when you really need to be left alone, people tend to show up. Now after working for a few years we all know how to usually get people to leave us alone. We do one of the following things:
- We focus on the screen and kind of not be interested in what the person is saying
- We pick up the phone and make a call or pretend to make a call
- We work on typing emails or proposal or whatever and not give any attention
- We flat out ignore them (I generally prefer this but I swear it is never done intentionally, I just zone out)
Usually this person is a nice person and you get along with them just fine and have a pure friendly in-office relationship with them. But they have one flaw, a flaw that could end up getting them murdered or beaten really badly one day. These I believe are usually the first people to get shot when some employee goes "postal" and shoots up the office. THAT person does not get points 1, 2, 3 and 4. You can literally ignore them for 15 minutes, your face stuck to your screen, a mobile in one ear and land line in the other and typing with your hands and feet, and they will stand there talking still.
I my dear readers have been dumbfounded to finding a solution to dealing with these people other than the possibility of using or threatinging to use a sawed-off double barrel shotgun to the face.
My question to you and I pray for your assistance, do you have any suggestions on how we can work together for the prevention of office violence?
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
rama rama ding dong
Every year children and adults alike get extremely excited at the distant sound of Ramadan approaching. Two weeks prior to Ramadan, without fail, supermarkets start getting extremely crowded and practically every kitchen in every house is busy preparing an amount of sambosas that in reality can feed a small country over a year, not just a household over a month.
Now before you go off thinking that you know where this is headed and feeling all smart, let me make it clear that this post is not here to go on about the amount of food that is wasted or criticize the fact that people tend to overindulge (although both are valid points). I am here to share with you my personal belief of what most people go through.
During the first few days of the month people tend to have a strong sense of piety, humbleness and kind of feel like that they are on a different spiritual level. For some reason there is this strong smell of excitement over a month that is supposed to test our will and in reality make life difficult. We wake up early before work to pray, get ready, and come into to the office just on time (2 hours later than normal days, great! right? hmmm...). We try hard stay focused and tend to stay very level headed and if something bothers us with all simplicity we pray for patience and feel good about not losing our temper. By the time 4pm rolls around we get a little exhausted and go home driving patiently and trying to keep our cool with the traffic and occasional insane driver on the road. By the time Maghreb prayers rolls around we feel that sense of excitement and continue our patience in waiting for Iftar. What keeps us going at the begging is this sick idea that its supposed to get easier as time goes by.
Now as I mentioned, that is just in the beginning. In reality (and I hope this doesn't come across as blasphemous) each day just gets more difficult and by the end of the month you just feel like you have an extremely bad hangover.
As the end of the month arrives many people can barely peel themselves out of bed at 10:30am to get to work (staying up till 4am doesn't help either). Everyone is pissed off at the world and spirituality has gone beyond zero and become negative because many peoples minds have become engulfed by extreme cynicism and selfishness (not that there is a lack of selfishness throughout the year). Making it to the office before 11:30 becomes practically impossible, in fact coming to the office at all tends to become useless when you have the productivity of a rock. I genuinely believe the body starts to partially decompose because our brain feels that we are too stupid to allow to survive and are basically nothing more than a waste of space. Practically everyone drives like a lunatic, uses every possible swear word they know despite fasting(sometimes in a wide range languages from various exotic countries). The going out in the last 15 minutes before maghreb prayers is basically suicide.
Sigh...
All that aside, I think it truly serves its purpose and makes us be grateful for what we have instead of complain about what we don't. Once in a while we need to stop looking up, and be grateful. The trick though is not to lose sight of the purpose of Ramadan and the importance of practicing self-control and hanging on to that spirituality throughout the month and not just for the first few days.
Wish you all a blessed Ramadan :-)
Now before you go off thinking that you know where this is headed and feeling all smart, let me make it clear that this post is not here to go on about the amount of food that is wasted or criticize the fact that people tend to overindulge (although both are valid points). I am here to share with you my personal belief of what most people go through.
During the first few days of the month people tend to have a strong sense of piety, humbleness and kind of feel like that they are on a different spiritual level. For some reason there is this strong smell of excitement over a month that is supposed to test our will and in reality make life difficult. We wake up early before work to pray, get ready, and come into to the office just on time (2 hours later than normal days, great! right? hmmm...). We try hard stay focused and tend to stay very level headed and if something bothers us with all simplicity we pray for patience and feel good about not losing our temper. By the time 4pm rolls around we get a little exhausted and go home driving patiently and trying to keep our cool with the traffic and occasional insane driver on the road. By the time Maghreb prayers rolls around we feel that sense of excitement and continue our patience in waiting for Iftar. What keeps us going at the begging is this sick idea that its supposed to get easier as time goes by.
Now as I mentioned, that is just in the beginning. In reality (and I hope this doesn't come across as blasphemous) each day just gets more difficult and by the end of the month you just feel like you have an extremely bad hangover.
As the end of the month arrives many people can barely peel themselves out of bed at 10:30am to get to work (staying up till 4am doesn't help either). Everyone is pissed off at the world and spirituality has gone beyond zero and become negative because many peoples minds have become engulfed by extreme cynicism and selfishness (not that there is a lack of selfishness throughout the year). Making it to the office before 11:30 becomes practically impossible, in fact coming to the office at all tends to become useless when you have the productivity of a rock. I genuinely believe the body starts to partially decompose because our brain feels that we are too stupid to allow to survive and are basically nothing more than a waste of space. Practically everyone drives like a lunatic, uses every possible swear word they know despite fasting(sometimes in a wide range languages from various exotic countries). The going out in the last 15 minutes before maghreb prayers is basically suicide.
Sigh...
All that aside, I think it truly serves its purpose and makes us be grateful for what we have instead of complain about what we don't. Once in a while we need to stop looking up, and be grateful. The trick though is not to lose sight of the purpose of Ramadan and the importance of practicing self-control and hanging on to that spirituality throughout the month and not just for the first few days.
Wish you all a blessed Ramadan :-)
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