Yesterday was a day of confrontations. Jenna and I were out and about in the morning and had to stop at the gas station to fill up the tank. There was a huge line of cars going all the way out into the street because, as usual, there was only one of the pumps working. So I get in line and a taxi driver decided to try to get in line in front of me by attempting to squeeze his taxi between my car and the one in front. He's hanging out in the road at an angle, causing a traffic jam. No way was I going to let the idiot in ahead of me! I moved up, putting my car as close as possible to his without hitting it... he's trapped and has no choice but to have an argument with me.
We both roll down our windows at the same time. 'You are not getting in front of me!' I call out. He starts yelling back, saying he was there first. 'NO! I was here before you! How dare you try to squeeze in front of me!' The shouting match had begun! He probably thought I was some weird foreign woman and he could get away with being rude and obnoxious. But this weird foreign woman knows how to yell and shout in Libyan Arabic and I know ALL the swear words too. Finally Mr Rude Taxi Driver backed down and said I could go first but he asked if I would move back a bit so he wont mess up the paint on his taxi.
I went home and had confrontations with the kids who had done nothing the whole time I was out except watch TV. By some miracle I didn't have any confrontations at work.
After work I usually drive home the secretary, and usually a few students too (they're Nora's friends). My secretary asked if I'd take her to a shop to look for a house dress for her mother. She said the shop was full of bargains and as I'm always looking for a good deal I agreed to take her. We got to the shop (in an area of town I usually avoid because it's a bit on the rough side) and Nora and her friends decided they didn't want to go in the shop, they preferred to stay in the car and chat. So my secretary and I got out and the girls had to all get out too so they could change places in the car (to talk better).
We went in the shop and I found some cute pajamas that would be great for Ibrahim. I held them up and asked the price - the guy looked straight at me and said 'Two dinars and a half.'. So I grabbed two of them. There was nothing else interesting in the shop and I went to the counter to pay. I handed the guy 5 dinars and he said 'No. It's 8 dinars.' I told him 'You said they were 2 and a half dinars.' He said 'No. it wasn't me that told you that.' I looked at him straight in the eye and while putting down the pajamas on the counter I pulled the 5 dinars out of his hand and told him 'You're the only person in this shop. No one else could have told me 2.50 but you. You can keep your pajamas.' With that I walked out of the shop. I went in a shoe shop next door while I waited for my secretary to finish in the bargain store.
We walked back to the car and found a huge fight in progress. About 50 boys and men, all of them shouting and boxing each other in the street next to my car! We quickly got in the car and asked the girls what was going on. Apparently as the girls were letting the secretary out of the car and getting back in some guy made a comment to one of the girls. The girls ignored the guy but someone in the street took offense and challenged the guy and the result was the big fight breaking out! The girls were stuck sitting in the car waiting for us to get back. I got the car out of there as fast as I could and took everyone home.
By the time we got home I was exhausted. The house was a mess and I was back to having confrontations with my kids. It took me about an hour to straighten them out.
We both roll down our windows at the same time. 'You are not getting in front of me!' I call out. He starts yelling back, saying he was there first. 'NO! I was here before you! How dare you try to squeeze in front of me!' The shouting match had begun! He probably thought I was some weird foreign woman and he could get away with being rude and obnoxious. But this weird foreign woman knows how to yell and shout in Libyan Arabic and I know ALL the swear words too. Finally Mr Rude Taxi Driver backed down and said I could go first but he asked if I would move back a bit so he wont mess up the paint on his taxi.
I went home and had confrontations with the kids who had done nothing the whole time I was out except watch TV. By some miracle I didn't have any confrontations at work.
After work I usually drive home the secretary, and usually a few students too (they're Nora's friends). My secretary asked if I'd take her to a shop to look for a house dress for her mother. She said the shop was full of bargains and as I'm always looking for a good deal I agreed to take her. We got to the shop (in an area of town I usually avoid because it's a bit on the rough side) and Nora and her friends decided they didn't want to go in the shop, they preferred to stay in the car and chat. So my secretary and I got out and the girls had to all get out too so they could change places in the car (to talk better).
We went in the shop and I found some cute pajamas that would be great for Ibrahim. I held them up and asked the price - the guy looked straight at me and said 'Two dinars and a half.'. So I grabbed two of them. There was nothing else interesting in the shop and I went to the counter to pay. I handed the guy 5 dinars and he said 'No. It's 8 dinars.' I told him 'You said they were 2 and a half dinars.' He said 'No. it wasn't me that told you that.' I looked at him straight in the eye and while putting down the pajamas on the counter I pulled the 5 dinars out of his hand and told him 'You're the only person in this shop. No one else could have told me 2.50 but you. You can keep your pajamas.' With that I walked out of the shop. I went in a shoe shop next door while I waited for my secretary to finish in the bargain store.
We walked back to the car and found a huge fight in progress. About 50 boys and men, all of them shouting and boxing each other in the street next to my car! We quickly got in the car and asked the girls what was going on. Apparently as the girls were letting the secretary out of the car and getting back in some guy made a comment to one of the girls. The girls ignored the guy but someone in the street took offense and challenged the guy and the result was the big fight breaking out! The girls were stuck sitting in the car waiting for us to get back. I got the car out of there as fast as I could and took everyone home.
By the time we got home I was exhausted. The house was a mess and I was back to having confrontations with my kids. It took me about an hour to straighten them out.
I think it's the heat... it's making us all crazy!
what a day u most off had and about the libyan guy i really hate it when they do that one time a guy came to my sis and made a comment i unfortunetlly i was not there but thank god a nother boy got in fight with him just coz he was folowing her
ReplyDeleteglad to see chivalry is still rampant. didnt see much of it when i was there especially at the banks. It is amazing how rude people can be. A friend was visiting from NY and he was so happy to see courtsey again he couldnt wait to be back. I guess everywhere has its problems with lack of manners.
ReplyDeleteHey Khadija, I've been reading for awhile, and am kept fairly entertained by your blog. I was wondering if you had seen this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/littlemosque/
Yeah, I've seen a few episodes of the program when they first started... I hope that it continues.
ReplyDeleteMother had to deal with those kind of people in three different Arab countries for the last 52 years, but she loves living in arab world. Lucky she was a house wife and did not have those kind of confrontations during her time, which modern ladies face on a daily basis. Men were always shocked that she knew Arabic. Manners has been eroded in the last 30 years in every part of the world.
ReplyDeleteAs for the Little Mosque on the Prairie, you can google it, and you can add New York Times and you will find 2 articles about it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu2-
lXDe2to
You can find the episodes on the net :-)
Musiclover
Salams Khadijah, sorry to see you are so streed out living here, hope you wdont have to have too many confrotation in the future , Islam seems to have the answer here, may be it is better if the women got on with thier jobs of looking after the fmily and the men got on with them, I know its changing times but..............I don't think for the better, do you??
ReplyDelete