Transcript
Speaker: Hey, everyone, it's Oman Qureshi.
Speaker: Welcome back to this podcast.
Speaker: We're enjoying some great weather out here in Dubai, man.
Speaker: When I say great weather, it's to a certain part of this population.
Speaker: It's raining.
Speaker: It's been kind of drizzling.
Speaker: Actually, we had a couple of
Speaker: what we might describe as a thunderstorm.
Speaker: And for Dubai, that's a big thing.
Speaker: There was lightning involved and it's been cloudy for the last three days, been a bit chilly.
Speaker: It's our winter, man.
Speaker: And our winter is 18 to 22 degrees Celsius.
Speaker: So it's still pretty warm, I guess, from that point of view.
Speaker: But there's wind and we need any excuse to take out the 20 sweaters we own and wear them one after another real quickly.
Speaker: I don't know why everyone has those things out here.
Speaker: I don't, I have, I have way too many jackets for a place that's this hot, you know, I'm not even talking about like formal stuff that I might wear to a show or to like, you know, I don't know, to a dinner party.
Speaker: Like I have way too many casual stuff for the 10 days that it's wearable in this country.
Speaker: I have no idea.
Speaker: And I think other people probably have as much or more.
Speaker: It's just something we do.
Speaker: It's winter.
Speaker: We buy winter clothes, even though it's not really winter.
Speaker: But at the same time, there's a bunch of people who are whining about this.
Speaker: You get these expats out here.
Speaker: Oh, my God.
Speaker: They're just...
Speaker: They start complaining, oh, it's cloudy, it's raining, I can't get to the beach today.
Speaker: And it just, that really gets to me, all right?
Speaker: It really, really annoys me.
Speaker: You know why?
Speaker: Because we're in Dubai, it's a desert, all right?
Speaker: And in case you missed it, right?
Speaker: It's a desert.
Speaker: The only reason you're cool and you can live here is because they built it so well with a lot of air conditioning around, right?
Speaker: Everything is air conditioned here.
Speaker: But these people, it's so snooty of them.
Speaker: Like the 10 days, the couple of days it rains here, right?
Speaker: Like it's cool.
Speaker: Like it's just bearable to walk outside and not feel burned, right?
Speaker: Like you're not getting instant cancer or something.
Speaker: These guys have to complain about it because they're like, oh, you know, I can't go to the beach.
Speaker: This rain is miserable.
Speaker: And it really gets to me because I'm like, man, shut up, man.
Speaker: We've got...
Speaker: You have like 364 days of the year where you've got plenty of sunshine.
Speaker: Maybe 465 days of the year.
Speaker: That's how much sun there is.
Speaker: There's like more sun than there are days in the year.
Speaker: That's how much sun there is.
Speaker: That's how much heat there is in this place.
Speaker: So let us, the few people who do like or the people who've grown up here, enjoy the rain and the weather without you complaining in our faces about it.
Speaker: And mind you,
Speaker: I'm saying this.
Speaker: My own wife is one of these people.
Speaker: Now, she's from Scotland, right?
Speaker: So I get it.
Speaker: I get it.
Speaker: She's coming from there.
Speaker: It always was miserable, according to her, cloudy and rainy and cold and whatnot.
Speaker: But she's been here long and she's spent a couple of summers here.
Speaker: So she now knows how hot it is.
Speaker: And secretly, I think she's realizing she doesn't she she just doesn't want to admit in front of me.
Speaker: It's one of those things.
Speaker: She doesn't want to admit that she actually likes it when it's like bearable outside, you know?
Speaker: So it's just crazy, guys.
Speaker: Let us enjoy.
Speaker: I mean, well, I was talking about the number of days.
Speaker: I'll tell you what.
Speaker: I'll even look it up, right?
Speaker: Like this is interesting to me.
Speaker: How many days... Let's look this shit up.
Speaker: How many days does it rain in Dubai?
Speaker: Let's check that shit out.
Speaker: It is... It is...
Speaker: Rain falls only 25 days a year.
Speaker: 25 days, my friends.
Speaker: 25.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: So I was exaggerating a little bit.
Speaker: But when I say 25, that's the average.
Speaker: It's probably like 10.
Speaker: 25 is including the times when there's like a few drops.
Speaker: And this is after they've got cloud seeding and what all kind of scientific experiments going on to induce rain out of the sky.
Speaker: This is what we've got, my people.
Speaker: hardly a month of the year, right?
Speaker: So yeah, shut up and enjoy it, all right?
Speaker: That sounds really bad now that I say it out loud like that, but all right, just don't get in my face about it, like don't complain about it in my face, all right?
Speaker: Just get out of my face about it.
Speaker: That's right, people, get out of my face and or don't, I don't know.
Speaker: It's your choice, I don't know.
Speaker: There is some brightness out here.
Speaker: I think, I know the whole Omicron thing is a little bit of a hiccup.
Speaker: I think one of the best jokes I read about it, thought about it, and then I didn't create that meme, one of those moments where you're like, should I have done that joke?
Speaker: Was someone going, Omicron, wait till you see the Decepticon version come out.
