Some things here are hard to figure. I need to get my hair cut (yes, it may be extremely thin - funny how it's "fine" when you're young and have plenty of it, and becomes "thin" when you get older) and I hate going to the barber in Dubai. My entire adult life, I have had my hair cut by "stylest", some of these women becoming friendly, pretending (OK, some may have really cared) to be interested in my life - making conversation while they cut my hair, hoping to garner a decent tip. Here in the UAE, men have their hair cut by men, and Ladies get their styling from women. Most of the male "hair professionals" are Egyptian or Lebanese and I do not enjoy their methods. They are very touchy-feely massaging your neck and attempting to make clever conversation in broken English. Frankly, there is nothing wrong with them, it is just not what I prefer. This conservative approach to business interactions between the sexes is even more extreme in some of the other Emirates like Sharja and Abu Dhabi. Earlier this year in Abu Dhabi, the authorities shut down several women's lingerie stores because they had male salespeople. So you think you have it figured out...well not so fast. One of the guilty pleasures that I enjoy here in Dubai is a membership to a nice spa. I go regularly to get a nice stress relieving massage. Yes, it is a traditional massage where I am undressed and a staff of Thai ladies work out those stress laden kinks in my back. Now you understand, a woman can't cut my hair here, but she can massage my unclad body. I think I understand...
It was a very busy week at work. We had a fruit and vegetable show at the World Trade Center. It wasn't very well attended, but I did get a chance to know some of the sales people in our produce divisions of our company. The 3 day show ended Wednesday, with almost all of our produce display being scavenged by the attendees. Well, as I sat and waited for the tear down of our booth, I noticed there were some beautiful Blueberries that were left in our display. Now I don't know a lot about produce, but I do know that Blueberries are chocked full of Anti-Oxidants, and I have been very slowly recovering from my respiratory infection. Yes, it would be a good thing for me to eat these blueberries... Well, two pints later, I was feelin a little blue. By the time I got home, I was feeling queasy, and after multiple trips to the bathroom and a beginning of purging of the contents of my stomach that didn't finish until late Thursday Evening. Yes, two pints of Blueberries that have sat out at a trade show for 3 days, maybe a little too much of a good thing. I hurled til my ribs hurt, when will I learn.
Another new salesman starts for us on Saturday. Sufi is a young Muslim Indian that came to me from a recommendation from my good friend Muzzy. We are creating two channels, restaurant and Hotels. Sufi is joning Kumail and Rima in the restaurant channel. Our plan for sales in our Food service Company (Barakat International) in 2013 is 100 percent growth. We should finish 2012 at about 75 million, so 150 million is the magic number for next year. Our new warehouse and Butchery is scheduled to be open by this coming spring, so exciting growth must necessarily follow.
As I write this, Thanksgiving is winding down. Juan and his family invited me to come to Abu Dhabi and enjoy Turkey and Fixings. From the above picture Juan sent me, it looks like they did it up right. Hayley and I had already planned on having Thanksgiving Dinner together, so I turned down the generous offer, then the Blueberry surprise took over my body and I had to cancel on Hayley. Thanksgiving is such a special family holiday, filled with tradition. Other than a few well wishers, it was just another working day here in Dubai. It is 3 in the morning here, and it is halftime in the Cowboys/Redskins game...Thankfully, Friday is our off day so I can sleep in in the morning, sadly the Cowboys appear to be taking Thursday off making me wish I had gone to bed.
The weather is really nice now. It has been in the low 80's all week, and for the next three months we may actually get a little rain. I guess at home, snow is now a possibility...I remember snow...lol, Hope you have had a nice Thanksgiving, and enjoy your holiday weekend.
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