You are an expatriate woman you are taking a shopping trip down town. Where do you sit in the car?
In the driver’s seat.
In the front passenger’s seat.
In the back passenger’s seat.
Where you sit depends who else is in the car, and your relationship with them. Under Saudi law, women are not allowed to drive. So is not right. Depending on the circumstances, either or could be right. The golden rule is you should sit next to whoever is your natural male companion. If you are married, the most suitable person for this role is your husband. If the husband is unavailable, your brother or son, if they are over 12 years old. If you are unmarried, the closest member of your family is, in order, brother or father, then uncle or nephew. If you are riding in a taxi, you must have a male family member with you.
You are an expatriate woman who has been invited to a Saudi home. While you are there, you are offered alcohol. Should you:
Explain you are a teetotaller and decline.
Explain you are a reformed alcoholic and decline.
Say that you understand the rules of the country don’t permit the consumption of alcohol and decline.
Accept.
Alcohol, being illegal, can be an awkward issue. The safest thing is not to drink while in the country, though most people who are not teetotallers do. is probably the safest policy. However, plenty of people have accepted the hospitality as per , and lived to tell the tale.
You are in a conference with your Saudi boss and another Saudi walks in. The boss focuses his attention on the other person and ignores you completely. What should you do?
Quietly leave the room to allow the two Saudis to get on with it.
Sit tight and wait until the focus returns to you.
Offer the Saudis a cup of coffee.
Interrupt the Saudi conversation, saying that you have work to do and will return later to finish the conference.
is the correct answer.
You are invited to a dinner party, installed as guest of honour. Somewhere during the proceedings your host makes a great show of giving you a gift. Should you:
Decline to accept the gift and denounce the gift giver for attempted bribery.
Politely decline to accept the gift.
Accept the gift, but not open it.
Open the gift in front of all the guests.
Gift-giving is widespread. Saudi attitudes to gift-giving are complex. Neither or is correct. If you reject the gift, however politely, the gift-giver will lose face. However, if you open the gift (), you may lose face, if the gift-giver has given you something that people think you should have already had yourself, or your family should have given you. Under the circumstances, you accept the gift, but do not open it. is the best policy. Having accepted the gift, the gift and the act of giving the gift should be quickly forgotten by both the donor and the recipient.
You are playing tennis and the prayer call goes up. Should you:
Keep playing.
Stop playing, and remain on court to resume after prayer call ends.
Go home.
It is in order to keep playing (assuming you are not a Muslim). Muslims do not expect non-Muslims to drop everything when the prayer call goes up. However, there is a fair chance, just to remind you who is boss of this nation, that if you are playing at night, the lights may be switched off.
You have invited a Saudi to your home and he asks for whisky, what should you do?
Say you do drink, but don’t have any whisky, and offer him some Sidiqui or home brew instead.
Give him all the whisky he wants.
Course is fraught with peril. If you give a drink to a Saudi, and he gets into trouble as a result of it, you are in trouble. In addition, Saudi-expat friendships tend to be fragile. If you fall out of friendship, the Saudi has the power to inform the authorities of your activities. If he does, the authorities will probably act. Option is not a good idea either for the same reason. Besides, Saudis don’t regard the home brew industry going on their country highly, either as an activity or for the quality of its product. Likewise, Sidiqui is considered a low class drink. To offer it may be considered insulting. All round, is the best option.
You ring a business associate at his office and someone answers the telephone. You ask for the person by name. The voice answers, “Mr Mohammed has not come back yet.” Should you:
Assume that Mr Mohammed is really there.
Leave a message for him to return you call.
Ask where Mr Mohmmed has gone.
Call back later in the day.
Like in most places, the claim that someone you want to speak to is out could mean any number of things. Whether you are likely to a receive a call back in the event you adopt option depends on your status with Mr Mohammed. In most cases, the best option is to try again later.
You are interested in the Muslim religion and are invited to visit a mosque. Should you:
Accept.
Decline.
There is no rule in Islam precluding non-Muslims from visiting a mosque. A Western diplomat tells a story of an encounter at Riyadh Airport with a member of the Al Saud family where he was invited to visit the Airport’s ornate mosque. The diplomat asked under what circumstances a non-Muslim could visit a mosque in the kingdom. The short answer is that non-Muslims in the kingdom can visit a mosque so long as they are invited by an appropriate Muslim. Not all that many expats visit mosques, for fear of offending the sensibilities of Muslims, and perhaps this is a good rule to follow. If you do visit a mosque, be sure to observe the appropriate protocols such as the removal of shoes.
A public execution is to be held in your town. Should you:
Attend.
Stay away.
The answer to this one probably depends more on your own sensitivities than those of the nation. The national policy is that all and sundry are encouraged to attend public executions. But attendance is not compulsory. Executions are meant to be a deterrent. There are certain executions, such as stoning to death, where only Muslim males are meant to participate (apart from the victim who is more likely to be a woman). If you do go, you have a fair chance of being a minor attraction. You may be pushed to the front of the crowd so you get an unrivalled view of the events.
You are introduced to a man wearing a white thobe, a red and white checked gutra and a black egal. What is his likely nationality?
Saudi.
Palestinian.
Jordanian.
Yemeni.
He is unlikely to be a Yemeni, since Yemenis do not wear egals. Although Jordanians do wear red and white gutras in Jordan, they are more likely to wear Western style clothing in Saudi Arabia—sometimes with gutra and egal. Palestinians working in Saudi Arabia also tend to wear Western dress— and if they wear gutra it is likely to be black and white check. So your new friend is likely to be a Saudi. But you can’t be sure.