Last night, I had an experience of standing in line for almost two hours to send money to the Philippines. Considering that all the remittance centers in Alkhobar are open (and there are around 10 to 15 centers scattered around the city) and most of them are open until 11:30pm, finding all of them full to the brim is not surprising. Today is the last day of Ramadhan and banks will be closed for five days (or even more). There will be an expected longer line of expatriates tonight.

This is what my post is about: the characters, overheard conversations and (wild, un-imaginative) thoughts that come when you're in queue that long.

Whenever I'm in line for two hours, the least I wanted to hear are obnoxious noises, i.e. very loud phone conversations, a loud-mouthed and irritant expatriate, two or more friends chatting with each other in their shrill voices while in line. It's like being in a wet market where all people talk at the same time. Last night, I fell in line between a loud Filipino and a glib-talking Indian. While the Filipino cussed and hissed and cursed, the Indian mindlessly chatted on the phone for I think the whole two hours (oh, sorry, he stopped for 10 minutes while fumbling for something in his pocket but commenced as soon as he found what he was looking for). The Filipino guy? I learned all about him during the time that I was on queue: his wife is a teacher, he works as an engineer, he has two grown kids, has two houses, goes on vacation twice every year. Uh, I overheard it while he was talking to his friend in front of him (who I haven't heard talk except for yes, oh? and more yes).

It was a grueling two hours for me.



How I wish people could just fall in line in yoga-like silence, just like when you're inside a high-brow theaterhouse that even a cough is muted. Just kidding. Just be quiet when you're in a line. Cough, chuckle, clear your throat, tap your feet, hum, tell a funny joke (once only to break my boredom) but please don't chat on the phone or endlessly talk to another person in line or loudly monologue about your life or endlessly tell funny jokes (that borders into being gross, naughty, un-nice and un-wise).

How I wish people would not cuss when they fall in a long line, no matter how long (or slow) the line is.

How I wish that remittance centers will open up an ATM-like facility that expatriates can use 24/7, with the following mechanics:

Expatriates can apply for an electronic card which will contain up to five beneficiaries (full details, account number, etc).
All we have to do is click the beneficiary number and the amount to be sent and voila!, it automatically goes to the beneficiary account in the Philippines.
Because the remittance card is linked to our Saudi bank account, whatever money we remitted will automatically be deducted from our account.
Service charge is minimal, like SAR 30 perhaps. That's the average amount that we pay for sending money to the Philippines.
No further bank deductions shall be made when our remittances reach the Philippines.

Oh, how I wish!



When we send to a bank that is unaffiliated to our remittance center, there is an additional bank transfer service amount deducted from our remittances. I wonder why banks have high service charges when in fact the money that we deposit to them -- whether it's savings or foreign currency account -- yield a very low interest yet they charge a very high borrowing interest. And then we hear banks closing down because of profit loss! Isn't it sad?

I'm not good at explaining banking economics. I don't even understand how it works. Economics-wise, the only thing I know is how I spent my earnings and what is the percentage of my savings versus my earnings and why I didn't meet my target savings this year and the year before, etc.

A good read I came across while doing this post is about our Philippine world ranking in doing business. It is actually a guide for foreign investors but would interest anyone who cares about how well (or bad) are we doing, business-wise.