Can't Touch This

Matt's biceps have been getting noticeably bigger lately, and it's not because he's had a lot of time to hit the gym. Frankly, it's because I haven't been pulling my own weight - literally. However, it is not really my fault as I'm practically prohibited from helping Matt out in public. Let me explain, when setting up a new apartment in Dubai you might imagine there is a lot of shopping that takes place: furniture, bedding, electronics, etc. As we have been trying to make the most of our trips to the store, we've been buying bags and bags of stuff at one time. As we go to leave, and collect our purchases, Matt will grab a few bags and so will I. At which point, you'd think the world is coming to an end, sure enough some store employee will start interfering and begin demanding that I give my bags to him so that he can escort us to the car. This scenario isn't so bad, it's can be quite nice and chivalrous. Basically the store doesn't want a reputation of making ladies carry their own bags.

The funnier occurrences are when the male employee interferes with my package carrying, but instead of helping us, hands everything to Matt. This is just hilarious. The other day we were in Carrefour, Dubai's version of Target/Walmart, and we decided to buy two carpets for our apartment. The salesman was really helpful and rolled and taped the carpets for our transportation home. He was imploring us to go to the front of the store to get a cart, but Matt assured him that we could handle them just fine. So Matt grabbed a carpet under one arm and so did I. We started walking away when the salesman comes running after us, "nooooooooooo Madame, noooooo!", he promptly removes the carpet from my hands and it looks like he is going to carry it to the register. He takes two steps and shoves it at Matt and walks away. So now Matt is marching though the store with a carpet on each shoulder, and a zero line of sight, bumping into everything. We waited until we turned the corner and Matt gave me back the carpet. This is crazy! A covert operation just to carry something!

The worst was when we had just bought our new 48" flat screen (nope not a typo, it really is 48") and Matt and the sales guy where trying to fit it into the back of our rented Nissan Tiida (sweet ride) and the guy's hand starts slipping, so I step in to balance it and he starts yelling "No Madame! No ma'am! No! No!". I'm thinking to myself, "yeah dude I'd rather have my brand new LCD hit the pavement, while you keep your manhood intact, then offer a hand - I think not." I hope he didn't get to much hazing after work hours because a girl helped him. What can I say, "Girls rule, boys drool!"