Update from Baltimore about Doha

So, as you all know, I made it a back to Doha. What a joy. Let me tell you, I do not think the vacation was long enough. First, here is my disclaimer. I really enjoy learning about the Arab culture and the things that go with it. I think it is a very misunderstood and a scary thing for some in the US to deal with. Now, that being said I am done with them. Actually, not all of them, but the overwhelming attitude in Doha I am tired of. This ‘entitlement’ that flows from all of the Arabs. The driving is crazy. People are always in a hurry to get places and not work. All these guys drive land cruisers, Ferraris, BMWs, etc, but have nowhere to go or nothing to do when they get there. Yet everyone in town has to be on the roads. All the time. There is no down time. Actually, I take that back. Friday Mornings until about 3-4 PM you can actually get somewhere without it taking 3.5 days to get there. However, most things are NOT open until after 4 on Friday…so there you go. The roads are OK and they finally put red light and speed cameras at every intersection, but there is still a long way to go. The construction and amount of cars on the road are ridiculous. There should be a limit of cars that can be imported into this country, but that would be painful because all the locals would still get them. Maybe a limit on the amount of cars they can own per family. Something. This is going to get out of control. Last time I read something in the paper they are estimating that about 10,000 people arrive in Doha every month. Wow.

So, let me give you an example of discrimination and how it is played in different parts of the world. One of our nurses was at our sister hospital in the northern part of the country. She found a ad posted on a bulletin board at the hospital stating “Apartment for Rent. Filipino Couples Only. Contact….” Now think about that for a minute, cause it didn’t bother me initially. Everyone really migrates to their own in this culture, even I am not exempt. US Embassy parties, poker with the Texans and with others from the south and other native English speakers. How would that go in the states? Now we usually do have some items when requesting renters. The house on Cornell where I lived wanted Grad Students. Sometimes Chemical Engineers like to live together, or maybe just boys or just girls. What if I put up an Ad that said, “Nice 2BR Apartment, Close to Town, White Couples only?” or the same with “Black Couples Only?” There would be outrage, probably a media event, maybe a lawsuit…and probably rightly so. I mean that is blatant. Discrimination should not be a part of anything…right?
Now let’s turn the coin. Maybe it is a nice thing to do…really Feet? How can you say that…Well, now stay with me, let’s think outside of the box. Even though we push diversity, there is still a lot of people that resist, and that is going to continue. Sometimes people are not going to get along. (Israel…anyone?) So, is that ad discrimination…or is it preventative medicine? Maybe the entire compound or housing complex is all Filipino. Maybe they all drink and do things that Filipino culture participates in and that Arabs would not appreciate. Maybe they are cleaner or dirtier and want some of the same. I don’t know. There is a lot to think about with this one and somewhere along the way I got philosophical.
Moving on…

I have been buried in work. I do not get to spend as much time with the field supervisors that I would like, but I am getting a good amount of things pushed through right now that would otherwise go unnoticed. I am currently working on training a new set of supervisors to allow for expansion and removal of problem ones if we need to. I am also working on some strategic planning issues as well as a host of other business things. I am really using a lot more of my MBA in this job than I thought I would. The leadership at EMS needs it, that is for sure. I do have a concern. I have not been involved in the process at all for my replacement. I find that odd. I thought I could provide good insight and information to applicants and our bosses. I was also advised that I am not to talk about salary with anyone because people after me are getting a slight pay cut because they are going to be operating and pushing the guidelines that I have established.

So, here is more about this culture that I do not understand. They are all about service…to an extent. I got back and got a car that only had about 11,000 K on it…very cool. However, after work one day it was difficult to start, the next day a little worse…so I KNEW something was going bad. The battery or the starter. So I dropped by the rental place to switch cars and here are the 2 things that bothered me. One, they told me that they did not have any cars to loan me while they fixed mine…are you serious? There is a line of them…well none in my ‘class’ of car. I told them this was crap. Give me a BMW for 2 days and get mine fixed. Nope. Keep yours and bring it back in a couple days and we will have a replacement for you. So guess what happened? The next day after work… the car was still rough to start, but it did. I went to a bookstore to pick up some paper and found it closed. (imagine that) Got back in my car and it was dead… So now I am pissed. I called the guy at the store and he was like…”We do not have anyone to come get you until after 4…” I told him that the car would be in the lot and that the key would be at my house. They got all kinds of worried cause this hillbilly doesn’t play games for too long. Miraculously, they found a car and a person to immediately come to where I was at and give me a car. Hmmm… Why didn’t they just give me a loaner and then we would not inconvenience anyone…nope…we got to make it difficult. The Middle East just wears on you. You know, I watch a movie in January called Syriana. It was about the oil business, politics, and the middle east…you know what…there was a great quote in that movie. They were asking one of the US guys how the middle east was doing. He went off and said something like “100 years ago you guys were living in tents and the rest of the world believes that 100 years from now, you will be again.” Sometimes, I can see the truth to that.

I did attend another Embassy party while I was back in town. It was a St. Pattys day party and it was actually one of the busiest times I have seen the Embassy. Mary, Dave, Dennis, Carol, and Myself headed up the party and had a great time. Not too much dancing, but there was plenty of partying. I found out on Sunday morning that there was some drama at the embassy after we left the party. So I guess a guy collapsed and was in cardiac arrest. Since they are doing all kinds of construction around the Embassy you literally have to go down like 2 alleys to get there right now. So the ambulance was delayed, not to mention that it gets searched before it goes inside the grounds. Anyway, thought It was ironic that 5 medical professionals left the party 30 minutes before the hoopla. We could have guided the ambulance in and probably done really good CPR. Oh well..some things are not meant to be.

Our weekly poker game grew to enormous proportions this past week. We had 27 people there. That made the prize pool very nice. The winner took home 4000 QAR which turns out to be about $1100 USD. Not a bad day at the ballpark. I finished 12th unfortunately, but I played perfectly I thought. I got out kicked on a good hand and there is not much you can do about that. You cannot read people enough to see the difference between KQ and KJ. Oh well. It was a really fun night.

So I have moved to the world of IPODs. Joshy got me an IPOD for Christmas in Feb and it is actually not to o bad. It is really nice to have while working out…so now I don’t have to carry about a boom box and CDs anymore. It is one of the smaller ones, but it hold 1GB of music, which is plenty.

I am getting tired of writing, so that is about all for now. I am headed to Baltimore for the JEMS conference and hope to make some more good contacts, see some good people, and relax in the states for a week. I will be in touch with you guys very soon!