This World is Not Perfect!

[marenostrum]

Originally Posted by hurghadapat

..Now Deadguy assured us he doesn't partake of that pleasure.

Maybe he is left handed........

anyhow enough of this chit chat or Maiden's big lock will appear on this thread with a big closed sign on it.

[aykalam]

Originally Posted by marenostrum

Maybe he is left handed........

[ArabianNights]

Why has this thread become.... talking about DeadGuy's ***** why Deadguy? lol

[expatagogo]

Originally Posted by ArabianNights

Why has this thread become.... talking about DeadGuy's ***** why Deadguy? lol

Cuz he's not here to defend himself.

[ArabianNights]

Ohhh the poor thing.... God bless him

[DeadGuy]

Originally Posted by Lanason

I agree with expatagogo - If the price has been upped then its "buyer beware" - of course the price rises - sometimes I know, but see it as giving a bit of "charity" especially in small local shops.

I check prices with my colleagues at work to see what they pay. A lot of shops I go to have scanners and bar code readers - so price is fixed

Not sure how do you people define tips, but for me tips is the extra money that I'd CHOOSE to leave when I'm paying for a service that someone offered me, the extra money I'd need to pay to get an ITEM that costs less than what I paid is a RIP OFF for me..........Unless I'm buying something that I REALLY need and only available in specific store and they made it clear that they're charging extra cause only their store have this item, in this case it would be more of...........Blackmail?

Besides..............Those who actually NEED charity would never let you do it this way if they knew your intentions......

[DeadGuy]

Originally Posted by marenostrum

Maybe he is left handed........

anyhow enough of this chit chat or Maiden's big lock will appear on this thread with a big closed sign on it.

Nope! Right handed I swear!

Think I need to put THAT post of mine again, with a lil bigger font size

Originally Posted by DeadGuy

CORRECTION!!!! In bed TRYING to sleep!!

And now that the "Egyptian favorite behaviors" was mentioned, I think I also need to confirm that ALTHOUGH I am an Egyptian guy, but no, I was NOT in bed trying to sleep while watching porns, nor was I making love to any of my hands thank you very much!

If anyone else got ANY doubts about what I may have been doing while I was away, just read my previous post carefully!

Thank you all again

And now I think what's said about how similar Egyptians and Italians are is true

[Qsw]

Originally Posted by MaidenScotland

I agree with most of what you have said but remember if all you meet are scammers, thieves and sexual predators then of course your view of a place will be coloured. The daily onslaught gets very weary.

It is easy to tell people how to do things.. I after all would have have stopped the taxi if he had turned my meter off and got out .. you didn't why not?

Don't do this, don't go there is not the problem.. the problem is with the people who do this and yes we must take precautions to try and prevent these thing but when are the Egyptian people going to stand up to these people who give them a bad name, who stop tourist coming and spending their dollars? This is not a new problem this has been going on for ever and I am sure each and every one of us had been had and will be again.. can you not see this is not a good view for anyone?

The victim is not to blame!!

I wish we could lock up all the sexual predators, and that Egyptian society as a whole would become much more vocal about how their activities are wrong, but for now it is just a problem that has to be dealt with, sadly. There are simply too many frustrated men (for a variety of reasons) and not enough of a legal/societal deterrent to discourage them from their disgusting behavior. Not that this justifies their behavior, it is despicable and cannot be justified.

The least the government can do now is announce extremely harsh laws against these crimes, and make sure that criminals know they will be enforced. The solutions will have to come from the government I think, being strongly pressured by organizations supported by the decent majority. Since this is something I believe liberals and Islamists both have a similar opinion on, its possible that it could happen. But even then, we'll need an effective, visible police force with a fast response time.

I also wish the taxis would stop ripping off people. Because there is minimal regulation of them here though, the odds of that are low. New regulations can be introduced, I hope, so that when you get ripped off there is some method to report it, and then punished accordingly. Eventually this could force them to clean up their act. I don't think the laws or regulations are in place yet to force that kind of scenario. So the only way to protect yourself is to basically prevent the rip-offs from occurring as best you can, and then moving on after they happen.

I can certainly see how it is frustrating to have to deal with these types of situations more regularly than you would elsewhere. At the end of the day you have to look for your peace of mind. I can certainly justify to myself paying extra for something when I think the person asking for the money needs it, and is not an indecent person. Others have different views.

Once, I believed a taxi driver was charging me more than they should have, by 1.50 LE. I let that irritate me. I realized, if I start to get this annoyed about such a small amount, I'll end up paying much more than 1.5 extra. So I simply move on, and do my best not to let the little things annoy me. Now I will argue as much as I can without letting myself get angry, and will simply tell taxis to move on if they don't like the price I negotiate before getting in. If I can't be bothered to argue, I'll take my chances and see how well they drive, and how much they decide to charge. If a big problem comes up after that, well, I haven't had to deal with that yet. I also call taxis who I like when I need to get around in Alex when I don't want to put up with the taxi process.

