There are about 2000 thousand employees at the shipyard where I am working and Indians make up a large percentage of those workers. Now I am sure that most of you have worked with are friends with or at least have met a few people from India and know that they are very nice respectful and extremely hard working. Here in Dubai there are quite a few Indians because they represent a cheap labor force much like the Mexicans in the U.S. but also like the Mexicans in the U.S. they are not well liked because they take jobs at a lower wage.
I like working with Indians as I said before they have an impeccable work ethic and are always willing to please even if they are confusing at times. I have not had the nerve to ask why they insist on shaking their head no when they answer yes and vise verse for no (commonly called bobble heads by ex-pats) it must be a cultural thing but I think they may take offense if I were to ask and normally it does not pose a problem unless you are in a noisy working environment and asking a simple question but getting the wrong answer. For example I was in a rig the other day and got turned around and was trying to find my way out (after climbing around on your fourth rig of the day they all blend together and sometimes it is tricky to find a way out.) I went up and asked one of the workers if this ladder went outside he shook his head no so I continued on found a dead end and had to come back to the same worker, again I asked are you sure this does not lead outside and once again he shook his head no then it hit he must mean yes I climbed up it and found my way out.
There is only one other thing that bothers me and it is not limited only to Indians but also most of the world outside of the U.S. and Europe possibly and that is personal space. I think especially in the U.S. we value our personal space much more than other countries. Here they don’t know what personal space is and don’t really seem to care, when the break whistle blows they pile out of the rigs like lemmings headed for the sea one on top of each other all walking in unison down the gangway it is quite a sight to see. 
As they stand in line for whatever it is that they are picking up whether it be there pay check or waiting in line for their pass to get into the port they huddle so closely it seem as though you would have a hard time squeezing a sheet of paper in between them. This only bothers me when I am also in those lines for example the line for the port Pass. Every week we have to enter this small port office with six different lines of which it took me almost three weeks to pick the right one because there are no signs everyone just takes a chance lines up (as close together as possible might I add) and hopes for the best. While in line I give the appropriate amount of room to the man in front of me you know about arms length maybe a little less, and then from out of nowhere I feel someones breath on my neck and I turn around and almost step on the man behind me who then give me a dirty look as if to say why are you giving that guy in front of you so much room can’t you see all the people here. I smile and he smiles back and then I inch forward to create some space between him and I that space lasts for about 35 seconds and then he is there again. So after about ten minutes in line dancing with the man behind me so I would not wear him like a shirt I finally get my pass and am on my way. I was complaining about this to a woman college of mine about these personal space issues and asked her how she dealt with them but she had no frame of reference because they are so afraid of offending her they will not come within three feet of her. She explained her experience at that same tiny port office as she walks through the door the men part like the red sea for Moses someone from behind the counter waves her up to the front of the line they fill out her pass and she is on her way, she never spends more than five minutes in the building. I guess all that worrying that people did about sending females to the middle east was for not they sometimes have it easier than I do.
