The Dubai sub-section on Reddit pitched in to list off a number of things they’ve witnessed that brought around some degree of culture shock. Do you relate?

The UAE is a mish-mash of many different types of people, and many of us who moved here from our home countries will have experienced culture shock in one form or another.

The Dubai sub-section on forum website Reddit has had a discussion about just that. Some of these we totally relate to, while others seem to be a bit more of a pet peeve than anything else…

Have you got any to add? Let us know in the comments below or join the discussion on Reddit…

14 CULTURE SHOCK EXPERIENCES…

1. “Keep getting surprised by people wearing ski jackets, jumpers, heavy shirts... and flip flops in these cold days. Just want to tell them…that jacket is not doing anything if your feet are bare.” – LordShisha 

2. “Absence of punctuality as a concept.” – problem_me

3. “Being called MAMSIR.” – The_Wan

4. “The way men look after their appearance here. I am yet to find a barber in my country that can come close to the worst barber here. I will miss this so much when I leave but at first when I came here I was shocked when the dude started trimming my eyebrows and doing a beard line for me.” – Delta4

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5. “The casual use of deodorant. The whiffs that one can pick up on the metro or in a mall is at times intoxicating.” – iceman006

6. “Queue jumping. Happens everywhere, not just driving.” – 1Deerintheheadlights

7. “Drivers seeing turn signal as a sign of weakness, flashing lights while on the left lane and drivers not using their headlights while driving at night.” – djstorm1987.

dubai drivers

8. “People ending their email with: Please do the needful.” – zyxx91

9. “People answering their phones at the cinema.” – RedditAndy

10. “The greetings and closeness of relationships here. I am not a touchy feely person but the UAE has really taught me to be more comfortable with this. I have some clients now where we have a long time relationship and mutual respect. So shaking hands and lingering in the handshake for a minute or two afterwards is a genuine sign of respect. I really enjoy this now.” – Delta4

11. “Driving a long distance to attend a meeting that was scheduled one day in advance just to discover that they are not there. No calls or WhatsApp to say sorry.” – aouniat

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12. “Certain people thinking you don’t need to wear/have seat belts in the back seat of cars.” – UKinDXB

13. “It’s the pointless meetings that make me laugh, inviting 30 odd people who don’t even need to be in the meeting, travelling all the way to Abu Dhabi, for it to last about 20 minutes, all of which could be done over the phone between two people.” – Sandbyte

14. “Reckless driving (no right-lane oriented driving, speeding, tail-gating, no use of signals, etc.)” – RedditAndy

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Images: Getty