THANK YOU

Posted on 2:53 AM, under

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So what’s the convention on holding the door for other people in this part of the world? How far behind you the person has to be in order for you to hold the door open until they get to the door? Or should I just be holding the door until someone passes by and takes care of it?

I’m writing this post while in class, pretending to be taking notes. I needed to write something before the idea cools off. As I was running to class, a Qatari girl was walking behind me. I open the door to enter the building and hold it open for few seconds for her to enter. Guess what happened to me for the 3rd time this week? She did NOT say thank you or even gesture it in anyway! This happened to me several times before. I just don’t understand why is it so hard to thank people who do you a little polite thing.

I read a post on Mimiz Blog a while ago and she mentioned how she felt insulted when a person sat in the library with the bottom of that person’s shoes was pointing to her. We consider this rude, but not saying thank you is not rude in any way.
Where did this habit come from? I’m sure it’s neither culture nor religion. I’m not talking about holding doors. I really couldn’t care less if they thanked me or not. I care about the general courtesy between us. What kind of society is that? I noticed this in restaurants, gas stations, star bucks and other places. And guess what? It’s the Qataris that do this most of the time. And to be more accurate, the girls do it more than the guys.

Again, don’t get me wrong with the generalizations. What i mean is that mong the people who have this ugly habit, Qataris are the majority. It doesn’t mean all Qataris do this.

So what’s the deal about that? I mean did we forget how to live happily with each other? Did we start to think that people are obligated to serve us and we don’t need to thank them? What kind of ugly society we’re turning to if we didn’t have common courtesy.

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6 Reply to "THANK YOU"

  • Just Me on February 17, 2010 at 4:02 AM

    I think that some people in this society feel that they are above others and are accustomed to being waited on hand and foot. At the risk of being accused of stereotyping, I do see the incidences at a much higher rate among Qataris. That being said, I have also witnessed the Qataris as being among the most gracious people I've ever met. Some how this learned behavior of expectation needs to be diluted, as we are ALL God's people. In the mean time, THANK you for bringing this issue to light and for your aptly named blog. :)

     

    Anonymous on February 24, 2010 at 4:56 AM

    so true,, very very true,
    but why is that? is it something they never learned of doing it ? or not learned, but gained the habit ? for me i consider it part of the personality, so i do these things all the time, i hold doors for other people, i say thank you for small details, and smile all the time " which is very rare these days, everybody seems in a bad mood all the time for a reason"
    anyway, thank you for lighting this interesting topic

    Maryam

     

    Unknown on March 1, 2010 at 7:37 AM

    Hello Ahmed ,
    My name is Shaimaa Khalil. I'm a journalist with the BBC World Service and I'm currently working on a project called Blogworld. Blogworld is part of the BBC's Superpower season. It's a look at how the internet-that is the superpower- has changed our lives. One of the aspects of that is of course blogging and this is where Blogworld comes in. We want to get in touch with bloggers in different parts of the world and find out what they blog about , what's important to them and how blogging has changed their lives personally and for their country. Please email me on
    shaimaa.khalil@bbc.co.uk for more details

    Thanks
    Shaima

     

    Bravecat on March 15, 2010 at 12:04 PM

    I dunno :) Whenever I held a door open for a Qatari guy, they always said thanks and were really nice about it :)

     

    Mr. Q on May 29, 2010 at 11:59 AM

    I'm tired of people not saying Thank You when I hold the door open.

    It's not like I've got an evil expression or something!

    People don't say thanks. I especially hate it when women covered up glide by like it was my JOB to hold the door open.

    If you're going to dress in an abaya, at least ACT like a good Muslim!

     

    Anonymous on September 14, 2010 at 4:17 AM

    Well Qatary girls are very reserved , and are not open to making new friends out of their circle or cousins ,
    i my self from england have alot of Qatary friends who are girls , and are so polite to me , but as soon as we step out to a mall they are not nice to any girl passing by them ,
    the girls are in compition with one an other , its all about who has the most money , who has the ost dignity,
    to them its not being rude , its just being defensive ,
    the girls are like that here , in order for them to survive they must be quite mean and ill mannered ,
    as you know Qataries are a very small number so ovcourse all the girls will want to be better than the others , so they have developed this sort of defensive mechanism not to be nice to anyone except from their circle of friends ,

    its normal , just get used to it , nothing will change :)

     

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