I was out running errands all day in the sun, from one government bureaucracy to the next. Of course, I had no clue what I was doing; just following "instructions" from various ministry employees to go from this room to that, get this paper and make copies and have it signed by this or that person...etc.
At one point, some guy at a counter asked me what I was there for and I snapped at him that I had no idea because none of your rules and requirements make any sense and please don't waste my time or yours explaining them to me because I will never be able to accept anything that defies logic and common sense!!
I'm told I could've sent a "mandoob" in my place, but I guess I'm a glutton for punishment! It's also a chance to see first-hand what many of us rarely experience in our comfortable lives. The "mandoob" industry must be raking in the cash, profiting off people's misery and the mind-boggling, logic-defying bureaucratic nightmare that is our country.
Whenever I experience something like this, my first instinct is to ask who could be benefiting from this mess and who has an interest in keeping things the way they are with no improvement, because when you think about it an efficient government would put many crooked people out of business; here's how:
- Mandoobs and the offices that employ them would go bust. Look for the owners and you will see what I mean.
- Getting rid of excess unproductive staff would mean less votes for corrupt MPs, because they would be owed no favors from the armies of voting imbeciles currently taking up space in the ministries.
- With corrupt MPs voted out, who can the government depend on to look the other way while it messes things up?
- Finally, where would we be without our beloved "wasta" to get things done? It's part of our national identity!!
As they say in France... plus ca change, plus c'est la meme chose! - the more things change, the more they stay the same.
You could have faked all signatures and got out.
ReplyDeleteYou poor fool, which part of the government?
ReplyDeleteDoing anything with them in August is pointless half of them are on vacation the rest are too lazy. I learned from experience to act stupid. I dont know what is going on, have no clue on anything forces them to somewhat help you. Always get their name for referal, and NEVER get mad.
My personal hate.
1) The Fire Department
2) Shoun
3) Baladia
Damn, you guys are FAST! The second I posted that, I went back to edit it to the longer version you see now. But Blogger was so fucking slow that it took forever!
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I was at Sho'oun today. Before that I went to Hawalli Central to get a new phone line, but the computers were down.
My mistake was to take the day off today, now everything has to wait till Saturday
Not only is this inefficiency seen in the gov
ReplyDeleteIt has trickled down to the private sector.
The living proof is all the private sector bloggers you see blogging religiously ;)
"computers are down" Hmm strange was this around 11-1230 that they told you this? Some how those darn computers go slow or break down around that time especailly on Wed.
ReplyDeleteThe mandoob is the root of all this evil. I dream and pray of the day that mandoobs are gone. But you want excess take a look at the farashes located there. Count them on Saturday, see how many are there, and not working and they are the ones doing the real work, moving papers etc. Look for the healthiest looking one with some nice shoes and go ask him if he can help you get this paper work done. He will tell you the price to make your problems all go away.
Oh another thing on Sat. dont go there until after they had their breakfast. They aren't very helpful until they had their breakfast.
And good luck with the Shoon, they really do suck. Shoon Farwaniya? or the City one? If it is the city one at the Behbehani building go take the stairs on the way down.
I think those things are still there, if you ever wondered where those things disappear to.
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ReplyDeleteلا أعلم كيف أستطعت العيش حتى الآن...بدون مندوب أو أثنان!
ReplyDeleteللمحافظة على سلامة صحتك النفسية و البدنية (لابد) من إستغلال حقك ككويتى صاحب عمل تجارى بتعيين مندوب أو أثنين للقيام بالمهمات الماراثونية فى كهوف تورا بورا - آسف - من شؤون و بلدية و مطافى و تجارة.
مواصفات المندوب الناجح:
طول اللسان و الوسامة و يفضل الإثنان...دوائرنا الحكومية تدار من قبل فتيات مطلقات أو من طاف عنهن جيمس الزواج و سترى كيف أن إبتسامة أو نكتة جنسية أو غمزة من مندوب وسيم..تفتح المجال لكسر الرقم القياسى بسرعة إنجاز المعاملة.
