Happenings at Applebee's in Saudi Arabia
After the interruption of summer vacation, Christmas in Colorado, and a one week holiday in Egypt, it is nice to be able to sit down and talk about being back in Saudi Arabia.
Things are very quiet around home now that my husband has returned to work and we are back into our somewhat normal life routein.
The other day, because the weather here is at its absolute best, we decided to go into Al Khobar and walk around, get some groceries, and maybe stop for lunch. Always in the front of our minds is timing so we can do it all and still work in a lunch before prayer time closes everything up. This would mean two choices for lunch: 1) A regular restaurant, arriving about 11:15 a.m. and ahead of the closing time by about 15 minutes or so, or 2) Saying “to heck with it” and plan on eating at a hotel or a Western compound restaurant, where they stay open through the prayer times. We decided to go early to a big new Applebee’s that was close to all the shops we were visiting and the grocery store where we picked up a few items. This also enabled us to walk everywhere and avoid driving in the crunch of the downtown city traffic.
Everything went very well and the food was good. The place is huge, probably the biggest Applebee’s in the world. Remember, they have to accommodate areas for Single Men separate from the Family Areas so that the men and women don’t mix from different families.
We paid our bill and headed down the swooping circular staircase from the family area to the side (singles) door where we had previously exited during prayer. We were immediately stopped by a frantic Applebee’s manager saying he could NOT unlock the doors for us to leave as it was prayer time and the Matawas were out front making sure no one went in or out during this prayer time.
We haven’t had this happen to us in a very long time. Usually, places let people OUT during the prayer times, but not IN. The only reason this would be happening where the managers were blocking both the IN and OUT during a prayer time would be that they had been ‘raided’ by the Matawas recently. Indeed, this is what had happened to the Al Khobar Applebee’s. Someone had snitched. Someone had written a letter to the Matawas saying that 1) there were Saudi women eating there with men who were not their husbands, or brother’s or sons! And 2) Applebee’s was letting people OUT during prayer times.
This letter brought the wrath of the Matawas onto our local Applebee’s, so for a while now, everyone will follow the strict rules or people will lose their jobs and Applebee’s could just close down.
We found out all these details from the shift manager as we visited while we waited more than a half hour before we could leave. During this time some Saudi ladies were getting calls on their cell phones upstairs saying that one of their friends could not get inside the restaurant as the doors were locked. Well, down the stairs came a storming, angry Saudi woman telling this manager to open the doors. No way would he do this, he still had about 15 min. left during the prayer time. He was really holding his own in all this. She, on the other hand, was really steaming with anger not only that her friend was not getting let in, but that she and the rest of her party could not get out! We watched it all play out in English, the common language between this Filipino manager and the Saudi woman. Well, after several minutes, she won and her party of 4 stormed out. We waited until we were ‘released’ officially.
This manager also told us that he has witnessed the Matawas coming in and SLAPPING other shift managers! That’s right, physically slapping them. He said he was never slapped, but that it does happen.
The large entryway inside this Applebee’s is 'safe.' All the decorations and pictures are of Arab artifacts. There are no pictures of people. Farther inside, however, are the usual decorations that we see in the States of movie stars. Matawas stormed through on their past raid pointing out the pictures that were to be REMOVED: Marilyn Monroe, along with a couple of other classic female actresses. When we asked this current manager why those pictures were still hanging, this manager just laughed and said, “Waiting for Maintenance to remove them!”
Things are very quiet around home now that my husband has returned to work and we are back into our somewhat normal life routein.
The other day, because the weather here is at its absolute best, we decided to go into Al Khobar and walk around, get some groceries, and maybe stop for lunch. Always in the front of our minds is timing so we can do it all and still work in a lunch before prayer time closes everything up. This would mean two choices for lunch: 1) A regular restaurant, arriving about 11:15 a.m. and ahead of the closing time by about 15 minutes or so, or 2) Saying “to heck with it” and plan on eating at a hotel or a Western compound restaurant, where they stay open through the prayer times. We decided to go early to a big new Applebee’s that was close to all the shops we were visiting and the grocery store where we picked up a few items. This also enabled us to walk everywhere and avoid driving in the crunch of the downtown city traffic.
Everything went very well and the food was good. The place is huge, probably the biggest Applebee’s in the world. Remember, they have to accommodate areas for Single Men separate from the Family Areas so that the men and women don’t mix from different families.
We paid our bill and headed down the swooping circular staircase from the family area to the side (singles) door where we had previously exited during prayer. We were immediately stopped by a frantic Applebee’s manager saying he could NOT unlock the doors for us to leave as it was prayer time and the Matawas were out front making sure no one went in or out during this prayer time.
We haven’t had this happen to us in a very long time. Usually, places let people OUT during the prayer times, but not IN. The only reason this would be happening where the managers were blocking both the IN and OUT during a prayer time would be that they had been ‘raided’ by the Matawas recently. Indeed, this is what had happened to the Al Khobar Applebee’s. Someone had snitched. Someone had written a letter to the Matawas saying that 1) there were Saudi women eating there with men who were not their husbands, or brother’s or sons! And 2) Applebee’s was letting people OUT during prayer times.
This letter brought the wrath of the Matawas onto our local Applebee’s, so for a while now, everyone will follow the strict rules or people will lose their jobs and Applebee’s could just close down.
We found out all these details from the shift manager as we visited while we waited more than a half hour before we could leave. During this time some Saudi ladies were getting calls on their cell phones upstairs saying that one of their friends could not get inside the restaurant as the doors were locked. Well, down the stairs came a storming, angry Saudi woman telling this manager to open the doors. No way would he do this, he still had about 15 min. left during the prayer time. He was really holding his own in all this. She, on the other hand, was really steaming with anger not only that her friend was not getting let in, but that she and the rest of her party could not get out! We watched it all play out in English, the common language between this Filipino manager and the Saudi woman. Well, after several minutes, she won and her party of 4 stormed out. We waited until we were ‘released’ officially.
This manager also told us that he has witnessed the Matawas coming in and SLAPPING other shift managers! That’s right, physically slapping them. He said he was never slapped, but that it does happen.
The large entryway inside this Applebee’s is 'safe.' All the decorations and pictures are of Arab artifacts. There are no pictures of people. Farther inside, however, are the usual decorations that we see in the States of movie stars. Matawas stormed through on their past raid pointing out the pictures that were to be REMOVED: Marilyn Monroe, along with a couple of other classic female actresses. When we asked this current manager why those pictures were still hanging, this manager just laughed and said, “Waiting for Maintenance to remove them!”
posted by saudisandy at
2:28 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home