I've been living in Dubai for a while now, and there's something I've increasingly noticed that genuinely bothers me: the casual prejudice towards South Asians and how normalised it seems to have become.

Whether it's scrolling through TikTok and seeing some Arabs mock each other by calling someone "Indian," as though it's an insult, or witnessing subtle stereotypes in everyday interactions, it makes me wonder why certain nationalities are treated as inherently less sophisticated than others.

Today, I experienced something similar at Barry's, a well-known premium fitness studio. While a trainer was explaining how the workouts operate, he randomly asked where I was from. When I told him Pakistan, he responded with a smirk, "Your accent doesn't sound Pakistani."

I immediately called him out and asked whether he would make the same comment to a white European. He apologised, but only after I called him out.

What bothered me wasn't the question about my nationality. It was the assumption behind his reaction. What exactly is a Pakistani supposed to sound like, and why should my accent surprise anyone?

It also made me question something broader: Why are South Asian accents so frequently stereotyped or ridiculed, while British, Italian, Spanish or other accents are often perceived as charming or sophisticated?

Everyone has an accent. English isn't the first language of many Europeans or GCC nationals either, so why are South Asians so often singled out?

I genuinely wonder why, in a city built on diversity, we still struggle to treat that diversity with equal respect.

What do you think of the coming days here is gonna be like? How do you plan to survive while expenses are skyrocketing but income ain't?

Source: Reuters.

When did the price increase to 3 AED.

Things are getting so expensive, it’s becoming impossible to survive. Used to have it once in a while but looking at the prices it’s getting crazy.

I know a lot of people will say it’s just 1 AED, what’s the big deal. But these small numbers do add up.

Hey peeps!

I’m usually stressed out, and my coping mechanism is eating chips and stuff.

What do you guys do when you’re stressed? Give me some ideas because I can’t keep eating my way through life.

Yesterday, a Pakistani guy approached me in Meena Bazaar, asking to use my phone because he was lost and wanted to contact his friend. I refused, saying I wasn't comfortable sharing my number. He then asked for my hotspot, which I also declined.
Next, he asked for AED 1 to buy water. Feeling bad for him, I opened my wallet and gave him AED 5. He started praying for me, we shook hands, and I left.
Later, I discovered that the AED 500 note I had folded and kept inside my wallet was missing. I clearly remember having it, and I can't recall anything suspicious happening. I also felt there was enough distance between us for him not to reach my wallet.
I've replayed the whole encounter in my head, but | still can't figure out what happened.
Has anyone experienced something similar in Dubai?
Could this have been a distraction scam, or did I simply misplace the note?

I am looking to buy good quality honey that is natural and not sweetened directly or indirectly. I would prefer it to be from smaller farms rather than large chains/names. I don’t mind sourcing it from outside. Any suggestions?

Bro, I just wanted to open a tiny battery pack, not unlock a secret military weapon. 😭

This packaging is tougher than a bank vault. I tried my nails, scissors, and every tool available, and this thing still refuses to surrender.

At this point, even Hulk would be standing there confused, looking at his hands and asking, “HULK SMASH… BUT HOW OPEN?” 💀

WHY DOES A BATTERY NEED MORE SECURITY THAN A NUCLEAR LAUNCH CODE? 😂

I swear, the battery will probably die of old age before I manage to get it out.

Has anyone else fought a battery package and lost their dignity in the process? 🤣

Im 21F Expat sponsored by my father's visa. He's threatening/abusing and forcing me for marriage & not letting me study or even do a job. He's scared that if i do a job then I'll change my sponsor and he'll lose his controls.

So basically now i want to leave my home and go somewhere rent a partition and also cancel this visa so that in the grace period i can get a job.

He'll not letme do all this so can i complain to police or get their help? Can i take protection from police when I'll leave the home? Will they help in cancelling this visa?

Please give me advice.

Has anyone ever used pet insurance in the uae? And is it worth getting?

