Archive for April, 2007

“We’re Gonna Need Another Maid”

Monday, April 23rd, 2007

I was out taking some pictures recently and came across something that might could fit under social commentary…

I like to call this one “We’re Gonna Need Another Maid”.

Where labor is so cheap, many Arab families actually have 1 maid/nanny per kid.  I know a couple who pay their live-in about $150 a month.  They got her before they even had a kid or she was even pregnant, no less.  While that’s on the low end of the pay scale, $250-300 is going to be the top end.  A round-trip ticket home once a year will be included as well.

Cheap labor is everything here.  The city is built on it.  Because of it, anything you could go buy in a store or restaurant is available for delivery.  It costs almost nothing to have a couple of guys that do nothing but drive stuff back and forth on a moped.  The easy availability of delivery has a tendency to make certain sorts of people lazy.  I’m lazy, but we’ve only ever had food delivered a couple-three times in these almost 2 years in Dubai.  It’s important to get out and about every so often, even if it’s only to go downstairs and over 2-3 buildings to get lunch instead of someone bringing it to you so you never have to leave your desk.  That said, come summer time you certainly won’t want to go any further than 2-3 buildings away as you will stink at your co-workers the rest of the day.

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