I guess it is true that you don’t know how tough you are until this is put to the test!!
The last few years of my life were a series of ups and downs and I am afraid more downs than ups; downfalls and bad events that left me at more than one point vulnerable and fragile. Bouncing back from these events was not as easy as I wished it had been; sometimes it took all the strength that I could gather from within myself to be able to turn things around and move on or start over …
Sometimes I feel like shouting at the top of my lungs because I cannot take it anymore, but the problem is that if I fall apart, it will be like a chain reaction and a lot of those around me will start falling apart as well and maybe in worse ways, so the tough part here is not actually being in a situation where you are about to crack and break down, but the fact that you cannot even allow yourself to fall because some people look up to you and see you as a stone that stands in the face of all difficulties and hardships, so if you break, it means that they don’t even stand a chance, so you feel that you are not even allowed to show the smallest signs of weakness and that on its own is very hard to achieve …
Maybe the hardest thing you can ever go through is the broken trust between you and close ones, when someone that you care about or love or respect breaks your trust, that hurts in the core and it is really hard to bounce back from, because without you noticing it or feeling it, you will be affected and trusting others becomes a major issue, you will start assuming the worst in everyone’s intentions and actions, because if that person whom you believed in and trusted did a horrible thing to you and did not even care how it will affect or hurt you, then how can you expect better from people you don’t even know? I know that some will say this is not right, but tell that to a hurt person … at least, one needs time to get over it …
The recent things that happened to me were harder than anyone can imagine, both on the personal and professional levels, things are really messed up; actually .. they are more messed up than they ever were before, yet I noticed that what is different is me and how I am dealing with the situation … I realized that if the same happened to me a few years ago, I would have definitely fallen apart and broken big time, but I am now more responsive than reactive … I rationalize things and try to always look at the bright side which is not as easy as it seems … I try to be as positive about it as I can but I cannot help the occasional break that takes me by surprise and at the worst times possible, and I try to keep things under control, but sometimes I feel that allowing these breaks to surface is what is keeping me together till now, so I let go when I can …
After all this time and the few ups and the many downs I have been through, I realized that I am tougher than I thought I was, and as good as this may seem, it is exhausting and consumes most of one’s energy, and most of the time, there isn’t much left for anything else!!!
P.S. Friends are great in these situations and I thank God for all the friends that I have … I am a luckier person to have them in my life and I thank them for all the love and support they give me without even asking for it … thank you all for being the gems in my messed up world … I love you all
It is not a surprise nor is it a shock to expect violations from valet parking personnel such as taking something from your car (which the valet company is NOT responsible for) or they can take a ride in your car (unless you know the reading on your gas meter and your mileage meter … seriously, how would you know??)
We have seen this happen in movies all too many times, but it is happening right at home dear folks … yes; you heard that right: valet parking is the newest way for car theft in Amman!!
It happened to my sister’s friend … she was going to this store in Sweifieh where they have valet parking service and as usual; she handed her car to this gentlemen dressed in a uniform and he even gave her a number for her car. Not suspecting anything; she went in the store and continued her trip as she planned it; what she did not plan or anticipate was that she would not find her very expensive car when she went out because the guy simply took it and run!!!
Seriously now; do you remember the face of the guy who takes your car to park it for you? Would you be able to describe him to the police if needed? Do you even look at the guy’s face to begin with?
Come to think of it; we have become victims to our own convictions that this is a safe service just because it is provided by reputable institutions and we never question the possibility that something bad might happen … we do not double check if the person taking our car is actually a part of the crew hired for that specific job … I mean when we go to crowded places like Mecca Mall for example; more often than not, you are required to wait till one of the valet personnel is available to take your car because they are busy running around to park or bring other cars, so hypothetically speaking; anyone can come to you and pretend he is one of the crew and take your car and run away!!!
The VIP service is turning out to be not so VIP after all and that we should not feel so privileged as we willingly hand over our cars to some stranger to park it right next to where we can park it ourselves!!!
On another note; if and when a car is stolen by impersonating a valet personnel, what is the liability of the valet company or the institution providing the service?? Should they be legally liable? Do they even check the backgrounds of the personnel doing this job before hiring them? What precautions can we take into consideration as we go for this service?
I say we park our cars on our own even if takes more time and more distance to do so because I bet it does not feel good to lose your car in such a humiliating manner.
I quote Greg Gagliardi in his article: Valet Parking: Theft with Consent
“That’s right — valet parking is the one time when we are basically telling a stranger, “Go ahead, steal my car. I trust that it’ll be here later.” And sure, virtually 100% of the time it is. But what about that 0% of the time when your car just isn’t there and that valet parker turns out to be a person who knows how to find the appropriate attire online? Furthermore, what is the guarantee that your stuff inside the car will still be there? This is a time period when the valet can do anything he wants with your car — change the radio station, eat your food, kill your friend still sitting in the passenger seat — so we need to think more carefully about why we continue to utilize this system…” [Source…]
Every time I travel, I find myself thinking of the many hazards that one faces when roaming the globe, starting from flying all the way to food poisoning, getting ripped off, accidents … etc.
