Fight over Parking Space

Blue moon
By Blue moon

Today we wanted to go Souq Waqif just to spend some time……mainly to see the new pet shop there….so as we reached the place, we were hunting for a parking space. People who have been there before know how hard it is to get a parking space. Takes a lot of time! Anyway, luckily we notice a man entering his pick-up and soon we signaled (as in let everyone around know that we found it first, so it’s us who will be occupying it next. That’s how it is right???) So my sis got down from the car as the space was very minimal so she wanted to make sure we park safe. We had ‘almost’ parked our car and from the other side there was this Nissan Patrol, AND it was an Emirati guy who got his car from Dubai (first thing I did was notice the number plate). He tried to take the space…we tried to explain him that we had signaled first and we almost parked so probably he should leave..but he was fighting over and wouldn’t leave…he started screaming and refused to move…He then was swearing at us?!!? What the BLOODY HECK! We just lost it that time. We called the cops and they just asked the guys to leave…(they spoke something in Arabic, which I dint understand). The cops there were being really nice. They told us just to go inside, enjoy ourselves and not to worry about it. What I felt bad was, they had no sense of behavior. What a cheap ass swears at ladies on Public?? We tried to chill later and just enjoy rest of the evening 
THANKS TO THE COPS FOR MAKING THINGS SO MUCH MORE EASIER!

Happy Ending! (for us :P)

By j3375• 28 Jun 2009 02:58
j3375

i hope ull njoyed the rest of the time and tried to forget the unpleasant incident as the guy was inconsiderate and was yellin too at ladies/fmly and the good cops did what was right..

By Happy Happy• 3 Mar 2009 00:52
Happy Happy

Yes, that's what I exactly said. I was noting there is an obvious change in behavior. I did not specify if the change was good or bad.

That's why I also talked about professional environment, only as an example.

By siddh• 3 Mar 2009 00:41
siddh

Salam Happyhappy....I thought you said that your western friends spend good amount of time to get back to their original habits, when they go back home. That was the message, or did I get it wrong?

By corcaoich• 3 Mar 2009 00:11
corcaoich

this is crazy, it is not generally dog eats dog in the west. Most people have a very well developed sense of right and wrong and will acceopt setbacks in life as inevitable if no bad intent is involved. There has been no culture of penalising people in the UK for wrong decisions, innocently made, until recently, and may it stop soon, there is no place for such an attitude in society, Seeking profit from others mistakes is most probably Haram.

By Happy Happy• 3 Mar 2009 00:06
Happy Happy

I don't need to ask westerners anything. Who said driving in other parts of the world is necessarily better then here?? Did you read it in my post, or you imagined it?!

And aren’t "westerns" like any other soul looking for a better life??

Oh by the way, they are flesh and blood, just like you and me.

Salam

By siddh• 3 Mar 2009 00:06
siddh

@

By corcaoich• 3 Mar 2009 00:00
corcaoich

what right has anybody to be better treated than anyone else, just by being born here as a Qatari?

Qatari or otherwise, it is a right that doesn't exist in international law. The sad thing is that Qatari's and most other nationalities living here are perfectly normal people with a keen sense of right and wrong, unfortunately this seems to disappear when it comes to driving. My saddest experience here was in puling out on the signal to Villagio, crossing Al waab St. someone going too fast scraped his wing against my bumper. When we went to the police I freely admitted my guilt. But because of his over effusive response to the police (calling the policemen sheikh desite warnings of mafi Sheikh by the officer) , he ended up being fined for the incident (which I paid for not wishing to deprive a poor person of his meagre earnings) Why should this be so?

By siddh• 3 Mar 2009 00:00
siddh

To HappyHappy - What yr friends have told about decent driving in 'West' is a fairy tale. I drive in US very often and find the driving pretty rude (compared to how we drive in Canada), lane change without signals is not unusual there. In case someone asks for specifics, it was on east cost mostly on I-92 and it's surroundings. Just ask the westerners why do they leave such wonderful life-style and go to middle-east to make a living?

To UKEngQatar - When you mention about those irritating Indian company drivers, who are on a mission to get bloody money for the relatives, just think twice....what about your purpose there? You also are there for quick bucks, right? They do it by a bit of rash driving and you do it by utilizing the racist culture over there (Westerners getting paid more than Asians just because they are Westerners). Is that a concept of the civilised world?