Speaker: And
Speaker: And yeah, I laughed.
Speaker: I laughed.
Speaker: I'm just sharing that because I, you know, there's always this joke you find and you go, shit, obvious one, should have done it, should have put it out there.
Speaker: But whoever did it, great on you, man.
Speaker: Now it's a meme and you don't own it and you earn nothing out of it.
Speaker: Thank you.
Speaker: Thank you guys for putting memes out there so that it becomes harder for stand-up comics to do jokes, okay?
Speaker: Just putting this shit out there too, all right?
Speaker: I like your work, but I don't know.
Speaker: Just don't kill us all with the lack of money.
Speaker: out here.
Speaker: All right.
Speaker: Speaking of money, I was reading up on how UAE is like, there's like 73% of businesses, they're like looking up and going, they're going to raise the salaries on people by 5%.
Speaker: Roughly, that's the average you're expecting.
Speaker: So if you're a working person, great.
Speaker: Good on you, man.
Speaker: Take that paper and shove it in your boss's face and tell him,
Speaker: Or tell her, I need that raise.
Speaker: And 5%, right?
Speaker: That's amazing.
Speaker: Except it doesn't beat inflation.
Speaker: So I don't know how people survive anywhere in the world right now.
Speaker: Especially when you're working where your wage is constant, but it's also constantly limited.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: It's a crazy one, right?
Speaker: And then people kind of need to hustle or cut down on costs and stuff.
Speaker: I'm just going on a tangent, man, because I've got a family, I've got a wife and kid, and I don't have a traditional job.
Speaker: So this is one thing that kind of ticks in my head all the time.
Speaker: How do people out here survive?
Speaker: Because I can have bad months or days, but I can always go out and try to earn more.
Speaker: What do you do when you're in a job?
Speaker: You have to go to your boss and then you go, hey, man, could I get a raise?
Speaker: And then they decide, oh, you know, we'll have to bring this up with HR.
Speaker: And HR goes, it's not that time of the year, my friend.
Speaker: And we have to look at your performance and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: And we're going to do this once a year.
Speaker: Meanwhile, your kid is like dying of hunger.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Or you're selling your liver out there so you can keep the job and live in your house.
Speaker: Oh, very dark and depressing, right?
Speaker: But some of you are doing well according to the salary thing.
Speaker: I always read it because it's kind of funny.
Speaker: My background was in HR side of curiosity.
Speaker: I look it up and I love how the average salaries here sound so great.
Speaker: They always sound so great.
Speaker: The expected salary for your job should be 3,400,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,
Speaker: And then you go out and you meet people and you're like, hey, what are you actually getting paid?
Speaker: Peanuts.
Speaker: I'm getting paid peanuts, right?
Speaker: That's what they... I don't know where these averages come from or how much one person is getting versus the 10 other people to have that kind of average come out.
Speaker: You know what I'm saying?
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: It's amazing how these average salaries work and who's actually getting any of it.
Speaker: Okay.
Speaker: A little side note, we know who's getting them.
Speaker: But anyway, the point being, it's supposed to be a good year for all of you.
Speaker: So a little bit positive.
Speaker: I know we got to get over this Omicron hump, which is all right.
Speaker: You know, the biggest problem about it is the PCR lines here, man.
Speaker: I had a friend, he had to wait three hours.
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: That's crazy.
Speaker: I thought we were over this.
Speaker: And to a large extent, we were.
Speaker: And then people from around the world flew in.
Speaker: And thank you very much, people.
Speaker: Yeah, thank you.
Speaker: Now we're all a little worried again.
Speaker: Thankfully, it's not supposed to be crazy.
Speaker: But hey, man, please vaccinate.
Speaker: Thankfully, this country kind of nudges you into having to do it.
Speaker: But if for whatever reason you haven't, just go get it done, man.
Speaker: We need this shit to end.
Speaker: Mask up and vaccinate until we need to.
Speaker: So I'm just going off about this.
Speaker: You know why I'm angry is...
Speaker: is I'm talking about these salaries and stuff.
Speaker: And then the reason, the other reason I read that piece up was because there's this new documentary on BBC and it's called Inside Dubai.
Speaker: And it's really, it's just about the 1% here, right?
Speaker: And according to that video, like I couldn't even watch the whole thing.
Speaker: I just watched glimpses and it made me feel sick to my stomach because it's about these people who are like leading this, living this lavish life out here.
Speaker: And I'm sure they're there, they're everywhere in the world.
Speaker: But it's just, it's the way they show it out here.
Speaker: It's like everyone is just earning millions and stuff.
Speaker: And that's not reality.
Speaker: And I kind of hate that because it projects this image of Dubai being superficial when it's not.
Speaker: There's a lot to give here.
Speaker: I've had my troubles with the city in terms of trying to fit in and everything.
Speaker: But I also think the path it's taking is great.
Speaker: even from an arts point of view.
Speaker: Sometimes it's tough out here due to certain laws and regulations, but we're still in a good place, man.
Speaker: And especially over the last two years, a lot of appreciation.
