Deliver Us From Dubai

Dubai is an evil place, I say. Eeevil! Eeeev-vil!! Not only has it turned me into a chubby, couch-surfer-potato, but I seem to have become a real bumbling idiot since coming to Dubai. First I killed my iPod. And just last week, I almost murdered my baby, Bob...

Bob is my Powerbook G4. Actually, I call all the Macs I've had before "Bob" for some unknown reason. So anyway, back to current Bob, who almost died in my clumsy hands... urm, feet actually. Being the typical short Asian, and wearing pyjamas that were bought from "angmoh-land", I tripped on my super-long pyjama pants, which then led me to trip over the power cord of my Powerbook, which then led to Bob FALLING!

Luckily, the power cord cushioned the fall a little, so Bob is unharmed and in good health, but in a temporary coma till I get a new power adaptor 'cos the needle part of it is a gonner.

So I headed out to the Mac Store at Ibn Battuta Mall, the ONLY Mac Store in the WHOLE of Dubai. As expected, based on Dubai standards, they were out of stock. Guy at the Mac shop says, there'll be new stock coming in on Thursday, so maybe the power adaptor will be here by Thursday.

I ask, maybe? What do you mean maybe?

--- Oh, we receive stock every Thursday, and this adaptor has been out of stock for more than two weeks already, so maybe it will arrive with this week's stock.
--- You mean you don't know what stock you're expecting?
--- No.
--- Are there other Mac stores in Dubai?
--- No.

--- Could you please call me on Thursday to let me know if the power adaptor is in?
--- Yes.

And of course, as expected, based on Dubai standards, he didn't call.

So I called the shop on Thursday and was informed that the adaptor did not arrive with the new stock. So how can I order it in? The guy quickly washes his hands of this "problem" by giving me the numbers of two Apple resellers in Dubai. These two did not have the Powerbook power adaptor either. One said new stock would be arriving next week, and another said maybe in two weeks.

I wasn't very upset about all this 'cos I already expected not to get a positive reply from any of these dumbasses. I mean, even Customer Service managers here can promise to call you back in 15 minutes or the next day, and then you don't hear from him or her ever again. This is the incompetent service standards that we're forced to bear with here, so I really wasn't expecting much. People here have no sense of urgency and no initiative whatsoever. The answer for everything is "Insya Allah" (God-willing). Like, Oh, I'm just gonna chat on the phone while speeding and running red lights. Insya-Allah, I won't get caught. Or, Hmm... 38 people have asked for the Powerbook Adaptor but it's out of stock and I'm just an employee. Insya-Allah someone from HQ will order it in with the coming new stock.

So if I actually ask the guy at the store, Is the adaptor arriving with this week's stock?, it's very normal to get a reply like, Insya-Allah, it will. Must be amazing to have so much faith huh. Apple Middle East does not have an online store, so if I was impatient, I could order it from Singapore n fork out a shitload of money to have it shipped over to this region. So I've decided to have a little "faith" and wait. Ben refuses to assimilate into the lepak-bo-chap culture here, so he was pissed.

So what did he do? He got a new baby! Here she is, a HP Pavillion dv6000 series.


I don't know if he actually has a name for her, but he definitely has a name for this other uber babe he drooled over at the computer shop. He wanted to get the latest iMac G5! Dubai has changed Ben too. From technological luddite, he's transformed overnight into this Mac-crazy, web-savvy techie! So Ben's like, for just a little more we could get this baby!

The one that got away...

Unfortunately I had to peel Ben away from the line-up of iMacs and he had to settle for the HP. Poor thing... His eyes still light up each time he goes on and on about how "sexy" this babe is.

After more than two weeks, waiting for a bloody Powerbook power adaptor to find its way to Dubai is like waiting for a miracle to happen. There are three shops that confirm that they've ordered it in, saying, call again on Monday, so when I do, they say, It didn't arrive this week, call again next Tuesday, and so I wait some more...... Ben and I are still waiting for Dubai to deliver. Or at least we pray, deliver us from Dubai.