Settling into my cool new place

This week my blog will be short and sweet as there is not much to say about my move. It all went reasonably smoothly given the circumstance (5 flights of stairs, no elevator, a very expensive dance floor to avoid and two-middle aged Egyptian men doing the work). It was a strange experience watching all of my belongings being loaded onto the back of a truck and strapped down - disconcerting to say the least, lest a stray kitchen appliance or suitcase should fly off the back and onto the road below – but nothing went amiss. Rami and I climbed in the front seat next to the driver and two removal men sat out the back with my belongings to guard them and off we went to my new place.

Once there I learned one valuable lesson that I must pass on. It happened when my fridge door got bent out of shape during all the carrying (it got bent very quickly back into shape when they saw the look of pure anger on my face!). When trusting workers or labourers such as removal men make sure that you are present at all times for fear of anything being broken, lost, damaged or taken. Please don’t think I am branding all Egyptian workers as vandals or criminals, not at all, it’s just the laws and policies over here are vastly different from many other parts of the world. In England, for example, “the customer is always right”: If you move house with a legitimate company and your furniture gets damaged in the process you can usually request compensation with no questions asked. Here, there seems to be a very different approach to legality and customer rights. If you can’t prove that the worker damaged your property- intentionally or otherwise (i.e. by being there to witness the breakage) – they have every right to say “it was like that before I touched it” and you will be left with their mistake to clear up.

This theory applies to almost everything, from faulty goods to renting apartments; without tangible proof (and sometimes even WITH tangible proof) you cannot get anywhere, even if the product was broken when you bought it. So remember to keep all of your receipts and to be safe, especially when buying good like electricals, test them in the shop whenever possible before you part with any money. Also, the easiest way to cope with the large and very obvious difference in the standard of electrical provision in this country compared to many Western places is just to accept that it is inevitable, and be vigilant and sensible when using your appliances. Only this morning I had to stop drying my hair and unplug everything because the adaptor plug was smoking silently whilst I was using it. I do not know of many people, especially my fellow expats here at IH Cairo ILI who have not had some kind of electrical problem whilst here - from exploding heaters to melted plug sockets.
As for returning something simply because you didn’t like it, I haven’t tried but I would tend to advise playing it safe and not spending lots of money unless you really want the product because I doubt a lot of places will understand the concept of a money back guarantee for unwanted items!

I suppose this cautious method does have its good points- it protects the businessman from being subject to policies that solely advantage the customer (a trait which is becoming rather too overplayed in my home country nowadays with a huge amount of people abusing the system and expecting far too much for their money.) However, it nevertheless is a little irritating in circumstances which are genuinely beyond your control.

Regardless of these words of caution, the vast majority of Egyptians that I have encountered in my time here so far have been honest, friendly and very competent; I find their approach to their jobs refreshingly laid back, most likely I imagine because they are not bound by the same restrictions and bureaucracy that we are bound to back home in England, where you need to have “correct training” just to climb a ladder or lift a box and where you can probably claim compensation for breaking a finger nail at work as long as you have the right lawyer. In Egypt, a plumber thinks nothing of hanging out of a window using just his fingernails in order to fix a toilet. I am sure that if they knew the kind of processes that some other countries have in place Egyptians would scoff us foreigners for being ‘wrapped in cotton wool’ and not being able to stand up for ourselves. Here, as long as one learns some tricks of the trade (always be present when they are working, learn a few important words such as ‘no tip if you break it’ and be strong enough to get a bit ferocious with people who mess you around) and become a bit savvy, it is easy to survive. In fact, the stark lack of systems and the reliance on the common sense of the individual and their ability to know their own personal limitations may even be a refreshing break from the regulated society that so many of us live in back in our home countries.