Speaker: Got a knock on wood for that one, man.
Speaker: And I hope it keeps going.
Speaker: And if you live in this wonderful place, then yeah, maybe we all should stop complaining a little bit, like about the rain, you know?
Speaker: Yeah.
Speaker: Sorry, I keep bringing it back to that.
Speaker: I don't know why.
Speaker: It's just, it's bugging me a lot, right?
Speaker: It's like, it's bugging me.
Speaker: I shouldn't because it's like, it's five days of this gorgeous weather for me.
Speaker: And I'm just hung up on like people complaining about this.
Speaker: And now I'm like in a bad mood and I shouldn't be.
Speaker: So it's making me more angry with people who say it.
Speaker: I got to stop this.
Speaker: I got it.
Speaker: Okay, done.
Speaker: From this second on, we're not doing this.
Speaker: Okay, we're not doing this.
Speaker: Is it?
Speaker: Speaking about these one percenters and shit, man, that's another interesting thing.
Speaker: I sometimes think people get away.
Speaker: Sometimes I think the racism, the other issues, minorities of all kinds, a lot of times it comes down to the powerful versus the poor as well.
Speaker: And or the powerful versus the weak.
Speaker: And and that's the way to look at it.
Speaker: It's those people in power who who kind of get away with a lot more in a lot of countries.
Speaker: What am I going on about?
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: I think I just I was just reading about.
Speaker: This is so bizarre.
Speaker: I don't know why it's bothering you, but, you know, Djokovic, the tennis player, he's just been allowed to compete in the Australian Open.
Speaker: He's gotten exempt from having to vaccinate.
Speaker: And obviously the Federation is kind of going, no, no, no.
Speaker: It was a vigorous test and, you know, it's a genuine reason and blah, blah, blah.
Speaker: Meanwhile, people are getting pissed off in Australia because they're like, hey, man, we were locked up for like months.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: Australia has been one of the hardest lockdowns for people, the longest.
Speaker: And so they're they're rightfully a bit angry about someone just wheezing into getting a buy on this stuff when when when they've had to go through so much.
Speaker: And it's also it stands out more because there's a Russian female tennis player who had to back out.
Speaker: And excuse me.
Speaker: I'm going to try pronouncing her name, but correct me if I'm wrong, but it's Nata Viklyantseva.
Speaker: Maybe I should try a Russian accent, but Viklyantseva.
Speaker: Yes.
Speaker: Viklyantseva.
Speaker: I don't know.
Speaker: Correct me if I'm wrong with that pronunciation, man.
Speaker: But she...
Speaker: She had to withdraw from the tournament even though she's vaccinated, but because she had Sputnik.
Speaker: And apparently Australia doesn't recognize the Russian one.
Speaker: So someone who's vaccinated can't play, but someone who's not vaccinated has been allowed to jump in and play.
Speaker: And that just, it doesn't sit well, right?
Speaker: Like, it's just like, come on, man.
Speaker: What's up with the tennis world, by the way?
Speaker: Like, you have Chinese tennis players disappear.
Speaker: Oh, my God.
Speaker: That story is dark and funny at the same time, right?
Speaker: If you followed it.
Speaker: What was her name again?
Speaker: Wait, I got to Google this again.
Speaker: The Chinese, what was her name?
Speaker: Chinese tennis player.
Speaker: that should, Peng Shui?
Speaker: Yeah, yeah, Peng Shui.
Speaker: So she's the one.
Speaker: She made some allegations of sexual assault on a big guy in China, and then she disappeared, and then she came on a video and went, no, no, everything's okay.
Speaker: I'm fine.
Speaker: Everything's great.
Speaker: No one's doing anything to me.
Speaker: I'm just, you know, having a great time out here.
Speaker: I just can't come meet you in person, but you know,
Speaker: We're video chatting.
Speaker: It's great.
Speaker: It's amazing.
Speaker: And I'm like, whoever devised that in China, I just, how stupid do you think people are?
Speaker: Like, they will buy this.
Speaker: They will buy this thing.
Speaker: You know, I'm just, I can't, I can't believe the thing to get away with that.
Speaker: But poor, poor her.
Speaker: Right.
Speaker: And again, I don't know if I'm pronouncing her name right.
Speaker: Peng, Peng Shui.
Speaker: Um,
Speaker: And she said, what's up with the tennis world with this stuff?
Speaker: Like, she's, she had this issue and then this whole situation down here in Australia.
Speaker: It's like, get it together, tennis.
Speaker: You're not a violent sport.
Speaker: You're not that important.
Speaker: Like, hang low key or something.
Speaker: All right?
Speaker: Calm down with your scandals and stuff.
Speaker: Okay?
Speaker: So...
Speaker: Yeah, that's it, man.
Speaker: That's what's going on in my head.
Speaker: That's the kind of stuff I've been thinking about.
Speaker: And I hope you guys stay safe out there.
Speaker: This has been fun.
Speaker: I will catch you guys again on the next podcast.
Speaker: Stay safe, mask up, and vaccinate.
Speaker: Till next time.
Speaker: Bye-bye.