Apologies for being rude but just wanted to straighten some facts.

By Happy Happy• 2 Mar 2009 23:33
Happy Happy

My western friends (I hate these classifications of western, eastern, white, yellow and fuchsia thingy) but anyway, they go back home, after being in the Gulf for a while, needing to spend good amount og time to get back to their original habits.

Not only with driving, but at the professional level as well. The work environment here is relaxing and a bit sluggish compared to the fast world. Local client is much kinder and softer, in many ways, compared to teeth and claws in the other side of the world.

So, stop changing lanes without blinking at least…))

Salam

By qlql• 2 Mar 2009 22:00
qlql

clarified & agreed....

By GodFather.• 2 Mar 2009 21:54
GodFather.

Road rage ends up in around 100 deaths a year in the UK

-----------------

HE WHO DARES WINS

By dweller• 2 Mar 2009 21:50
dweller

a parking argument in Turkey close to where we live about 18 months ago. It was resolved with guns. Three dead in total.

At least he only swore at you.

By anonymous• 2 Mar 2009 21:50
anonymous

Oi! I'm blacker than the ace of spades and I'm European!

By GodFather.• 2 Mar 2009 21:49
GodFather.

look qlql..peopel from the sub continent are generally refered as Indians as most of them look alike. No one is saying that it a certain nationality. But 90% of the asians from the sub continent are from India o it is no problem in saying Indian. I most of the pakistani I think from tribals areas drive big trucks and private trucks not company, and bengalis most drive limouiosne taxis.. So I am correct to genralise about the bad pickup company drivers..

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HE WHO DARES WINS

By qlql• 2 Mar 2009 21:48
qlql

most are from the same continent...

By qlql• 2 Mar 2009 21:44
qlql

Pakistani etc... do not judge the book by its cover..

By anonymous• 2 Mar 2009 21:31
anonymous

No, not even the winding lanes did it...hand forever over the horn...effin and blinding.....roundabouts, driving into the middle and chancing it by an inch, saying 'shwai shwai' when they beeped then every expletive under the sun when they couldn't see (incase he got fined!).....nah..a real adventure!!lol

By GodFather.• 2 Mar 2009 21:26
GodFather.

did cumbria narrow winding lanes along the big lakes last year.. vow what a scenery.. at least calms you down..

Here they dont give a rats arse who is right or who wrong as long as the flying qatari in his flying Land cruiser gets his way, then after that are those irritating (no offence intended) Indain company drivers, who are on a mission to get bloody money for the realtives back home..Sorry for the harsh words but there are just lunatics these pickup drivers here. There are 100 times worser than the white van man back home..

-----------------

HE WHO DARES WINS

By GodFather.• 2 Mar 2009 21:22
GodFather.

happy happy .. I must confess I am one of then sometime. Then I realise man I am not a qatari or an indian driver so I start driving proprly again.

Last year during my trip back to the UK i was surprised how many people actually hoinked at me for changing lanes without signalling or over taking from the inside or try to push in. I nearly got beaten up one time for trying to overtake someone who were driving within the limit..

Anyway yes it does get to you.

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HE WHO DARES WINS

By anonymous• 2 Mar 2009 21:21
anonymous

Driving in the UK is quite sedate...my hubby learnt to drive over here then went home and he was a demon!!! every journey was an adventure!! Imagine, Qatari driving skills in sedate Cumbria!! Yikes!!

By Happy Happy• 2 Mar 2009 21:13
Happy Happy

Folks, have you also noticed, or is it just me?, that westerners (Non-Arabs) are now taking on these ugly driving and parking habits?

Cutting off, speeding, kids hopping in the car! Please don't tell me "when you're in Roma..", in Rome driving is hell on earth..:)

Safety is safety and manners are manners, right?

??

By GodFather.• 2 Mar 2009 21:08
GodFather.

Well in Dubai there is plenty of parking and you have to pay for it so one can always get a place sooner than here..

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HE WHO DARES WINS

By chadqa• 2 Mar 2009 21:05
chadqa

What do you expect from an emarati guy that for sure he is uneducated just look upon his behaviour right??? if the emarati is not like that for sure Dubai & the emirates will stay to its fame but unfortunately the limelights of dubai is nearly to end because of their attitude problem by all means!

