I received mine over two months ago. Since it wasn't to my advantage I waited for HR to notify me that I had to set up a bank account and promptly forgot about it. A couple weeks ago I asked our differently-helpful local American HR guy when I was going to get info about setting up a bank account. He was flustered and said I was supposed to have already done that. But first, I had to have a KSA address on the national system. Surprise! It didn't work when the Saudi HR guy tried to set my address via the online system. After two tries I suggested he let me know when he got it figured out. About 4-5 days later I got an email with the address information. First step down, haba-haba. So, I stop in at HR for the 'letter' to the bank (wrong start date and not my preferred bank - np.) I go to my preferred bank and try to get either my old account reopened (not possible since it was closed) or to open a new account. This is Tuesday afternoon. No go, need my passport & a photo for some reason, hmmm. OK, I want to hammer this all out and I do know that there are built-in days in the contract for just such purposes. So I arrange with the Colonel to take Thursday off to complete my bank details. I get there a little while after they open and there is still some problem, the helpful guy at the bank suggested that I try to apply for an account online (to me, this is code to 'go away and stop bothering me') since he was having no luck. I told him that I had tried the other evening and there was something I was unaware of called Absher which I was not familiar with. This is apparently the national clearing house for traffic tickets, visas, etc. where you can pay fines, get exit/reentry visas, etc. OK, I go back to my apartment and try to set this up online. I manage to enter the account set-up information and the 'helpful' website says to fill in the conformation code but they neglect to say whether it was sent to my email or my cell phone. OK, I check both, then I check my work email on the off chance that is where this is headed, no luck.
So I head back to our 'differently-helpful' HR guy and was immediately told that I had already been told to register in Absher (I had not) and that I was in the system if I had my driver's license (also not the case since my license was a transfer.) So the Saudi HR guy tried to set me up online with Absher, he got exactly the same results that I got. So he gave me his cell number and told me to have the bank guy call him. Back to the bank and a 1+ hour wait (it is 'Friday' after all.) The bank guy spoke with our Saudi HR guy after not being able to set up my account. Then the bank guy called the Saudi Post office and verified that my name, iqama number, phone number, etc. was all correctly entered, it was all correct. (This is kind of important since often, and in my case, mobile numbers are recycled frequently - mine belonged to a former employee named Dave.) Therefore the problem lies within the Absher system itself. I showed him the number I had tried to call (but didn't get any useful response) and his reaction was that the name that showed was 'Police Station'. But since he kindly looked up the number on the Absher website and it matched he called it anyway and tried his best to get through - no luck, stuck in HLHP (Help Line Hold Purgatory). I call our Saudi HR guy back and the upshot is that they will have to use up another of my workdays to take me to the Ministry of Magic, no, it's some other ministry, to sort this all out. I told him to let me know when it is all arranged. I am no longer tracking this mess.
I get out to my car and there is a thin film of fine sand all over the car. I had started to notice earlier this day that my car was making an odd noise and it seemed the cooling fan was running a little loudly when I shut the car off. Since there's an active sand storm I've got the windows up and the AC on. Heading back to the compound it is rather alarming to see the engine temp head way up, fortunately I'm only about 5-10 minutes from HAFH. The dash shows a '145' code which stays on, not a good sign but fitting considering how the rest of my day is going. I go right to the motor pool and everyone is gone (it's 3:45 p.m.) bummer. I visit the operator and he calls the back up guy to come back so I can get a car for the weekend at least. On the plus side, it's a newer car with much lower mileage.
Oh, did I mention that a local hospital which is about a half mile from where I work had at least one patient with the COVID-19 diagnosis? There are 10 or more cases in Jeddah now. No worries. Friday the 13th issue of Arab News newspaper - front page story - KSA is banning flights to and from the EU & Switzerland for the time being. IMHO Heathrow beats CDG any day, that's the extent of any silver lining.
Wash your hands.
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