If you have lived in Kuwait for a long time you will experience how cheap people can be. Certain ranks of people which I will refer to as "Fat Cats" due to censorship here have riches beyond our wildest dreams yet act as they have nothing. I've heard of these Fat Cats ordering fresh flowers for their house costing over 10,000 KD and not paying the company 1 KD. It's unfortunate for the business owners as they can't touch these people or go after them because of their status and if they refuse their business those people have the wasta to shut down companies.
My mom worked for a Fat Cat and found out how cheap they can be. This Fat Cat was a heart surgeon and owned a small medical related company. He wanted a website for his company and had my mother set up a company for the job. An Indian guy came and set up the website and waited for his payment. The cost was around 350 KD for his services yet the Fat Cat refused to pay the guy. He came back week after week asking for his payment and all my mom could do was say sorry. She left the company after the Fat Cat didn't pay her correctly.
Do these Fat Cats not realize they can't take the money with them when they die. I'm sure there's a small percentage who do charitable acts but I don't see recognition for that. The Fat Cats build enormous houses and villas yet they hardly ever stay in them. Why not build a hospital or something every person can use? We do see some charitable acts during Ramadaan. Is it true charity or is the person trying to earn good points from God to replace the bad deeds they've done within their lives? There is so much lust and greed going around and it's sad.
There's an owner of a school who is beyond cheap. He has a wide arrange of businesses and is well off yet he refuses to provide toilet paper and soap in the school. He loves to take 5 KD from the employee's salary for various reasons. He won't offer any kind of discount for a family that has more than one child in the school. He provides a car for one of the employees but they have to pay for everything. The car is used and not in the best of shape, he wouldn't even provide the employee a discount on the tires even though he owns a tire shop. When a person who goes to him for an interview and gives them their salary range he will reduce their request by 100 KD or more just to show who's boss.
If the principal for the school makes even 1 KD from something the owner wants the money and will deposit it in the bank, sometimes 1 KD sometimes 2 KD, it doesn't matter if it's earned through his school he must have it. But when they request toilet paper the employees are told to buy it themselves. When asked for plates to serve the food on they are told to purchase it themselves. It's not like the employees are paid a huge amount and could afford to purchase items. The first item to be reduced is the salary. Do these people not realize that their employees have families? When they take from their money it affects many people.
Does it always have to be about being the boss and showing it by being cheap? I must say there are companies and owners out their who cherish their employees and show it. They throw parties and gatherings in appreciation but those companies are few and far between. Fat Cats show some compassion for the little people! We may not have a huge amount of money but we have self respect, at least let us keep that. Stop trying to keep the little people down and out in fear they could reach a higher level in their lives and be a potential threat to you.
Remember when you die you can't take it with you so stop being Bakheel (cheap)!!!!!!!!
This is something that makes me so sad and angry here in Kuwait. To see all huge houses, fancy cars, etc. And then the way they treat other people - it is discusting! When you have lots of money you also have the money to educate and learn how to behave...
ReplyDeleteBeen here all my life this is what i notice daily. kuwait is judged by the cover( Money) and not by its contents (locals). the more higher they wish to go the greater will be the fall and no body would turn back to give a helping Hand.
ReplyDeleteim sure ur lebanese or levant. if kuwait is such a terrible place, why are u still here?
DeleteI have seen this several times over. An example an employee came to me the other day needing about 7000 USD to send his father for surgery for clog arteries in his leg. I talked to several people who pitched in and we got about 80-90% of the amount to cover a large amount of his expenses. As you said you can't take the money to your grave, and if I was going to use it for something else this deserved it more. I got help from my coworker, my brother, chairman, and my mother, and his father had a successful surgery. Sometimes its hard to tell if someone is lying but its really the thought that counts and I had a feeling that it was the case.
ReplyDeleteI like to things that things come around, so if they are making people's lives miserable to get one KD here or there then there lives won't have that much meaning. I know of a few school owners who are like that! They are making HUGE margins, I know the numbers! They are seriously getting a lot of money but they aren't spending enough money on the school's infrastructure to help increase education! Or at least to make things more fun for the staff and kids!
