But this is irrelevant to the Public Servant that works there.

Astonishing, Seen nothing like this before, Everyone knows his/her Job so well, A smile on every face, A very polite gesture before and after every signature, and most importantly, in 10 minutes SHARP i got my “License to practice” renewed, 10 minutes exactly.

Absolutely everyone was very “friendly”, something you don’t expect from someone drowning in paperwork 24/7, the boss, even though busy with someone resolving a problem took the time out of whatever he was doing and signed my paper, With a smile.

You have to see ti to beleve it, but every smile there was sincere, the yellow smile you see at your local GSM carrier branch is not what i mean by a smile, the guys were smiling like they are enjoying there job.

Before leaving home, i was so troubled, its gonna take two days at least, boy was i wrong.

Jordan, you are really becoming the place to be, i got back to my car and turned on the radio, and some Jordanian Music talent (Hannah Gargour) was on the radio, technically perfect music (Not so original but the technical aspects of the music are done to perfection), this is the second guy to astonish me, right before him was someone just as good, Humam Ammary was his name i think, and the song was called lullaby, and it makes me think, ma… are we there yet.

Lately, EBay has been allowing Jordanian members to add items for auctioning, and for some reason it is not working for them !

Why is somewhat obvious, Very few people have a credit card.

So, let me tell you what me and Yousef Saudi have been planning, A website so people can buy things from others and sell there own stuff, with no middle man.

The idea is, you need to pay us nothing, You need not know who we are (We would like you to but you don’t need to), You do not need a credit card, All you need to do is go in, Post your stuff, Wait for people to contact you, Or if you see an item you like, you send the owner an Email, call the owner if his/her phone number is on the post, and there you have it.

Jordan is too compact for (Ship it to me), anyone’s location is as far as the post office, Deal direct is probably the best way given the geography.

So what do we get out of it ? Nothing, No seriously, we don’t want you to pay us anything!

Anyway, i will be developing the system in my spare time, it is already up on Deals Jordan

So, Why have we made it ?

1- It is the best way to trade online for a country like Jordan, or at least it has the most potential of becoming the most popular way

2- We know how to make it, we know how to promote it

3- Yousef has a brother (Abood) Who i’ve heard knows allot of people who can market the website.

4- Why not, it is after all a very good service, and it is free !

Anyway, i will keep you posted on what happens with the website, Take care for now.

It is silly when a simple ticket can be equal to the average monthly pay, it is even sillier when a serious one can be 5 times your pay, Simply put, our police feel that the punishment does not fit the crime, and before you criticize this statement, I do have evidence this is the case, READ ON and remember right and wrong are a relative thing, taking the law into the force’s own hands can be wrong, but in reality, what happens after issuing a ticket can affect a child’s school tuition, or even the quality of food.

*If you scroll down, you will find a table of penalties and a little comparison with the UK (Since the US does not have 1 law for traffic offenders)
Then comes the problem, Traffic Police do there best not to issue tickets, People break the law and it goes unpunished… and as usual there are victims, for example ME.

Right in front of my office, there is this big parking area, it can accommodate 2 rows of cars, but surely cars in the inner row will not be able to leave if someone is parked right behind them, and there is someone parked right behind your car every single minute of the day Ok, 95% of the Day, but i certainly never wanted to leave at day time and managed to do it in a timely manner (NEVER).

Some time around the evening, a police car comes and says (on the loudspeaker), People please move your cars, the ticket for this is 50JDs, please move your cars, So the people parked in the outer row rush to there cars and move them, but this police car is not always around to keep the area clean, and 5 minutes after the car leaves, the space would have been occupied again with a new second row of cars (And some of the old cars that have been waiting for the cops to go away). Notice that sometimes a car or two do not move, even those don’t get a ticket.

So, basically what happens is this, If i am in a hurry to meet a client at the office, and i park WHERE I SHOULD theoretically, i am sure to be stuck to the end of the day, 8PM for example, since i can’t just sit there and wait for the car behind me to move, even when i do, and when the driver of the car blocking my way comes, he apologizes, and voila, nothing you can do. You open your mouth, you could trigger a fight (Since your adrenalin is already pumping), and someone like me can not afford that week of daily visits to the police station, or as you can imagine Jail !

So, Dear members of our parliament, Please be kind and THINK before you make your Judgment and approve this stuff, I understand that many of you have not completed elementary school successfully, and some believe in capital punishment, and some think that if you make a mistake it is only fair that you starve, and i understand you got there because you have the most money (And money makes you look wise), but it is never too late, there are schools that can teach you the alphabets of common sense And how change can only be gradual. Next thing you know it, they will ban cigarettes and anyone smoking will do time, (Your addiction is none of our business).