طلاقة اللسان باللهجة الكويتية المحلية مع تضبيط النسرة صاحبة الأختام مفيد جدا (النسرة شخصية واقعية موجودة فى كل إدارات الوزارات و هى المديرة الفعلية بدل المدير الكويتى الذى يداوم خمس مرات بالسنة و يمضى وقته بالصلاة )..و لا يضر أن ترشيها بهدية كموبايل جديد مثلا) ...ريح بالك و لا تهتم فمندوبك مثل الروبوت المستخدم فى إزالة المتفجرات...ترسله للأماكن الملغومة و لا يهم إذا لم يرجع....فهناك وفرة من المندوبين...
Don't complain about the weather. Florida is humid, but at least in Kuwait you're not getting hurricanes that ruin your vacation and leave you without electicity for over 2 days.
ReplyDeleteAnd Mad-M2000, it works the other way too.. Try sending a good looking "mandooba" and every guy will offer to finish whatever needs to be done.
That's not a Kuwaiti thing.. it happens everywhere.
Zaydoun, I'm officially addicted to your blog. or maybe I just miss Kuwait.
The pretty "mandooba" won't find any male employees to flirt with because they'll either be asleep at home, at the stock exchange or "praying" the "tarawee7" at mid-day; she will therefore have to face the icy cold stares of the ministry bitches, who will make life hell for her!
ReplyDeleteBtw, I was at Sho'oun Hawalli which I'm told is the best run of them all. Imagine that!
Bureaucracy will not end in Kuwait, unless we have new brains in the decision making positions! When that happens :} beats me.
ReplyDeleteFor us non-kuwaitis, what is a mandoob?
ReplyDeleteIt's the same here in Libya, except we don't yet have mandoobs, I take one or two days off to get all those needed signatures :)..nice post Zaydoun , meme en Francais !
ReplyDeleteIn my limited experiences so far, mandoobs are mostly incompetent and will accept the answers that they are given by Ministry officials even if those answers are clearly wrong, or they will lose papers, or they will blame Ministry officials for making mistakes when they have made an error in a submission, or they will simply accept an official's error and not question the error made. At least when you go in person, you can persist in asking questions until you receive satisfactory answers / results. To make it even worse my employer charges me fees for using the "mandoob (dis)service."
ReplyDeleteBashar...I can see you started your own Blugh..dont waste your time or energy ...just do what most people here do...make fun of the olympics...buy a pair of Gucci shoes from VM...or pick up some Sashimi from Maki....then head to Palms tonight...to Party with the guys and gals....login again to check who actually commented about " government bureaucracy " and not about finding Splenda sugar in Sultan center.
ReplyDeleteBashar.. welcome to the blog with your great comments.
ReplyDeleteHere's this article on Dubai for you
People ... a mandoobe doesn't have to be pretty.... she just has to look out of place...
ReplyDeleteIf i ever go to get any papers done myself... it's usually quicker then asking the mandoob or anyone else to go.... i just walk in, dressed very conservately but still look out of place..... i look like a foreigner... so whoever is there from the men, are soooo willing to help its like they just want you to finish and leave... my mandoob gets astonished by how quick it takes me to get things done... plus i am really quick at getting angry and start shouting....
the embarrasing part about kuwaits ministries...is that u have the same system at the ministry of information... i would have to make a feed for some news report to my agency in london... and it just takes them forever!!! i always have to wait for 15mins at the gate, for them to search through the papers for my pass.... and 10 mins inside for them to try to find the paper which has my booking....
now whats worst... try booking a radio ad at the offices in shuwaikh...... complete miserey... and since its run my women i dont get the "special treatment" instead i act very polite with the ladies..only one of them is not monaqaba... so i go to her, and compliment her on her blouse, or necklace or whatever... she smiles back and gets my work done presto!
