Favor Ain't Fair

Today's post is going to be short and sweet as I want to do a few things that will make my Mom proud. Today is August 2nd and 3 years ago today my Mom died.

We got our furniture allowances yesterday which means that we can now pay our deposits which will allow us to move into our new home, they call them flats.

We got up and went to cash our checks first. We weren't able to deposit it into our account because they had not yet been set up. To cash my check I needed:

• Passport Copy
• Emirates ID Application

After I got our money we went to set up electricity. The bank branch we went to is in the mall. The electricity office (ADDC) is also in the mall and it also happens to be the office for water as well. The mall is a one stop shop. We got down to the electricity office, filled out some forms, and turned in all of our required documentation. We needed the following:

• Tenancy Contract - given to us by our leasing department
• VISA
• Emirates ID Application
• Passport Copy

And then we sat and waited. In this office they had ladies and men seating separated.

This was eye opening. After about 30-45 minutes a big group of teachers came in to do the same thing I was doing. They took their forms and told them to leave and come back around 4:30pm. The office closed at 4:45! 😑 Once those teachers were gone, they asked my name and I told them and they gave me a form that basically stated the account was open and my lights would be on. We thanked them and then we went to the kiosk outside to pay our deposit. We could have opted to have our deposit be on our first bill but we decided to pay at that moment so we would know how much a regular bill would be. #FavorAintFair

We left the electricity/water office and went upstairs to the Etisalat store. Etisalat is like Time Warner Cable and Sprint put together. They offer internet, cable, landline phones, and mobile phones. Once we got there we saw one of our couple

friends there too. They were waiting to speak to someone so they could get the internet connected in their flat. We chatted briefly and then they were up. I watched body language and tried to hear what was said because rumor had it that none of us would be able to do anything because we teachers didn't have our original passports, Official Emirates ID, and Residency VISAs yet and the rules were they needed all of those documents to be able to process those kinds of requests. As I watched them their faces went from eager and excited to let down and sad. They looked at me and shook their heads no. I didn't get upset or walk out. We decided to wait our turn and see what would happen for us. We were called next. We told her what we wanted to do. The SIM Cards we bought at the airport were already in Mike's name because he would be able to keep his passport so we put everything else in his name too. They had a great package offer for us. Mike signed the contract and we were on our way. Internet, cable, and phone would be installed in a few days. AND we walked out without paying anything down! #FavorAintFair

From the mall we went to pay our deposit at our Flat. The leasing office only accepts cash and we were ready. I took a number and sat down however I noticed they weren't calling numbers. I decided to walk up to the counter and the representative that I had previously talked to said, "Come on, you don't have to wait. I'll help you." We ended up having to go set up our Air Conditioning first which wasn't that bad. The air conditioning office was located on the Ground Floor of Gate Tower 1. For this we needed:

• Passport Copy
• Tenancy Contract

The representative, even though she worked alone, was friendly and quick. I signed the forms paid the deposit and we headed back to the leasing office. Once we got back we got the representative's attention and we skipped the line again. This time we had everything we needed. We got our ACCESS Cards to our building and we were on our way. #FavorAintFair

We heard that lights and air wasn't being turned on in some flats immediately. We heard some people had to wait hours, some days, and some were instant. We got to our flat and our lights, air, and water was all on. #FavorAintFair

Even though this was a long day we got everything we needed to do, as it pertains to our flat, done. We were happy and decided to enjoy ourselves and go to the Pirates Party being offered by the hotel.

This was a great day and we got a lot accomplished! #FavorAintFair

Be Kind to one Another and Be Uniquely You!