If a taxi driver is trying to charge you more because you are foreign, you shouldn't put up with it. I'm not saying to start fights with them, but if you know how much you should pay for the trip, give them that much + the tip if you want, and just walk out, and try to be polite. The ideal would be to work only with verified taxis.

I've even seen Egyptians get out and then pay, and they would probably be more lenient with foreigners that do that. Be careful to note though, sitting in traffic means you pay extra. I think its 0.25-0.5 LE for each minute of being in the taxi, based on what I saw sitting in a metered taxi. Since I think DeadGuy has been here much longer than I have, he might have better advice about this. I'm not trying to tell people what to do, I'm still learning myself, I guess I am just saying try to take it as a learning experience rather than let it get to you. So far I am doing that and having a much better time.

I'm certainly not blaming the victim, I didn't mean to give that impression. What I'm saying is, in terms of rip-off situations, you have to accept some of the blame if you don't try to prevent them from occurring in the future. I have learned how to avoid it for the most part and am much happier here as a result. One day I hope it won't be necessary to learn this kind of thing to have a good time here, and in other places.

Egypt is basically a place with little regulation and lots of flexibility. The people here depend on each other and basic human decency a lot more than they would in other places, where you can simply bring down a legal hammer on deviants. Education is the only way to 'nip this problem in the bud'.

Off to Cairo now, hoping to have/make it a pleasant experience

[hurghadapat]

Originally Posted by Qsw

I wish we could lock up all the sexual predators, and that Egyptian society as a whole would become much more vocal about how their activities are wrong, but for now it is just a problem that has to be dealt with, sadly. There are simply too many frustrated men (for a variety of reasons) and not enough of a legal/societal deterrent to discourage them from their disgusting behavior. Not that this justifies their behavior, it is despicable and cannot be justified.

The least the government can do now is announce extremely harsh laws against these crimes, and make sure that criminals know they will be enforced. The solutions will have to come from the government I think, being strongly pressured by organizations supported by the decent majority. Since this is something I believe liberals and Islamists both have a similar opinion on, its possible that it could happen. But even then, we'll need an effective, visible police force with a fast response time.

I also wish the taxis would stop ripping off people. Because there is minimal regulation of them here though, the odds of that are low. New regulations can be introduced, I hope, so that when you get ripped off there is some method to report it, and then punished accordingly. Eventually this could force them to clean up their act. I don't think the laws or regulations are in place yet to force that kind of scenario. So the only way to protect yourself is to basically prevent the rip-offs from occurring as best you can, and then moving on after they happen.

I can certainly see how it is frustrating to have to deal with these types of situations more regularly than you would elsewhere. At the end of the day you have to look for your peace of mind. I can certainly justify to myself paying extra for something when I think the person asking for the money needs it, and is not an indecent person. Others have different views.

Once, I believed a taxi driver was charging me more than they should have, by 1.50 LE. I let that irritate me. I realized, if I start to get this annoyed about such a small amount, I'll end up paying much more than 1.5 extra. So I simply move on, and do my best not to let the little things annoy me. Now I will argue as much as I can without letting myself get angry, and will simply tell taxis to move on if they don't like the price I negotiate before getting in. If I can't be bothered to argue, I'll take my chances and see how well they drive, and how much they decide to charge. If a big problem comes up after that, well, I haven't had to deal with that yet. I also call taxis who I like when I need to get around in Alex when I don't want to put up with the taxi process.

If a taxi driver is trying to charge you more because you are foreign, you shouldn't put up with it. I'm not saying to start fights with them, but if you know how much you should pay for the trip, give them that much + the tip if you want, and just walk out, and try to be polite. The ideal would be to work only with verified taxis.

I've even seen Egyptians get out and then pay, and they would probably be more lenient with foreigners that do that. Be careful to note though, sitting in traffic means you pay extra. I think its 0.25-0.5 LE for each minute of being in the taxi, based on what I saw sitting in a metered taxi. Since I think DeadGuy has been here much longer than I have, he might have better advice about this. I'm not trying to tell people what to do, I'm still learning myself, I guess I am just saying try to take it as a learning experience rather than let it get to you. So far I am doing that and having a much better time.

I'm certainly not blaming the victim, I didn't mean to give that impression. What I'm saying is, in terms of rip-off situations, you have to accept some of the blame if you don't try to prevent them from occurring in the future. I have learned how to avoid it for the most part and am much happier here as a result. One day I hope it won't be necessary to learn this kind of thing to have a good time here, and in other places.

