Job offer in Saudi Arabia
Discussion
Dreadful country! Women cannot be employed in commercial concerns,are not allowed to drive, wear short sleeved blouses & must swim in segregated swimmning pools.& God help you if the Religious police get hold of you! Alcohol is (of course) banned. Christmas cannot be celebrated (all Christian Churches are banned). This basically, is a Medeival country trying and failing, to live in the 21st Century. I worked for a US Company - we had 120 employees & only one (the messenger) was a Saudi employee. Only go there if you are given huge amounts of of money! (& then only stay for a maximum of 2 years).
Myobb said:
Dreadful country! Women cannot be employed in commercial concerns,are not allowed to drive, wear short sleeved blouses & must swim in segregated swimmning pools.& God help you if the Religious police get hold of you! Alcohol is (of course) banned. Christmas cannot be celebrated (all Christian Churches are banned). This basically, is a Medeival country trying and failing, to live in the 21st Century. I worked for a US Company - we had 120 employees & only one (the messenger) was a Saudi employee. Only go there if you are given huge amounts of of money! (& then only stay for a maximum of 2 years).
Pretty much my summation after 2 years working in Saudi. There is a reason why the salaries are so high! Having said that, it's still better than Nigeria by a factor of 10! Myobb said:
Dreadful country! Women cannot be employed in commercial concerns,are not allowed to drive, wear short sleeved blouses & must swim in segregated swimmning pools.& God help you if the Religious police get hold of you! Alcohol is (of course) banned. Christmas cannot be celebrated (all Christian Churches are banned). This basically, is a Medeival country trying and failing, to live in the 21st Century. I worked for a US Company - we had 120 employees & only one (the messenger) was a Saudi employee. Only go there if you are given huge amounts of of money! (& then only stay for a maximum of 2 years).
Wot he said & make sure you get everything offered in writing BEFORE you go.Oh & your passport will be "kept in a safe place" for you whilst in Kingdom which makes it a bit difficult to escape when you decide you've had enough.
Note I said difficult , not impossible.
But if you go in "eyes open" & ready for the cultural time displacement then you could enjoy it
Puggit said:
SystemParanoia said:
dont have a tiny grain of cannabis stuck in the tread of you shoe!
You're thinking of the much more liberal Dubai with that comment.The OP is looking at Saudi Arabia
Where in Saudi is the OP going to be working or based, different areas have different advantages and disadvantages.
I've been commuting to here for 3 years now, based in Khobar. It's not bad, you can get what you need out here but prices aren't as cheap for everything compared with the UK. It's very American, I think, in terms of malls, cars, roads, that kind of thing. Women are very restricted in what they can do and where they can go so if you are bringing a wife then make sure she's prepared for it as even the Egyptians we have working here have had their wives go back home as they didn't like it.
Can't comment on the cost of housing as it's paid for by the company. It can be difficult, but not impossible, to get a beer or some spirits. If you're in the East then Bahrain isn't too far away.
If it's oilfield work then be careful as things are slowing down quite a bit here and most companies seem to be having some lay-offs.
I don't mind it but I don't live here permanently (only a few weeks at a time).
Can't comment on the cost of housing as it's paid for by the company. It can be difficult, but not impossible, to get a beer or some spirits. If you're in the East then Bahrain isn't too far away.
If it's oilfield work then be careful as things are slowing down quite a bit here and most companies seem to be having some lay-offs.
I don't mind it but I don't live here permanently (only a few weeks at a time).
Avoid Riyadh like the plague, Jeddah is just about acceptable, but Dammam is okay and you can hop over the causway to Bahrain for the weekend p**s up!
If your going with your spouse as long as your wife is into tennis, swimming and the coffee morning crowd around the pool, all in your gated compound, with the knowledge there is not much else to do but top up that suntan, then she may survive the boredom!
If your going with your spouse as long as your wife is into tennis, swimming and the coffee morning crowd around the pool, all in your gated compound, with the knowledge there is not much else to do but top up that suntan, then she may survive the boredom!
g/f folks worked out there for a few years. One day her mum was wearing a skirt that was about 1" off the ground and had a member of the religious police beat her ankles with a stick for being so sluttish.
