DISGRUNTLED LABOUR
there is a serious lack of public holidays in this country.
last monday, when the rest of malaysia (and the world) celebrated labour day, i find myself in the office. working, with the rest of the uae population.
i got my first sense of the scarcity of public holidays here on the day i arrived from malaysia. it was a public holiday back in malaysia. it was awal muharram (the 1st day of the islamic calendar). and i was pretty confident that it should be a public holiday too here in the emirates. but when i met my boss, he was in his suit and tie. 'whoa..', i thought for a split-second, 'he dressed up to welcome me at the airport la... not bad '. but later i found out that it was not the case. it WAS a working day here on that day.
even when it is a public holiday, you need to wait for the announcement in the newspaper for confirmation. the thing is, over here there are some public holidays that are only applicable to the public sector (government agencies). therefore, people working in commercial companies (like me) will really have to wait for the announcement in the newspaper to know whether the public holiday is applicable to us or not. it's really up to the government. the power of a non-democratic government...
in the 3 months that i'm here (feels like a lot more than that though) i've only had 1 measly public holiday. and looking at the local calendar, the next POSSIBILITY of another public holiday that i am entitled for would be in august. no hari wesak, no agong's birthday for me i guess.. sigh. oh, but if someone (like the ruler) dies, all businesses/ establishments would be closed for 3 days. i'm crossing my fingers that someone gets a coronory heart attack or something sometime this year (not a very good thing to be wishing for actually... ok ok i take that bad. but that's how desperately i need a break!)
last monday, when the rest of malaysia (and the world) celebrated labour day, i find myself in the office. working, with the rest of the uae population.
i got my first sense of the scarcity of public holidays here on the day i arrived from malaysia. it was a public holiday back in malaysia. it was awal muharram (the 1st day of the islamic calendar). and i was pretty confident that it should be a public holiday too here in the emirates. but when i met my boss, he was in his suit and tie. 'whoa..', i thought for a split-second, 'he dressed up to welcome me at the airport la... not bad '. but later i found out that it was not the case. it WAS a working day here on that day.
even when it is a public holiday, you need to wait for the announcement in the newspaper for confirmation. the thing is, over here there are some public holidays that are only applicable to the public sector (government agencies). therefore, people working in commercial companies (like me) will really have to wait for the announcement in the newspaper to know whether the public holiday is applicable to us or not. it's really up to the government. the power of a non-democratic government...
in the 3 months that i'm here (feels like a lot more than that though) i've only had 1 measly public holiday. and looking at the local calendar, the next POSSIBILITY of another public holiday that i am entitled for would be in august. no hari wesak, no agong's birthday for me i guess.. sigh. oh, but if someone (like the ruler) dies, all businesses/ establishments would be closed for 3 days. i'm crossing my fingers that someone gets a coronory heart attack or something sometime this year (not a very good thing to be wishing for actually... ok ok i take that bad. but that's how desperately i need a break!)
posted by aiskrem_potong at
10:10 PM
3 Comments:
correction, aiskrem...not all countries celebrate labor day on may 1st. US & canada's labor day is on the 1st monday in september.
By
Anonymous, at May 05, 2006 5:21 AM
just dropped by at your blog! Good commentaries... only if I had time to read all of them!! Anyway, just to say you're not the only one working on May day! Japan closes down for the Golden Week that's the first week of May but unfortunately we all had to work the whole week - to top it off it's not half day work it's like 12 -14 hours a day! Welcome to the corporate world of slavery! :-)
And today is Saturday and I off to work AGAIN....aargh! Have a good weekend!
By
Maximus Leo, at May 06, 2006 7:10 AM
sorry anonymous - my bad. having watch enough US sitcoms, i knew that the US celebrates Labour Day (or in their case Labor Day). didn't know when though.
now i can brag to me friends about this 'interesting fact' ("hey, do you know that the US and Canadian ppl celebrate Labor Day NOT on the first of May, but the FIRST monday of september?" "really? wowww.... geez aiskrempotong, you are so smart!"
no i don't do this kind of stuff. i have a current colleague who loves doing this though. i'll be bitching about him a bit later ;P
maximus leo:
hey thanks for the compliment. and my standard, to-appear-humble response to that would be "really? i don't really know what i'm writing half of the times".. heheh. just kidding.
i've checked out your blog btw. i can safely say that you write much better than i do. but notwithstanding that, do drop by once in a while! :)
By
aiskrem_potong, at May 08, 2006 9:19 PM
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