The Saudi 21 Questions
August 13th, 200821 questions:
1) Will Saudi Arabia ever acknowledge the term “Minimum Wage”?
2) Who came up with the color coding of genders? White thobes for men, and “black” Abaya (robe) for women?
3) Why is (Saudi) Arabia one of the few, if not the only, countries named after a Person?
4) What’s the percentage of Saudi citizens that see women as actual human beings with rights and obligations, socially and domestically?
5) Will tribalism be an obstacle or an incentive to help develop the kingdom?
6) Is it a far fetched dream to see a Saudi Janitor in a mall or a company?
7) Will Saudi stop using the Hajj Visa process as an excuse for illegal immigrants and do something about it?
8 ) How many malls are there in Saudi? in Jeddah alone?
9) Is there a public garden in Saudi that is well maintained, green, non-vandlisied and doesn’t give you any kind of sickness?
10) Consumerism to be rated as the second highest religion in practice by Saudis after Islam?
11) Interest Free Islamic Banks?
12) Why is small ranks in the Police force are considered unemployment solutions for those who didn’t complete anything more than a Highschool Diploma, in best cases? Put in mind how much authority they have..
13) Will most national football teams settle for a Coach for more than 6 months before blaming him for everything?
14) If there’s a clothing line made specifically for Men, why can’t these men buy anything if Malls are restricted for Families Only? Is it a privilege for the married man only?
15) Weed, Hash and Opium are illegal drugs.. Why are we selling Rolling Smoking Papers in every store?
16) If it’s ok to hire a Muslim maid, from any nationality, will there be a Saudi Maid?
17) Why does the police departments main offices CLOSE after 2 pm? Criminals have working hours too?
18) Saudi airlines have “Fragile” stickers.. Why do they write in a small font “Saudi Airlines is not responsible for the damage of items with this sticker”?
19) Are we capable of knowing the difference between what’s PURELY cultural and what’s religious?
20) Free non-profit infomercials by the government and has a good message to deliver? With a budget more than a lousy 3000 SR, please..
21) If you happen to drive on a sunny day, and an old traffic sign fell on your car and broke your windshield, Why do YOU have to pay for the windshield AND the sign?
Take your best shot 
, in the mean time, I’ll be off to my Honeymoon.. I’ll see you guys in a Month Insha’allah 
Yours,
Lou..
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hello .. intresting .. lets take them one by one ..
1- yeah it did that time ago with domestic maids you know.
2- nobody came up with it. its just a tradition.
3- for the same reason why Amawis , Abbasis , Ottomans , etc named their countries after the name of a person (usually their great grandfather). (and frankly i don’t know the exact name for that lol its their Kingdom and they founded it)
4- anyone who gives you a percentage as an answer to this question is a liar. there are no statistics for that. (but on my side i consider them as actual human beings with rights and obligations, socially and domestically)
5- yes and no at the same time. tribalism has advantages and disadvantages. advantages are increasing the stability of the country and its strength against any internal problem. but it has its disadvantages if it becomes extreme and may result in seperating the society into hateful tribes.
6- yes.
7- never!.
8- too many. i don’t think there is any count man.
9- yeah , Al-Salam park in Riyadh.
10- thats not religion. its a social behaviour.
11- Islamic banks are a joke. the real interest they gain is a dozen times larger than any other commercial bank would get.
12- hmmm thats not accurate because they get alot of training. not like the anti-pet (promotion of vice and prevention of virtue commission) whom some of them barely have a primary school certificate.
13- never gonna happen lol
14- i’m not married.
15- because over half of the society are smokers.
16- there are already Saudi maids.
17- they are shifts and its not closed entirely. only the paperwork and deskjobs end at that time but not field ones. i see police often working all the time of the day and night.
18- i travelled various times and i used those stickers. i don’t remember seeing any writing on it. only the red sign with a broken glass.
19- sometimes.
20- i’ve seen some of them from time to time.
21- because they’ll blaim you for braking it. you’re guilty until proven innocent.
Interesting and humourous questins Lou. I certainly am not fit to answer any of them but
3) I always found it hilarious that Saudi Arabia was named after a person (in fact I know of someone who insists on calling it Hijaz), but the Americas were named after a person.
6) Even Sudan is importing labourers from India! The shame…
13) Don’t we Arabs just love scapegoating
I wish you and your bride a wonderful honeymoon, Lou!
Hi, I think that SaudiArabian had answered most of the questions perfectly but here are some comments of mine:
ans: The black colored Abaya is an Islamic choice because it’s perfect to hide details of the women’s body and be anonymous. The white thobes is just because it’s the most reflecting color and it’s opposite to black to separate women and men. Then it slowly became a tradition. Thobes can come in other colors though.
ans: To be fair other cultures treat women way worse. It’s a man thing not a Saudi thing to see women as servants to men. Maybe it’s worse in Saudi culture coz of the separation of the tow genders. You can’t fully understand a female until you mix allot with them. Saudi men with lots of sisters tend to be more respectful to women.
ans: It’s major disadvantage or advantage for some is that people in big tribes get spacial treatment then one’s who aren’t. It F*** the hole system.
ans: No. By the rate of Saudis being jobless going up so fast they’ll be frost to take jobs that require moving. But you can see Saudis in all kinds of jobs from school Janitors to security guards with salaries as low as 1000SAR (266 USD) for a full 8 hours or longer.
ans: Billions. But after opening the market for foreign companies the number will drop rapidly. It’s already happing. The big companies is crushing the small ones.
ans: There are. But not enough though.
ans: Yah, Al-Rajhi bank. But you must know how to ovoid paying interest. My old-man has a visa that has a 15000SAR that he hadn’t pied back for more than a year and they have charged him nothing.
ans: Because, the police is considered a government way to control the public and is mostly despised by the public. So only people who have no other jobs or opportunity go there. And it’s way more hard work for Saudi lazy asses.
ans: I’m not married. But I go shopping for cloths without a problem. The restriction is on some malls not all. But if you look properly for shopping it would be less of a problem. But the problem does exist and it’s frustrating but the Saudis have brought that on them selfs because of there very horny behavior.8)
ans: Cocaine is illegal in USA but you can get it. How easy to get illegal things depend on how strict is the government. KSA government don’t give a dame about stuff that don’t affect the high government officials and representatives.
ans: The Saudi airline sucks when it comes to luggage. I lost my hole suitcase ones. So forget about fragile. My advise is keep your luggage in your hand not even in the upper compartment. If you can’t find some other airline man.
ans: The two are so mixed but the way to tell is going to the Holy Quran and Sunnah.
ans: That puzzles me too. But my guess is that coz people trust them too much that they get jobs and opportunities that other can’t reach.
note: Most of the restrictions in this post apply to the capital Riyadh and Qaseem. In Dammam (East of KSA) it’s so more open there. In Jeddah it’s so open recently that I’m planing to check it for my self. Girls in bikinis swimming in front of man in some private resorts and some waring shorts in public. KSA is changing so fast that in just 5 years the change is equivalent to a hole decade of change in other cultures due to the pressure from other countries. I’ve lived in USA for a decade and a little more in KSA wow the difference.
Hope I answered some of the readers concerns. Salam
great to know the various responses.
i have posted mine on FB