An incident displaying default treatment:
The cogs of my bike broke, so I go to a bike repair man. He tells me how unfortunate this event is, and tells me that they cost 38 L.E. First rule when dealing with repairmen here in Egypt (sanay3eya) is to act cheap and so I did. I acted shocked and very disappointed and then I ask him where one buys them. He responds, “You don’t buy it, I’m the one who buys it but you’ve got to tell me now.” When a sanay3ee tells you this, it’s a sign of malicious intent, any kind of veiling of facts or barriers put up are not a good sign. I suspected that I was being ripped off and so I put it to the test. I acted very cheap as if I couldn’t afford this much to see if he would waive part of his profit, so he tells me there are others for 15 and 20, and then goes on to explain how prices vary. This technique almost always works. If he wasn’t going to let me buy the part, I wasn’t interested, not that I would know much about it, but the whole idea of banning me from buying was not something I could accept.. I walked off after realizing there was a bit of dishonesty.
So my bike remained broken and I had to go to another bicycle repairman. He was an old man who had no problems at all being grumpy. I’ll call him Grouchy Bikeman. When I went to Grouchy the first time, it was almost evening and he literally shooed me away telling me that he only works very early in the morning. Fair enough, I politely gave him the benefit of the doubt and made up my mind to go visit him the next day. The mistake here is in the manner in which I retired, which was ‘politely’, in hindsight it would have been far better to be pushy and slightly rude.
In any case I went early the next morning, dragging my bike, new cogs in hand. The man was literally idle but told me to leave the bike and the spare part and come back in an hour. I told him I would wait but he decidedly refused to work on my bike in my presence. It was absurd and irrational and so I discussed it politely but to no avail. He wanted to work on the bike ONLY in my absence. When I insisted that I had nowhere to go for an hour so that his highness can work on my bike, he told me that he won’t fix it and that I should look for another place.
I gave my father a call to come pick me up because I had no intention of dragging the bike back. I could feel the fury in my father’s voice as he told me that he was on his way. He has a problem when a service provider veils his services and your property from your sight.
So he came in front of the shop, screeching breaks, got out and calmly shouted at Grouchy Bikerman, “Meza3al el baih el so3’ayar laih?”
Now my father is a big man and his very appearance reeks of importance. The man was stunned, he tried smiling but was met with a stern unmoving expression from my father. Grouchy Bikerman replied something very unmemorable as he stuttered.
My father said, “Mesh kefaya sahraneen fel qism tool el lail, mesa7eena badry we mza3al el baih el so3’ayar laih?”
Grouchy Bikerman was pale with fear, he tried to put on a nervous smile and said, “He just thinks I will take parts out of his bike and I was telling him not to worry.” My father turns to me and says, “Etfadal enta ya Will baik, mat3atalsh nafsak, I will handle this.”
I’m used to my father’s tactics and I play along, Grouchy Bikerman treats his customers with a little bit more respect. He apologizes and fixes the bike in the presence of its owner.
Showing posts with label bicycle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bicycle. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Monday, March 19, 2007
Default Treatment (II)
Why is it that the default treatment of people towards one another here, and possibly elsewhere, is dirt?
Let me illustrate.
I’m waiting in front of my building in an old Fiat 128 that we own waiting for my father to bring my car round. My car is a relatively better Toyota. Since the street in front of my building is a no parking street, no car really has the right to wait around but as is usual a very small temporary wait in the streets of Cairo is nowhere close to abnormal. So my father pulls I behind me, car slightly slanted. I see an ‘Ameen Shorta’ (low ranking traffic policeman) waiving his hand in a friendly manner, smiling and telling my father itfadal ya basha and what have you.
I move forward slightly to make it easier for him to pull nearer to the curb. He motions to me that I shouldn’t move further and that it was fine, but the Ameen doesn’t see it. So what he does is that he smiles to my father then changes his expression to reflect a more intolerant look. As I’m getting out of the car, he starts yelling at me to move further in front (3agala 2odam) in a very aggressive and hostile manner. He obviously wants to do the pacha, my father, a favor by helping him align his car with the curb.
