How much does appearance matter? Forum

[Anonymous User]

They were well treated... in public. You have no idea what happened behind closed doors. Sometimes you just can't pick up on abuse in public. Nothing wrong with you if you cannot, sometimes no one can. But I think it is naive to assume that just because the servants seemed content when the are in the mall that they are all well treated at home. What you see as happiness could just be relief to have a break.

Absolutely. But the article points to these public instances and seems to indicate that these are widespread. They're not. When I read it, it sounded like "maid uprising in Dubai."

n a Burger King, a Filipino girl tells me it is "terrifying" for her to wander the malls in Dubai because Filipino maids or nannies always sneak away from the family they are with and beg her for help. "They say – 'Please, I am being held prisoner, they don't let me call home, they make me work every waking hour seven days a week.' At first I would say – my God, I will tell the consulate, where are you staying? But they never know their address, and the consulate isn't interested. I avoid them now. I keep thinking about a woman who told me she hadn't eaten any fruit in four years. They think I have power because I can walk around on my own, but I'm powerless."

lol did you even read what you quoted? It says they sneak away from the family they are with when they can to ask other people for help.

Like I said, I never saw that happen. Not saying that it didn't happen. But the article blows it out of proportion. Not denying that there is rampant abuse. Just saying that it's not nearly as public or pervasive as implicated. That is all.

[soaponarope]

Not only does appearence matter, but so do American cultural norms. Not shaking hands with the DA, or a judge, (whoever) is considered rude. You're in America, not the Middle East.

If I were in the Middle East, I would be expected to follow the social norms/more's lest my head be cut off.

[romothesavior]

Also there are no gays in Iran.

That's because they haven't kicked god out of schools. Stupid atheist communist Supreme Court justices!

[Duralex]

I'm not sure this is the right place for this discussion (in fact, it's probably not)....but if people are going to do it anyway:

Human Rights Watch on UAE

The Island of Happiness: the Exploitation of Migrant Workers on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

How the UAE Condones Sexual Violence (the Guardian via HRW)

Slow Reform: Protection of Migrant Domestic Workers in Asia and the Middle East

WashPo on indentured servitude in Dubai, and the NY Times.

[Bosque]

They were well treated... in public. You have no idea what happened behind closed doors. Sometimes you just can't pick up on abuse in public. Nothing wrong with you if you cannot, sometimes no one can. But I think it is naive to assume that just because the servants seemed content when the are in the mall that they are all well treated at home. What you see as happiness could just be relief to have a break.

Absolutely. But the article points to these public instances and seems to indicate that these are widespread. They're not. When I read it, it sounded like "maid uprising in Dubai."

n a Burger King, a Filipino girl tells me it is "terrifying" for her to wander the malls in Dubai because Filipino maids or nannies always sneak away from the family they are with and beg her for help. "They say – 'Please, I am being held prisoner, they don't let me call home, they make me work every waking hour seven days a week.' At first I would say – my God, I will tell the consulate, where are you staying? But they never know their address, and the consulate isn't interested. I avoid them now. I keep thinking about a woman who told me she hadn't eaten any fruit in four years. They think I have power because I can walk around on my own, but I'm powerless."

lol did you even read what you quoted? It says they sneak away from the family they are with when they can to ask other people for help.

Like I said, I never saw that happen. Not saying that it didn't happen. But the article blows it out of proportion. Not denying that there is rampant abuse. Just saying that it's not nearly as public or pervasive as implicated. That is all.

Hmm. A thought just occured to me. What ethnicity are you? If you are Filipino like the woman the article talks about, then I can see your experience of not seeing this happen being relevant. Presumably if it was rampant, they would have been approaching you too (unless you come across as standoffish or intimidating).

If you are very clearly Arab, then of COURSE they didn't sneak off to beg for help from you. And by the use of the word "sneak," I think it is safe to assume that they don't do it in such a way that someone just wandering the mall is going to notice anything.

[Anonymous User]

Hmm. A thought just occured to me. What ethnicity are you? If you are Filipino like the woman the article talks about, then I can see your experience of not seeing this happen being relevant. Presumably if it was rampant, they would have been approaching you too (unless you come across as standoffish or intimidating).

If you are very clearly Arab, then of COURSE they didn't sneak off to beg for help from you. And by the use of the word "sneak," I think it is safe to assume that they don't do it in such a way that someone just wandering the mall is going to notice anything.

