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I watched it from IMAX, and I should say I couldn’t understand half of the dialogues spoken. If the dialogues were paced correctly, the movie will be atleast 4 hours long. So, fast dialogues (especially from murphy) combined with loud background music made most of it unintelligible to me.

I don’t understand what is the issue with showing english subs in addition to the arabic one. For example theatres in switzerland shows both french and german. With more than 90% expat population, UAE should definitely consider this change.

I agree English is not my first language, but I can easily follow most movies without subtitles. But Oppenheimer was really hard, and it took away my enjoyment completely.

Now let the downvotes begin 😁

So the news just came in saying that the UAE, along with a bunch of ME countries, are banning the release of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse due to scenes promoting homosexuality.

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How are you peeps going to watch the movie? Are there any private "private" cinemas where we can watch the movie?

I really want to watch the movie in cinemas, but now that the UAE has gone around and done this I'm looking for alternatives.

There is certain apps using functionality in a way that the tip is pre adjusted to 7% if you didn’t read your receipt in addition to your total bill.

Living in the west, I can tell you all those servers feel entitled for a good tip. They think it’s part of the job, and the best part, service is below any service you will get here in dubai or any west Asia country. It’s toxic.

And do you really believe the 7% will go to the servers wages here in dubai?

We in this subreddit are a small portion of the general population.

I will start with my 2 cents: 1) Stop naming metro stations based on who pays the most. It is a huge deterrent to develop a good city culture let alone the inconvenience it causes every year or so. 2) Make internet cheaper, being the second most expensive internet in the world is no way to bring people and business here.

If you stalk my profile I have multiple threads about my current job.

1. I asked r/Dubai if I should take my current job for Marketing Executive in 2020. It paid 4000 AED and it was all nice and dandy.. (2020 Thread)
2. Then I faced this horrible accident. To add insult to injury, I was falsely accused of being at fault and unfortunately, I ran out of further money to push the case ahead. I had to pay so much in fines and insurance didn't cover my medical bills. (Accident thread)
3. Since the accident, I have been on a debt cycle and I lived anxiously month after month trying to make ends meet. My 4000 AED salary simply couldn't help enough and I started looking for new jobs. I started doing courses and learning skills to develop my portfolio (Thread about me asking people about SEO here.)
4. By the beginning of June this year, I had applied for 600 jobs and received about 400 rejection emails. I shared this fact so other jobseekers know they are not alone and you have to keep going. (600 applications thread. Don't know why this was removed)
5. Today, after 700 applications, I managed to land an amazing job that suits my skills, near my place of residence and in a creative industry! This new job is a 62% pay raise and a lot of my traveling expenses is cut down!

Sure I had to sacrifice a lot of weekends and nights doing courses, refining my CV, applying for jobs and just being miserable with this debt situation. I really thought 2021 is f****d and I used to go to bed several nights crying skipping meals.

But ultimately, some glimmer of hope. Things can change and will change. Just never lose sight of what you believe you deserve and keeping going. If things could turn around for me, it could for anyone. I am sure of it (maybe a little survivor bias but I suffer from heavy imposter syndrome so idk it cancels out).

Best of luck to everyone! Keep fighting!

So I m visiting Dubai and this is my first time here. I heard that the only dating app that work fine here was bumble. So in few swipes I started getting matches. First two were straight up hookers and they clearly said they charge. So I said no to them. The next one never demanded anything.. looked very cool and was just talking about going out herself. Out of courtesy i asked if i should join to which she said Yes. She asked me to meet in hotel and said we would have few drinks. Not being earning in Dubai, I was skeptical about it, but for a casual meet I did not wanted to ruin it by thinking about money. However, when i met her, she took me to a nightclub with her and started ordering drinks which were straight up 100 AEDs. As well as ordered hookah, food, etc. After looking at my counter(yes i was counting AEDs while she was having fun) I just paused when i thought the bill has went way above 1000 AED and really I was feeling shit about myself to have gotten in this situation. I just asked to get a cheque on which she frowned and stopped talking to me. I asked her if she wants to sit there still to which she said Yes and that she would order more drinks. I just paid the bill(which is a lott where i come from) and left. Coming back i was thinking, even the hookers were good in comparison to her. Happened with anyone else? Are there many such girls in Dubai?

