Redefining First World Standards

Apologies for the long absence.  I would love to say that I’ve been busy enjoying the start of summer in Perth, lounging alongside the Indian Ocean with some good books and a Little Creatures Light Ale or Pipsqueak Cider (or two) in hand but alas I’ve just been busy with work.  This morning my trip to the bank to place a wire transfer has definitely jumpstarted me back into posting though because I have found something else to add to my list of things that Qatar is better than Australia at doing:

1.        Reasonably priced food and services.  I’ve gone from $27 pedicures at the Four Seasons in Doha to refusing to pay $60+ for no name hole in the wall salons in Perth.  Forget $25 entrees at Spice Market and $7 dinners at Thai Snack in Qatar because in Perth, Chinese takeaway will set you back $15 a person (excluding rice, an extra $5 per serving).  Slightly nicer but still casual restaurants in Perth will set you back a minimum of $25 per person excluding drinks for average food.

2.        Internet.  I could go on about this all day but I’ll stick to the basics of set-up and service.  Not only did ridiculously slow to get anything done Qtel in Qatar beat Perth’s Telestra at setting up my internet (about one month versus almost seven weeks) but my internet speed was significantly faster in Qatar versus Australia which you would think would be a more developed country.  Not only that, but after seven months of service, I finally got a correct bill from Telestra.  I only had one incorrect bill in Qatar.

3.        Mobile service.  In Qatar, I could be out in the absolute middle of the desert and still have full service on my phone.  Ok, perhaps my cell phone didn’t work well in my house, but all those concrete walls must have blocked the signal.  In Australia, we lose cell phone coverage all of the time, even in populated areas.

4.        I saved the best for last: banking services.  Today I went to place a wire transfer from my Australian bank to my bank in the U.S.  I arrived at my bank and was told that they couldn’t do it, unless I could figure out how to use their website to do the wire, since all the bank can do is use the same website I use at home.  After realizing that an international wire would actually require the bank employees to do some work, they then told me it was impossible (despite the fact they advertise forex on tv/internet quite heavily).  The coup de grace was when they suggested I go to Western Union if I wanted to send money overseas.  New item on my to do list: ‘find new bank.’

Australia, you might be absolutely gorgeous but your service sucks.  You might want to rethink your ‘fair go’ philosophy because it may be responsible for contributing to such crappy businesses and service industry employees that you don’t even compare to less developed countries like Qatar, in all of their frustrating bureaucratic glory.  I can’t wait to see how your economy does when there is a pull back in natural resources prices.  You export your raw materials, and import nearly all value added products despite your massive tariffs.  Isn’t that what a third world country is supposed to do?