Good Afternoon from sunny Dubai. It is just past 12 noon and it is 109 degrees outside. The good news is the wind is blowing at 10 mph which means the wind chill is....109..sigh...it continues to be brutal. I know the last few weeks I have shared with you news from the region - latest is that Dahi Khalfan -Police Chief of Dubai, fears that the Muslim Brotherhood may be trying to infiltrate and overthrow the gulf nations (including the UAE) from their ruling families...Honestly, other than his statement and his announcement of several arrests and detentions, I can see no change in my surroundings if I do...of course, I will let you know.
Time for an update of my old Transmed family, those that have left the country, Bob is back working for SYSCO in Atlanta and BBM's me regularly, Richard (Cowboy) is selling for an International exporter in Georgia, I have had a couple of brief correspondences since he left a year ago this month, I have not spoken with him. Nick is back with SYSCO in Western Florida, and is doing very well, we speak about once a month (usually when I need help with something..lol). Loren's last day with Transmed was yesterday, she and her husband have moved on to a career in Istanbul, Turkey. That leaves the only American (not counting Jordanian Reem, who worked hard to gain her citizenship in the US) still at Transmed, my pal Hayley. She is on a plane to NYC as we speak for a vacation. She has transferred to National accounts and works for my buddy Georges, servicing accounts like Texas Roadhouse and the soon to be opening Cheesecake Factory and IHOP. I still see Kelly, Muzzy, Kumail, Vinny, and Steve regularly for lunch or dinner and speak to almost all of them on the phone.
I am having lunch with Steve tomorrow at Cactus Cantina. Now this is a Mexican Bar and restaurant that is owned by an American named Rudy Rivas. He is a character from Texas (complete with cowboy hats and boots) and always has a license to open for lunch during Ramadan. I had lunch there three times this week...lol...he doesn't have the "speedy Gonzales" lunch specials, but 3 cheese enchiladas with Spanish rice and chip and salsa cost $15...a deal in my mind verses skipping lunch during Ramadan.
I am finding new people to understand and bond with at my new company. I have decided to spend a day in the car with each of the Salesmen in our "food service Division" - There are three divisions that I am responsible for, I thought I would go to my roots first. The current roster of Account Executives includes Rima, a Lebanese National, and four Indian gentlemen - Jitesh, Suresh, Bigeth, and Sudheer. All four guys are from southern India and are Hindu's. You can be thrilled to know that I am already beginning to learn all sorts of new cultural things, and hopefully they are learning new stuff from me. On Monday, I spent the day with Jitesh. It was 115 degrees that day, and I was treated to a day of sales with Jitesh. We got into his car, his IPOD hooked up playing Kenny Rogers songs. If you have never spent the day riding around in 115 degree heat listening to a 25 year old Indian National sing in a "7-11" do you want a Slurpee accent (I would kill for an ice cold grape Slurpee) "Coward of the County", "The Gambler" (his personal favorite got to hear it twice) and I was very sympathetic to "Lucille" she did a much better job of leaving her man than I did of leaving Jitesh...yes 4 hungry children and a crop in the field...sigh. He actually is a nice young man, with very limited sales experience (he was hired from the banking industry in May). Plenty of potential, and a good soul.
Needless to say, I begin a campaign of extensive sales training this Saturday. I think I will have plenty to blog about. One of the the guys you will hear more about is the office boy that is assigned to my office (being a Vice President has it's perks in Dubai). His name is Karim.
He is a Muslim lad from Asia who speaks very little broken English. He comes to my office trying to please me, so far he is not feeling satisfied...He will say "apples?". and if I say yes, he will appear two minutes later with a freshly sliced apple served on china for me to snack on as I work. If I say no, he will offer Juice, coffee, tea or water (I wish I could have taught Shams this level of service - of course I wasn't Senior enough at Transmed.) and if I don't agree to him preparing me something, he will stand in the doorway of my office looking very sad. I understand from a coworker that he is scared that he is not pleasing me...I guess I will see if I can add oranges, strawberry's or other fruits that I enjoy. lol...He is obviously impoverished, I will work on making his life better, and showing him the generosity of Americans.
Hope that my friends back in the states are surviving the heat and drought that you are facing, think of it as a "taste" of the life in the UAE. Have a great week!
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