In Dhofari Arabic I would say حد صرابنا
In other words, someone has given us the evil eye. Seriously. The entire country was expecting the entire week of October 13th to 17th to be a public holiday for Eid since we're already required to take the 14th to 17th off for religious reasons. Why make Omanis work for that one day on Sunday?/
Yesterday afternoon the Oman News Agency announced that Eid Al Adha holidays would be Monday to Thursday only, with Sunday being a regular work day.
People read the message in shock. Then immediately started assuming His Majesty the Sultan would wait a little bit then surprise us with Sunday off as a 'Royal Gift'.
Twenty four hours later, and it still looks like holiday are only Monday to Thursday. Everyone who booked their tickets to go abroad for the once-expected nine-day holidays is dismayed. Every Omani who was going to drive back to his village today and spend the next nine days chillaxing with the tribe over meat is dismayed. People like me who needed to hibernate, bake, and study in peace for nine days are dismayed.
In other words, national-mourning.
Then again, how much longer are Omanis expecting to be spoon-fed holidays by His Majesty every year? The world is moving and we need to get moving with it. The number of holidays we get here in Oman is well...... a lot. We used to get a day or two for the Islamic new year, a day or two for the Prophet PBUH's birthday, a day or two for the Israa & Miraj, nine days for Eid Al Fitr, nine days for Eid al Adha, at least two days for National Day in November, an extra day for National Day in November, and a few days here and there if a GCC ruler happens to pass away.
We were in holiday heaven.
Holiday heaven no more, Oman.
Grrrr.
Most workers get something called "annual leave". Use one day of it.
ReplyDeleteexpect an unexpected. we should work daily to overtake japan economic HAHAHA!
ReplyDeletePeople are greedy. You're still getting a lot of days off! Be grateful! Seriously! In the West you would never get these random holidays. Even at Christmas a lot of people literally get Christmas day off and the day after if they're lucky and that's IT! If you want to take more days off you use your annual leave. Life in Oman is so much kinder, nicer, more relaxed - but people take it for granted and then still find reason to moan!
ReplyDeleteEid Mubarak Nadia. I love your posts and would love to make direct contact when I am in Salalah next (sometime next month) please create an email link since I would like to send you a message before hand. There is no email contact or messaging area on your blog.
ReplyDelete""People are greedy. You're still getting a lot of days off! Be grateful! Seriously! In the West you would never get these random holidays. Even at Christmas a lot of people literally get Christmas day off and the day after if they're lucky and that's IT! If you want to take more days off you use your annual leave. Life in Oman is so much kinder, nicer, more relaxed - but people take it for granted and then still find reason to moan!""
ReplyDeleteWell said!
Mti
Why is it always I, Me, Myself. Think about the country, business, other people needs etc. 6 days at a stretch is more then enough.
ReplyDeleteYou make a good point. I'm equally disappointed in the DELAY in the announcement.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous - you are talking rubbish. In the West, we have many long weekends, local holidays, bank holidays as well as Christmas, New Year and Easter. Here, there are the two Eids, National Day, Sultan's birthday and two Islamic holidays. Workers look forward to breaks and deserve them.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays, on average Oman has 18 days public holidays a year......not many western countries have anything like that. Most average 9-11 days.
ReplyDeleteHappy Holidays - I think you'll find that depends on where you work and who for. There are generally 8 public holidays per annum in the UK and they are never consecutive days. Are you honestly suggesting that in the UK anyone would randomly have a week off announced?! Doesn't happen! I'm not saying people shouldn't look forward to breaks and that they don't deserve them - they should just quit the incessant moaning! 6 days off is a LOT for most people, and unlike in the West everyone is off at the same time and everything shuts down - making it pretty much impossible for business to function. I've lived in both Oman and the UK and I'm well aware of the differences in work ethic. A lot of people work over Xmas, Easter and New Year. It is not a given that people have those days off.
ReplyDeleteI know that people usually complain about Omanis' work ethic. I do not know about the USand UK but here in Germany we have (in my Protestant region) 11 public holidays, Catholic regions have more. So on first sight these are fewer than the Omani ones but then most people that I know have between 24 and 30 days of annual leave, not counting the weekends. Christmas and New Year's eve are also usually days that are taken off by the public sector (except doctors and nurses, etc, like in Oman I assume) and so are the so-called bridge days that fall on a Friday after a public holiday. So I guess we are equally spoiled here. The one big caveat in Oman is that nobody can plan as holidays are announced only with very short notice and do not equal in length every year. Another reason for disgruntlement is the large discrepancy between public and private sector in Oman not only with regard to public holidays but also with regard to working hours and pay.
ReplyDeleteRegards from Germany,
Samira