One thing keeps popping in my mind though, and that is the hazards that we face by staying at hotels and eating out through the trips. It is true that we will be staying in 5 stars hotels most of the time, however; are all the workers in these hotels 5 star material or not??
The minute I walk in a hotel room, I check the cleanliness of the bed sheets, the bathroom and the glasses. Call me paranoid, but who knows how this room was cleaned after all?
Cleaning staff in hotels, workers and chefs in restaurants, they all have been portrayed and stereotyped in movies and stories as careless most of the time and that many of them (not all) are mad at something and they get it out on the customer when he/she cannot see them. So, if a customer asks to change the order after it was brought and verbally complains about anything, we find the waiter or the chef behind scenes doing something bad to the order before bringing it out, like spitting in the drink and stirring it so that nothing suspicious shows; just how many times did we see that in the movies? Could it be that this is only a fictional scene from the author’s mind or could it be a reflection of the truth??!!!
And what about workers in the kitchen not wearing gloves while preparing our food? How do we know where these hands were before starting our meals? I remember that in one of those restaurants where you can actually see the cooking taking place in front of you, we noticed that the guy was preparing our salad with his glove-less hands and we immediately asked that he wears glove and start a new salad dish; could we have been paranoid or was that the right thing to do???!!!
The studies and observations show that one cannot be too careful when staying and eating out because it is a human thing and a lot of people in this world are not accountable nor they are trustworthy of doing their job properly, which ends up in spreading disease and causing health problems to others. Some people are careless enough to pull jokes and pranks about this like when someone says he is allergic to peanuts and another pours some peanut butter in his food to see if he is telling the truth or not … imagine if he really does have allergy and he eats the contaminated food, he could die because of a sick joke … I think I have seen this on one of CSI’s episodes but it was fish allergy!!
What about housekeeping in hotels; I mean these workers come into your room when you are out of it and they clean it without being supervised, do they use gloves when cleaning the toilet? Do they change the gloves when cleaning glasses? Do they not wear gloves at all? Do they run through your stuff and snoop around in your luggage? Do they use your clothes, makeup, or perfume? How can we know that the “Maid in Manhattan” scene is not happening every day or every hour for that matter? Just because it was Jennifer Lopez actually stealing and trying the clothes, it does not make it OK … that was wrong and immoral regardless of how much I like JL!!!
As for me, I really keep my stuff in my bag and I keep it locked, so I try to take clothes that do not need ironing so that I can wear them comfortably … maybe I am being paranoid here but I cannot accept the idea of stranger hands running and searching through my clothes and stuff … I keep remembering that housekeeper in “The Last Holiday” when Queen Latifa asked her if she went through her stuff and she replied: I go through everybody’s stuff!!!
Just to give you another perspective about this issue, please watch the following movie and keep it in your mind when you are traveling …
Scary, ha??
I wish you safe and happy traveling folks!!!
You know that feeling when the end of the year approaches so fast that we cannot keep track of what we are doing Vs what needs to be done before the clock ticks ending the deadline? It seems that most of what we are doing these days is tied to a deadline or an expiry date and we find ourselves saying over and again: I need to do this and that before something happens; the keyword here being: BEFORE!!
Maybe that’s why we stopped enjoying life as we are supposed to, we no longer stop to smell the roses because we have to reach the destination or goal before time ticks ending our chance or before someone else reaches it and takes our catch … we have become so competitive that we do not care about how we do things as long as we win in the end … we no longer feel good because we finished a project or reached a goal … we feel good because we did that before someone else did or before the deadline …
We do not enjoy the ride, we do not pay attention to the good things around us because we are so focused on ending before it is too late as if we are being chased or pushed to do these things … we tend to forget that when we work, we do that for ourselves and no one else, we are the ones who benefit and learn … but shouldn’t we enjoy that as well??
Time flies and never stops for anything or anyone … it is the only thing that keeps moving despite all changes and factors … it affects things and people but does not get affected … it is the material of our lives yet we are willingly sacrificing it to do things that don’t really matter … we try to convince ourselves that we are doing what we have to do but how sincere and honest are we in confronting ourselves when it comes to how we invest in our time??
I know I have been truly busy lately and things were too cluttered in my mind and around me, but the reason that I cannot complain about it is that I am truly enjoying my crazy times … I am working with people that I admire and learn from and such professional atmosphere is a dream come true for someone like me … I have been working, traveling and spending more time with family and friends … I lost some friends and gained new ones … as we grow older, our choosing criteria become different and more specific … we become more clear on what works for us and what doesn’t and what crowd to hang out with and what crowd to stay away from … we become less tolerant when it comes to our beliefs because we already established a strong base on which we build further … it is not time to put foundations because this is done already and now it is time to build and grow …
2007 is ending … as I review it; I realize that I have achieved big milestones and a lot more smaller ones … so many events took place … I met a lot of new people and befriended them … some of them became best friends … some friends magically dropped out and are no longer a part of my life; by choice or not, it does not matter really as the result is the same … some friends were estranged and I do not see them as much as I would love to but the beauty of the friendship is that no matter how we stay away; when we do meet; it is like we were never apart!!
Crazy times are ruling our lives but the way to deal with it in my opinion, is to enjoy the ride while it lasts
