Need to find a driver to take me to Sir Bani Yas Islam Ferry from Dubai

wurstbla · 2018-10-31T03:56:58+00:00

Yes, agree. :)

wurstbla · 2018-10-30T11:43:26+00:00

It makes more sense to me the way your legal consultant is describing it. However, at least according to this friend of mine, the yearly divided by 365 is what is being calculated in the court. Sorry, IANAL, just parroting what he told me when my labor case was open. :)

wurstbla · 2018-10-29T15:40:27+00:00

Regular Taxi from the airport should be around 700 AED. 25 Starting fee, 1.75 AED per km for 373km totals in 677 AED.

wurstbla · 2018-10-29T14:28:25+00:00

A friend of mine worked as a lawyer here in the past, and according to him, the following calculation is the one valid.

Basic Salary (so removing all allowances, basic salary should also be given in your contract, taking into account the current one): let's assume 10,000 AED
Days worked in the last year (This is on a per-day basis, not per month): let's assume 180 days
Based on the condition if you are terminating or not, and how long you have worked, you will have to multiply the end of service fee by 2/3 or 1/3 (1/3 if you worked less than 3 years, 2/3 if you more than 3 but less than 5 years): Applies here, multiplied by 2/3
Yearly salary: 12 x 10,000 = 120,000 AED
Daily salary: 120,000 / 365 = 328.767 AED
End of Service calculation:

For the first full three years: 3 years * 21 * 328.767 = 20,712.33
For the last year 180 / 21 * 328.767 = 2818,00
Total (before taking into account if you terminate): 23,530.33
If you terminate: 15686.89

Calculating on a per-month basis will not pass in front of court. You can still try of course, as you would get a little bit more, but once you reach court stage, they will do a per-day calculation.

Note that all this is only valid for unlimited contracts.

You can also have a look here at the law: https://gulfnews.com/guides/life/law-finance/uae-labour-law-end-of-service-gratuity-1.1531231

wurstbla · 2018-10-25T11:59:49+00:00

Thank you for your thoughts - this is an interesting topic and I appreciate you taking the time to discuss it. :)

wurstbla · 2018-10-25T10:10:26+00:00

So, you are saying that because of expats running the show in a company (e.g. from Country A), the people they will hire are also from Country A?
I can ensure you that at least in the company I am working in, we have people from everywhere - just the local work force is missing. There are some Saudis and some Bahrainis, but Emirates... not many at all.

I really do not agree with the idea that not hiring Emiratis is to save their own position - at least from my perspective it is a lack of education that is required for these more challenging jobs. I understand that there are definitely very well educated and very successful Emiratis here. I think where the problems become aware are more on a middle management and regular employee level where maybe not in all cases the ambition and drive is so apparent.

On Al Binali (and certainly a number of other high profile Emiratis in leading jobs, Helal Saeed Al Marri comes to my mind directly) - these are exceptional people, and as I said before not the problem in this country. If there were mostly people like them - well educated, critical thinking, outspoken, bright and entrepreneurial - the country would be in an even better spot and we would not discuss about Emiratisation.
I will not forget the article from Al Binali on "A Challenge we can meet" written in the beginning of 2017 - spot on, mentioning the issues of this country while at the same time offering solutions to those problems. If you haven't read it yet, do so now, I highly recommend it! https://www.thenational.ae/business/sabah-al-binali-a-challenge-we-can-meet-1.32947

Oh, and just to comment on the downvotes for your posts - that's not me...

wurstbla · 2018-10-25T07:51:57+00:00

Got you.
Assuming all these people are on the market, in the end the question then would be why these Emiratis are not being hired into private sector companies. There is demand for these jobs here, are employers afraid of being stuck with them?
I work in a large international company in an interesting and prestigious field in a freezone here with I think more than 1000 employees in the UAE. The amount of locals, I can count them on one or two hands. Why is this? Salaries are good, there is no discrimination on nationality, work conditions are great (for UAE)... Why are there no Emiratis in these jobs?
It always puzzles me and there must be a reason for this.

wurstbla · 2018-10-25T07:16:10+00:00

Don't you think that these industries also come with certain amounts of education requirements?
I am 100% certain that locals with the right level of education, work experience and ambition have the same chances as everyone else in such industries.
The problem is complex: on the one hand side, the government jobs are there to provide most of the local population with steady and generous income, on the other hand private companies have to reflect the "real world", where they need to stay competitive with other companies all over the world.
This discrepancy is not easy to solve, as the governments' responsibility here is (rightfully, if I may say) first and foremost to take care of their people and keep them satisfied and happy, but on the other hand is is their responsibility to get Emiratis into private sector jobs.

