The following was written by Khaled Al Maeena, senior columnist at Asharq Al-Awsat, about the little annoyances of life in Saudi Arabia:
?You are at a traffic light and a driver opens his car door and spits onto the ground. There can be no uglier sight. To say nothing of how unhygienic it is? You are at a counter in a supermarket and someone comes barging up and pokes a cigarette packet at the clerk who is ringing up your purchases. You may ask the person to stand in line. His answer is, ?I am only buying a packet of cigarettes.? And it is pronounced with an arrogance that makes your blood boil? You are at an airline counter, patiently waiting for the agent to confirm your ticket or issue your boarding pass. Suddenly from behind you, somebody butts in, expecting the agent to take care of him. What?s the matter with him? Doesn?t he see you are standing there? ?You are ready to leave your house but a car is blocking the driveway. You have no choice but to wait until the driver arrives. You point at a vacant spot, hardly 10 meters away. His reply: ?I was praying.? And he drives away, without a word of regret. One wonders what his prayers availed him? Driving? This is a horror story which we are all too familiar with. People swerve from left to right, cross lanes without any thought of what they are doing or of what the consequences might be, do not use signals and act in general like trapeze artists in a circus. One cannot tell them anything for fear of being assaulted with a barrage of words that one does not need and can well do without. The only certainty is that the offender will offer an absolutely unassailable excuse ? he always has one ready ? for his mistakes but never an apology? All the situations which I have mentioned are infuriating ? and too common ? and they tend to raise our blood pressure??
?You are at a traffic light and a driver opens his car door and spits onto the ground. There can be no uglier sight. To say nothing of how unhygienic it is? You are at a counter in a supermarket and someone comes barging up and pokes a cigarette packet at the clerk who is ringing up your purchases. You may ask the person to stand in line. His answer is, ?I am only buying a packet of cigarettes.? And it is pronounced with an arrogance that makes your blood boil? You are at an airline counter, patiently waiting for the agent to confirm your ticket or issue your boarding pass. Suddenly from behind you, somebody butts in, expecting the agent to take care of him. What?s the matter with him? Doesn?t he see you are standing there? ?You are ready to leave your house but a car is blocking the driveway. You have no choice but to wait until the driver arrives. You point at a vacant spot, hardly 10 meters away. His reply: ?I was praying.? And he drives away, without a word of regret. One wonders what his prayers availed him? Driving? This is a horror story which we are all too familiar with. People swerve from left to right, cross lanes without any thought of what they are doing or of what the consequences might be, do not use signals and act in general like trapeze artists in a circus. One cannot tell them anything for fear of being assaulted with a barrage of words that one does not need and can well do without. The only certainty is that the offender will offer an absolutely unassailable excuse ? he always has one ready ? for his mistakes but never an apology? All the situations which I have mentioned are infuriating ? and too common ? and they tend to raise our blood pressure??