I was poking around trying to find an RTA website or the like outlining the documents needed to renew my licence, when I came across this page! http://www.dubaifaqs.com/wasta.php
very interesting...wasta is indeed a hard concept to explain as the people it is applied to and the ways it is applied varies amongst countries, and in my opinion it has a cultural attribute. In a way offering "wasta" is seen as a generous gesture, even on the simplest of matters.
The one time I used it and felt its strong impact was around 3 or so years ago in Syria when my sisters and I had to get our national IDs. They were introducing a new system of IDs at the time and it would normally take an average of 6 months to a year to receive it. We got it in 3 weeks, through wasta, as we were only there for the summer.
Zol I know you have plenty of stories to share on that field, especially as mentioned in the "driving experience"...please do mention some :)
1 comment:
This must have been what you were talking about when you mentioned you got your shisha here for free?
I really doubt there's any culture where this doesn't exist in some way, it's a very clear extension of our desire for social justice (even though it can oppose legal justice), our need to belong to a group, even our sense of empathy. And I think every person has their own concept of it, and, like you said, that changes from place to place.
I tried describing how it works in America but I can't... there are too many exceptions to any rule. I think it has the most effect for people who can brand themselves as highly respectable but I can't adequately say how that's achieved - there are many many ways.
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