I started a new job in dubai 6 weeks ago as there was absolutely no work in my field back home. I was told that i could be away for up to 56 days at a time but that was rare. So now 5 days before im due to fly home i have been told via email that im needed to extend another 3 weeks (roughly) no date has been given when ill fly home.

I explained that i have a son and wife back home and we had planned a week away before he goes to secondary school. I was then told very curtly by email that that was too bad but the company need me to extend.

Now im sorry to bore you all with this but right now my good lady is not happy, so in return im not happy.

The unfortunate thing is i need this job and all i can see is myself and my family being completely messed about.

Sorry for the rant.

How about your good lady and son spend a week away – in Dubai ?

yea could do but i work for a company that employ offshore inspectors so i very rarely spend time in dubai. I get mobilized to anywhere they have contracts. Pretty much worldwide. Im currently in malaysia waiting for an email to find out whats going on. 😯

Apart from getting messed around i was quite happy in the job. Its just when the goalposts get moved and i have absolutely no say in it.

sorry ranting again

How crucial to the company are you? I certainly wouldn't stand to be messed around like that. If you are important to the company then tell them what you want or you walk.

im not important at all. I left the military and went back to being a fabricator/welder.

I then paid for a lot of courses myself to change jobs as i thought there was more of a future in inspection but at the moment i have very little experience so no companies will take me on in this financial climate.

catch 22 really to get the experience i need i have to stay with this company for now 🙁

Hmm yeah well as you well know you are ****. Suck it up, buy some flowers and put a nice bow round it when you get home ?

hth 🙂

i know i have to suck it up and thats exactly what im doing. 😀

Its just hard on the misses.

i have to look on the positive and thats the fact that im bringing money in. For 3 months i was unemployed till i got this job and that was horrible.

Got a load of riding in but the ever dwindling bank account was not good.

http://www.b3ta.com/questions/theboss/post460435

Long read and might not exactly be what you want to hear, but have you spoken to any others who have worked in Dubai previously?

Look at it this way – you are doing everything you can to provide for your family. You are gaining experience, and respect from your company. It's not nice at the moment, but it'll pay off in the long run.

If you want inspiration, watch the first series of Auf Wiedersehen Pet!

whats more important your job or your wife/child/family?
When you have the answer tell your employer…if they take the pi55 like this an show no sympathy for your situatio do you think it will ever change?
They may just be checking to see what size door mat you are?

Welcome to life in the oilfield son! ;O)

Surely your dayrate (assuming your not salary) will go up after x amount of days to compensate? I'd take it while i can…as you'll know there are lots of experienced guys out there just now who can't get work.

John taylor – What a gopping story. good reading. Gotta feel for them.

Futureboy – u are not wrong mate, i know guys really struggling and i really did come into this business with my eyes open. got about 6 good mates doing this work.

Anyhow time to man up. get on with it and realise there are a lot of people in a right worse state than me.

are you not happy because because yo have to stay longer or because your wife is giving you grief for having to stay longer? if the later, the employer isn't the problem. i have been in similar positions where you have to do what you have to do, which would be fine, but domestic hellfire makes it a bit shit.

Jabba, rough as it is, you'll have to embrace the suck for the time being.
Good luck – sounds like you've already worked it out and are going to face it. I narrowly escaped being made to work full time in the UAE over ten years ago after doing some stints out there. I was lucky to be able to go out and see what it was like first. Sounds like employers' attitudes haven't changed a jot.
Head down, do your time, get the hell out as soon as you can. When / if it gets rough, keep your family in mind. I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed for ya.

Hate to say it but…

It's a new job, economic climate sucks, so suck it up – I know it messes up your plans with your nipper, but I think at the moment we all have to make sacrifices we don't necessarily want to.

Hey it's hard for both you and the wife but she has to realise it's that option or unemployment .. which you've already struggled with for 3 months! I work in a job where I don't know day to day if I will get home on time and although it is a long way from your situation I know how incredibly frustrating and upsetting it can be for both person working late and other at home. Just remember abscence makes the heart grow fonder and just have to spend some extra quality time with her when you get back! Good luck it'll get better.

whats more important your job or your wife/child/family?

What an excellent and well thought out comment – why not pack the job and go back to life on the dole with even less prospects than before because you've just proved you can't hack the work? Wife and family will love you for that.

Jabba – tough shht, but it's what happens when you set out on a new path, you're at the bottom and you get sh@t on. stay positive though, if the company's really that bad and you do want to bail out, every day you're there is a day's more experience to help you get out, and it's a day not sitting in the house watching tricia and ads for saga holidays. You know it'll work out, just not this week. And I'll bet the wife knows that as well.

I am with you on this one. 4 months without work. Got a job but it means every other week away from home. Sucks but pays the rent. Once I have cleared the debts incurred being jobless I will be far more choosy.

Good luck