Egypt is basically a place with little regulation and lots of flexibility. The people here depend on each other and basic human decency a lot more than they would in other places, where you can simply bring down a legal hammer on deviants. Education is the only way to 'nip this problem in the bud'.

Off to Cairo now, hoping to have/make it a pleasant experience

With regard to the taxis...if you know the correct price then don't even enter into a negotiation with the taxi driver,just get in tell him where you want to go and try to make sure you have the right money...when you arrive just get out and then hand the money over and walk away immediately...he will probably start shouting after you but just ignore it.About trying not to let it get to you....believe me if you stay there for any length of time it will get to you and all long term ex-pats seem to go through the "hate everything about egypt" phase....and my advice when you get to that stage is go have a break back in your own country and get back to normality for awhile..then you are ready to start all over again when you come back to egypt.

[MaidenScotland]

Originally Posted by Qsw

I wish we could lock up all the sexual predators, and that Egyptian society as a whole would become much more vocal about how their activities are wrong, but for now it is just a problem that has to be dealt with, sadly. There are simply too many frustrated men (for a variety of reasons) and not enough of a legal/societal deterrent to discourage them from their disgusting behavior. Not that this justifies their behavior, it is despicable and cannot be justified.

The least the government can do now is announce extremely harsh laws against these crimes, and make sure that criminals know they will be enforced. The solutions will have to come from the government I think, being strongly pressured by organizations supported by the decent majority. Since this is something I believe liberals and Islamists both have a similar opinion on, its possible that it could happen. But even then, we'll need an effective, visible police force with a fast response time.

I also wish the taxis would stop ripping off people. Because there is minimal regulation of them here though, the odds of that are low. New regulations can be introduced, I hope, so that when you get ripped off there is some method to report it, and then punished accordingly. Eventually this could force them to clean up their act. I don't think the laws or regulations are in place yet to force that kind of scenario. So the only way to protect yourself is to basically prevent the rip-offs from occurring as best you can, and then moving on after they happen.

I can certainly see how it is frustrating to have to deal with these types of situations more regularly than you would elsewhere. At the end of the day you have to look for your peace of mind. I can certainly justify to myself paying extra for something when I think the person asking for the money needs it, and is not an indecent person. Others have different views.

Once, I believed a taxi driver was charging me more than they should have, by 1.50 LE. I let that irritate me. I realized, if I start to get this annoyed about such a small amount, I'll end up paying much more than 1.5 extra. So I simply move on, and do my best not to let the little things annoy me. Now I will argue as much as I can without letting myself get angry, and will simply tell taxis to move on if they don't like the price I negotiate before getting in. If I can't be bothered to argue, I'll take my chances and see how well they drive, and how much they decide to charge. If a big problem comes up after that, well, I haven't had to deal with that yet. I also call taxis who I like when I need to get around in Alex when I don't want to put up with the taxi process.

If a taxi driver is trying to charge you more because you are foreign, you shouldn't put up with it. I'm not saying to start fights with them, but if you know how much you should pay for the trip, give them that much + the tip if you want, and just walk out, and try to be polite. The ideal would be to work only with verified taxis.

I've even seen Egyptians get out and then pay, and they would probably be more lenient with foreigners that do that. Be careful to note though, sitting in traffic means you pay extra. I think its 0.25-0.5 LE for each minute of being in the taxi, based on what I saw sitting in a metered taxi. Since I think DeadGuy has been here much longer than I have, he might have better advice about this. I'm not trying to tell people what to do, I'm still learning myself, I guess I am just saying try to take it as a learning experience rather than let it get to you. So far I am doing that and having a much better time.

I'm certainly not blaming the victim, I didn't mean to give that impression. What I'm saying is, in terms of rip-off situations, you have to accept some of the blame if you don't try to prevent them from occurring in the future. I have learned how to avoid it for the most part and am much happier here as a result. One day I hope it won't be necessary to learn this kind of thing to have a good time here, and in other places.

Egypt is basically a place with little regulation and lots of flexibility. The people here depend on each other and basic human decency a lot more than they would in other places, where you can simply bring down a legal hammer on deviants. Education is the only way to 'nip this problem in the bud'.

Off to Cairo now, hoping to have/make it a pleasant experience

Thank you but why you are telling me how to use a taxi is a mystery.. you where the one that was done not me.. I know how to use the taxis here.. i am an expert

Sorry I don't believe the majority of sexual harassment is down to frustration.. Do you honestly believe it is just young unmarried men who whisper sweet nothings in your ears?
The first thing that needs to be change in this country is....that women are not to blame when they are assaulted, the police and a large amount of families blame the female...
Policewomen are needed as are sexual assault victim suites.


Nip this problem in the bud!!! This flower is in full bloom.



I understand you defending your country but I cannot live life as an Egyptian no more than you can live my life as a foreign single blonde female in this country..... in all honesty you have no idea what it is like for some of us.