Lucky "female"....Acting like Alice in Wonderland makes your life easier....thats original :)
ReplyDeleteWell Acting like the big bad Wolf...helps too..if you are a hairy male of course
Its very interesting the enthusiasm that the subject of red tape in Kuwait has attracted. First, I would like to comment on Fusla's comment: you're absolutely right, the private sector is witnessing decay too, and its not only the public (gov) sector. As to Zaydoun's & Bashar's dream of a better Kuwait, i would like to recall the words of my father (and yes like all fathers he still knows everything) when i asked him 'where is this radio made?'. It was made in Japan, but his answer it was made by "akhlaq". Bil 3arabi, ethics. What ethics do we, Kuwaities, Arabs, adhere to? We come from a culture where hard work is not to be taken pride of, rather how much your inheritance or real estate is worth is what gains us respect. So what motivates us to be better workers, managers, ministers, rulers? As to Bashar's point of leadership, yes i agree, but it takes 2 to tango. I remember the buzz Kuwait (the country & its people) had in the 70's in the days of Baba Saba7 (the late Emir Saba7 Al-Salem, may God rest his soul in piece). I remember his funeral (went with my grand mother) and i remember lines of abaya's surrounding the streets, all out to pay their respect and to mourn their beloved emir. I have no negative critisim on his predecessor, the present Emir Jaber al-Ahmad, but i truely and strongly believe that for Kuwait to have continued in its renaissance we needed a more energetic and charismatic and decisive leadership. So to sum it up, when we take pride in being better Kuwaities, better employees, better employers we can set example to the rest of us who require more inspiration to be better examples for their country and when we have the right leadership, all this energy can pour into the right direction of a better more beautiful Kuwait.
ReplyDeleteSo Bashar, you're agreeing that our culture has no code of work ethics, & you're saying that the masses are corrupt because the system is corrupt but yet, the minority of hard working pple can make a difference? I wish that was true, and i will act upon this notion as if it was true because i will not lose faith and hopefully my ethics can rub off on someone.
ReplyDeleteI work in a ministry & its not about trying to change things there its also about ur management luckily mine is a "she" that wants the change & is accepting our young ideas, although not easily & fast (due to bureaucracy) BUT there is hope .. regardless of the lack of fresh & want to work brains I and a small young group are trying to get a new software into the division we are working to introduce a new meaning for work & actually working in all the tools we learned in college .. sadly not having ANY kind of privileges for working hard ! & yes we do get paid as the ones sitting having breakfast at a work table ( which is btw is a wage that is WAY LOWER than a person with my degree working in the private sector & doesn't work as hard as I do) & some times they get paid more :} with a help of a "wasta" .. THIS hideous live situation I'm in never stopped me from making a change from where I stand .. true leadership is still a problem they don't change their minds easily but TRYING & FIGHTING for the best is worth it if you love ur country enough, want to work, be a professional person in a world full of competitors, become distinct and last but not least do something in ur life...
ReplyDeletewe can't expect this whole mixed up situation to be fixed while the young brains that get into ministries EVERY year are not fighting & just walk along in the heard !! change has to start from us as individuals wanting to be in a better Kuwait.
Might be very disappointing there, I even came to the point where is sitting at home felt to be better than being an other number in the بطالة مقنعه population census. BUT WHY NOT give it a TRY !! SMILE & try.. we just have to push people to believe in them selves, then the change might be a reality & from where I stand its coming to life SLOWLLY but it is not hopeless not if we try. However that doesn't make me love it there & when I have a chance to be in a better job I wont hesitate to leave, till that time its worth the fight.
I dont think any Kuwaiti didnt go through the same thing!
ReplyDeleteMinistries ... this word gives me a headache!
Due to being a person who enjoy voluntery work and dont like to have a time doing nothing, since I graduated I put in my mind where I want to work ,no where but a private company! no Ministries,no governmental job...
Of course I faced attack! from friends and family...
(are u crazy why do want an 8 hours job time and maybe more?) (Why do u want a hard work!) (In Governmental job u will be comfortable,little work,u can leave anytime!) ... and so on
I kept visiting companies and at the same time I registered for (Al-Maleyya) just to shut some mouths! and it was not a surprise that I have been accepted in (Al-Tarbeya)!
I dont want to explain how was that day when I went to the Ministry just wanting to know what was my job ,is it a teacher or what?
It was worse than yours...I stood in the parkings called my mom and said NO Governmental job NEVER
and thanx to Allah I am an employee in a private Company now, thinking it is the best thing I ever did :)
Zaydoun, post something new, 32 commments (including this one 33) are more than enough on one post.
ReplyDeleteWell at least I kept you guys busy while I was relaxing at the beach over the weekend :-P
ReplyDeleteA new post Saturday morning. I'm too tired now..