Impolite People

While in Amman during the summer months everytime I go to the bank someone parks their car immediately behind my car totally preventing me from getting out of my parking spot until they come back and move their car, sometimes I had to wait five minutes other times I waited for as long as twent minutes. When I go downtown and go to the market for shopping someone usually park their car parallel to my car and deprive me from my ability to get out of the parking spot.In this instance there is no way of knowing who the owner is, he could be someone that went for a short errand, he could be somoeone that went to the mosque to perform one of the five prayors, and he could be simply visiting a friend somewhere in town and drinking coffee with him and totally oblivious to the fact that someone is waiting patientlly to get out of his parking spot and he is blocking his path.When at the end of the day I go back to the building I usually find some one had taken my designated parking spot, I had to go and ring the door bell apartment by apartment a total of ten until I find the person that took my parking spot and kindly ask him to remove his car from my parking spot. It is worth noting that none of these people in any of these incidents ever apologized for violating my rights to having a free passage, they either shrug the incident as something inconsequential or they give you that smirk like hey it is no big deal. There were times when I was assisting my father in law by transporting him to Alhussein Medical City,although there is a huge parking lot at the outskirts of the city designated for visitors and outpatient, and there is a shuttle but that transports people to and from the parking lot to the varios parts of the city medical departments, everyone insists on driving all the way to the main gate of whatever destination they are going and squeezing their cars on the side walks, narrow alleys, and even at the buildings main entrances and exits. Although signs are all over the place warning them that their cars will towed away no one seems to heed the warning or cooperate by parking in the designated parking lot. I don't know if it is only me or indeed there is a problem with people and parking in Amman, no one wants to walk for hundred or two hundred yeards after they park their cars, every one seems to either drop off, pickup, or simply park right at the door of the place wherever they are going. I think that it had something to do with the attitude and the finese of somepeople.What is it that prevents them from wanting to walk those few extra yards, what is it that makes them park behind somone else's car and parallel to other person's car, if there is a legitimate reason I have not been able to figure it out.

Orange Sucks

I take it back, Orange doesn't suck it is the suckiest Internet provider in Jordan.Five months of going back and forth to their offices in various parts of the city, I finally managed to suspend the service order.Actually, there was never any service since I never got connected since my initial application for service, but some how they got tired of me coming back time and time again to check on the status of my order only to be told not yet, there is a glitch, a technician will be out there tomorrow morning, the speed that you requested must be reduced, the Ramadan and the Eid holiday put us behind schedule, we need to look for another nearby location to get you connected.And finally they told me the truth, you simply aren't going to get connected for another six months because there is no services in your area, Orange is going to have to install five to six more tall wooden columns to reach to a location near your place and that might take a lot of time and a host of bureaucratic approvals.When I went to cancel my order the clerk at the front desk informed me that only the office manager has the authority to cancel orders, so I took a number and after waiting for close to an hour my number was called and I walked into the manager's office and very kindly requested to have my order canceled.The manager started haggling with me and goading me not to cancel, my answer to him was that what would you do if you were in my shoes, wouldn't you cancel if you had to wait more than four and a half months without getting connected.His reasoning was that if I cancel I would deprive other people in the same neighborhood from getting connected since Orange had already committed to having that part of the town serviced within the next four to six months.Obviously I wasn't going to wait not event one minute longer.I requested that the manager give me a confirmation about my canceled order since while I was sitting in his office two other people came in and stated that they are still getting billed for Internet services months after they have had it disconnected. The manager couldn't give me anything and stated that it will take couple of months before the cancellation order makes it through the system I''m now wondering if I'm going to be billed for the next two months for a service that I don't have.I'm not going to talk about the nasty attitude the people at Orange had since a lot of the service companies personnel seem to have that nasty gruff attitude while dealing with their customer.This is one of several other other episodes that I encountered during a five months while sojourning in Jordan.Stay tuned.

One year later

I'm officially unemployed the first time in twenty eight years. I lost my job, my health and life insurance, the employer's portion of the Workman's compensation contributions, the employers portion of the matching pension contributions, and many other perks that were built into the contract such as free mobile communications, free transportation, free tuition. I lost my home to foreclosure due to my inability to make mortgage payments, I lost my car, my credit ratings, I almost lost my family but due to God's grace I was able to avert losing that one. to make it simple I have lost everything that I worked for over the last three decades. I didn't lose my life though, I'm still here hopeful and thankful that I'm able to pickup the pieces and move on. It isn't the end of the world though some apocalyptic theories are suggesting that it is drawing near.

