Third-world epiphany

This incident occurred over a month ago, but the draft waited patiently...

Something happened to me yesterday while I was leaving Marina Mall (see the main photo on this blog) with my groceries that made me realise I just may never be able to return to my home city in the states. Or my home city in England, for that matter.

There I was, Friday morning, wheeling my Carrefour cart full of groceries out to my car in the warm sun -- a cart that I paid a ONE DIRHAM deposit for, by the way -- and a skinny little fellow appears out of nowhere and starts taking my groceries from the cart. Ok, so the car boot was open at the time, and the little man's intention was clearly to put the groceries in the car boot, not hie off with them to set up his own veggie stand.

And my first reaction was to say whatdoyouthinkyou'redoing???!

That reaction achieved its goal: the little bugger did in fact hie off, sans groceries, and lurked about looking beaten and forlorn. I loaded the rest of the bags into my car, returned the cart to the rank, collected my one dirham coin (a whopping 28 cents), and drove off.

Then it hit me.

The only thing this fella wanted to do was help me with my groceries in return for me letting him return the cart and pocket the 28 cents trolley-deposit. He wasn't a thug or a panhandler, he was an entrepreneur. And I sent him away.

You see, the thing about Abu Dhabi is that everyone here works. They work for practically nothing, they work in the hot sun, they work without much in the way of thanks or recognition, but they work. Contrast this with the big-city thug who approaches you on the street with an angry "Can you spare some change?" or with the shiftless ne'er do well sitting on the pavement with cap in hand who glares at you if you dare to walk by without buying him a coffee from Starbucks. They don't offer to carry my groceries or return my trolley, but they still want something. The difference is they want something for nothing -- and their only rationale (if you can call it that) is that I clearly have more than they do.

I learned my lesson. Now when I go to the Carrefour on a Friday morning -- probably the only day of the week my underfed little friend has to himself -- I happily let him take my cart back for the handsome fee of 28 cents. Hell, I give him a few extra dirhams. After all, he's a working man.