Friday, September 26, 2008

Release the Bleach!

This is insane. There is no bleach at our Commissary. There hasn't been any for the entire three weeks we've been back from the States. It has been ordered but it has been "held up." Held up, where? Customs, maybe?!? Just an educated guess. Great. And, now, customs will find out that it is me that wants/needs bleach and we will never have it availed to us again. It will be held forever and put in the black hole of storage facilities right next to the cases of canned potatoes, Velveeta cheese and crab meat. I can just picture some lowly little customs worker having this conversation with some self-appointed pompous overpaid customs official:

LLW [Lowly Little Worker]: We have inspected and tested the contents of the Clorox bottles.

POO [Pompous Overpaid Official]: Good. And, you are absolutely positively sure that each and every Clorox bottle contains the bleach as stated on the label, and not alcohol?

LLW: Yes. We have taste-tested each and every bottle and got first degree mouth and throat burns but did not get drunk.

POO
: Good.

LLW: Can we release the Clorox to go to the grocery stores?

POO: Have we determined who it is that wants the Clorox?

LLW: Yes.

POO: Who is it?

LLW: It is that wicked woman from the West who lives in the Eastern Province - the very same wicked Western woman who also desires canned potatoes, canned crab meat and Velveeta cheese.


POO: Do not release the Clorox.

LLW: But, Sir?

POO: La la la la la! We must never release the bleach! We must never release any of the products that the wicked Western woman wants or needs. I order that the wicked Western woman must never get her wish to have products she desires.

LLW: Sir, there are others that are desirous of having this powerful liquid. Must everyone be punished because of one wicked Western woman? After all, the Clorox can be used for numerous cleaning applications, as well as to sanitize and clean vegetables used in restaurants which will prevent masses of our people from contaminants, and -

POO: You will follow orders or you will be beheaded!

LLW: Nam.

...and the Lowly Little Worker quickly shuffles off to put the Clorox bottles into the black hole storage facility where no one ever gets to see or use bleach again.

Why?!? Why??? Isn't it enough that we have to wash our clothes in salt water? And, now, we can't even attempt to get the "gray" out of the water to try to get our whites white?!? I can substitute ammonia for many of the cleaning purposes that I would prefer to use bleach for, but I really, really need bleach for the laundry.

And there is none!

[If any Bahrain readers read this post, please let me know if you have bleach on your grocery store shelves. We'll make the trip across the causeway to get bleach if we have to. Thanks!]

La = Arabic for "no."

Nam = Arabic for "yes."

11 comments:

  1. The whole thing makes me wonder, why do they not block your internet access? Do you suppose you are doing something that they want to have done?

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  2. On the contrary, YD, much of our internet access IS blocked. There are many, many sites we cannot get to. I understand if you have internet via your television satellite that sites are not blocked, but our service is through a company which blocks all sorts of things that "they" don't think we should see.

    As to whether or not I am doing something that "they" want to have done, that is a really good question. Perhaps...

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  3. The main jeddah port was severely backed up. They said that they are getting it all caught up now. But it is a very busy time of year even for the ports. This has caused the delay of some deliveries.

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  4. oh.. should add orbit is not blocked. I have censored free internet service :)

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  5. What are the chances that there are canned potatoes and crab meat in that back-up along with bleach, NZ?

    So, NO sites blocked with Orbit? What do you mean you have "censored free internet service?" Censor-free? and you pay for the service, or "censored" and the service is free? Just curious. How much additional is it to the Orbit satellite TV charges???

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  6. Bleach? Isn't there a bleach /soap factory there (whatever you would call it)? We have locally produced soap (not sure on the bleach though).

    What a bummer. I can't live without bleach.

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  7. Nope. We have had NO bleach for a month! Who would have guessed something so basic and simple wouldn't be available to us?!?

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  8. Wow, no bleach, that's weird! Don't some of the hypermarkets in Saudi have any?! I'm sure we have some in Bahrain, at least, I see it in the house, so it must be in one of the stores around here! hehehe

    Of course, I must say there are some products here that started going missing for a while, namely "Always" ... it just disappeared, i scoured the supermarkets and small corner stores all over just to find some!

    So on your way here, bring some! hehehe

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  9. Going to Geant, Naddooi, to see if they have any bleach. None at the stores - the grocery stores... It has been ordered and should be here any day, In Shallah. Sometimes I think that if ONE MORE PERSON says that to me, then I am going to have to grab them by the throat and shake them silly!

    I'll let you know if we have to come over - and I'll grab Always, first. That is, of course, assuming [big assumption, there!] that we have them.

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  10. We have orbit for our internet service, we pay for. And it is NOT censored. it is pricey in comparison, I think our package runs about 300-400 SR a month (forget its been years since I signed up) There is a limit on downloads, fair usage policy which is a huge rip off in this region. but unless you do heavy downloads every day it isn't an issue.

    But you have to have Orbit television to get the service.

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  11. Of course we have Showtime, NZ. Doesn't it figure. And DH does quite a lot of downloading for his job. But it may be something to look into. I'm tired of being blocked for stuff that is totally innocuous!

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