I was a non-Arab expat.

And I wasn't just talking about people not coming to us for help, but also just not witnessing that happening to other people in various UAE locales.

Also, you can sneak all you want, but when a clearly non-Arab nanny leaves her group to talk to someone else in a mall, people notice. This isn't Steamtown Mall in Scranton, PA. The Middle Eastern mall culture is entirely different.

[paratactical]

This isn't Steamtown Mall in Scranton, PA. The Middle Eastern mall culture is entirely different.

FWIW, if you're in Scranton and not white, you'll be noticed.

[soaponarope]

This isn't Steamtown Mall in Scranton, PA. The Middle Eastern mall culture is entirely different.

FWIW, if you're in Scranton and not white, you'll be noticed.

QFT! Over 90% of the population is white... I used to live in the Lehigh Valley.

[jitsrenzo]

Absolutely. But the article points to these public instances and seems to indicate that these are widespread. They're not. When I read it, it sounded like "maid uprising in Dubai."

Read the whole article. It's not about "maid uprising in Dubai". Check out the guy who swallowed razor blades and died horribly while in prison; the immigrants and maids who were told lies and went into debt to go to Dubai, only to get stuck because they don't have their passport or money for a return flight; and the total apathy of everyone else who lives there. I guess if I had to sum it up, it'd be the phrase in the article, "slave society."

[jitsrenzo]

I'm not sure this is the right place for this discussion (in fact, it's probably not)....but if people are going to do it anyway:

Human Rights Watch on UAE

The Island of Happiness: the Exploitation of Migrant Workers on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

How the UAE Condones Sexual Violence (the Guardian via HRW)

Slow Reform: Protection of Migrant Domestic Workers in Asia and the Middle East

WashPo on indentured servitude in Dubai, and the NY Times.

I think it's totally appropriate, as we have posters in here saying there are "plenty" of female lawyers in the ME, and how it's such a great place to live with free villas, drivers, instant replacement of appliances (lol), etc.

[northwood]

Also there are no gays in Iran.

That's because they haven't kicked god out of schools. Stupid atheist communist Supreme Court justices!

communism is against religion because religion undermines the states absolute authority. Just cross out either atheist or communist and you'll be all set

[romothesavior]

Also there are no gays in Iran.

That's because they haven't kicked god out of schools. Stupid atheist communist Supreme Court justices!

communism is against religion because religion undermines the states absolute authority. Just cross out either atheist or communist and you'll be all set

1. Sarcasm fail.
2. They are neither mutually exclusive nor redundant, so why is there a need to cross one out?

[ResolutePear]

Also there are no gays in Iran.

That's because they haven't kicked god out of schools. Stupid atheist communist Supreme Court justices!

communism is against religion because religion undermines the states absolute authority. Just cross out either atheist or communist and you'll be all set

1. Sarcasm fail.
2. They are neither mutually exclusive nor redundant, so why is there a need to cross one out?

[clevinger33]

http://www.shatila.com/

This place delivers baklava to the Lebanese restaurant at which I work. Shit's good.

/completely irrelevant OT post.

[Bosque]

The title for this thread really needs to change. Everytime I see it, for a second or two I think it is going to be about suits, or how good looking you are affecting interviews. And then I remember what it really is about.

[rynabrius]

It would be interesting to do an experiment in which two groups take a series of interviews. Group 1 = law students who have earned the grades on their resume, etc. Group 2 = trained actors, selected for good looks and personality, who have been coached a bit to respond to law-related questions.

Both groups would then take a series of screener interviews.

Hypothesis: the actors would do much better.

[TigerBeer]

I'm not sure this is the right place for this discussion (in fact, it's probably not)....but if people are going to do it anyway:

Human Rights Watch on UAE

The Island of Happiness: the Exploitation of Migrant Workers on Saadiyat Island, Abu Dhabi

How the UAE Condones Sexual Violence (the Guardian via HRW)

Slow Reform: Protection of Migrant Domestic Workers in Asia and the Middle East

WashPo on indentured servitude in Dubai, and the NY Times.

I think it's totally appropriate, as we have posters in here saying there are "plenty" of female lawyers in the ME, and how it's such a great place to live with free villas, drivers, instant replacement of appliances (lol), etc.

it's almost as if the middle east were made up of multiple countries with varying cultures and living standards

[vanwinkle]

This thread is waaaay off topic for the legal employment forum and needs to be put down.