Hmm, pretty true, in fact i just met a fat cat. I can even tell you who that person is. He runs Yathreb Hotel in City. A cheat and a fraud. I luckily escaped working with him. But a few of my friends were unfortunate, who were promised residence visa's and asked to work with him. He did not pay their salaries nor did he give them visa's. Finally they were all put in jail. Guess what, the Fat cat is scott free.
ReplyDeleteI got a job in a much better company. And i now understand that he has no one to work for him. This fat cat shamelessly calls me to work for him. My dad told him I'm not around town so find someone else.
These guys are the heights of cheapness !!!
I know a lot of people who don't get salaries as well as get arrested in Kuwait since they don't have proper working visas. I came to know about this sad and sick fact while i was on a job hunt here.
ReplyDeleteAnd please this is Kuwait an oil rich country with tons of rich Kuwaiti Employer's. I bet you can't find cheaper Employers anywhere else in the world.
I still don't understand the simple fact what these guy's loose by paying up to people who have done work.Maybe someone should start Human Rights head quarters in Kuwait City, They'd probably take years to solve cases in Kuwait.
P.S:Anyways for everyone out there searching for jobs. Stay clear from Yathreb Hotel and a guy called Suri running a Software firm called Kuwait 2000. These guys are a major scam in Kuwait, who promise to give salaries and visa's and finally end up doing nothing but get work from you.I personally curse these morons from the bottom of my heart.May they burn in hell.
Stani well said. There are lots of Companies/Corporations here in Q8 who are not paying their staff on time (5 - 6 months), sometimes more.
ReplyDeleteOne such IT company is Al-Faris Information Technology, located in the same place as the 'Chamber of Commerce' in Kuwait City.
Another is a well know multi Agency in Kuwait, who does very well selling cars. Al-Babtain dealer for Nissan cars. They charge their employees KD. 50/- for the Health Insurance, which according to the Kuwait Govt. has to be paid by the Employer.
I could go on but will stop with these two evil Companies.
Yes Some Kuwaiti people can be downright cheap. They may be millionaires and own shopping malls and big businesses but they will fight over 1kd. They are also very cruel to other people who come here to serve them. They break the rules and use wasta or influence to get around the law. There is a God above watching all what these people are doing and he will punish each according to his deeds. Oil money has corrupted their minds. When the oil runs out in the next 50 years, they will be down on their knees. They have forgotten the hardships their ancestors underwent travelling to India and selling pearls after diving with just a nose clip. The old Kuwaiti elders are still to be seen. Very nice people and humble. Its their children who got spoilt unfortunately.
ReplyDeleteThats not true, I have never mistreated a maid/nanny in my whole life. I was raised by my nanny since I was born and she had been with us for more that 17 years, she is like my second mother and I love her, and now she does not work anymore she only lives with us because we want her to stay here. Plus she doesn't have a family who could take care of her in India so she wanted to go to a retirement home but we refused so she lives with us now. I also know many other families like ours. We also have many other maids and servants and they have all been with us for more than 20-30 years. And their salaries are around 100-300 KD a month depending on their work. The food they get is free and the clothes they want we buy for them. Their all have holidays on sunday, and once every year or every two years they get a 3 month holiday. Also many kuwaiti children like me are working to earn their own money, we don't get our allowances unless we work. Plus there are many kuwaitis who are dirt poor and cant even afford to get a fridge etc. other kuwait's especially young ones pool in their money and help them. Its not all kuwaiti's that are rude, cruel, and lazy, its just that you are looking at only the bad ones and overlooking the good ones. I apologize on behalf of all the kuwait's for the things you have seen! Unfortunately though we do have many horrible human beings in kuwait.....
DeleteYou're right Jane I really understand how this people feel about working in Kuwait. They might have experience such a cruel or wicked deals from what they say but that doesn't mean all Kuwaiti are cruel or wicked. I love what you spoke about this all written comments you have a better heart supposed for all humans God blessed you Jane.
DeleteCorruption is biggest problem. Government knows every thing. But they care only CHAIR ! So they cannot enforce rule of law on KUWAITIS.
ReplyDeleteIt doesnot happen in a democratic country. Even if happens, you can question them !!
Democratic countries in the world are the most corrupt, worst being United States, India and UK with their big Oil, big pharma, big tobacco, big firearm policies!