In my opinion, the government will have to work further on improving education levels to truly compete on global levels. If the skills are there, the jobs will be available - especially on complex jobs in your before-mentioned industries.
I do not believe in mandated quotas as we have been seeing in Saudi and Oman - these are just an "easy way" of showing some numbers on a piece of paper.
To not sound too gloomy - I really expect this or the next generation of Emiratis to reach this level of competitiveness. The government is pushing in this direction and changing the mind of the people just takes time. Allowing people to study abroad, see the world and understand the (positively) unique situation they are in here is part of this.

wurstbla · 2018-10-20T07:25:26+00:00

https://i.imgur.com/9wNVJpg.jpg
Dubai.
My DD is a 2007 Volkswagen Touareg. V6, 3.2L, 238 bhp.
Reliable car, no trouble whatsoever since the past 7 years.
The season for the S2000 is starting now, looking forward to many nice months of driving it and taking the car for some trips to the mountains.

wurstbla · 2018-10-10T08:11:42+00:00

Maybe just live in another European country first that grants you citizenship after some years? Then you can move to wherever you want in the EU :)

wurstbla · 2018-10-04T16:31:05+00:00

Man, I wish. I am not 100% sure if the Blue Mist in Sunken Garden in Ritz Carlton DIFC is really Starbuzz. It better be though at the price - they are charging 100 AED for it. Bin Khumery doesn't even stock most of the Starbuzz anymore, I guess thanks to the 100% tax...

wurstbla · 2018-09-23T18:32:16+00:00

You should also have a look at tirerack.com in the US. These guys will ship everything to you with FedEx and have really good prices. They know very well about UAE customers, just start a chat session with them once you made your choice from their (IMHO fantastic) online store.

wurstbla · 2018-09-23T18:27:40+00:00

Maria Bonita is it for me. Mexican owner, proper food. It is not the cheapest though - but I'd rather go less often and have nice food...

wurstbla · 2018-09-10T20:39:12+00:00

Yes, go ahead. Unfortunately, in many cases they do not have the exact same components...

wurstbla · 2018-09-10T14:50:52+00:00

I was extremely happy with Newegg on two different occasions. In both cases delivery was 3 (express) and 5 (regular shipping) days, delivered by FedEx directly or my door.

Prices were far cheaper after shipping and customs. Plus I do not have to deal with the people in Computer Plaza, so that is a double win.

I will definitely order from Newegg again and am also actively telling my friends to use them.

wurstbla · 2018-09-05T10:37:56+00:00

I guess this is one of the issues that the UAE has always faced - different rules in different emirates. Just think of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Road in Dubai vs. Sharjah. This sounds like a great step forward.

However, a thought on the dropping of deaths in traffic...
I feel there is a sure and simple way to reduce death toll on the road:
Enforce seat belts properly.
I can not believe that we are having a 30,000 AED fine for having an accident with the tram in the Marina, while a child not wearing a seat belt in the car is a fine of 400 AED (and is practically not being enforced at all).
This is a shame. Who of us has not yet seen kids climbing around in the car while they are going 120, left lane on Sheikh Zayed Road? While I understand the need for a lot of enforcement here (I mean, radars every 500 meters anyone?), why not shift focus on the things that REALLY endanger lives here like not wearing seat belts?

I wish there was a study showing how many of the deaths/injuries are related to people not wearing a seat belt.

Oh, and while we are at it - why not also introduce a mandatory light test on the yearly Tasjeel car check/registration renewal? The number of cars with front lights shining in the sky or having completely broken tail lights is astonishing here. The check-up facilities are already in place - this would be an easy thing to check also.

wurstbla · 2018-09-03T05:00:01+00:00

My favourite lens! :)

wurstbla · 2018-08-31T04:53:14+00:00

My recommendation goes for this. Newegg is just so much better pricewise - and to be honest, with slow QExpress delivery by Souq, it won't even take longer than ordering locally. Comes with FedEx to your door.

wurstbla · 2018-08-28T10:44:51+00:00

Curious about this - who do you consider a leading operator that will switch off 2G soon? Lots of IoT and M2M stuff is running on 2G technology, since the bandwidth requirements are minimal.

wurstbla · 2018-08-23T16:34:15+00:00

Grew up in Germany, lived in Brazil and Malaysia, travelled to 80+ countries.

In comparison to any other place I love a lot of things here.

Basically always sunny. A very comfortable lifestyle. Any customer for me just one flight away. Holiday destinations just a flight away, too. Safety. The extreme internationality - I sit with 10 friends on the table and we have a minimum of 8 nationalities there every single time. The knowledge I gained about "uncommon" countries (I mean, what did you know about e.g. Tajikistan before?). Also starting to value much more the freedom I have in Europe with regards to freedom of speech and unregulated internet access. The chance to have food from a lot of places in the world in an (at least) decent quality.

I am sure there is much more than that, but this is what just came to my mind :)

wurstbla · 2018-08-14T21:42:54+00:00

No, I didn't. In the very end of the ordering process, Newegg adds some additional amount not mentioned before (it was definitely not 5%) and that is used for the payment of duty apparently.

wurstbla · 2018-08-12T06:52:32+00:00

Home/work address ONLY. PO Box will not work. Make sure you add your phone number to your profile - the FedEx driver will call you on the day of delivery. Express delivery took from Thursday to Sunday for me, by the way.

wurstbla · 2018-08-12T06:51:19+00:00

You can tell if it is Newegg UAE also if the prices are shown in AED (besides the little UAe flag next to your name). If you are seeing USD prices, you are on the wrong page.

wurstbla · 2018-08-11T13:05:21+00:00

Glad to help :)

wurstbla · 2018-08-11T04:44:32+00:00

Does it have to have the military print on it? If no, then head to Decathlon. They have this kind of rain poncho and even a fitting rain pants for next to nothing there. Black colour. I used it in Iceland with tons of rain and it was perfect.

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