I have come to a conclusion, which I have voiced repeatedly to friends over the past few months. In Jordan, we can’t even get ‘wijeh el sa77ara’ right anymore! (‘Wijeh el sa77ar’ mean the ‘face of the fruit basket’ in Arabic, which refers to the the practice of putting a layer of nice looking fruit on top of the basket to entice buyers).
By the way, I despise the concept of ‘wijeh el sa77ar’ because I see it as false advertising for fruit (and for a country). So maybe the lack of ‘quality work’ across the board is a sign of some ‘equality in misery’. But I am alarmed, nonetheless, by the fact that even our ‘showcases’ are lacking in quality.
Quality work is not necessarily connected to monetary cost. A rich family’s villa, or a poor family’s two room concrete block shack can reflect quality. It all depends on the willingness of the builder and owner to ‘do a good job’ be it with expensive marble or cheap concrete blocks.
The lack of quality in Jordan is also not a ‘government thing’. The decline of quality of craftsmanship is widespread in the private sector, even when it comes to things that are supposedly governed by international brand standards.
Take the family lunch I had yesterday at one of the biggest burger chains in town. The place looks new and flashy from afar, but a closer look reveals mediocre finishing. Tables where not sitting stable on the floor. There were loud staff arguments (what I call the concept of ‘Transparent Management ®’ 
). That same chain had better outlets when it started by the way.
Another example was my visit to the Global Village amusement park/fair outside Amman two days ago. Litter everywhere. Flimsy construction. Tacky expo booths.
The examples are numerous. Queen Alia Airport still gives visitors a less than glorious impression of Jordan. New main roads repaving is often bumpy. The finishing quality of some new bridges and intersections is visibly poor. Amman is drowning under poor signage and billboards. ETc. Etc.
Is it greed and unchecked commercialism? Or is it a ‘don’t care’ attitude? Or is that we simply can’t cope with the demands of growth? Maybe a combination off all these factors.
The solution lays in mustering the political will to enforce quality standards, especially by government. The Sales Tax department surely has the will to collect money! And the Passport Department has built a reputation of speed of service. So why doesn’t a mall that opens a totally unsafe staircase to the public get fined 10,000 JDs for example.
Consumers too have a responsibility. Complain, write letters to management and vote with you wallets.
Business owners should learn from the owner of Falafel al Quds, the little sandwich store in Rainbow street (since 1963). Take some pride in your products, services and premises for Quality’s Sake!
Comments
7 responses to “Jordan’s alarming lack of ‘quality work’!”
which burger place was that? LOL j/k
yeah man, it’s true look at beirut, kuwait or dubai’s airports..
ppl don’t start saying they’re rich and we’re not
look at beirut (zaman mesh after this semiwar)
I think that you Ahmed has a higher quality perception than most people in Jordan. Maybe it is due to your career line.
Maybe Jordan cannot be compared to some Europian countries in terms of quality of work, but it is doing fine to some extends in comparison to our neighbours of Arab countries. Am I wrong in this?
Ya zalameh faze3li el denia o bte7keeli alarming for qaulity work
hai baseita !
CheeerZ!
I’ve been contemplating the same thing lately and this is the conculsion I’ve come to so far:
To survive here, you have to have a “Ma3lesh” attitude—you can’t expect things to be perfect, or you will go crazy.
BUT, the “Ma3lesh” attitude starts creeping into your own work ethic too. It’s hard to maintain high standards for your own work when not expecting much from anyone else. Why should I kill myself to do a good job, if nobody else is?
Another hard part is determining what you have control over, and what you have strength to fight. Probably that homeowner with the chipped and uneven tile didn’t want chipped and uneven tile, but after months of fighting with contractors over all sorts of little things, he just gives up—leaving an eyesore for everyone.
I don’t know what the solution is. I can only imagine that it is for individuals to fight the trend of laziness and raise the bar for the standard of work here.
One other note: When I first read your title, I thought it referred to “Jordan’s lack of quality jobs (work)”. My first thought was, “We won’t have quality jobs until we are known for producing quality work.”
So Jordan perhaps should stop selling itself as a grand tourism destination… since this mass of mess in public spaces everywhere is the last thing we need to worry about. I mean common… the Nabateans dug tunnels in the ground for utilities… where are we now? The street next to my house was dug 15 times in the span of one year to lay down utilities everytime a building or a villa came up… and everytime they pave the street, wow, what a job, the street is but one large bump… i call that stupidity… it’s 2006 for god’s sake.
Hey… we need a lot of love first.
Let’s face it, nos il sha3eb lack taste. Why ? cuz Art & Culture aren’t exactly top priorities on the agendas of the people in charge, cuz art wouldn’t really matter if people died out of starvation or flu, i.e they consider it a luxury and we dont have the resources to keep it up on all fronts. Add that to apathy and you’ve got yourself a wonderful mix.