During Ramadan, shop hours are open on a very strange and hard-to-predict non-schedule. It's all up to the shop owner. Of course, if they serve food or drink, they're closed until sundown. But then they close for prayer which is right around that time. So they might open at 6:30. And close before 7. And then re-open after prayers. Or, then again, they might stay open through prayers. Or they might close their doors, but let you in if you knock. Or not. Or, they might not open until after prayers, like around 8 p.m. Or maybe 7:40. It's better to not even try to shop until after 8 p.m. But then the malls are PACKED until 2 a.m. and who wants to shop in that sea of humanity that's crawling with black and white slow-moving tents?
With Ramadan and other holidays completed, we thought we'd see what "normal" is. Mmmmm. Haven't fully grasped it, yet!
Some places open early, like around 8 a.m. Others open around 9 a.m. Many, if not most, open by 10 a.m. But that doesn't last long. Prayers hit somewhere around 11:30. and during that time, they close. But maybe not. Sometimes you can continue shopping but you just can't check out. There can be no exchanging of money during prayer times. Which last for 20 minutes. But to prepare for the prayer times, announcements begin about 30 minutes prior to prayer. And they are repeated every 3 minutes or so. And sometimes you're told that you have to pay and leave in the next 15 minutes. Sometimes you're told you can shop but not buy anything after the prayer time ends. Sometimes they turn out all lights and lock you out. Sometimes they close the doors and leave lights on and you're locked in. It's hard to know which it will be because when you look around you, some of the people are rushing to finish shopping and others seem un-phased.
Afternoons are not good times to go anywhere. Stores close from mid-day prayer until late afternoon -- that's roughly from 11:30 until 4:30. And then between 4:30 and 7:30, they're closed for a couple more prayer times. Then, they're open until, usually, midnight. But you never can count on that because opening hours are not mandated. Grocery store types of shops usually remain open all day. But not always. And some close for prayer. But let you shop. You see the trend, yes?
Chaos and confusion. For me, at least. Our company publishes a calendar with prayer times for each week. But even that seems confusing to me.
Basically, I know I can shop from 10:00 until 11:20ish in the morning. And I know I can shop from 7:30ish until 10:00 in the evening. Any other times, attempts to shop are taken with great risk and very low expectations.
It's really quite an effective way to save money!
(That, and the fact that the clothing stores only have dressing rooms for men. Women have to buy their clothing without trying anything on and then they have up to one week to make returns. Some restrooms in the malls have "fitting rooms" so that women can try on clothing that they've already bought and then make the returns right then ... sounds like another topic for a blog entry ...)
1 comment:
Wow! Insanity! :)
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