Hello everyone, can you advise which website i can go to for US visa appointments?

so basically i have got a new job in interior sales department and its my first time working in this field , i really dont know what to do , cause i have tried almost everything and have not gotten any response at all , im really stressed as i have to get some projects in or else ill loose my job which i got after being unemployed for 5 months , anyone here can give me any advice related to this , im not asking for job or money , i need advice from professionals

Dear Gymnation,

Thank you for all the support that you have shown towards my subscription of your membership. I am not justifying my action here but there has to be some rules and laws to protect the users right ? While joining i was offered a package to good to be true and I simply put my apple pay. Due to some reasons I had to shift to a much more farther location but still I was paying because the amount was not that big but after 3 months suddenly the fees doubled. I was still paying again but I tried to cancel and everytime they asked me to pay the upcoming month then some weird account team will contact me for my cancellation and they would ask 100s of questions along with justifications. Fast forward to 9 months of payments I cancelled my card because I lost my job due to war situations and could not afford another extra dime. Explained the situation to gymnation team again and same robotic answer pay the upcoming month then we will transfer to cancellation team. OK another 2 month paid. So now its 11 months paid out of 12 months contract and mind you I have used their facility only for 2 months and since I did not read the offer conditions I am paying extra for last 8 months. Since offer was valid for only 3 months.

Now my message to gymnation i will not pay the last month and never going to cancel my membership please continue to charge me until I am alive and if ever you decide to goto court because I am seriously not afraid of your internal threats, lets fight this in court of law. And I will make sure you loose not the case but definitely your reputation as a subscription based provider in UAE.

With wars, global uncertainty, inflation, expensive living costs, and growing competition, I sometimes wonder how an ordinary person can get ahead today.
If you’re in your 20s, entering professional life with no family wealth, no connections, and very little savings, do you feel you still have a fair chance of becoming rich?
Living in a place like Dubai, you see wealthy people everywhere, and it can seem like money makes almost everything easier for them, while others work hard just to survive.
Do you think hard work and smart decisions are still enough to build wealth from nothing, or does your starting point matter more than ever?

Living here in UAE since 3 years. Hairs loss doesn’t seem to improve. Only going worse day to day.

Indian Expat here. People, what do you do to stop the hair loss and grow them again?

Need some cost effective methods, techniques to implement in day to day life

Age 37

TIA

Hi fam,

My wife is onto something and needs some first hand data for a research. Basic questions and will take about a minute.

Appreciate it if you could fill this anonymous survey🙏

https://forms.gle/p4x9g8ucxeUCeP9v6

Cheers

So I’m curious, how’s it been for my Lebanese fellows?

I work at a company based in the UK, I am based in Lebanon, and I manage clients in the UAE.

I have applied for a tourist visa multiple times to the UAE with the intent to:

1. Visit the many friends I have living there
   
2. Connect with my clients who.. love me :)

I’ve lost count but I can safely say I’ve gotten rejected over 8 times now, with the last one being today (I waited 5 months since my last rejection but nothing changed).

What exactly is it that UAE is worried about? Especially when they should know I’m happy in my home country and have no bad intent, assuming they have all the data they need. I’m going, coming back, and life goes on.

It’s not the worst thing to happen in the world, but would have been nice to be able to visit the UAE and meet the people I want to meet and then come back to Lebanon, my home country.

Anyone here shares a similar story? And anything you were able to do that helped you?

Hi all, quick question for anyone running a sales or booking team (real estate, clinics, car rental, call centres, etc.).

I'm a developer in the UAE and I keep hearing the same problem from owners: agents take dozens of calls a day, leads get forgotten, follow-ups are missed, and the owner has no idea what was actually said unless they listen to recordings (which nobody has time for).

I'm thinking of building something simple:

- Records calls from the phones your team already uses (no new phone system)

- Gives a short Arabic/English summary of each call: what the customer wants, budget, next step

- Flags hot leads and missed follow-ups

- Sends the owner a daily WhatsApp report per agent

- Provide a custom dashboard with whichever different analytics they would want

- Summarize in a way that it is easy to flag by AI and show for something that owner might wanna review ?

Before I build anything, I'd love honest answers:

1. How do you handle this today? Do you record calls at all?
2. Is this a real problem for you, or is it fine as it is?
3. If you already use a tool (CallGear, Maqsam, CRM call logging, etc.), what do you like or hate about it?
4. Would you pay for something like this? Roughly what per agent per month would feel fair?
5. Any concerns, e.g. privacy, customer consent, staff pushback?

Not selling anything here, no links. Just trying to find out if this is worth building. Brutal feedback welcome.

I’m a Business Consultant at a Big 4 firm with more than 5 years of experience across Sales, GTM, Planning & Strategy, currently working on IVA implementation and performance optimization.

I have some bandwidth during the week and am looking to work with early-stage startups that could use support in areas like GTM strategy, business planning, operations, or performance improvement.

If you’re building a startup and need an extra pair of hands to solve business problems or get things moving, feel free to reach out. Happy to help where I can. Feel free to drop your email in the comment section.