I'm thankful that I can can take a full shower without having to worry about the hot water running out on me in the middle of showering during the frigid winter months. I'm thankful that I don't have to worry about the traffic police stopping me twice a day for no apparent reason other than to check on the validity of my driver's license and registration. I'm thankful that I don't have to have exact change every time I go to the supermarket to purchase milk and soda-since shop keepers don't bother keeping enough change to accommodate their customers. I'm thankful that I'm surfing the net at a speed equivalent to eight hundred Kb and not at a dial up slow like hell forty five Kb.

I'm thankful that my kids are attending public schools & advancing in their education without me having to dish out thousands of dollars for private education
I'm thankful that I don't have to use the prepaid phones to make local calls, I can live with a monthly charge on subscription basis. I'm thankful that the government civil service employees aren't screaming in my face every time I go to take care of a document that needs governmental processing. I'm thankful that I don't have to fear someone rear ending me every time I stop on a traffic light. I'm thankful that no one stirs at me while walking on the street, no one harasses me over the necessity of praying five times a day at the mosque. I'm thankful that my daughter and my wife aren't being undressed by the eyes of the pedestrians every time they go the market. I'm thankful that my eight years old son don't have to worry about punishment for something as silly as being five minutes tardy.

There is more to life than just accruing wealth, being socially comfortable with your life is in my opinion more important than having a big house and a four wheel drive. Being treated as a human being with dignity and respect is more important than just being around people of the same ethnic back ground.


I'm tired of listening to people telling me what to do and how to live the course of day today living, I'm thankful that I''m back at making my own decisions, pursuing my endeavor in the way that I set it for my self. I'm thankful because I feel that I have just gotten emancipated from the yoke of the people's interference in my private personal life.

The loss due to the finacial system collapse was one thing but the harassment by the people was much bigger loss than the actual one. I'm very thankful that my adopted country had accepted me the way I'm and not the way it wants me to be, for that I'm very thankful

More Financial woes

http://www.jordan-business.net/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=278&Itemid=40


أستاذ مروان

بدي اعلق على المقابلة تاعت مدير البنك المركزي، يا زلمه ما جاوب ولا على سؤال من ألأسئله الي انت سألته إياها، مع انه ربنا الله الواحد يحكي دينه، اسئلتك كانت جامده وفي الصميم، بس شو الفايده، كل الجوابات كانت لا تمت بصله لأي سؤال. ممكن يعني انك تلخص كل اجوبته بجمله واحده وهي انه كل اشي مبني على المسأله او المسائل التجريبيه وغير هيك مافي اشي تاني، وكل قارئ للعدد يفهم ألأجوبه زي مابده. اتركنا من مقدمة المقال وخلينا ندخل مباشره في موضوع ألأسئله. انت بتقول له انه خبراء ألأقتصاد اختلفو في ما بينهم على مدى تأثير ألأزمه الماليه على اقتصاد ألأردن، هو شو برد وبقولك، على المدى القريب النتائج رايحه تكون ايجابيه حتى في عجز الحكومه المالي. ثم يستطرد ويقول ان البنك المركزي يقوم بتجارب لدراسة مدى تأثير الصدمه وكأن الصدمه لم تحدث بعد او انها بصدد انتظار نتأئج ابحاث المركزي المستقبليه. ألسؤال الثاني كان حول ازمة العقار ومدى استعداد البلد لمواجهته، والجزء ألأخر من السؤال له علاقة بهروب المستثمرين من بورصة عمان. شو هو جاوب، أول شي ترك موضوع سقوط العقار بحاله ولم يتطرق له نهائيا، ومن ثم اجاب عن البورصات الأجنبيه ولم يتطرق الى سبب هروب المستثمرين من بورصة عمان او سبب انعدام الثقه عندهم في وقت يجزم بأن المشكله الرئيسيه هي خارج البلد وليس بداخله. ألسؤال الي بعده انت بتقول انه البنوك في الأردن في السنوات القليله الماضيه صارت تعطي قروض بسهوله وزي الحلاوه ويمكن كان قصدك انه كيف هادي الناس هسه بدها تسد جبل الديون الي تراكم على روسهم، هسه هو شو رد وقال لك نحنا في المركزي ما عندنا مشكلة سيوله وعندنا اجرأت مراقبه صارمه والناس اهل الثقه رايحين يضلو يقدرو يحصلو على قروض. ألسؤال الي بعده، انت بتقول انه ألأزمه الماليه وانهيار اسعار العقار سوف تضعف من حجم ألأستثمارات في ألأ ردن، شو هو برد وبقول لك طالما انه احنا هون عنا ضوابط قويه وطالما انه التضخم مسيطر عليه وطالما الوضع الداخلي كويس معناته الدنيا بخير. السؤال الي بعده، انت بتقول له انه في تباطؤ في النمو، هو شو برد عليك وبيقول، هذا امر بحاجة الى دراسه من خلال تجارب علميه تجريبيه. انت بتسئال هل ربط الدينار مع الدولار ساعد الوضع في ظل التقلبات الحاليه، هو شو رد وقال نعم، ساعد كثير كثير، طبعا استعمل كلام اخر بس هاد كان قصده . انت بتسأل عن سعر الفائده وإزا بده يتغير، هو بجاوبك بأنه السيوله النقديه وحجم التضخم يقريران في ما اذا سوف يتغير مقدار الفائده. أنت تسأل اذا كان المركزي ينوي ضخ سيوله في البنوك ألأردنيه مثل ما ضخت مركزيات العالم كله في بنوكها، هو شو رد وقال لك احنا بنتبع البنك الدولي وكمان احنا بنروح على كل المؤتمرات وألأجتمعات الماليه التي تعقد في اي مكان في العالم او اي ركن من اركان المعموره. انت بتسئل عن فشل اليبرالين الجدد ،وهو برد وبقول لك اوضاع بنوكنا بخير والحمد لله. انت بتسئل عن موضوع الفلوس التي يرسلها المغتربين ألأردنيين العاملين في الخارج، وهو يرد عليك ويقول مرة اخرى بأن هذا امر يحتاج الى دراسات علميه تجريبيه http://www.jordan-business.net/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=278&Itemid=40
هذا رد على المقابلة التي اجراها السيد مروان قردوش مع السيد اميه طوقان على هذا الرابط