NOTE: a statistical sample would show you that it is the money not the tribe (Family in arabic) is the one doing most damage, and if you take a closer look you will find that the members with higher qualifications are the ones elected by our (Modernized) tribes (I don’t support Tribal things, birth rights are something i hate, but no dount it is less harmfull that the all mighty Dinar) , and as usual money is the root of all evil.

Some famous quotes on democracy.

Democracy is a system ensuring that the people are governed no better than they deserve. (George Bernard Shaw)

Yes, my favorite

Democracy is the government of the people, by the people and for the people. (Abraham Lincoln)

You really think so or is this lip service again ? r u not the one that tried to color-code the slavery system ?

The strongest argument against democracy is a five minute discussion with the average voter. (Sir Winston Churchill)

Winston, How dare you.

Democracy is the worst form of government, except all the others that have been tried. (Sir Winston Churchill)

Very funny

Democracy is the best revenge. (Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto)

I would put it in a different way… it is the 70 JDs worth of misery, Yes the ones you took.

———————————————————————————————————

Before you get here, remember, this article is about my problem with people going unpunished for parking there cars behind me, it is the oral comments i have received that forced me to extend this to Fines, comparisons, democracy, and all that useless junk to prove my point, i hope you see what i mean after all of this

1- Our penalties

I got this table in an email and have not yet verified the accuracy.

Comparing to the UK.

in the UK, fines range between 50 Euros and 5000, they have a pointing system where you are disqualified from driving once you accumulate 12 points (So that’s where we got the pointing system)

So, let us take a look how our fines are in most cases higher than the UK, and we get paid much less for our valuable services.

It’s been almost a year since i have switched away from there, and i am glad i did, the bank is hell, they are kings at Lip service, they kept promising me to be able to use the internet with my USD account (Next week was still next week 8 months later), and i am pretty sure that after the 20 months they still do not have it…

In fact, while we participated in some Computer and IT expo in Jordan , The housing bank was a platinum sponsor, trying to give the impression they do I.T…. i met with Mr. Mxxxxxx Bxxxxxty (Segmentation Manager, Consumer Marketing) and another guy who claimed not to have any business cards on him (Sure, he was the IT manager and he knew nothing was coming, so he thought he’d spare himself the headache and not print any business cards all together).

The segmentation manager assured me i am a premium client (after asking about my account), The IT manager (Forgot the name) assured me that there system will be a hit, he gave me the impression that bank of America will soon be coming after them for that system….

Anyway, I also had a prepaid (debit) card from them, Some card you recharge with any amount and use on the internet, My cards number is almost on every subscription i have online (Since subscription websites save your CC number, i would rather use this one)

Anyway, My first prepaid card had my name WRONG, but it was pretty close to my name so i did not object, recharging it was hell, those days my account was at the housing bank and i had to stand in line (Even though i should have been a premium client), get the money, go pick up another ticket, deposit the money, then make 1001 phone calls to have it recharged.

The second was much worse, Yazeed Madaeen came out on the card as Farid Sail ! WTF.. so i called and asked them very politely to fix the error, they said the problem was at issuers.com, i called issuers through there VOIP line connected to Lebanon (079-5661100), and Lebanon said, this is what we got from your bank, i asked them to fix it, i actually spent the entire day calling this side and calling that side, and finally, some phone support girl gave me the bottom line, it can’t be fixed…

Having recharged it with 4000 USD i couldn’t just throw it away, So i accepted my new name, there is a similarity between Yazeed and Farid to tell you the truth, i actually think my new name is not so bad either

So, 4 days ago, i went once more the the housing bank of headaches and gave them 2000 USD, please recharge my card i said, oh it will be ready this evening is what they said, So, happy that i don’t have to visit 1000 websites and change my credit card number i went home…..

It has already been 4 days and as usual everyone is bullshitting me… the housing bank says We sent it same day, the Lebanese side says, we have not received ANY requests from the housing bank in the last 4 days !

I started writing this post while on hold with issuers.com’s phone support service, now it has already been 1 hour 16 minutes, i insisted to keep the phone open as long as it takes, and finally my phone said (Network error).

Anyway, whatever you do, STAY AWAY FROM THEM

*NOTE: A simple whois lookup for issuers.com comes up with

CreditCard Services Co. s.a.l.
150 Commodore Street, Hamra
Beirut 00000
LB

And that explains what (welcome to CLC is) when you dial the magical number, the lucky company has a zip code or postal code of 00000…., Iskan most probably has a GSM PCI card with 0795661100 connected via VOIP to CLC (Or a more primitive solution like Auto answering phone line with audio cables to the computer i wouldn’t be surprised and neither would you if you knew how bad the voice quality can get at times, very low volume and you have to BEG the guy/gal at the other end to raise his/her voice, but this was long ago when they used to answer).