By Sunshine5580• 2 Mar 2009 20:45
Sunshine5580

The problem in this incident was never about the parking space, but the fact that the guy started swearing. Being a guest in this country, he had no right to do tht. Guest or no guest - he generally didnt hav ny right to do tht. If he had asked us nicely - we would hav given them the parking space. But he didnt. we were willing to sit there all night n not move. visitors shud be told to respect the country they r in.the first thing we did after we came back is check the car thoroughly for ny scratches or bumps. i guess since we called the cops, they werent willing to take the risk of damaging our car n making it a criminal case. Sumone pls teach these ppl to give up their barbaric ways.

By karboghol• 28 Feb 2009 11:42
karboghol

People, please try to be calm while you are driving on the roads of Doha. This parking issue had several fights before in Doha and I heard people fought until they were bleeding completely.

One of the recent incident that happened in Doha in Nasiriya road was that 2 guys were fighting on the driving attitude on the road so they started racing and the other man was a captain in police. So he smashed his car with another's and that made him to the worst accident of life as when his car was turned to the opposite road and a bus crashed the boy's car into pieces.

May God help us all but the driving is getting really worse these days. I had the same problem of parking lot of times, but never bother myself with arguing with such animals whom don't have the manners in this world.

By Blue moon• 28 Feb 2009 11:36
Blue moon

Thanks copper, i did note down the number plate & it wasn't from here but from Dubai.

Nothing happened to my car yet.

By azilana7037• 28 Feb 2009 11:25
azilana7037

took us 15 minutes before we could find a parking space.

Now we know not to go there on weekends...lol

By copper• 28 Feb 2009 10:47
copper

After a "victory" over the parking space, it can still be too early to celebrate...watch out!!

RECENT INCIDENT:

One of my friends parked his car 50 meters away from his office as the office parking spaces were occupied.

Apparently, he had to go through a similar situation as Blue Moon did with a Lebanese guy[AM NOT BEING RACIST HERE.. :)].

To keep the story short; the Lebanese man gave a 'fair warning' to my unfortunate friend who 'won the fight' as he said "YOU WILL PAY"; but my friend walked away ignoring his comments!

RESULT:

My friend came back from office at 3:00pm to see all his tyres FLAT!!

So from now on, make sure you note the plate number of the car, if you "WIN THE FIGHT"...

Cheers

Copper

By baldrick2dogs• 28 Feb 2009 09:26
baldrick2dogs

There are 2 huge parking areas there. I've never had a problem parking there.

By andre_smarti12345• 28 Feb 2009 08:29
andre_smarti12345

u should jump on the parking in any place in doha whatever it happen so u dont give any chance 4 others 2 park ..

u should learn arabic as well ..

By anonymous• 28 Feb 2009 00:53
anonymous

My point was, there should be recognized parking areas and it should be controlled. Even if somebody has to pay 1 Riyal a day, surely it is better than this. Also the car parks would have attendants that help people.

I was at Villagio today, it was so busy, and the queues were terrible. There was a woman, she was determined to take a parking space, so she sat there and she sat there and she sat there. In the meantime, the men who had 'her' parking space tried to come out. Their logic being, if we come out she will get in.

However, there were spaces a few yards down from where she wanted to be and to be honest there was nowhere for these men to go to let her in. So we had the woman blocking, the person who was trying to help, was blocking. This made the situation worse.

I wound down my window and told the woman there was parking spaces elsewhere, she gave me the finger, and the blokes crashed their car.

Yet another wonderful day in Doha where logic is in the trash can.

By Happy Happy• 28 Feb 2009 00:30
Happy Happy

Parking hijacking and inconsiderate driving don't need exapts to sort them out! not even by Law, will driving manners be straightened out.

It's an attitude problem, just like queuing at the cashier...etc

Salam

By anonymous• 28 Feb 2009 00:25
anonymous

for somebody to sort out the parking over here. Why have the locals not employed somebody from abroad to sort it out? It is silly.

Glad all went with you and glad the Police were on your side.

By Happy Happy• 28 Feb 2009 00:23
Happy Happy

I'm glad the officers supported you. I hope this didn't overshadow your nice outing and that you've managed to enjoy it.

Salam

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