DeleteProblem in Kuwait isn't so much corruption as it is wasta i.e. my great grand-dad's tribe helped ur great great grand-dad's tribe in 1855, so now in 2012 you must help me. This has plagued the whole country since the beginning and the poor expat is so far behind in the queue and doesn't have a chance to get in. Most Kuwaitis feel that expats suck the money out of Kuwait. Truth is they are not capable to run their own country without us. If we leave they will collapse in a day hence the 1:3 population; i feel 1:10 would be much better as the country would progress. Picture a Kuwaiti man sweeping floors or making tea in an office or a Kuwaiti woman cleaning public toilets, its a joke! They are the laziest and the most ungrateful people I know. Only a handful of them are excellent and considerate. I am fortunate enough to know a few of them.
WOW!! did i just read- "it doesnot happen in a democratic country" yea right.watever. I live in a democratic country atm.I just a 17 year old and my school is so corrupt. The 'popular' guys in our school take the school's law into their own hand and the moment they get told off by their teachers, they say alright "may be the school won't have electricity tomorrow" (since their father's own water and electricity companies)And i'm talking about Europeans, not Asians or any of that sort. In Democratic countries things are not said straight on the face and therefore corruption can be seen. But trust me, corruption does exists in democratic countries. They just get away with in through lip service
ReplyDeleteIn Kuwait, most of the people are not cheap at all. Look at the cars on the road, most of them Chevy's and GMC's and 8-10 cylindered cars. Once i took a taxi from salmiya to Avenues and it was a KD 2.500 ride but i had only KD 1.500 (cash) with me.So i told the taxi driver that this is all i have to offer and he said that's fine you can keep it. God bless you. If the same thing were to happen in the country that i live currently live in, i wouldn't even get dog's poo for free!! Remember, it's always the good deeds and sacrifice that rewards you best in life.
I should admit people do tend to act cheap because they classifify their 'richness' through their ethnic group. For eg Asians think that they are not allowed to buy Cadillacs because they are only meant for the 'Kuwaitis'and their friend circles say the same as well. Through the repitition of that idea, its then believed to be a truth and get glued into everyones head.
i had a kuwaiti stay in my home as a host. He was rude talking very loud on his phone late at night, leaving hot water tap running all day and denying it was him, urinating on my bed and turned mattress over,but i noticed when confrunted denied it! Oh and last day left my front door open,knowing that my 14yr old son was at home alone. I have never met a person like this before now and am scared in accepting a nother into my home
ReplyDeleteYeah hi, I am kuwaiti and i admit that there are some rotten people here, but I can tell you this, not EVERY single person in kuwait is like that! In every country, there are rotten people that includes kuwait but it doesnt mean that EVERY SINGLE KUWAITI is like that! All my friends and their families would NEVER do that! And every one I know is Upper class so...... please don't judge every one just because of that ass whole. Thank you and i apologize for his actions!
ReplyDeleteWell there is always another side for every story. Kuwait is indeed a very rich country and as a Kuwaiti I must say that yes there is a lot of discrimination going on in Kuwait to the foreigners. The fact is Kuwaitis get HUGE benefits that I don't think no other country in the world gives benefits like us. We get education for free even full scholarships with salaries in countries abroad, free health, NO TAXES...etc These benefits don't come with out a price, the rules that the government has on foreigners are so strict yet there is 3 foreigners for 1 kuwaiti. If these rules were to be even slightly less strict there will be 10 foreigners for every Kuwaiti. The government simply doesn't have the budget nor the space since we Kuwait is a very small country. The fact is more than 80% of the 'good jobs' (white collar jobs" in government facilities is operated by Kuwaitis, and yes Kuwaitis get paid 3 even 4 times more than a foreigner for the same job and yes Kuwaitis have a ENORMOUS advantage of getting a job than foreigners. Basically "Fat cats" take care of there fellow "Fat Cats". However, I was in an American school in Kuwait yet all my teachers loved that place. Usually when people write blogs they have something nasty to say, and unfortunately people base there ideas of a country just because of that stupid blog! Don't listen to everything you say!!!!!
ReplyDeleteif i worked in a place and agreed to a salary why should i bitch about it , its not slavery . if you dont like a place simply leave .
ReplyDelete