Living abroad has its perks and downsides. And sometimes, downsides weighed more than the perks. But still people go out of their country in the hope of grazing on the greener side of the fence. Horror stories of the life living abroad attracts attention once in awhile,but most of them were just discarded and forgotten.
I have my own share of nightmares. My recent was just yesterday, 21 August 2011. It was one of those times that we are blamed for being Asian and because we are not Arabs. One Wednesday on the month of Ramadan, August 04, 2011, around 1:30 pm we were asked to assist the engineers to prepare a BOQ. For those who are not into the construction and engineering field, BOQ is Bill of Quantities which is usually submitted to tender for any project being bid. To make the story short, the BOQ preparation was hurriedly done, we were given the day before the deadline to complete a 4 inches thick BOQ. Being Ramadan and all, we were ordered to stay in the office and finish the job until 11:30 pm without lunch. Good thing, one of the office mate lives nearby cooked instant food, we hid in one room to grab a bite and that was already 4:30 pm. Anyway, we ended up not getting the job because of huge discrepancies. And ho and behold, we are being blamed for it. We only wrote the numbers and we didn't calculated the value. One of the Managers threatened to deduct from our salary for not getting the project. WTF. Sorry, but that really sounded unfair. The good side though, it was not implemented.
My Singapore experience was a different story but still connected with the filling up of BOQ documents. Unfortunately, I'm the only QS doing the BOQ that time. So the manager, told me to work beyond working hours and even on Sundays. There was one Sunday that they made me work and didn't let me go home. My husband, my fiance then who was vacationing in Singapore that time, decided to push me to resign. The way they treat employee is simply unacceptable.
I guess, there really is no such thing as the perfect work - where you will be working with the perfect boss and perfect salary. But I always believe, there are still some humane managers out there who will treat you like a human being and not a slave or a robot. I pray, that once of these days, I'd bump into one of them and change my stars.
Showing posts with label employment. Show all posts
Showing posts with label employment. Show all posts
Monday, August 22, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Woes of Working in Abu Dhabi
Today, 23 June 2011, is the crappiest day of the month. I should have known, when the week started, all the tell-tale signs of a bad week was everywhere to give me a warning. Working abroad is anything but predictable. Something always comes up and usually whatever is up is not really good. I don’t know if I would have preferred my foul-mouthed Chinese boss from the past or my temperamental American boss of the recent or my smoke-belching Arabian boss of the present. All of them can be categorized in different level of laziness. Not in order but, one is really, really lazy, the other one is just plain lazy and the other one is not lazy at all.
When I set foot in this dessert land of a country, work was far from my head. I came here because I want to join my husband. I came here because we both want to start a family already. Unfortunately some circumstances need some immediate remedy that I have to take a job to lessen the burden on my husband’s part while looking for another employment. You see, living in Abu Dhabi is not that simple. I came here using a husband’s visa. This visa depends basically on the employment of my husband. If his contract expires so does my visa. Anyhoo, their project was almost completed, so some of their personnel were being transferred to another site project, which is Ruwais. A 3 hours something drive from Abu Dhabi proper. My husband doesn’t want to take me there, since it is far from the city amenities, knowing that I’m a sickly person, I always need to be near a hospital. But enough about me.
Working abroad always entails contracts and visa. Your stay in the country depends basically with your work. This is true here in Abu Dhabi. Most of the Filipinos who came here to try their luck here entered the country using a visit visa. This visa allows the holder 30 days stay here in the UAE. An extension can be applied to a maximum of another 30 days. When applying for visa, once it is granted you need to use it within 2 months else, the visa will expire and will no longer be usable. Once a visit visa holder lands a job, the company will be the one applying for the visa of that person.
Employment visa varies. There is the missionary visa and the employment visa. The missionary visas are given to those who are hired directly from their mother country and sponsored to work in Abu Dhabi for six months. The employment visa however is the real deal. The validity of such visa is the entire period of the contract signed by the hired personnel. For those who are holding visit visa and have found a job during the stay here in Abu Dhabi, their visa are usually transferred to employment visa , but before getting that they have to exit the country first for certain legalities. Exit can be to other countries outside UAE and one in particular is Kish Island. No one has ever heard of Kish Island, but if you are here in Abu Dhabi it’s the last place you would want to go for an exit. Horrible stories about the island. Some of those who go there for exit are already forgotten. Many are raped and killed. That is why some hotels there are haunted. I don’t know for certain the truth in those, but 3 of my officemates were told to exit to Kish Island and yes, it was a scary place for any woman to go to.
For those who are lucky to get an employment visa without any hitches, they get to finish their contract and jump into another company. But before doing so, expats should complete two years of their contract before they can transfer to another company. This is the new UAE employment law. Back then, once your contract is completed, you are to go home in your mother country since you are banned to look for another job for the next 6 months.
So many clauses surround you when working abroad. And so you try to comfort yourself with the stuff that you could buy when you get your salary at the end of the month. In that way, in a little way the hurtful things that your bosses and officemates hurled at you is not that ego blowing anymore.
When I set foot in this dessert land of a country, work was far from my head. I came here because I want to join my husband. I came here because we both want to start a family already. Unfortunately some circumstances need some immediate remedy that I have to take a job to lessen the burden on my husband’s part while looking for another employment. You see, living in Abu Dhabi is not that simple. I came here using a husband’s visa. This visa depends basically on the employment of my husband. If his contract expires so does my visa. Anyhoo, their project was almost completed, so some of their personnel were being transferred to another site project, which is Ruwais. A 3 hours something drive from Abu Dhabi proper. My husband doesn’t want to take me there, since it is far from the city amenities, knowing that I’m a sickly person, I always need to be near a hospital. But enough about me.
Working abroad always entails contracts and visa. Your stay in the country depends basically with your work. This is true here in Abu Dhabi. Most of the Filipinos who came here to try their luck here entered the country using a visit visa. This visa allows the holder 30 days stay here in the UAE. An extension can be applied to a maximum of another 30 days. When applying for visa, once it is granted you need to use it within 2 months else, the visa will expire and will no longer be usable. Once a visit visa holder lands a job, the company will be the one applying for the visa of that person.
Employment visa varies. There is the missionary visa and the employment visa. The missionary visas are given to those who are hired directly from their mother country and sponsored to work in Abu Dhabi for six months. The employment visa however is the real deal. The validity of such visa is the entire period of the contract signed by the hired personnel. For those who are holding visit visa and have found a job during the stay here in Abu Dhabi, their visa are usually transferred to employment visa , but before getting that they have to exit the country first for certain legalities. Exit can be to other countries outside UAE and one in particular is Kish Island. No one has ever heard of Kish Island, but if you are here in Abu Dhabi it’s the last place you would want to go for an exit. Horrible stories about the island. Some of those who go there for exit are already forgotten. Many are raped and killed. That is why some hotels there are haunted. I don’t know for certain the truth in those, but 3 of my officemates were told to exit to Kish Island and yes, it was a scary place for any woman to go to.
For those who are lucky to get an employment visa without any hitches, they get to finish their contract and jump into another company. But before doing so, expats should complete two years of their contract before they can transfer to another company. This is the new UAE employment law. Back then, once your contract is completed, you are to go home in your mother country since you are banned to look for another job for the next 6 months.
So many clauses surround you when working abroad. And so you try to comfort yourself with the stuff that you could buy when you get your salary at the end of the month. In that way, in a little way the hurtful things that your bosses and officemates hurled at you is not that ego blowing anymore.
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