Day 300 - Etisalat vs Alex

image of boxing by R Schofield, via Flickr.com

While he had heard no complaints about his work, Alex just didn't fit Etisalat's expectations of an expatriate employee's personal life. In August, when we arrived, Alex told his bosses - he had two - that he would need two weeks off the following May to attend our son's graduation from college. We both thought they had agreed, but as the date of our departure approached, someone in the Human Resources section of the company pointed out that Alex hadn't worked long enough for him to have earned a return trip to the U.S. Alex pointed out that he didn't need Etisalat to pay for his ticket home. He just needed the time off.

We traveled back to Minnesota and Alex returned two weeks later, a week ahead of me. He learned on his return that some in the company were still annoyed that he left before he had been with the company a year.

A few months later, Alex was experiencing severe pains that we thought were his heart. The two nurses at the embassy contacted the regional medical officer in Yemen and got approval for Alex to travel to London to see a specialist. Medical evacuation orders were issued from Washington and Alex flew off to find out what ailed him. It turned out to be gallstones which were removed and he returned to Abu Dhabi. (It was during that trip that Violet learned to share the kitchen with Fudge and Marmelade when our neighbor Ron, who fed the cats while we were away, refused to walk up the two flights of stairs to put her dish out for her. When we returned to the house, we found all three cats sitting side by side inside the door, waiting for us.)

This time there was a bit more debate about his trip. This time Human Resources considered Alex to have been AWOL because Etisalat hadn't approved his trip to London for medical treatment. They claimed he shouldn't have left Abu Dhabi until they determined if he could be treated in Abu Dhabi. The issue again seemed to be that treatment overseas normally involved the company paying for the ticket, which Alex did not need.

Alex decided not to push his luck any further. He had been offered a job with Lucent Technologies within a day or two of arriving in Abu Dhabi, but at that point he felt responsible to follow through on Etisalat's offer. A year later, Lucent was still in business in Abu Dhabi but they could make no offer so long as he was working for Etisalat. That just left the need for a letter of resignation to Etisalat. Had someone else from the U.S. or U.K. resigned, Etisalat would have canceled the work permit and issued a one-way ticket back to the employee's home. But that also wouldn't work for Alex since he had three passports, a British passport in addition to his U.S. tourist and diplomatic passports.

Once Alex resigned, Lucent offered him the job that involved liaison with the Brit who had been given the job Alex had expected. A few months later, his father died and we traveled to England for the funeral. Alex's boss with Lucent did not hesitate to let him have the time off for the trip.

What a difference. What a relief.