The bossy tone was meant to emphasize my insignificance, so I wickedly apologized for not moving my car, but point out that I’ll be out of his hair as soon as I get in my car just behind me. Baffled, of course, he adopts a more apologetic tone and showers me with all those pacha and baik remarks.
Let me illustrate.
I’m waiting in front of my building in an old Fiat 128 that we own waiting for my father to bring my car round. My car is a relatively better Toyota. Since the street in front of my building is a no parking street, no car really has the right to wait around but as is usual a very small temporary wait in the streets of Cairo is nowhere close to abnormal. So my father pulls I behind me, car slightly slanted. I see an ‘Ameen Shorta’ (low ranking traffic policeman) waiving his hand in a friendly manner, smiling and telling my father itfadal ya basha and what have you.
I move forward slightly to make it easier for him to pull nearer to the curb. He motions to me that I shouldn’t move further and that it was fine, but the Ameen doesn’t see it. So what he does is that he smiles to my father then changes his expression to reflect a more intolerant look. As I’m getting out of the car, he starts yelling at me to move further in front (3agala 2odam) in a very aggressive and hostile manner. He obviously wants to do the pacha, my father, a favor by helping him align his car with the curb.
The bossy tone was meant to emphasize my insignificance, so I wickedly apologized for not moving my car, but point out that I’ll be out of his hair as soon as I get in my car just behind me. Baffled, of course, he adopts a more apologetic tone and showers me with all those pacha and baik remarks.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Invitation To Ride
So I cycle to work every day. It’s not a long distance really, something like 10-15 minutes by bike or the equivalent of 20-30 minutes by car. Cairo is not at all designed for bicycles but then again neither is it designed for cars or pedestrians or even humans. I used to cycle from place to place when I had my freestyle bike as a child, but all that changed since it broke down and I sort of outgrew the freestyle stuff. Anyway it did take a bit of courage to decide to cycle in Cairo to and from work, especially that I was showered with warnings from everyone who came to know of my plan.
The warnings were concerning many aspects, firstly the pollution in Cairo, instead of actually doing a sport that would benefit my body, I would be augmenting the inhale of pollution to bring about more quickly the ruin of an already deteriorating pair of lungs. Another problem was traffic; driving in Cairo is chaotic enough as it is without the disadvantage of having to deal with it from a vulnerable exposed bike. Being a driver myself I can see how anymore space used up by a bike can cause drivers to go crazy with rage. The pedestrians have left the non existent sidewalk and moved on to the road, but what makes bikers more infuriating is that they move quicker than both cars and pedestrians. They use up little enough road so as to glide through traffic and yet enough to hinder some cars.
One more issue that was raised but that is totally absurd is harassment. Yes even guys can get harassed if walking in shorts, or strange clothes or on a bike. Of course I don’t have a poor looking bike like those carrying bread or running errands, so one can expect the same kind of remarks as those I get while going to play football wearing shorts during the winter. Even more, some have warned that I may get some kind of mockery from the not so accustomed workmates.
But of course that last issue is the least of my worries, relative to the normal population, I’m considered eccentric anyway, and I’ve never cared much for what people say, I’ve been down that road so many times and I discovered that if you’re confident enough people get tired of the strange things you do and eventually start accepting you and sometimes even respecting you.
Despite all these warnings, I still decided to cycle to work, and it does have its perks apart from dodging pedestrians walking like zombies unaware of their own existence and yours, the bigger task was to avoid cars that continuously ignore you, almost run you over and then simply smile and apologize. The perks of cycling though other than it being a sport I enjoy a lot is that I get home faster in the deadlocked traffic of Cairo. I can run errands on my way home and I can decide to leave during rush hour rather than rot away in the office. I can enjoy the cold air in the evening and rid myself of that usual feeling of lethargy at the end of a working day. I can actually go back home and decide to go out, not dreading driving to places since I haven’t been locked in a traffic jam for over fifteen minutes. I can even park right next to the office and not go around 10 extra minutes looking for a parking space, with the car, the process of parking is horrendous.
