i try to copy paste again one good response from Gulf-times report of Family day..The author's argument is great!!!
I just cannot understand the logic behind the ‘family day’ policy imposed by certain malls.
First, Qatar is a society trying to be modern without leaving its cultural blueprint behind. I don’t see anything anti-cultural in malls allowing all demographics to shop or just wander around their premises all days of the week.
If crowds can mingle without any problem in the malls on Saturday to Thursday, why can’t they do that on a Friday?
It is understandable that some sectors of this society want to maintain a certain amount of ‘privacy’ or ‘exclusivity’ on a certain day. But Friday? It is when all people are usually off their works, and so this is the only day when bachelors, especially those who come from as far as Dukhan and Ras Laffan, can afford to enjoy the pastime called ‘malling’. That is why it’s called a regular holiday!
Especially now that there is a summer festival - which is actually a huge bore for they have shown nothing but the same stuff for the past years, but that’s another story - going on, it is quite disappointing and puzzling to see bachelors getting shunned by the security guards from entering the malls. Don’t they have the right to enjoy these ‘festivities’?
Second, malls are there for business. Merchants rent shops in the malls for profit. Cinemas are there for profit. Restaurants are there for profit. It doesn’t require a Harvard business school-trained mind to realise that bachelors are also customers who could invigorate these businesses, and hence provide more profits!
Managers who design and implement policies that are meant to minimise rather than optimise profits are simply not thinking progressively and wisely. They should know that whether a bachelor belongs in the high-income or low-income group, he still needs to buy groceries; he will still buy clothes and shoes and other stuff that are within his budget; he will still be hungry no matter what and spend some money for snacks; and hence dismissing him is dismissing a business opportunity.
I always thought, whenever I see the ‘family day’ only signs on malls, that if I were a merchant renting a store inside the mall, I would lead a protest with my co-merchants against this family day policy because it surely has an effect on my profit.
Third, Qatar is promoting tourism. What if a male tourist is rightly barred from entering a today-is-for-family-only mall by a security guard who is disposing of his duties diligently? Where is the Arabian hospitality Qatar is known for that Qatar frequently uses to woo tourists?
If you were a traveller who spent dearly to experience the wonders Qatar supposedly offers, wouldn’t you wish you had travelled elsewhere if this is how you’re treated in a public place?
At any rate, that male tourist will only be lucky to explore the mall if the guard discriminates, or is asked to do so by his supervisors or the mall management, between the ‘affluent, well-dressed’ Arab or Western male and the ‘dirty, blue-collared’ expatriate.
Which brings me to last, but not the least, point: this family day policy is not strictly implemented. While the obviously blue-collared expatriate workers are being barred, local and Western males get to enter the malls without any problem at all, as if no such policy is in place. I personally witnessed this last Friday when I went to City Center. I was extremely glad that the same observation/conclusion has been reported in a report in your paper on the Sunday that followed.
Unless we want to throw logical thinking altogether in a world that needs it most, the Friday-for-Family policy in certain malls should be junked.
i try to copy paste again one good response from Gulf-times report of Family day..The author's argument is great!!!
I just cannot understand the logic behind the ‘family day’ policy imposed by certain malls.
First, Qatar is a society trying to be modern without leaving its cultural blueprint behind. I don’t see anything anti-cultural in malls allowing all demographics to shop or just wander around their premises all days of the week.
If crowds can mingle without any problem in the malls on Saturday to Thursday, why can’t they do that on a Friday?
It is understandable that some sectors of this society want to maintain a certain amount of ‘privacy’ or ‘exclusivity’ on a certain day. But Friday? It is when all people are usually off their works, and so this is the only day when bachelors, especially those who come from as far as Dukhan and Ras Laffan, can afford to enjoy the pastime called ‘malling’. That is why it’s called a regular holiday!
Especially now that there is a summer festival - which is actually a huge bore for they have shown nothing but the same stuff for the past years, but that’s another story - going on, it is quite disappointing and puzzling to see bachelors getting shunned by the security guards from entering the malls. Don’t they have the right to enjoy these ‘festivities’?
Second, malls are there for business. Merchants rent shops in the malls for profit. Cinemas are there for profit. Restaurants are there for profit. It doesn’t require a Harvard business school-trained mind to realise that bachelors are also customers who could invigorate these businesses, and hence provide more profits!
Managers who design and implement policies that are meant to minimise rather than optimise profits are simply not thinking progressively and wisely. They should know that whether a bachelor belongs in the high-income or low-income group, he still needs to buy groceries; he will still buy clothes and shoes and other stuff that are within his budget; he will still be hungry no matter what and spend some money for snacks; and hence dismissing him is dismissing a business opportunity.
I always thought, whenever I see the ‘family day’ only signs on malls, that if I were a merchant renting a store inside the mall, I would lead a protest with my co-merchants against this family day policy because it surely has an effect on my profit.
Third, Qatar is promoting tourism. What if a male tourist is rightly barred from entering a today-is-for-family-only mall by a security guard who is disposing of his duties diligently? Where is the Arabian hospitality Qatar is known for that Qatar frequently uses to woo tourists?
If you were a traveller who spent dearly to experience the wonders Qatar supposedly offers, wouldn’t you wish you had travelled elsewhere if this is how you’re treated in a public place?
At any rate, that male tourist will only be lucky to explore the mall if the guard discriminates, or is asked to do so by his supervisors or the mall management, between the ‘affluent, well-dressed’ Arab or Western male and the ‘dirty, blue-collared’ expatriate.
Which brings me to last, but not the least, point: this family day policy is not strictly implemented. While the obviously blue-collared expatriate workers are being barred, local and Western males get to enter the malls without any problem at all, as if no such policy is in place. I personally witnessed this last Friday when I went to City Center. I was extremely glad that the same observation/conclusion has been reported in a report in your paper on the Sunday that followed.
Unless we want to throw logical thinking altogether in a world that needs it most, the Friday-for-Family policy in certain malls should be junked.