Life In Al Ain: Part 5a a different world

If you are coming here from a country with a high minimum wage, you will be amazed how many people are employed here to do seemingly menial tasks.  Many of these service workers earn 1000aed per month or less – most of which they send back to their families in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh to name a few places – so tipping well makes a huge difference to their lives.

 

I used to love cleaning our cars when I was younger but now I would never dream of washing my own car, even though we took a power washer out here with us!  It’s illegal to have a dirty car in the UAE and offroading makes them filthy quickly so we are never far away from our local carwash.

 

I like to wash our own clothes (in my auto washer of course), but ironing is a job best left to the experts!  You tend to wash more out here as clothes get sweaty, dusty and dirty so much quicker than home.  The guys don’t even let me lug the basket out of the car!

 

All the gas stations out here have attendants to fill your car – and don’t dare try to wash your own windscreen with the squeegee – they don’t want you to lift a finger!

 

After a short while it becomes normal to send out not only for pizza and curries, but also for small grocery items from your local shop – likely to be only a couple of hundred metres away! Read more about the home delivery culture in this Gulf News article.Supermarket Bag Packing (tip)

One of the things I miss most when I am “home” in the UK is the bag packing service – the best ones in Al Ain are at Lulu, where not only will they pack your bags for you, they load the conveyor belt out of your trolley too!  Needless to say they take your groceries out to your car and load them too!

So have we turned lazy?  Maybe, but it could be called “embracing local culture”.  Whatever you call it we are making the lives of these helpers and their families just a little easier by giving them tips!

Part 1 – shopping
Part 2 – Hotels
Part 3a – Leisure and Recreation
Part 4 – Officialdom 
Part 5a – A Different World Part A
Part 5b – Local Weddings

Bonus –  Further Resouces

And for information on the Industrial Area – Sanaiya