تحليل حاتم للأزمه الماليه

قضية ألأزمه الماليه يا إخوان انه في مصاري كثير لرب العزه ومن كثر ما في مصاري بطلو يلاقو ظايل في ناس بدها تستقرض مصاري. يعني كل واحد فينا مش بس استقرض مصاري كفايه، راح كمان واستقرض زياده شويه فوق قدرته على السداد، حتى في ناس كثير استقرضت مبالغ مش رايحيين عمرهم يقدرو يسددوها حتى لو الله اعطاهم طولة العمر. هذا من ناحيه الناس، بس من ناحية البنوك لسه في مصاري كثير وبدنا كمان ناس تيجي تستقرض لأنه البنك ما بستفيد من المصاري اذا ظلت نايمه في الجرار. طيب من وين اجت كل هذي المصاري إلي انت نازل تحكي عنها، انا بقول لك من وين اجت، في جزء كبير منها اجا من ارتفاع سعرالبترول، وفي جزء ثاني اجا من الصين علشان الصين قاعده بتستثمر كل مصاريها بأميركا، والجزء الثالث وهو اكبر جزء جاء من المضاربات اليوميه في البورصه بس مش البورصه الطبيعيه الي كلنا بنعرفها، انا بحكي عن بورصة التوريق او المشتقات كما يسميها بعض الناس ويعتقد ان اساس ألأزمه قد بدأت في بورصة التوريق عندما استنكف الناس الذين اخذو قروض ذات فوائد عاليه وبألتالي لم يتمكنو من سداد هذه القروض وفجأه توقفو عن دفع مستحقاتهم الشهريه للبنوك وبألتالي لم يتمكن البنوك من دفع الفوائد المستحقه عليه للمستثمرين الذين اودعو مصاريهم في البنوك من اجل الحصول على فوائد شهريه لودائعهم. وفي نهاية المطاف وصل كل شيء الى طريق مسدود، الناس مابدها تدفع الدين المتراكم عليها اما طوعا اوقسرا لسه ما في حدا عارف .ليش لأنه زي ما قلت الناس مابدهاتدفع والبنك بطل يعطي قروض، يعني مثل ازمة السير ان غابت عنكم. هسه الحكومه بتحاول قدر جهدها انه تمشي السير من اول لبو جديد اما عن طريق الدخول كوسيط بين الناس وبين البنوك اوعن طريق تأميم البنوك مثل ما حصل في انجلترا موأخرا. ففي حالة ما تسيطر الحكومه على البنوك فأنه من المحتمل ان تبدأالدواليب في الدوران مرةاخرى. باختصار ازمة السير حادة للغاية ولكن في النهاية لن تؤدي الى انهيار مالي كلي وكل ما في الأمر ان الفتره الحاليه سوف تكون فترة فتور وربما برود على ألأخر حتى يتمكن الناس من ايجاد وسيلة جديده لدفعديونهم المتراكمه اما عن طريق ألأفلاس وشطب الديون شطب كامل واما عن طريق اعادةبرمجةالقروض بفوائد قليله ومضمونه من قبل الحكومه. من المتوقع ان تستمر هذه ألأزمه لمدة سنه على ألأقل.