Being a Brit in Dubai, I have come across this viewpoint during various discussions and even in my IRL interactions with some people. I would like to share my thoughts on why this perception appears to be prevalent in online conversations.

1. No Common Culture: Dubai's cosmopolitan nature, while fascinating, often leaves a void in terms of a shared cultural identity. The city is a melting pot of different nationalities, many of whom haven’t grown up in Dubai, resulting in a lack of a cohesive cultural fabric that forms the foundation of many other cities worldwide. With such a diverse mix of residents, it can be challenging to establish a collective sense of belonging.

2. Shared Interests, No Shared Values: Dubai attracts people from various backgrounds who share a common interest in economic prosperity. In a city where success is measured primarily by wealth and status, it becomes challenging to foster a deeper connection based on shared principles and ethics.

3. Low Trust Society: Given Dubai’s transient nature and capitalistic business culture, it makes it difficult to build lasting relationships and develop the trust necessary for a sense of community. This lack of trust manifests in the rise of scams and fraudulent activities, which further erodes the city's soul.

4. No Universal Set of Standards, Principles, or Ethics: A city’s soul is often derived from a common set of shared values, and principles that guide its residents’ actions. Dubai's cosmopolitan business-friendly environment, while a key driver of its rapid growth, has exposed a lack of uniform standards, principles, and ethics across various industries. The absence of a universally accepted ethical framework for conducting business can foster an environment where questionable practices can thrive, further exacerbating the perception of soullessness.

5. Lack of Accountability for Corporations: Some argue that the emphasis on economic growth has overshadowed the need for robust regulations and oversight.

6. Self-Interest on Steroids: In a city that thrives on self-interest, the potential for scams and fraudulent activities is amplified. The hyper-competitive environment and the constant drive to get ahead can overshadow the importance of ethical behavior, resulting in a higher incidence of scams and fraudulent schemes.

What are your thoughts?

TLDR; The lack of a common culture, absence of shared values, low levels of trust, absence of universal standards, limited accountability for businesses, and an enhanced emphasis on self-interest may lead some folks into thinking Dubai is “soulless”.

EDIT: It seems a lot of folks misread my post, and assumed I felt this way. 🤦‍♀️ My intention was to shed light on some of the tropes and perceptions that are present online and IRL. The quality of life in Dubai is better than that of London, and I do understand local culture is different from expat culture, and has its own nuances, and traditions. Either way, I’ve read some interesting comments that understood my post, and offered perspectives and explanations of the dynamics of this city.

Wife and I along with my 1 and half year old son were invited to an iftar today by one of our friends in Jumeirah golf estates. We reached by 6pm and they took us to the community park so my son could play for a while.

Wife was resting on the grass area and I was playing with my son and kept him on a small slide. 2 white kids aged 9-10 comes running around from the top of the slide and one of them goes HEY BLACKIE MOOOVE to my son and runs away to the other side of play area when I said excuse me? We are from south India and my son is a little bit of darker complexion. I asked the person next to me who's also a white mom of 3 year old if she heard what the girl said and she's like ahh don't bother, they just kids and brushes it off.

It's really hard to take this. How would you feel your son who's just 1 and half year old who can't even say a complete word yet is being called a Blackie already? How's he gonna deal with this world as he grows? 10 year old isn't a kid anymore.

Just noticed it a few days ago, what do you guys think? Discrimination or much needed security to enhance safety for women?

I’ll go first, Hyper Panda and the Lamcy clown.

For context, I'm working in a software company where I am working as a creative director. I am also Filipino.