I would have killed the f
ker on the spot if I had been there (and not in a keyboard warrior but a very real world way). Hence I never plan to go there as that would most likely see me being beheaded or raped to death and we all have a point at which we act first and think later.
I would have killed the f
ker on the spot if I had been there (and not in a keyboard warrior but a very real world way). Hence I never plan to go there as that would most likely see me being beheaded or raped to death and we all have a point at which we act first and think later.
A friend of mine is thinking of moving there. If I thought for a moment it would convince him not to, I would send him these articles:
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/56/Working_in_Sau...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3618333/My-life...
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/The_Ultimate_Guide_t...
which I uncovered using a mysterious new website called "Goggle" or something.
"Chop chop Square", eh?
And I thought you'd need a time machine to get back to the middle ages...
http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/56/Working_in_Sau...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3618333/My-life...
http://britishexpats.com/wiki/The_Ultimate_Guide_t...
which I uncovered using a mysterious new website called "Goggle" or something.
"Chop chop Square", eh?
And I thought you'd need a time machine to get back to the middle ages...
If you're a single guy, will be living on a compound of westerners with a swimming pool, etc. and don't mind staying single for a few years, I'd go back.
Just don't take the homebrew off the compound. If you're on the Dammam/Khobar side it's fairly liberal, you can hop over to Bahrain as said. It's not a spectacular place if you've seen sand before and it is a very different culture, but in 10 years I didn't find it as bad as some make out.
Just don't take the homebrew off the compound. If you're on the Dammam/Khobar side it's fairly liberal, you can hop over to Bahrain as said. It's not a spectacular place if you've seen sand before and it is a very different culture, but in 10 years I didn't find it as bad as some make out.
I did a stint of popping out there for 3 days at a time for about 2 months. I'd have to say that it is the only country that I have worked in that I would not want to go back and visit.
Saying that we were in Abha, up in the mountains on the Yemeni border and there was fek all to do apart from the town that only sold luggage
I did get real half price Tags in Jeddah Airport though.
Saying that we were in Abha, up in the mountains on the Yemeni border and there was fek all to do apart from the town that only sold luggage
I did get real half price Tags in Jeddah Airport though.
In 1991 I did 13 months out there in Khamis Mushayt which is 7000 ft up the escarpment on the west coast of the Red Sea, it's between Abha and the Yemen. The climate was very agreeable and the scenery, apart from the litter, very nice. The Religious Police weren't a problem in my time but I've heard they have got worse. Things to be aware of, if you are involved in an accident, you are 50% culpable before anything is taken into consideration, insurance courtesy of Insh'Allah, doesn't exist, become celibate...it's safer, if you drink do not leave the compound as Saudi jails are grim.
It's a culture shock as outside information is not available to the people there, my students hadn't heard of Hitler or the World Wars. Don't be surprised if, when introduced to a Saudi, he will seem to want to hold your hand, it's normal and you see geezers hand in hand all the time. The eldest male of the family, regardless of age, is entitled to drive so kids in Toyota pickups with a camel in the back is very common......as are accidents were it seems they are reluctant to use either brakes or seatbelts. Buy some locally made bread and lentil stuff to dip it in at the side of the road, they make em in tandoori ovens and they look like naan bread but taste much better. If you venture anywhere you'll need to get permission and passes, beasties I saw were a few Camel Spiders (horrid, horrid things) a Viper and some Scorpions
It's a culture shock as outside information is not available to the people there, my students hadn't heard of Hitler or the World Wars. Don't be surprised if, when introduced to a Saudi, he will seem to want to hold your hand, it's normal and you see geezers hand in hand all the time. The eldest male of the family, regardless of age, is entitled to drive so kids in Toyota pickups with a camel in the back is very common......as are accidents were it seems they are reluctant to use either brakes or seatbelts. Buy some locally made bread and lentil stuff to dip it in at the side of the road, they make em in tandoori ovens and they look like naan bread but taste much better. If you venture anywhere you'll need to get permission and passes, beasties I saw were a few Camel Spiders (horrid, horrid things) a Viper and some Scorpions
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