Nits & Lice

I know that its gross and disgusting and it sends chills down your spine when you hear about it, but hey according to Alghad Jordanian daily http://www.alghad.jo/?news=356152 more than half of our school children are infested with this pesky insect that invades the person's head and settles in there very comfortably until it gets properly treated with appropriate shampoo, combing, and eradication of the active nits that have great tendency of mutating time and again.

I'm not bringing up this topic to highlight the prevalence and pervasiveness of the problem, it is broad enough to speak for itself.

I'm writing to inform anybody who might be interested that there is a business opportunity that can be extracted out of this miserable situation, it may not be the most glamorous business opportunity but nonetheless it is worth exploring in more depth.

The ministry of education spends large sums of money every year on shampoo that they give to the schools for free, the schools in turn probably gives to the students to treat their heads. It is unknown whether the students use this medicated shampoo or they use other primitive archaic methods such as pouring kerosene on the head or something like that.

Irrespective of method they have been using it appears to be not working and more kids are getting more lice in their heads, more than half of all of the kids combined.

So for those of you that still have that die hard entrepreneurial sport, you can start lobbying the ministry of education to look at your business proposal which entails opening shops similar to the Barber shop in every Jordanian governed, the purpose of this lets call it lice eradication shop would service every school age child every year prior to entering the school grounds. In other words, the ministry of education would issue a decree, edict, or whatever you want to call it stating that no child will be admitted to the school yard until he/ she provide the principal with a certificate indicating that this person is totally and completely free of any lice. That he has been checked and either treated or found to be not needing any treatment and thus was given the certificate.

It would be something like the mandatory liability car insurance which dictates that no one will be granted permission to drive unless they can furnish a proof that they have at the very minimum a liability insurance that will protect the driver in the event of an accident.

I don't know how or why did I come up with this crazy idea, I'm not sure if my motive was to create another business idea for someone or to help those poor children to get their heads cleaned up from the nits and lice that not only bothers them to passes on the problem to other students that come in close contact with them.

Nits and Lice are no laughing matters, they aren't a disgraceful matter either, just because someone gets it doesn't mean that they aren't clean, there is a great deal of possibility that they got it from someone else and not from their own lack of good hygiene practice.

So there you have it go jump at it, I want to see a lice eradication shop approved by the ministry of education and funded by the same ministry opening in Amman, Salt, Irbid, Maan, Tafilah, Zarqa, Karak, Balqa, and somewhere in between.

The shops don't have to cater to school age children only even though they seem to be the ones that are in need of it the most, it can cater to adult and seniors and any age group that will need this type of service.

Messenger of Allah Unites us

I don’t think that the demands made by Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist, in this report appearing in the Jordan Times today, August 22, 08. http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=10225; were very highly outrageous ones.

The prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba where they have been held since their capture made similar demands and were accommodated. They demanded that the food that they eat doesn’t contain any type of pork in it; they asked for and received a copy of the holy book Quran. They were given pieces of rug to prey on it as well as bathrooms to perform their ablution prior to the prayers.

The part that I don’t understand is whether Mr. Westergaard was sincere in asking for these things or whether he was trying to show case the fact that pork is prohibited in the Muslim world as well as the prisoners are prohibited from reading books, magazines, or any other literature.

Given the fact that he is a septuagenarian man, I would have to take his word for it and not accuse him of trying do more mocking about the pork, the prison cell, conditions and the reading material.

I honestly would like to see Mr. Westegaard come to Jordan and confront his accusers in an open court, I’m sure that the Jordanian government is more than capable of providing the necessary arrangement for his protection as well as for his accommodation during his stay in Jordan.

His is a real classic case about the clash between freedoms of speech, freedom of expression, versus theological interpretation of what is blasphemous and what is sanctimonious. I mean why not, let justice take its course, the man says that he has nothing against Islam, he doesn’t feel that he has done anything wrong, he isn’t about to apologize for doing something that he feels falls under his freedom of expression rights.

His accusers believe that he slandered the prophet of Islam by depicting him in very provocative manners. If he can prove his innocence then he will be off the hook, and if he get convicted he will understand that he wasn’t within his rights and he may have stepped off the line. All in all it would be very interesting to watch and see justice take precedent over personal animus.