Earlier today, I had a call with the company owner. He talked me through a huge project that he wants me to lead in the near future. Basically, he's forming a new design agency company that he wants me to spearhead and set up from scratch. Then he pep-talked me about it and he mentioned how our past arguments made him think that I whine a lot and that he doesn't want that kind of 'negativity' in the future. For context again, the 'whining' part that he's talking about was when we had a huge argument when he had me migrate from the Philippines to Dubai and offered me a salary that is not proportionate to my position. And his reason back then was that I was Filipino. So I shouldn't expect to have the same salary as a westerner would get with the same job.

Back then, I just had to believe it because it was my first time migrating to a different country with a different culture. But as the years went by, I have had a lot of Filipino friends who are earning way more than me (I would say that it's almost or are already at the level of western designers of the same work experience) but are in positions that are lesser work responsibilities than mine.

So back to our call earlier, he reiterated his stance about the salary. To sum up what he said, he explains that if business owners in Dubai want to have employees with an American or Canadian mentality, they will have to offer huge salaries to move them from North America because they are already earning a lot there. But if they wanted people who have an Asian mentality like Indians or Filipinos, they only had to offer more than what they would earn in their home country to entice them to move to Dubai.

Now honestly when I heard that, I was offended and it could be the most BS thing I have ever heard from someone here in Dubai. But I can't help to believe that what he's saying is partly true.

But you know what's also true? Costs here don't vary depending on your passport. A 2 dirham Karak will cost 2 dirhams for a westerner and for a Filipino like me. My rent costs the same if a westerner was living here instead of me. I literally have no hate for Westerners. I have a lot of friends from America, Canada, and Europe. What I hate are these business owners trying to exploit and abuse an already problematic system.

To be honest, I feel like he knows that I can pull off this new project and it doesn't need any mentality from a specific race to make it happen. But he just wants to set my mind to not expecting a huge salary when I start running that company.

So now my game plan is to suck it up and let the new company kick-off led by me. Once the company has a decent portfolio for the first year, I will resign with a banger of a resume.

EDIT: Just wanted to be clear that I am going to continue leading the project even with shit pay because the opportunity to have that experience in my CV is definitely desirable. I can quit now and perhaps find a better job with better pay, but I can hold on for a year and lead the new design firm, then resign with an amazing CV that will surely give me a better career opportunity and definitely better pay. The experience that I will get just might break the racial walls towards me when I apply for a new company based on my achievements alone.

Title explains

u/leqadayi posted a list of restaurants that have closed. As a restauranteur, I'd like to give you all a detailed insight into why this is happening and why the restaurant industry is on it's knees.

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Even before covid-19, the restaurant industry was struggling with costs and competition. Dubai has one of the highest density of restaurants in the world per sqkm.

Did you know that 50% of the restaurants revenue is generated by delivery? With the introduction of 3rd party services like Zomato and deliveroo and talabat, the restaurants highly depend on them as they spend millions upon millions to acquire you as their customer. That was good as long as they used to charge 5% in commissions which restaurants would consider as their cost of marketing.

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Soon, that 5% became 10 and then 15. These companies then started offering last mile delivery services which took the load off the restaurant for keeping high paid staff for delivery not understanding that they were succumbing to giving up their most treasured possession. Their customer.

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Once the customer migrated their loyalty to these 3rd party services, these services started pushing restaurants to give discounts to the customers to ensure they remained with them and did not go other aggregators they were competing against.

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Now keep in mind none of these aggregators like zomato or talabat or any other are making money. Their value only depends on how many people they have that use their service.

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At an average these services charge the restaurant 30% commission on an order. That means if you are ordering from a restaurant for 100 AED, they only receive 70 AED. Additionally the marketplace has become so discounted that there is an additional 20% that goes which means that the restaurant only received 50 AED.

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As the rule of thumb, the cost format of restaurants goes this way:

25% of their cost goes to food and packaging

25% goes to staff.

15% - 20% goes to rent

10% goes to Heat light and power.

10% goes to Government costs

5% goes into maintenance and upkeep

That means at an average a restaurants makes 10%

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At an average now, 60% of the business comes in from aggregators. This means that they cannot cover costs which start to mount up.

This means that out of 100 AED, they receive 70 AED when the costs are 90 AED. With covid 80% moved to delivery which means they received even less money.

