‘Look, you don’t actually have to speak, you know. They’re there to talk about themselves and won’t listen to a word you say anyway.’
Sherry Lee and I were having coffeee at an uninteresting café in Saudi Arabia, in the town of Buraidah, in the isolated region of Qassim, known (to few) for its camel market and dates.
The end of the month was arriving fast and Sherry Lee was short of cash.
‘I’ve been doing it since I got here. But only at the end of the month, though, when I want a bit of fine dining and I’m low on the bucks’.
Sherry Lee was quick-witted and entertaining, not too great in the looks department, and enjoyed a certain cachet – or renown at least – in expat teaching circles throughout Saudi Arabia because she’d once been driven into such a tantrum by the students that she’d grabbed a girl’s phone from her desk and smashed it to pieces on the classroom floor.
This had caused great hilarity and feigned outrage from the students, of course, and Sherry Lee was sacked on the spot and ushered onto the next plane out of the country….only to briefly dust herself down back in the States, find another job in another town in Saudi and start afresh a few months later.
So we were having coffee in that ‘other town’, Buraidah, and Sherry Lee was trying to persuade me to join her in her latest scheme, which was going onto some kind of dating site ( at that time forbidden in the kingdom), hounding out an unwitting Saudi guy who was lonely and keen to speak English, and getting a free meal in a fancy restaurant as the reward.
‘Aw c’mon. Women- and men too – do this all the time all over the world ! It’ll be much more fun if there’s four of us. A double date. Awesome ! You don’t have to put on the slap, just try to be kinda nice, and interested in their jobs or whatever it is they’re talking about.’
I quite liked Sherry Lee, but not this side of her, which to me seemed merciless and cynical.
‘Think about it, hon – it’s a win-win. The guy gets someone to listen to him, and to speak English, and you get the fine dining. They’ve got fresh salmon at that new place downtown! Yay !’
Needless to say I did not join her on her little monthly dinner dates, maybe not due to any moral high ground posturing, but more because I knew I couldn’t sit through an entire evening listening to anyone talking about their job, no matter how fine the dining, or how attractive the companion.
I must admit though, that I found Sherry Lee’s crafty inventiveness quite fascinating, even though it was cruel.
Saudi Arabia was full of stories like this.
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Out There & In Here 