With all these perks comes one that was very unexpected. Owning a bike is like being lost. Not in a bad sense I assure you, it’s just that when people are lost, people are very anxious to help them and get them on the right way and talk to them. That’s what it’s like when some people see me with a bike. I’m talking about the doorman and the security guards and the garage keeper. They’re very excited that I have joined their ranks and run my errands on a bike. One of the security guards was so interested that he asked me if my bike was normal or with “3’eyarat” (gears). The ability to make small talk about the bike is excellent.
I’m not sure why people don’t go to their work on bikes here in Egypt, I mean it may be a bit demeaning, but if more people did it then the traffic won’t be as bad (except on the 6th of October bridge) and the whole biking thing will be generally more accepted. If anything it can attempt to bring closer those rich enough to own cars but choose bikes, and those rich enough to merely own a bike.
The warnings were concerning many aspects, firstly the pollution in Cairo, instead of actually doing a sport that would benefit my body, I would be augmenting the inhale of pollution to bring about more quickly the ruin of an already deteriorating pair of lungs. Another problem was traffic; driving in Cairo is chaotic enough as it is without the disadvantage of having to deal with it from a vulnerable exposed bike. Being a driver myself I can see how anymore space used up by a bike can cause drivers to go crazy with rage. The pedestrians have left the non existent sidewalk and moved on to the road, but what makes bikers more infuriating is that they move quicker than both cars and pedestrians. They use up little enough road so as to glide through traffic and yet enough to hinder some cars.
One more issue that was raised but that is totally absurd is harassment. Yes even guys can get harassed if walking in shorts, or strange clothes or on a bike. Of course I don’t have a poor looking bike like those carrying bread or running errands, so one can expect the same kind of remarks as those I get while going to play football wearing shorts during the winter. Even more, some have warned that I may get some kind of mockery from the not so accustomed workmates.
But of course that last issue is the least of my worries, relative to the normal population, I’m considered eccentric anyway, and I’ve never cared much for what people say, I’ve been down that road so many times and I discovered that if you’re confident enough people get tired of the strange things you do and eventually start accepting you and sometimes even respecting you.
Despite all these warnings, I still decided to cycle to work, and it does have its perks apart from dodging pedestrians walking like zombies unaware of their own existence and yours, the bigger task was to avoid cars that continuously ignore you, almost run you over and then simply smile and apologize. The perks of cycling though other than it being a sport I enjoy a lot is that I get home faster in the deadlocked traffic of Cairo. I can run errands on my way home and I can decide to leave during rush hour rather than rot away in the office. I can enjoy the cold air in the evening and rid myself of that usual feeling of lethargy at the end of a working day. I can actually go back home and decide to go out, not dreading driving to places since I haven’t been locked in a traffic jam for over fifteen minutes. I can even park right next to the office and not go around 10 extra minutes looking for a parking space, with the car, the process of parking is horrendous.
With all these perks comes one that was very unexpected. Owning a bike is like being lost. Not in a bad sense I assure you, it’s just that when people are lost, people are very anxious to help them and get them on the right way and talk to them. That’s what it’s like when some people see me with a bike. I’m talking about the doorman and the security guards and the garage keeper. They’re very excited that I have joined their ranks and run my errands on a bike. One of the security guards was so interested that he asked me if my bike was normal or with “3’eyarat” (gears). The ability to make small talk about the bike is excellent.
I’m not sure why people don’t go to their work on bikes here in Egypt, I mean it may be a bit demeaning, but if more people did it then the traffic won’t be as bad (except on the 6th of October bridge) and the whole biking thing will be generally more accepted. If anything it can attempt to bring closer those rich enough to own cars but choose bikes, and those rich enough to merely own a bike.
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