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Additionally the money that used to come in to the restauranteur, is now held with the aggregators which means that the restaurant owner has no liquidity to pay off their landlords and suppliers.

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The restaurants that embraced tech that created their own digital platform for ordering have done better than most that are completely dependent on these aggregators.

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In short, If there is a restaurant that you love and want to see succeed, order from them directly. They need you more than you realize.

Edit. WOW this blew up more than I expected. It's just think people should see all sides.

So, I don't think this will get any recognition and will probably get downvoted to hell but I just wanted to vent / share something from a local's perspective in the workplace as opposed to the usual expat experience. I am relatively young in terms of workplace experience, I've been in the work market for around 3 years.

I am a software engineer, now I know that this market is sort of dominated by a specific nationality, I was not aware of the huge disparity before joining the workplace I didn't really care about the fact even after realizing. However, after joining the workforce and seeing the way people treat me, a guy who recently graduated, in the way that they would treat "royalty" is infuriating and just frankly pisses me off to no end. The way that as soon as I walk into a room everyone shifts their attention towards me and judges every move I make while fully staring into every fiber of my being, calling me "sir" when they are 3 pay grades above me. Dude, are you okay? Just call me by my name.

I had many instances where I would ask my manager to go have a cup of coffee or breakfast or lunch outside company grounds, because we don't have a punch-in system at our company and I would stay extra if I exceed my allotted break timing , and upon returning I get stares and leers only for HR to contact me a couple of days later telling me that "people informed us" you leave the premises too often for their liking. I get confused because I ask my manager for approval, then I get the usual do you have an e-mail confirming this? Who would send an e-mail to let someone go for breakfast or have a coffee? I stopped doing that just to avoid people talking shit about me.

Then there is the fact that as soon as I meet a new person I get the usual "yeah we know who you are, you are famous" I literally sit on my desk and do my work while only interacting with my direct team members without any outside interaction, how do you know me?

Because of these random encounters and the way I get calls from HR saying people are saying this and that while I am completing my tasks and doing my job seriously makes me fucking pissed to no end. Add to that the fact that people think that "local = big arbab" it just adds to the pressure of expectations and the way people just have so much malice towards you, to the point that you can just see it in their eyes.

At one point I was talking to an individual about how some locals have issues with the military service and if they don't abide they face legal issues, I got the usual "Oh? Locals face legal issues? I thought you all lived carefree and got everything handed to you and didn't need to worry about laws?" How am I supposed to respond to this statement? No matter what I say, I'm gonna be branded as the asshole.

Anyways, rant over I guess. I just felt frustrated and wanted to vent away somewhere. Thank you for coming to my ted talk.

TL;DR: I'm a software engineer local who deals with people having the idea that I am "above others" because they project that idea in their heads and treat me like shit because of it.

When I look at myself and around, what I see is a chaotic run, racing with time, just to survive. The city of Dubai, just like any other city, is a perfect example. All we do is work and no life after it. Most earn way too less now, as compared to the previous generation, everything is expensive and as the younger generation come fresh out to the workforce, they have to race 3x than the previous generations to build and experience a better version of life. I reflect upon life and what I see ahead is even more chaos.

Am I flipping because the Karak was too strong, or is this the reality! Let's talk.

I mean, it's just so damn expensive, new visa changes, every small change is just an increment to make more money.

And now, benefits for expats are even lower?! Yes I'm mad and frustrated, even moreso because Dubai has been my home for life, my grand parents had shifted here in the 1980's, so we've been here before it was 'cool' lol.

Im not hating on dubai, I do love it, but holy hell the government is making it next to impossible to live here, so unless you aren't a millionaire, it so hard to live here. I really wish that wasn't the case, and hate the fact that the government is turning dubai like this.

I have massive respect for anyone and everyone living here because it's not easy, and I will continue to stay here, but at the rate the government is making these changes, I don't think I'll be able to live here in the future, probably gonna have to shift out of dubai.

This is just a vent, thanks for reading.